Ephesians 3:1Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Since we know what he himself acknowledges when he says, "Though I am unskilled in speech, yet not in knowledge" (2 Cor 11:6), perhaps we should seek the order in his thoughts rather than in his words. That order may, it seems, be restored as follows.

I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ and a prisoner for you who are from the Gentiles, have known the mystery for this purpose: that I might also hand it on to you, as a little earlier in this same epistle I wrote to you.

But you must hear of the divine economy of the grace of God given to me for you who are from the Gentiles, for whose sake I also became a prisoner of Jesus Christ.

That Paul was a prisoner of Jesus Christ for the Gentiles can be proved from his martyrdom. For, cast into bonds in Rome, he sent this epistle at the time when the epistles to Philemon, to the Colossians, and to the Philippians were written, as we have shown elsewhere.

Or else, since this is read in very many places, the bonds of the soul may mean this body, in which the soul is held as if imprisoned. Therefore we say that Paul was subjected to bodily bonds for this reason.

He was not released and did not depart to be with Christ, so that his preaching among the Gentiles might be completed.

Some give this passage another meaning. They say that Paul was destined from his mother’s womb and sanctified for preaching to the Gentiles even before his birth, and only afterward was subjected to the bonds of the flesh.

But I think that the expression in this passage is corrupt. Instead of saying, "For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, have known the mystery, as I also wrote to you a little before. Therefore, by reading, you can understand," he says, "I, Paul, the prisoner by revelation, the mystery was made known to me," and so on.

But if anyone can prove, on the basis of the connection of the discourse and the verbal expressions, that the Apostle was blameless in speech and committed no grammatical fault, he should be heard attentively.

Whenever we observe irregular turns of speech, or what was noted above, we do not accuse the Apostle, as the malicious do. Rather, we agree with him, because he was a Hebrew of Hebrews.

Without the splendor of eloquence, without the art of arranging words and the beauty of expression, he could never have converted the whole world to faith in Christ unless he had preached Him by the power of God, and not in wisdom of speech.

For he himself addresses the Corinthians thus: "And I, when I came to you, brethren, did not come with loftiness of wisdom or speech, proclaiming to you the testimony of God" (1 Cor 2:1). Again: "My speech and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. Thus your faith might not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God" (1 Cor 2:4-5).

Therefore the one who allows irregularities in speech and cannot arrange words or complete the thought boldly claims wisdom for himself and says: "Since by revelation the mystery was made known to me, as I wrote a little before."

In truth, whoever looks closely at the preceding part of the epistle will see mysteries revealed to him. The Apostle set out some small part of them in his discourse, not so much displaying everything he knew as showing, in a small measure, what he passed over in silence.

Therefore he says: "By reading, you can understand my thought," or my wisdom, "in the mystery of Christ." This is what we showed in the preface. None of Paul’s epistles contains so many mysteries, nor is any veiled in such hidden meaning.

The Apostle boasts that this meaning is known to him, and in brief words he shows it to us, so that we may reread what is written with greater attention.

The phrase "I wrote before in brief" does not mean, as some supposed, that he had written another epistle. He said "I wrote before" not about what concerned himself, but about the mystery.

He expressed this in the words: "that by revelation the mystery was made known to me, as I wrote before in brief." That is, he wrote about what he has written now, since he has been discussing it from the very beginning up to this point.

He speaks of this also in what follows.

"The Apostle also rightly calls this a mystery. Truly, it is incomprehensible how the Gentiles were suddenly brought into a nobility greater than that of the Jews."

"He calls the mystery of the calling of the Gentiles here Christ's mystery, because its foundation was laid in Christ the Lord. The revelation concerning it was given by the Lord, and it is carried into effect by the Lord Himself.

It is also fitting to call it Christ's mystery because it is essentially connected with the whole work of ordering the salvation of the human race, accomplished by Jesus Christ the Lord. Its summit is His sitting at the right hand of the Father, in the recapitulation of all things" (Right Reverend Theophan).

According to blessed Jerome, "the Apostle speaks of his understanding of the mystery in order to glorify the grace given to him among the Gentiles, and to urge us to read this epistle with the utmost attention."

A great meaning lies in these words of the Apostle. Not only do we not turn away from you, he says to the Gentiles, but we even endure chains for you" (Chrysostom).

"Therefore I am a prisoner for you" (Theophylact).

How is he a prisoner of Jesus Christ? In the same way as he is an Apostle of Christ and a servant of Christ. I am in chains for faith in Him, for preaching about Him, and for His work, the ordering of men's salvation.

These outward chains bring to mind inward chains. The Apostles said: We cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard. This means that they were inwardly bound.

The Apostle Paul was drawn by the Spirit to Jerusalem. Although the same Spirit everywhere declared that chains awaited him, he could not refrain from going there, to those certain chains, because he was inwardly bound.

All the Apostles were guided and borne by the Spirit as those who were bound, as those who were led.

The Apostle suggests that his chains had a special providential purpose in the Lord Himself, who directs the preaching of the Gospel.

The circumstances of Saint Paul's arrest directly show that he fell into these chains for the sake of the Gentiles. Those who attacked him cried: "This is the man who teaches all everywhere against the people and the Law and this place" (Acts 21:28).

The Apostle preached the Gospel purely, as it is, without making mention of the Law of Moses. When necessary, he explained that its time had already ceased.

Yet he treated the whole Old Testament order with due reverence. He proved that all of it was necessary and has universal significance.

Only now, he taught, all that had come to an end. But they did not understand the matter and rose up against him as a blasphemer of the Law and of the place where all the lawful rites chiefly took place.

The Apostle acted in this way because it had been commanded him from above. It was commanded from above because otherwise the Gentiles could not be drawn, and the faith of Christ could not be established on earth in all its purity.

Being bound for such teaching, he was bound for the work of Jesus Christ. Therefore he was a prisoner of Jesus Christ. Yet in the present case he was subjected to bonds because of the Gentiles, and therefore fell into chains for their sake.

Oecumenius writes: "It is possible to be a prisoner only of Jesus Christ, that is, to be bound and beaten for not changing one's faith in Him, and not also for the Gentiles. That is, not for teaching and preaching spread among them.

Thus many martyrs were tortured not because they taught the Gentiles the faith, but because they did not deny the faith in Christ. Paul, however, was a prisoner both for Christ and for the Gentiles."