Ephesians 3:1 For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, If not wholly singular, there is something very characteristic, in this view which the Apostle of the Gentiles took of his vocation. So strong a hold had it taken of his imagination and feelings that he may be said positively to have revelled in it. It is alluded to again and again in his Epistles (Romans 1:5; Romans 11:13; 1 Corinthians 3:5, 10; Galatians 1:15, 16; Colossians 1:25; and Ephesians 4:7). How did it come about that this aspect of his work should have so impressed him? I. IT ORIGINATED IN THE REVELATION OF A DIVINE MYSTERY (vers. 3, 4). At Christ's appearance to him when he was on his way to Damascus, he had been told that he was to preach to the heathen (Acts 26:17, 18). As to how far "revelation" of the calling of the Gentiles was absolutely required we can never fully know. Prophets had foretold the universal enjoyment of the Messianic blessing and the universal sway of the Messiah. Christ Himself frequently enough disclosed the wider horizon that stretched before His vision (Matthew 8:11; Matthew 25:31-34; Matthew 28:20; John 12:32; John 4:21, 24). But we know that the Jewish prejudices of the apostles were but slowly overcome. Peter required a vision to remove his (Acts 10:28). And there can be no doubt that such a mind as Paul's, with its antecedents of exclusiveness and caste, could only have received an adequate sense of the pressing needs of the Gentile world and of his own obligation with respect to these in some such special way. Revelation as a proof of Divine condescension to human infirmity would in this ease remove the temptation natural illuminati in all ages have felt to consider themselves of a "finer clay" than others. II. HE FELT IT TO BE A GREAT PRIVILEGE TO BE ENGAGED IN IT (vers. 8, 9). His glowing language about "the unsearchable wealth of Christ" shows how exalted was his enthusiasm. He speaks of it as a dignified responsibility — a Divine "economy" or "dispensation." And he was ever conscious of the spiritual possibilities of his work among the millions of Europe and Asia through the ages that were to follow. A vocation such as this could not but awaken emotions at once exalting and humbling to a generous, high. strung nature. It was a grace to be the minister of such a grace. III. IT CALLED FORTH WITHIN HIM A LARGER SENSE OF SPIRITUAL LIFE AND POWER (ver. 7; cf. Colossians 1:29; Ephesians 1:19; Ephesians 3:20). God was consciously working through him, with a force, a directness, and a constancy never felt before. He could say, "I can do all things in Him that strengtheneth me" (Philippians 4:13). And in all his allusions to this experience he is careful to distinguish the Divine from the human. IV. HIS PREVIOUS CONDUCT HAD GIVEN HIM NO CLAIM TO SUCH AN HONOUR (ver. 8; cf. 1 Corinthians 15:9; 1 Timothy 1:12-16). His language has seemed exaggerated to many, but it is the honest and natural outcome of a profound sense of his past wrong-doing, against which the mercy of Christ stood out in such emphatic relief. The heart knows best its own depravity, and the depths from which it has been rescued. (A. F. Muir, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,WEB: For this cause I, Paul, am the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles, |
    |