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Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents
3:1-13 Revelation of the Gospel Mystery. Paul explains his calling and ministry as an apostle to the Gentiles. This was to assure his Gentile readers that their share in the inheritance is authentic because of its divine origin.
3:1-7 Paul's Apostolic Ministry. Paul elaborates on his call to apostleship. He was sent as a gracious gift to the Gentiles.
3:1 For this reason. Paul breaks off his thought here only to resume it in v. 14, where the opening phrase is repeated (cf. the similar break in 2:1, 5). prisoner for Christ. Paul suffered imprisonment or confinement several times in the service of Christ (4:1; Acts 16:23; 24:23; Col. 4:10; 2 Tim. 1:8; Philem. 1). on behalf of you Gentiles. Paul was the apostle, teacher, and preacher to the Gentiles (1 Tim. 2:7; 2 Tim. 1:11), so the sufferings he experienced during his ministry were on their behalf (2 Cor. 6:5; 11:23).
3:2 assuming that you have heard. Cf. 4:21. Paul may not have known the recent Ephesian converts, especially in the outlying villages (see Introduction: Author and Title), though he had spent in Ephesus (Acts 20:31).
3:3 mystery. See note on Col. 1:26-27. This mystery is now revealed: Christ has come to unify Jew and Gentile in one body through the gospel, about which Paul had just written briefly (see the parallels with Eph. 1:9, 17). Christ revealed this mystery to Paul by revelation on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:1-7) and more fully at other times (cf. Acts 22:17-21; 2 Cor. 12:1-7; Gal. 1:12; 2:2).
3:5 not made known. While Moses and the prophets had written of Christ and his salvation to the ends of the earth (John 5:46; 1 Pet. 1:10-12), and while God had even promised to Abraham that all the nations of the earth would be blessed through him (Gen. 12:3), the full realization of who Christ was and the extent of the salvation that would come to the Gentiles was not clear until after the giving of the Spirit (1 Cor. 2:8-10). apostles and prophets. See note on Eph. 2:20.
3:6 the Gentiles are fellow heirs. Paul explains the content of the "mystery" mentioned in vv. 3-4: Gentile and Jewish Christians are now united in God's new family as equal heirs with one another and with Christ (Rom. 8:17; Gal. 3:28-29).
3:7 minister. A servant or official charged with an area of responsibility. Paul was duty bound to proclaim the gospel (1 Cor. 9:16), yet he regards this burden as a gift of God's grace because he served out of gratitude for the grace that he himself had received.
