For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles.
St. Paul’s ministry to the Gentiles a Divine grace to himself
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; 1Co 3:5; 1 Corinthians 3:10; 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 (Ephesians 3:3-4). 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; John 4:24). 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 (verses 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 (verse 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 (verse 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.)
St. Paul a sufferer for the Gentiles
Had he been narrow and exclusive in his spirit, he would have been honoured and beloved. For his impartiality, he was hated of his countrymen. Had he shown a strong bias in their favour, and been prejudiced against men of other nations, they would have borne with him, and his Christianity too. He is writing to the Gentiles, and he reminds them that he is in prison, as their apostle. He had not only given to all men the gospel, but he had given it to them, free from Jewish associations. “I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles.” There is too much reason to fear, that, even in our own day, the grand offence of many a noble servant of Jesus Christ, is the breadth of his Christianity. Let a man sell himself to some one Church, or party, warmly plead for his own party, exhibit the errors and defects of all other Churches, and he will live and die in the affections of his people. On the other hand, a man who declines specially to own this Church, or disown the other, who looks with an evil eye on none, but embraces all in the broad spirit of his impartial love, will certainly find that there are grave charges still against the Spirit of Christ, as distinct from the spirit of party. He may calculate on the cold suspicions and hard judgments of the self-loving Churches. Let him count the cost, and, if he can, declare himself for Christ and humanity; or, if he be not able, then for Christ and his own party. It is no small praise to say that Jesus is the King, whose subjects have always found positive pleasure in suffering for Him. To be disowned and set at nought for His sake are their honour and joy. In their esteem, no distinction could equal that of being partakers of Christ’s sufferings. “We glory in tribulation.” While suffering for His sake, the spirit of glory and of God rests upon them. What are the honours and rewards of party zeal compared with this? (J. Pulsford.)
Suffering in God’s cause
1. The pains of ministers with and for the Lord’s people are so far from being at an end when people are brought to Christ and built upon Him by faith, that even their being brought this length doth lay a new tie upon their ministers, both to deal with God on their behalf, and to labour with themselves so much the more earnestly, that, not only they do not lose those things which are already wrought (2 John 1:8), but also they may make progress answerable unto their fair beginnings; lest otherwise they mar their own comfort (Psalms 51:12), make the name of God to be evil spoken of (2 Samuel 12:14).
2. Such powerful influence hath God upon hearts, that He can make those who for the time are cruel persecutors of truth, prove afterwards famous martyrs and sufferers for it; for Paul was once a bloody persecutor (Galatians 1:13), but is now a famous sufferer.
3. Sufferings for Christ and truth are so far from being cause of just reproach to those who suffer from others, or from being matter of shame and blushing to themselves, that they are rather a glory unto them, yea, and sometimes will be gloried in by them, as that wherein their chiefest honour standeth; for Paul, after the example of kings and nobles, who design themselves by their most honourable styles, doth in place of all take this one, of a prisoner for truth, unto himself; “I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ.”
4. So far ought people to be from stumbling at truth, because of the oppressed and suffering lot of those who preach it, that even their sufferings for truth should make their pains the more acceptable, and add a weight unto the word of truth in their mouth; for Paul describeth himself from his present suffering lot, that both his person and pains might have the more weight and efficacy with them; “I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ.”
5. The Lord doth sometimes give so far way to the rage of persecutors, as that the choicest instruments for carrying on His work may be, for a season, restrained in their liberty, and so laid aside as useless, even in a time when there is greatest need of their pains and diligence; far Paul, an eminent instrument (1 Corinthians 15:10), was at such a time cast in prison; “I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ.”
6. No afflictions or sufferings do loose a pastor from his duty towards the Lord’s people, over whom he is set; but when he is restrained in his liberty from preaching to them, he ought even then endeavour their edification by writing to them, and praying for them. (J. Fergusson.)
Persecution for the gospel
1. The effectual working of the gospel procures persecution to the ministers of it. The devil cannot endure with patience to see himself dispossessed and dislodged out of the hearts in which he has rested, and therefore spits his venom against them. This is the true reason, though other things are often pretended.
2. God can make the persecutors of His gospel become martyrs for it (Galatians 1:13-23).
(1) Pray even for persecutors.
(2) Trust that God will overrule all for the best.
3. God’s faithful servants are subject to persecution.
(1) They cannot be pleasers of men.
(2) Christ will not be a King after the manner of this world.
(3) God would have it thus, in order to show that the power which subdues the world is of Him.
4. We must not be ashamed of our sufferings for Christ, but rather rejoice in them. Soldiers will tell of the wounds, the shot, and all hard measure they have suffered from the hand of the enemy under their colours; so must we esteem it our chief honour, when God allows us to suffer anything for His sake.
5. The sufferings of faithful ministers benefit their people. As the captain’s resolution rescues the whole army from discomfiture, so it sometimes happens that the ministers’ casting themselves upon the pikes, is the security of the people depending on them.
(1) Sufferings dispose us to be serviceable to others.
(2) Pattern to others.
(3) Testimony to the worth of the doctrine delivered.
(4) The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. Persecution is the seed of peace. (Paul Bayne.)
Suffering a stimulus
A certain amount of persecution rouses a man’s defiance, stirs his blood for magnificent battle, and makes him fifty times more a man than he would have been without the persecution. So it was with the great reformer when he said, “I will not be put down; I will be heard.” And so it was with Millard, the preacher, in the time of Louis XI. When Louis XI sent word to him that unless he stopped preaching in that style he would throw him into the river, he replied, “Tell the king that I will reach heaven sooner by water than he will reach it by fast horses.” (Dr. Talmage.)
Benefit of trial
I have somewhere read the following incident in the life of a distinguished botanist. Being exiled from his native land, he obtained employment as an under gardener in the service of a nobleman. While he was in this situation, his master received a valuable plant, the nature and habits of which were unknown to him. It was given to the gardener to be taken care of, and he, fancying it to be a tropical production, put it into the hothouse (for it was winter), and dealt with it as with the others under the glass. But it began to decay,…when the strange under gardener asked permission to examine it. As soon as he looked at it he said, “This is an arctic plant: you are killing it by the tropical heat into which you have introduced it.” So he took it outside, and exposed it to the frost, and, to the dismay of the upper gardener, heaped pieces of ice around the flower pot; but the result vindicated his wisdom, for straightway it began to recover, and was soon as strong as ever. Now, such a plant is Christian character. It is not difficulty that is dangerous to it, but ease. Put it into a hothouse, separate it from the world, surround it with luxury, hedge it in from every opposition, and you take the surest means of killing it. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)
Christ’s prisoners
Guy de Brez, a French minister, was prisoner in the castle of Tournay. A lady who visited him said she wondered how he could eat, or drink, or sleep in quiet. “Madam,” said he, “my chains do not terrify me or break my sleep; on the contrary, I glory and take delight therein, esteeming them at a higher rate than chains and rings of gold, or jewels at any price whatever. The rattling of my chains is like the effect of an instrument of music in my ears--not that such an effect comes merely from my chains, but it is because I am bound therewith for maintaining the truth of the gospel.”