Reflections on Ephesians 3

Ephesians 03 (Contemporary English Version)


1. Christ Jesus made me his prisoner, so that I could help you Gentiles.
2. You have surely heard about God's kindness in choosing me to help you.
3. In fact, this letter tells you a little about how God has shown me his mysterious ways.
4. As you read the letter, you will also find out how well I really do understand the mystery about Christ.
5. No one knew about this mystery until God's Spirit told it to his holy apostles and prophets.
6. And the mystery is this: Because of Christ Jesus, the good news has given the Gentiles a share in the promises that God gave to the Jews. God has also let the Gentiles be part of the same body.
7. God treated me with kindness. His power worked in me, and it became my job to spread the good news.
8. I am the least important of all God's people. But God was kind and chose me to tell the Gentiles that because of Christ there are blessings that cannot be measured.
9. God, who created everything, wanted me to help everyone understand the mysterious plan that had always been hidden in his mind.
10. Then God would use the church to show the powers and authorities in the spiritual world that he has many different kinds of wisdom.
11. God did this according to his eternal plan. And he was able to do what he had planned because of all that Christ Jesus our Lord had done.
12. Christ now gives us courage and confidence, so that we can come to God by faith.
13. That's why you should not be discouraged when I suffer for you. After all, it will bring honor to you.
14. I kneel in prayer to the Father.
15. All beings in heaven and on earth receive their life from him.
16. God is wonderful and glorious. I pray that his Spirit will make you become strong followers
17. and that Christ will live in your hearts because of your faith. Stand firm and be deeply rooted in his love.
18. I pray that you and all of God's people will understand what is called wide or long or high or deep.
19. I want you to know all about Christ's love, although it is too wonderful to be measured. Then your lives will be filled with all that God is.
20. I pray that Christ Jesus and the church will forever bring praise to God. His power at work in us can do far more than we dare ask or imagine. Amen.
21. (SEE 3:20)
    
    

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    In the opening verse of this chapter Paul started to voice a prayer on behalf of the Ephesian Christians, but interrupted it to explain why he was a "prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles." Why was he a prisoner? Because of his faithful stewardship of the "administration of God's grace that He gave" to Paul for the Gentiles. God revealed to Paul a mystery that had not previously been revealed which he was to make known to the Gentiles. The mystery was this: "the Gentiles are co-heirs, members of the same body, and partners of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel." (3:6) The mystery in this revelation that had not previously been made known was not that Gentiles would be saved, but that believing Jews and Gentiles would be joined together. Paul's faithfulness to deliver this message had stirred up the Jews to the point that Paul had been arrested and was a prisoner at the time he wrote this letter to the Ephesians.
    
    Paul's calling was actually two-fold: First, to "proclaim to the Gentiles the incalculaable riches of the Messiah," (3:8) and to "shed light for all about the administration of the mystery hidden for ages in God." (3:9) This uniting of Jew and Gentile in the church was to make known through the church, "God's multi-faceted wisdom . . . to the rulers and authorities in the heavens." (3:10) With this understanding of Paul's mission and reason for imprisonment, Paul asked that the Ephesians not be "discouraged over my afflictions on your behalf." They were not to be discouraged over it primarily because these afflictions were for his glory and not his detriment. (3:13)
    
    Finally, Paul moved on to his prayer on behalf of the Ephesians. He prayed that God might "grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, and that the Messiah may dwell in your hearts through faith. I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God's love, and to know the Messiah's love that surpasses knowledge, so you may be filled with all the fullness of God." (3:16-19)