Have you ever listened to a preacher who started one thought and immediately shifted to another? I call that, “preachers chasing rabbits.” Yes, I’m guilty too. I’m not sure how many of my rabbit trails have ben inspired, but I am confident that the Apostle Paul’s rabbit trail in Ephesians 3:1-13 was inspired.
Each time I read Ephesians 3:1, 14 I think of the Holy Spirit interrupting Paul’s thoughts as he dictated this letter. Notice how the New King James repeats the same phrase in Greek in these two verses: “For this reason . . ..” When we read Ephesians 3, we need to notice how Paul manages this digression, how it links to chapters 1, 2, and how it leads him to 3:14-21, one of the most inspiring prayers in the Bible.
But before we get to the inspiring prayer of Ephesians 3:14-21, let’s reflect on the digression of 3:1-13. To understand the digression, you may want to take a few minutes and as a reminder read Ephesians 1 and 2. Notice that in 2:19 Paul presents a series of metaphors describing the Body of the Messiah to which redeemed Jews and Gentiles belong by faith. First, we “are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens.” The metaphor of being citizens of a new kingdom leads to having a home in this kingdom, a home known as the “household of God.” This “household” has a foundation and a chief cornerstone. It is a building in construction that becomes “a holy temple in the Lord” that is “a dwelling place of God in the Spirit” (2:20-22). Paul had 2:19-22 in mind when he began 3:1, “For this reason.”
It’s clear to me that he meant to move directly into the prayer found in 3:14-21 and an expression of gratitude for the munificence of the love of the Messiah (3:19).[1] However, as his thought progresses, Paul reminds the Ephesians that he was a “prisoner of Christ Jesus” for them (“you Gentiles,” 3:1). As noted in the Introduction to this study, Paul was likely a house arrest prisoner in Rome (Acts 28:17-31) sometime in the early 60s A.D. Seven times in his letters Paul referred to himself as a prisoner (Ephesians 3:1; 4:1; Colossians 4:10; 2 Timothy 1:8; Philemon 1:1, 9, 23) and Luke called him a prisoner four times in Acts (23:18; 25:14, 27; 28:17). It’s important to note that Paul did not refer to himself as a prisoner of the Roman Empire, though it was the Empire that held him. Instead, he referred to himself as a “prisoner of Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 3:1). He was a bondslave of the Messiah (Romans 1:1; Philippians 1:1; Titus 1:1). This meant that Paul saw himself totally under the control of the will of the Messiah. If the Messiah desired him to be a prisoner of Rome, it was only to serve the purpose of the Messiah.
This attitude of servanthood to Jesus the Messiah was consistent with what Jesus said of Himself. In John 10:18 Jesus said of His life, “No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.” Later in His trial before Pilate Jesus challenged the power of the Empire: “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above” (John 19:11). The reason for the death of Jesus was not primarily the decision of the Jews or the Romans. It was a decision determined in eternity, whereby the Lamb of God would willingly pay the price for the sins of the entire world.
The Apostle Paul knew these accounts of the life of Jesus, understood the implications of these accounts, and willingly modeled his own life after the One that he served.
The phrase about Paul being a prisoner and why he is a prisoner lead him to the digression in 3:2-13. The Greek text of 3:1 conveys that Paul was speaking of himself, “I, Paul,” or in Greek, “ego Paulos.” Not “ego” in a modern psychological sense, but in the Greek sense of the first-person personal pronoun, “I.” When Paul referenced himself as a prisoner for the Gentiles the Holy Spirit directed him to remind the Ephesians about who he was among them and what he taught while with them. These thoughts are found in two sections, 3:2-7 and 3:8-13. In the remainder of this Part 1, we will focus on Ephesians 3:2-7.
These verses are Paul’s defense of the primary focus of his theological mission: “that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His (God’s) promise in Christ (the Messiah) through the gospel (3:6). Paul received the fullness of this message through God’s grace (3:2) and divine revelation (3:3).[2] He argued that this “mystery,” that is, that the Gentiles are included in God’s people, was not made known “as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets” (3:5).[3] Paul is not writing that there were no hints about the Gentiles in the Old Testament. Paul knew from Genesis 12:1-3; Psalms 18:49; 117:1; Isaiah 11:10; 42:1, 6; 49:6; 60:3; 66:12, 19, that the Gentiles would one day be included in the promised blessings of the Messiah. Paul’s point is that it was not until the Messiah came, died, and rose again, and the Holy Spirit was given (Acts 2), that, inspired by the Holy Spirit, first-century apostles and prophets discerned the meaning of the Old Testament references cited above. Just as Paul began this section by indicating this revelation and the ministry given him by God’s grace (3:2), Paul closes this section by returning to the fact of God’s grace as the instrument by which he became a “minister” (3:7).
This section of Ephesians 3 is autobiographical and serves as a defense of Paul’s apostolic calling. We know from 2 Corinthians 10-12 that Paul had to defend his unique call on the Damascus Road as an apostle. Though Paul was present at the death of Stephen (Acts 7:58), there is no indication that Paul ever met or heard Jesus during His earthly ministry. Paul’s apostleship was distinguished from the criteria established by and for the Twelve in Acts 1:21-26. This is partly why Paul’s divine call was often challenged. The other reasons related to Paul’s theological understanding of the law of Moses and divine grace.
While the personal comments continued in Ephesians 3:8-13, these comments serve to draw attention to the power and presence of the Holy Spirit in the church and the Spirit’s purpose in the church. This will be discussed more fully in Part 2.
[1] I have remarked in earlier thoughts on Ephesians that the New Testament documents did not have chapter and verse divisions as we now have. See https://iphc.org/gso/2025/03/05/lent-and-the-spirit-of-the-age-ephesians-21-3/ for more about this.
[2] The reference in 3:3, 4 about this as something Paul had “briefly written already,” has been a source of debate. Some take it to be a lost portion of a letter to the Ephesians. Others hold that it is the point Paul was making in Ephesians 1, 2 and was part of his teaching during his two plus years in Ephesus. I hold to the second view as there is no evidence of an unknown separate letter to the church at Ephesus. Colossians 4:16 refers to a lost letter written to the church at Laodicea, but there are no hints of another letter to Ephesus.
[3] Who were these “holy apostles and prophets?” In my view, Paul primarily had in mind those who served with him in the mission to the Gentiles. His interaction with the Twelve in Jerusalem had challenges. I don’t believe Paul rejected the apostolic mission of the original Twelve, but Paul viewed His call as parallel to theirs and his mission as more expansive than theirs. He seems to have had more personal interaction with Peter as noted in Galatians 2:1-21 and 2 Peter 3:14-16. Notice that by the time Peter wrote his second letter, he refers to Paul as “our beloved brother.” If both were in Rome at the same time in the decade of the sixties, perhaps there was more personal time together that was not recorded. It should also be remembered that though Paul’s relationship with the apostolic leaders in Jerusalem faced challenges, Paul was convinced of the unity of the church and the need to respect and help the apostles and followers of Jesus in Judea during a great famine. Thus, many of Paul’s letter contain references to his efforts to raise money for relief among the believers in Judea.
