Ephesians 3
Verse 1. “For this reason I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles.” He was a prisoner because he preached the gospel to the Gentiles. Then he breaks off to tell them that this ministry had been specially committed to him (Ver. 5). He includes all the New Testament apostles and prophets, but they received it from him; he was the one to unfold that truth. And when it was unfolded, he could say that the subjects of the Word of God were now completed (see Col. 1:2525Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God; (Colossians 1:25). N. T.).
Verses 2-4. “If ye have heard of the administration of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward; how that by revelation He made known unto me the mystery (as I wrote afore in few words; whereby when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ).” In the first and second chapters he had alluded to the same subject.
Verses 5, 6. He goes on to say, “Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and (joint) partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel.” Here the Gentile and Jew alike are joint heirs with Christ, both alike members of Christ’s body, and both alike sharing all the promises given to Christ for the church.
Verses 7-9. “Whereof I was made a minister” (not of man nor by man, Gal. 1:11Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;) (Galatians 1:1)), “according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effectual working of His power,” but this did not exalt him in his own eyes, but rather enhances the grace of the Lord in choosing one so unworthy, by his former hatred and opposition to the name of the Lord, as he says, “Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery (or administration), which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ.”
Verses 10-11 tell us also that the heavenly hosts now are learning the all-various wisdom of God in this wondrous mystery of Christ and the assembly, that we with Him are one, “To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church (assembly) the manifold (all-various) wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Verse 12. What wonderful ways of grace, that thus God’s purposes are made known to us! What a place of intimacy ours is! Can we think of the heavenly hosts learning God’s ways with us, and learning through us His wisdom? Yes, for it is in Him we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of Christ Jesus our Lord. Paul was in prison when writing this, but he, was the prisoner, in his mind, not of the Romans, but of the Lord. He knew he was there by the will of God, so he could write,
Verse 14. “For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” In chapter 1 he prayed to the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, that we might understand and know these wonderful truths which we have in those chapters. This prayer is more that we might realize the benefits, and enjoy our precious portion as children of the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. His God is our God as men. His Father is our Father as His children. Who of us could ever have thought for a moment that God our Father could have loved such sinners as we were, and blessed us in His own Beloved Son, and loved us with the same love, making us His real children, for this is what the adoption of children to Himself really means. As our Lord said to the Father in John 17:2626And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them. (John 17:26), “That the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them and I in them.” So this prayer would deepen the reality in our heart’s enjoyment. It is then of great importance that we should meditate on it, so that it may be more understood by the teaching of His Holy Spirit who dwells in us, and delights to shed abroad the love of God in our hearts (see Rom. 5:55And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. (Romans 5:5)).
Verse 15. “Of whom the whole (or rather ‘every’) family in heaven and earth is named.” In chapter 1:10 we read that all things in heaven and on earth are to be gathered in one, under Christ; and Colossians 1:16, 1716For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 17And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. (Colossians 1:16‑17) shows that He is the Creator and Upholder of the universe (Heb. 1:22Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; (Hebrews 1:2); John 1:33All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. (John 1:3)), so that all the hosts of heaven, Israel and the nations, as well as the assembly of God, are included in that verse.
Verse 16. “That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man.” We had the riches of His grace (chapter 1:7) in our redemption and forgiveness of our sins, and in the display of His kindness toward us in the ages to come (chapter 2:7). Here we think of our Lord in glory, and how He, amid all that riches of glory, is thinking about us, His needy, weak members here on earth, and the prayer is that He would according to the riches of His glory strengthen us in our inner man by His Spirit. May we yield ourselves gladly to Him to be our strength and guide, that we might not hinder the blessing, by grieving the Holy Spirit.
Verse 17 continues, “That Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length and depth, and height.”
It is true that Christ is in every believer (Rom. 8:1010And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. (Romans 8:10); Col. 1:27; 3:3, 427To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: (Colossians 1:27)
3For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:3‑4)), but here it is by faith, it is the soul-consciousness of it, the sense of His presence dwelling with us that the believer, in the deep intimacy of a well-known and deeply valued friendship, is rooted and grounded in love, not a quiver of fear or of uncertainty, so that in His company, we can look out, as in the center of it all with Him, on the breadth, and length, and depth, and height. Of what? It does not say, but we may well think of all the glories of Himself, and all that surrounds Him, and of which He is the center and fullness, and what words could better express its infinity, and lead us to feel in comparison how small we are, yet Christ and His assembly is, through His grace to us, and in the purposes of God, the center of it all.
Verse 19 gives us the additional thought, “And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with (or even unto) all the fullness of God.” Glories untold are ours with the Lord, but this touches the heart deeper. His well-known love is too deep to ever think we know it all. It passeth knowledge! and even in time now, how comforting and strengthening, it can never fail, can never grow less; well proved in what it has done, deepening as we go on more and more till we are filled unto all the fullness of God, and God is love. We dwell in Him, and He in us.
Verse 20. “Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.” He works in us by His Spirit, and He is able to do all, above all, yea, exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, for the glory of God.
Verse 21. “Unto Him be glory in the church (assembly) by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.” The distinctive place and position, as the body and bride of Christ, is thus declared as for all eternity. The tabernacle of God with men (Rev. 21:1-31And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. 2And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. (Revelation 21:1‑3)).