In verse twenty of the Acts text he says, "For this cause therefore have I called for you, to see [you], and to speak with [you]: because that for the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain.". For this cause. ), now at St. Petersburg, published in facsimile type by its discoverer, Tischendorf, in 1862. What is the apostle’s prayer for the church? If we need to take a fall in order to witness, then we should if that is the situation God places us in. Acts 21:21; Acts 21:18; 2 Timothy 1:11-12). The reference is to what precedes (chap. The apostle intended saying at the beginning of the chapter what he says in Ephesians 3:14, "For this cause, I Paul, bow my knees," i.e. To whom Paul was expressly sent, and in preaching to whom he had fallen into the hands of the civil law. Middleton on Greek Article, p. 358. ), a Græco-Latin MS., at Dresden, edited by Matthæi in 1791. ), a Græco-Latin MS. at Paris, edited by Tischendorf in 1852. —And doubtless no human name so thrilled their hearts at the utterance as this. ычникам. They had been “dead in transgressions and sins,” (2:1), but God in his mercy “made (them) alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (2:5-6). But in this case to say the least, the article ( ὁ δέσμιος) before the predicate is unnecessary. Those for whom he suffered bonds are immediately afterwards said to be the Gentiles. In all his relations he belonged to Christ. Paul’s imprisonment, which ought to have been held as a confirmation of his apostleship, was undoubtedly presented by his adversaries in an opposite light. Chapter 3. 3. Study the bible online using commentary on Ephesians 3 and more! Werner Bible Commentary "For freedom Christ has freed us" — Galatians 5:1. 3, he comes to a point in his own Ego. He digresses at "For this cause," and does not complete the sentence which he had intended, until Eph 3:14, where he resumes the words, "For this cause," namely, because I know this your call of God as Gentiles (Eph 2:11-22), to be "fellow-heirs" with the Jews (Eph 3:6), "I bow my knees to" the Father of our common Saviour (Eph 3:14, 15) to confirm you in the faith by His Spirit. His unshaken firmness was no small additional proof that he had discharged his office in a proper manner. Beginning in Ephesians 3:2 Paul begins a new sentence which does not end until verse 7. The lighthouse keeper weathered all storms so that the sailors could be secure. Ephesians 4:1 (with the AV, Mich., Winer, etc. 3. is not part of a parenthesis, but a paragraph complete within itself; nor at Ephesians 3:13, which is of too limited scope and fails to meet the full force of the ; but at Ephesians 3:14, where the is repeated. The expression, ὁ δέσμιος τοῦ χριστοῦ, the prisoner of Christ, does not mean prisoner on account of Christ. For a comprehensive study of the passage, download the Study Guide (PDF download). “In behalf of you Gentiles”: “For the sake of” (NASV). In the former hypothesis, the connection thus stands—“I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles”—“even to me, less than the least of all saints, is this grace given.” But here there is no natural contact of ideas, and the change of case from the nominative to the dative, though vindicated by OEcumenius from examples in Thucydides and Demosthenes, is, as Origen affirms, a solecism, and is fatal to the hypothesis. It is best to take it as a broken construction, the statement with which Paul begins being, as in so many other cases, diverted into a different channel by the introduction of some subsidiary remark. Ephesians Commentary Purpose and Themes. The only question which can well be raised is whether the resumption takes place at Ephesians 3:13, “I desire that ye faint not;” or at Ephesians 3:14, “I bow my knees;” and this seems decided for the latter alternative, both by the emphatic repetition of “for this cause,” and by the far greater weight and finality of the latter sentence. Men might think otherwise, but it is our duty to judge of the reasons. But this takes the point from the and makes Paul assert and exalt himself as a sufferer in a way unlike him. The genitive, as that of originating cause, signifies not merely “a prisoner belonging to Christ,” but one whom Christ, that is, Christ's cause, and not Caesar, had imprisoned. For this cause, I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus in behalf of you Gentiles ... For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ, ο δεσμιος του Χριστου Ιησου υπερ υμων των ετνων, ho desmios tou Christou Iēsou huper humōn tōn ethnōn, ἐν μέσῳ τεθεικὼς ἀναλαμβάνει τὸν περὶ προσευχῆς λόγον, "For this reason" refers to what Paul had said about God"s blessings that are now the possession of both Gentile and Jewish believers. Meyer's rendering is peculiar-deshalb-that you may be built-zu diesem Behufe bin Ich Paulus, der Gefesselte Christi Jesu um euret, der Heiden wi llen. Ephesians 2:19-22), especially the closing thought. 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