I · personal pronoun — 1st person nominative singular
Paul
ΠαῦλοςPaulos
G3972
(little · noun — nominative singular masculine, a proper name
prisoner
δέσμιοςdesmios
G1198
a captive (as bound) · noun — nominative singular masculine
Jesus
ἸησοῦIēsou
G2424
Jesus (i.e. Jehoshua) · noun — genitive singular masculine, a proper name
Christ
ΧριστοῦChristou
G5547
anointed · noun — genitive singular masculine, a title
for
ὑπὲρhuper
G5228
"over" · preposition
you
ὑμῶνhymōn
G5216
of (from or concerning) you
Gentiles
ἐθνῶν·ethnōn
G1484
a race (as of the same habit) · noun — genitive plural neuter
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Colossians 1:24 Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, whi…
Ephesians 4:1 I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,
Ephesians 6:20 For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
2 Timothy 1:8 Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel ac…
Philippians 1:13-16 So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places;
Luke 21:12 But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being bro…
Philippians 1:7 Even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart; inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defence and con…
Philemon 1:9 Yet for love’s sake I rather beseech thee, being such an one as Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Ephesians 3:1-13
Here we have the account which Paul gives the Ephesians concerning himself, as he was appointed by God the apostle of the Gentiles.
I. We may observe that he acquaints them with the tribulations and sufferings which he endured in the discharge of that office, Eph 3:1. The first clause refers to the preceding chapter, and may be understood either of these two ways: - 1. "For this cause, - for having preached the doctrine contained in the foregoing chapter, and for asserting that the great privileges of the gospel belong not only to the Jews, but to believing Gentiles also, though they are not circumcised, - for this I am now a prisoner, but a prisoner of Jesus Christ, as I suffer in his cause…
For this cause - Because he maintained that the Gentiles were admitted to all the privileges of the Jews, and all the blessings of the new covenant, without being obliged to submit to circumcision, the Jews persecuted him, and caused him to be imprisoned, first at Caesarea, where he was obliged to appeal to the Roman emperor, in consequence of which he was sent prisoner to Rome. See Act 21:21-28, etc.
The prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles - For preaching the Gospel to the Gentiles, and showing that they were not bound by the law of Moses, and yet were called to be fellow citizens with the saints; for this very cause the Jews persecuted him unto bonds, and conspired his death.
John Gill on Ephesians 3:1
For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ,.... Not actively, whom Christ had apprehended by his grace, and made a prisoner of hope; but passively, who was made a prisoner for Christ, on account of preaching Christ, and his Gospel: he was not a prisoner for any capital crime, as theft, murder, &c. and therefore be was not ashamed of his bonds, but rather glories in them; and a prison has often been the portion of the best of men in this world: from hence we learn, that this epistle was written when the apostle was a prisoner at Rome; and the consideration of this his condition serves much to confirm the truths he had before delivered, seeing they were such as he could, and did suffe…
It remains, after he has stated the truth that all their hope is in Christ and thus they are all being built up together in the Spirit to be the dwelling place of God—it remains, I say, that he should teach them who he himself is and whether he himself is contributing to building them up together through the gospel and can give a reason for his own authority so that they may believe him.
We often read that the body is called the prison of the soul. The soul is confined as if in a cage. Paul, for example, was constrained by the ties of the body and did not return to be with Christ so that the preaching to the Gentiles might be perfectly accomplished through him. But I grant that there are some who introduce another meaning here: Paul before his birth was predestined and sanctified from his mother's womb for the purpose of preaching to the Gentiles. For this vocation he took on the bonds of flesh.
For what could be better than those bonds which always in his Epistles he prefers to all things else, saying, "Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ:" and again, "On this account I am bound with this chain, but the word of God is not bound;" and, "Even unto bonds, as an evil-doer." The punishment was twofold. For if indeed he had been so bound, as with a view to his good, the thing would have carried with it some consolation: but now he is bound both "as an evil-doer," and as with a view to very ill consequences; yet for none of these things cared he.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Gentiles · CONVERSION OF — CONVERSION OF
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
John Calvin on Ephesians 3:1-6
Ephesians 3:1-6
1. For this cause, I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,
1. Hujus rei gratia ego Paulus, vinctus Iesu Christi, pro vobis Gentibus legatione fungor;
2. (If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward:
2. Siquidem audistis dispensationem gratiae Dei, mihi erga vos datae,
3. How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; as I wrote afore in few words;
3. Quod per revelationem mihi patefecerit arcanum, quemadmodum scripsi paulo ante.
4. Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ,
4. Ad quod potestis attendentes intelligere cognitionem meam in mysterio Christi,
5. Whic…
Paul now describes his own role in God’s eternal plan: to proclaim God’s grace to the Gentiles.
3:1 When I think of all this: Paul has written about the amazing salvation that God’s grace has brought to undeserving sinners who are under his judgment, and about the incredible revelation that Gentiles can also be included in God’s new family, the people of God (chs 1–2). • a prisoner of Christ Jesus: Paul wrote this letter while imprisoned for his witness to Christ among the Gentiles.
