Ephesians — Chapter 3

Authorship & Background

Deep Dive

Setting: Paul writes from house arrest in Rome, about AD 60–62 (Acts 28:16, 30), chained to a soldier but free to receive visitors. Tychicus carries the letter (6:21). Ephesians falls into two halves: chapters 1–3 tell what God has done in Christ, and chapters 4–6 tell how the church should live in response. Chapter 2 ended with Jew and Gentile made "one new man" (2:15), the dividing wall torn down, and the two built together into a holy temple. Chapter 3 begins a prayer for these believers, breaks off after one verse to explain Paul's own part in God's plan, then picks the prayer back up at v14 and closes the first half of the letter with praise.

The Mystery of the Gospel Revealed (vv1–13)

• "For this reason I, Paul" (v1). "For this reason" points back to everything in chapter 2. Paul starts to pray, then stops mid-sentence. The ESV's dash marks the break. The sentence does not resume until v14, where the same words, "For this reason," pick it up again. Paul's thought runs ahead of his grammar, as it often does.
• "A prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles" (v1). The word is desmios, "one bound." Paul's chains are literal. He was arrested in Jerusalem because a mob thought he had brought a Gentile, Trophimus of Ephesus, into the temple (Acts 21:28–29). So "on behalf of you Gentiles" is not a figure of speech. He is in prison because of the very truth he is about to explain. Yet he calls himself Christ's prisoner, not Nero's. Rome holds the chain, but Christ holds Paul.
• "Assuming that you have heard" (v2). This is odd wording for a church where Paul lived for three years (Acts 20:31). It is one reason many scholars think Ephesians was a circular letter meant for several churches in the province of Asia, many of whose members had never met Paul. Some of the earliest manuscripts lack "in Ephesus" in 1:1, which fits the same picture. Others read the phrase as gentle courtesy: "as you surely have heard."
• "The stewardship of God's grace" (v2). The Greek is oikonomia, from oikos, "house," and the word for managing. A steward ran a household for its owner, handling goods that were not his own (Luke 16:2–4). The lexicon gives "stewardship" and, in later Greek, "administration" or "dispensation." Paul did not own this grace. He was entrusted with it to hand out "for you." The older English "dispensation" (KJV) later gave a whole theological system its name, but here the word simply means Paul's commission.
• "The mystery was made known to me by revelation" (v3). Mystērion in the New Testament does not mean a puzzle that is hard to solve. The lexicon is explicit that it is a secret that could not be known unless disclosed, "not… intrinsically difficult to understand." It is God's plan, once hidden and now opened. Ephesus was surrounded by mystery religions whose secrets were whispered only to initiates. Paul's mystery is the reverse: it is shouted to everyone. He received it "by revelation," as he says of his gospel in Galatians 1:12.
• "As I have written briefly" (v3). This most likely points back to earlier in this same letter (1:9–10; 2:11–22), not to a lost letter. The Tyndale notes allow either.
• "Not made known… as it has now been revealed" (v5). The Old Testament did promise blessing for the nations (Gen 12:3; Isa 49:6). What was not seen was how: that Gentiles would come in on equal footing, without first becoming Jews. The word "as" is comparative. Earlier generations saw something, but not with this clarity. The "apostles and prophets" are New Testament prophets, the same pairing as the church's foundation in 2:20.
• "Fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise" (v6). This is the mystery stated outright. In Greek all three words begin with syn-, "together with": synklēronoma (co-heirs), syssōma (co-bodied), symmetocha (co-sharers). Syssōmos appears nowhere else in the New Testament, and many scholars think Paul coined it. English loses the hammer-blow repetition: together, together, together. Gentiles are not guests in Israel's house or second-class members. They share the inheritance, the body and the promise equally, "in Christ Jesus through the gospel."
• "I was made a minister" (v7). The word is diakonos, "servant" or "attendant," the word behind "deacon." Paul did not make himself one. He was "made" one, by a gift and "by the working of his power," the same power that raised Christ (1:19–20).
• "Though I am the very least of all the saints" (v8). Paul invents a grammatical impossibility here. Elachistoteros takes the superlative "least" and adds a comparative ending: "leaster," or "less than the least." The lexicon lists it as a new comparative built on the superlative. It belongs to a progression across his letters: "the least of the apostles" (1 Cor 15:9), here "the very least of all the saints," and later "the foremost" of sinners (1 Tim 1:15). He never got over having persecuted the church.
• "The unsearchable riches of Christ" (v8). Anexichniastos means "that cannot be tracked out," from the word for a footprint. It is the riches of a land so vast no explorer can trace its edges. The same word describes God's ways in Romans 11:33, and the Greek Old Testament uses it of God's great deeds in Job 5:9 and 9:10.
• "The plan of the mystery hidden for ages" (v9). "Plan" is oikonomia again, the word of v2. Paul's stewardship (v2) serves God's larger administration (v9). The KJV reads "fellowship" here, following later manuscripts. The older manuscripts have oikonomia, and modern translations follow them. The KJV also adds "by Jesus Christ" after "who created all things," another later addition. Neither variant changes any teaching. The mention of creation matters: the God who made everything always intended this, so the Gentile mission is not a backup plan.
• "Through the church the manifold wisdom of God" (v10). Polypoikilos means "much-variegated," "of greatly differing colours." The simple form poikilos is used in the Greek Old Testament of Joseph's many-colored coat (Gen 37:3). God's wisdom is like richly patterned cloth, and the church, Jews and Gentiles of every nation woven together, is where its pattern shows.
• "To the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places" (v10). These are spiritual powers (1:21; 6:12). The church is God's exhibit to the unseen world. Angels "long to look" into the gospel (1 Pet 1:12), and hostile powers see their divide-and-rule undone. Most interpreters think both good and evil powers are in view. Some modern writers read these "powers" as social and political structures. Most commentators think Paul's "heavenly places" means spiritual beings, though such beings can work through earthly structures.
• "The eternal purpose" (v11). Literally "the purpose of the ages." This was not improvised. It was planned before time and "realized in Christ Jesus our Lord."
• "Boldness and access with confidence" (v12). Parrēsia first meant free speech, the citizen's right to speak openly in the assembly. In the New Testament it grows into confidence before God. Prosagōgē, "access," appears only three times, each time about coming to God (Rom 5:2; Eph 2:18). Some scholars, noted in the lexicon, prefer "introduction," like being formally presented at a king's court. Either way the Gentiles who were once "far off" (2:13) now walk in and speak freely, "through our faith in him."
• "Not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you" (v13). Enkakeō means to grow weary or give up. Jesus uses it in Luke 18:1, "ought always to pray and not lose heart." Paul fears his readers will be discouraged by his imprisonment. He turns it around: his suffering "is your glory." He is in chains because Gentiles matter that much to God.
• Commentators: All three hear v1 the same way. Henry: "Christ's servants, if they come to be prisoners, are his prisoners; and he despises not his prisoners." Guzik says Paul saw himself as Jesus' prisoner rather than Rome's and wanted no pity. On v8 Henry writes that Paul "was, in his own esteem, as little as could be," and JFB stresses the present tense: "Not merely was I in times past, but I still am the least worthy of so high an office." Guzik makes the point that grace and humility grow together, so the more a believer receives, the lower he sits. Henry calls the riches "unsearchable riches, which we cannot find the bottom of." On v5 JFB adds a careful note that Paul does not say the mystery was never revealed before, only not in this way: "Making known by revelation is the source of making known by preaching." On v10 JFB calls God's wisdom "one in its end" while "varying the economy in respect to places, times, and persons." Guzik, drawing on other writers, pictures the church as a school where angels learn God's wisdom, and he rejects reading the powers as merely political structures. He describes diakonos as a table waiter. The lexicon gives the broader "servant, attendant," so the table image is one use of the word, not its core meaning.

Prayer for Spiritual Strength (vv14–21)

• "For this reason I bow my knees" (v14). The prayer interrupted in v1 resumes. Jews usually prayed standing (Mark 11:25; Luke 18:11, 13). Kneeling marked unusual earnestness: Jesus in Gethsemane (Luke 22:41), Stephen dying (Acts 7:60), and Paul on the beach at Miletus with these same Ephesian elders (Acts 20:36). A chained man kneels to pray for people far away.
• "Before the Father" (v14). Many later manuscripts, followed by the KJV, add "of our Lord Jesus Christ." The oldest manuscripts do not have it, and modern translations leave it out. Without it, "Father" leads straight into the next verse's wordplay. Nothing in Christian teaching depends on the phrase, which appears plainly in 1:3.
• "From whom every family in heaven and on earth is named" (v15). "Father" is patēr, and "family" is patria, a word built from it. The lexicon gives "lineage, family, clan," used in the Greek Old Testament for family groups and in Acts 3:25 for "all the families of the earth." English cannot show the link. A paraphrase might be "the Father, from whom every fatherhood takes its name." God is not called Father by borrowing from human fathers. Human fatherhood is named after him. The KJV reads "the whole family," but the Greek lacks the article and most translations now render "every family." Those Jewish and Gentile clans that Paul has just joined together all trace their name to one Father.
• "According to the riches of his glory" (v16). Paul asks in proportion to God's wealth, not out of it. A millionaire giving ten dollars gives out of his riches. God gives according to them.
• "Strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being" (v16). The "inner being" is the self God renews even while the body wears out (2 Cor 4:16). Paul, chained and aging, knows that kind of strength.
• "So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith" (v17). Katoikeō means to settle, to make a home. The lexicon notes its use for divine indwelling, the same verb used of all the fullness of God dwelling in Christ (Col 1:19; 2:9). Paul is writing to believers in whom Christ already lives, so he is not praying for conversion. He prays that Christ will be fully at home, settled in every room rather than a guest kept at the door.
• "Rooted and grounded in love" (v17). Two pictures meet. "Rooted" is a tree drawing life from the soil. "Grounded" is a building set on its foundation, echoing the temple of 2:20–22. Love is the soil and the foundation.
• "With all the saints" (v18). This understanding is not reached alone. It comes "with all the saints," Jew and Gentile together. No single believer, culture or tradition sees the whole of Christ's love.
• "The breadth and length and height and depth" (v18). Paul does not say of what. Most take it to be the love of Christ named in the next verse. JFB reads it as the dimensions of the spiritual temple from chapter 2. Others see the whole plan of God's wisdom. A line of interpretation going back to the early church, Augustine among them, saw the shape of the cross in the four directions. The point holds on any view: it cannot be measured.
• "To know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge" (v19). A deliberate paradox. It can truly be known, by experience and not just as an idea, and yet never fully known. There is always more.
• "Filled with all the fullness of God" (v19). Plērōma is "fullness," what fills something to completion. The Greek reads "filled unto all the fullness," a goal moved toward rather than a container topped up. The church is already called Christ's "fullness" (1:23), and believers are to grow "to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (4:13). This does not mean becoming God. It means being filled with everything God gives of himself.
• "Far more abundantly than all that we ask or think" (v20). Hyperekperissou stacks prefixes: over, out of, beyond measure. The lexicon gives "superabundantly" and finds it only three times, all in Paul (1 Thess 3:10; 5:13; here). Paul has just prayed the largest prayer in his letters, and God can exceed even that. The power is "at work within us," the resurrection power of 1:19–20, active now.
• "To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus" (v21). An unusual pairing. The church, the united body of chapters 2–3, is where God's glory is displayed, inseparable from its Head. "Throughout all generations, forever and ever" is literally "to all the generations of the age of the ages." The "Amen" closes the first half of the letter. Everything Paul says about living in chapters 4–6 grows out of this.
• Commentators: On v14 JFB states plainly that "the oldest manuscripts omit 'of our Lord Jesus Christ.'" On v15 it notes that Alford and others translate "every family," but itself argues for one family of angels and redeemed under the Father, a minority view today. Guzik notes that Scripture shows many people kneeling to pray but never makes kneeling a requirement. On v17 Henry and JFB reach for the same image. Henry: "Faith opens the door of the soul, to receive Christ; faith admits him, and submits to him." JFB: faith "opens the door of the heart to Jesus," so that he may "abidingly make His abode," which the lexicon's "settle, dwell" supports. Guzik makes the same point about a settled home, not a visit. He assigns each of the four dimensions a meaning, from love that reaches the whole world and lasts without end to love that stoops to the cross and raises believers to the heavenly places, and he links the four directions to the cross. JFB's temple reading is more tied to the context of chapter 2. Henry calls strength from the Spirit "the best and most desirable strength." Guzik says Paul coined "far more abundantly." The lexicon finds the word only in Paul, which fits, though it cannot prove he invented it. Guzik also notes that Paul gives glory "in the church," not only in the individual soul.

Pointing to Christ

Every line of this chapter runs through Christ. The mystery is "the mystery of Christ" (v4). The riches are "the unsearchable riches of Christ" (v8). God's eternal purpose is "realized in Christ Jesus" (v11), and access to the Father is "in whom" (v12). The prayer asks that Christ dwell in the heart and that his love, beyond measuring, be known. A prisoner who calls himself less than the least kneels in chains to pray, because a greater Prisoner was bound and crucified to tear down the wall between peoples and bring both near to one Father (2:13–18).

Commentary

• Enduring Word (David Guzik): enduringword.com Guzik covers Paul's imprisonment, the mystery of Gentile inclusion, the church's cosmic role, Paul's prayer, and the doxology.
• Jamieson-Fausset-Brown (1871): blueletterbible.org A critical and explanatory commentary on the whole Bible, more concise than Matthew Henry and closer to the Hebrew and Greek, with attention to historical and geographical detail. Public domain.
• Matthew Henry's Exposition (1710): blueletterbible.org A devotional verse-by-verse commentary in the Puritan tradition, still among the most widely read three centuries on. Public domain.

Videos

Articles

• GotQuestions.org: gotquestions.org On the whole book: an overview of the book of Ephesians -- who wrote it, when, why, and how it fits the rest of Scripture.

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Reflection

• Unsearchable Riches, Genuine Humility (v.8) — Paul calls himself less than the least of all saints even as he describes the inexhaustible riches of Christ he's been given to share. Does a deeper grasp of God's grace make you more humble, or does it feed pride instead?
• The Church Displays God's Wisdom (v.10) — Paul says the church, in all its imperfection, shows God's manifold wisdom to spiritual powers. How does that change the way you view the ordinary, sometimes messy, local church you're part of?
• Strengthened in the Inner Man (v.16) — Paul prays for believers to be strengthened by the Spirit in their inner being, not just their outward activity. Are you tending to your inner life with God, or running on empty while staying busy on the outside?
• A Love Beyond Full Understanding (v.19) — Paul prays believers would know a love that surpasses knowledge and be filled with all the fullness of God. Have you experienced Christ's love as something more than an idea you agree with?
• More Than You Can Ask or Imagine (v.20) — Paul closes by praising God's power to do far more than anyone could ask or think. Are your prayers sized to what you can imagine, or to who God actually is?