CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES
Ephesians 3:1. The prisoner of Jesus Christ may be regarded as “the prisoner whom the Lord has bound” (so Winer and Meyer), or as “a prisoner belonging to Christ,” or again as “the prisoner for Christ’s sake.” The indignity of an ambassador being “thrown into irons” is lost in the feeling of being, even though bound, the representative of such a Lord.
Ephesians 3:2. If ye have heard.—We have the same form of expression at Ephesians 4:21—“assuming, that is, that ye heard” (cf. Colossians 1:23). Of the grace.—The favour which God conferred on me in appointing me your apostle. The divine “Taskmaster” (to use Milton’s expression) confers honour upon us when He sets us to work. “He is not served by men’s hands as though He needed anything” (Acts 17:25).
Ephesians 3:3. How that by revelation.—The familiar disavowal of any other source than the will of God (cf. Galatians 1:12).
Ephesians 3:4. Ye may understand my knowledge.—You may, as the public reader proceeds to read my letter, discern my insight of the mystery.
Ephesians 3:5. Which in other ages.—R.V. “other generations.” Might possibly refer to those dim ages of the past national history when the Gentiles were thought of only as left to “uncovenanted mercies.” We must note the word for “other”—it means a “different kind.” Was not made known … as it is now revealed.—If any distinction is to be observed, we may say the “revelation” is one of the ways of “making known” (see Ephesians 3:3) the intuitional. Unto His holy apostles and prophets.—“If all saints were holy à fortiori the apostles” (Bishop Alexander).
Ephesians 3:6. Fellow-heirs … the same body … partakers.—“The A.V. loses a point of similarity in the three Gentile privileges by not expressing the force of the Greek compounds by the same English word. Lit. ‘heirs together,’ ‘incorporated together,’ ‘sharers together,’ not heirs after, but together with, the Jews; not attached to the Hebrew body, but incorporated into it together with the element that previously constituted it; not receivers of the promise after others had been satisfied, but partakers of it together with them” (Bishop Alexander). “Co-heirs, and concorporate, and comparticipant. The strange English words may perhaps correspond to the strange Greek words which St. Paul invented to express this newly revealed mystery in the strongest form, as though no words could be too strong to express his conception of the reunion in Christ of those who apart from Him are separate and divided” (Farrar).
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Ephesians 3:1-6
An Enlarged Gospel—
I. Declaring the admission of the Gentiles on the same footing as the Jews to its highest privileges (Ephesians 3:6).—It came as a surprise to the world of the apostle’s day that the gospel he preached offered its blessings on equal terms to Jew and Gentile. The Jew, accustomed to be the sole repository of divine revelation, was staggered at the discovery that heaven extended its favours to the outcast, heathenish Gentile; and the Gentile, proudly trusting to his own intellectual activity in the search after truth, greeted with wonder the ampler and loftier revelations of the new evangel. It seemed too good to be true. A new era was dawning, and men were dazzled and bewildered with the splendour of the vision. It is now authoritatively declared that, on the simple conditions of penitence and faith, the Gentile world is incorporated into the body of Christ. So far from being excluded from the divine favour, the believing Gentiles are reckoned as “fellow-heirs, and of the same body and partakers of the promise in Christ by the gospel”; and the marvel is increased by the discovery that this astounding privilege is no new thought in the divine mind, but was an essential part of the purpose concerning the race that had been developing in the slow march of the ages. The Hebrew Scriptures with their records of extraordinary theophanies, the saintly characters of Old Testament times, the Messianic revelations and the wealth of spiritual blessing which the isolated Jew had selfishly appropriated to himself, are the heaven-given privileges of universal man.
II. Was wrapped in mystery for ages.—“Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men” (Ephesians 3:5). The mystery all centres in Christ. The revelation of Messiah as the hope and salvation of the race was dimly and slowly unveiled in progressive stages. “It is the glory of God to conceal a thing.” Some of His grandest movements are veiled in mystery till the right moment comes, when the obscurity vanishes and the vastness and beauty of the completed work elicit our admiration and praise. We are familiar with this process in the natural world and in the progress of human history. The fruits of the earth do not reach maturity at a bound. Slowly and in secret the bud is rounded, then comes the delicately tinted blossom, and afterwards the tempting, mellow fruit. The same may be said of the growth of human character. It reaches the higher grades of mental and moral excellence by slow and silent stages, and advances in the ratio of the fidelity and energy with which the man carries out the great plan of his life-career. So the revelation of the gospel mystery has been gradual and progressive. The purpose itself is incapable of progress—it has been fixed from eternity; but it has been made known to the world in portions suited to each succeeding period of its history. The law shadowed forth that purpose with more fulness than any previous dispensation, and the prophets went beyond the law, occupying a middle place between it and the gospel, while the gospel in its fuller revelation has gone as far beyond the prophets as they went beyond the law. Thus we see that God “who appears deliberate in all His operations” has unfolded His great purpose to save the race by slow and successive stages. The mystery of yesterday is the sunlit epiphany of to-day.
III. Was specially revealed by the Spirit.—“How that by revelation He made known unto me the mystery” (Ephesians 3:3). “As it is now revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit” (Ephesians 3:5). Notwithstanding the gradual disclosure of the mystery of the gospel, its full significance could not have been caught without supernatural help. Mere flux of time adds nothing to our knowledge; nor can the most active intelligence decipher the spiritual meaning of truth. The Spirit of God, operating on the alert and awakened mind of the apostle, revealed to him the glory and power of Christ—the hidden mystery of ages—and opened to him the far-reaching provisions of the enlarged gospel of which Christ is the inexhaustible theme. There is still much mystery in the gospel that remains to be fathomed—the problem of the atonement, the origin of sin, the future destiny and eternal state of human souls, and the revelation of Christ and His Church to present-day social and economic questions in their bearing on human development and the future prosperity of the kingdom of God on earth. We are in daily need of the light and teaching of the Holy Spirit.
IV. Was entrusted to man as a stewardship of divine grace.—“The dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward” (Ephesians 3:2). The mystery of the gospel was revealed to Paul that he might dispense its benefits to others. Former generations had received light from heaven; but not sufficiently appreciating it, or wishing to keep it within too narrow a sphere, it grew dim and went out. Where it fell on prepared hearts it was used for the illumination and blessing of others. Paul was divinely prepared for the revelation; he received it in trust for others; he saw the boundless provisions of the gospel, and became a powerful advocate of its universal claims. Every minister is a steward of the mysteries of the kingdom of God, and it is his joy to minister to others whatever of insight into truth and grace of experience the divine Spirit may entrust to him. The gospel is an ever-enlarging gospel to the soul lit up and informed by the revealing Spirit.
Lessons.—
1. The gospel is an advance on all previous revelations.
2. It is the grandest revelation of saving truth.
3. It can be known and enjoyed only by the Spirit.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
Ephesians 3:1-21. Riches of Christ.—Many make Christianity something local, temporary, and thus degrade it. Christ is inexhaustible for mind and heart; we find all in Him. Let us never make of this rich Christ a poor one. What Christ has instituted must be something transcendent, and not so common that every intellect can discover it.—Heubner.
Ephesians 3:1-6. The Calling of the Gentiles.
I. Paul calls himself a prisoner of Christ for the Gentiles.—The liberality of his sentiments towards them and the boldness with which he asserted their title to equal privileges with Jews were the principal reasons why the latter persecuted him with such violence, and caused him to be sent a prisoner to Rome. The spring of this bitter enmity in the Jews was their spiritual pride and worldly affection. Liberality of sentiment essentially belongs to true religion. Bigotry, hatred, and envy among Christians debase their character and scandalise their profession. We should entertain exalted thoughts of the divine Goodness. Such thoughts enlarge the mind and liberalise the feelings.
II. The gospel is called a dispensation of the grace of God.—It is a discovery of that method which the wisdom of God has chosen for dispensing His grace and mercy toward fallen men. It is called the gospel of God as it originated in His pleasure; and the gospel of Christ as He is the immediate author of it, and His doctrines and works, His life and death, His resurrection and ascension, and the blessings procured by Him are the subjects on which it principally treats. The grace which the gospel offers is pardon and glory. Under such a dispensation how inexcusable are the impenitent, and how amazing will be the punishment of those who finally perish in their guilt!
III. This dispensation was committed to the apostle for the benefit of mankind.—It was a trust committed to him by the will of God, not a power arrogated by his own presumption. He did not rely on a secret, internal call as what alone would warrant him to commence as a preacher. He carefully conformed to the order which Christ has instituted in His Church. He instructed Timothy and Titus to do likewise. Ministers are not to found their warrant to preach on any immediate revelation. If they should pretend to this, it would be no warrant for them to assume it, unless they can by miracles prove to the world the reality of the pretended revelation.
IV. The knowledge of the gospel was communicated to Paul by revelation.—God did not, at the expense of inspiration, teach the apostles those things which they knew or might know by other means. But where actual knowledge and the means of obtaining it were wanting, there inspiration supplied the defect. It is not necessary for us to know the nature of this inspiration, or the manner in which the apostles were assured of its divinity. If we believe there is an infinite and all-perfect Spirit, who pervades universal nature, we must believe He can reveal His will to men by such an immediate influence as shall carry its own evidence and leave no possible doubt of its reality. If we deny the possibility of a certain inspiration from God, we deny that power to Him which we ourselves possess, for we can speak to men in such a manner that they shall certainly know we speak to them and perfectly understand our meaning.—Lathrop.
Ephesians 3:4; Ephesians 3:6. The Knowledge of Christ intended for All.—It is significant that the inscription on the cross was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin.
1. Hebrew, the language of religion, of the revelation concerning the one true God.
2. Greek, the language of literature, of arts and culture, the best medium in which to transmit the literature of the New Testament, as Hebrew was for that of the Old. It might be designated as the human language.
3. Latin, the language of the conquerors and masters of the world—also of the Roman Empire, as that kingdom of worldly aggrandisement and power, falsehood and wrong, in opposition to the kingdom of God destined to uproot and replace it. The Roman soldiers stationed throughout Europe became useful factors in the spread of the gospel. Note also the synoptic gospels of
1. Matthew—Hebrew in thought and diction, written to convince Jews.
2. Mark—Latin in thought, and written for the Roman mind.
3. Luke—Greek in thought and style, written for Gentiles.
Ephesians 3:4-5. God known in Christ.—After the death of Pascal there was found in the lining of his coat a parchment which he never parted from, in order to keep in his memory a certain epoch in his life. It contained these words: “Certainty—joy—the God of Jesus Christ, not of the philosophers and savants. Oh that I may never be separated from Him!” The explanation of this is, that on one memorable night, during a holy watching, he had met, not merely the Machinist of the universe, the God who is but the substance or the law of the world, but the God who wills and creates the happiness of His children.
Ephesians 3:5-6. The Comprehensiveness of the Gospel.—
1. God’s purpose to call the Gentiles was not altogether unknown to the ancient Church; but it was not so clearly revealed under the Old Testament as under the New.
2. Though God might easily communicate the knowledge of Himself unto all immediately and without the help of second means, yet He hath chosen so to communicate His mind to some few only who have, at His appointment, set down in sacred writ what they immediately received, by which means the knowledge of God may, in an ordinary way, be conveyed to others.
3. It is a great and glorious privilege to be a part of that mystical body of which Christ is Head, because of the strict union such have with Christ and with all believers in Christ, and because of their interest in all the privileges of that body and in the gifts and graces of every member of it.—Fergusson.