The Apostle's Sufferings; Paul's Appointment as an Apostle;
Paul's Labours as an Apostle. A. D. 61.
1 For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,
2 If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given
me to you-ward: 3 How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery;
(as I wrote afore in few words, 4 Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand
my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) 5 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; 6 That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs,
and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:
7 Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of
God given unto me by the effectual working of his power. 8 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; 9 And to make
all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning
of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:
10 To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly
places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, 11 According
to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord: 12 In
whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.
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, v. 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 and for his sake, and continue
his faithful servant and the object of his special protection and care,
while I am thus suffering for him." Observe, Christ's servants, if they
come to be prisoners, are his prisoners; and he despises not his prisoners.
He thinks never the worse of them for the bad character which the world
gives them or the evil treatment that they met with in it. Paul adhered
to Christ, and Christ owned him, when he was in prison.--For you, Gentiles;
the Jews persecuted and imprisoned him because he was the apostle of the
Gentiles, and preached the gospel to them. We may learn hence that the
faithful ministers of Christ are to dispense his sacred truths, however
disagreeable they may be to some, and whatever they themselves may suffer
for doing so. Or, 2. The words may be thus understood:--"For this cause,--since
you are no more strangers and foreigners (as ch. ii. 19), but are united
to Christ, and admitted into communion with his church,--I Paul, who am
the prisoner of Jesus Christ, pray that you may be enabled to act as becomes
persons thus favoured by God, and made partakers of such privileges." To
this purport you find him expressing himself in v. 14, where, after the
digression contained in the several verses intervening, he proceeds with
what he began in the first verse. Observe, Those who have received grace
and signal favours from God stand in need of prayer, that they may improve
and advance, and continue to act as becomes them. And, seeing Paul while
he was a prisoner employed himself in such prayers to God in behalf of
the Ephesians, we should learn that no particular sufferings of our own
should make us so solicitous about ourselves as to neglect the cases of
others in our supplications and addresses to God. He speaks again of his
sufferings: Wherefore I desire that you faint not at my tribulation for
you, which is your glory, v. 13. While he was in prison, he suffered much
there; and, though it was upon their account that he suffered, yet he would
not have them discouraged nor dismayed at this, seeing God had done such
great things for them by his ministry. What a tender concern was here for
these Ephesians! The apostle seems to have been more solicitous lest they
should be discouraged and faint upon his tribulations than about what he
himself endured; and, to prevent this, he tells them that his sufferings
were their glory, and would be so far from being a real discouragement,
if they duly considered the matter, that they ministered cause to them
for glorying and for rejoicing, as this discovered the great esteem and
regard which God bore to them, in that he not only sent his apostles to
preach the gospel to them, but even to suffer for them, and to confirm
the truths they delivered by the persecutions they underwent. Observe,
Not only the faithful ministers of Christ themselves, but their people
too, have some special cause for joy and glorying, when they suffer for
the sake of dispensing the gospel.
II. The apostle informs them of God's appointing him to the office,
and eminently fitting and qualifying him for it, by a special revelation
that he made unto him. 1. God appointed him to the office: If you have
heard of the dispensation of the grace of God, which is given me to you-ward,
v. 2. They could not have heard of this, and therefore he does not design
to speak doubtfully of this matter. Eige is sometimes an affirmative particle,
and we may read it, Since you have heard, &c. He styles the gospel
the grace of God here (as in other places) because it is the gift of divine
grace to sinful men; and all the gracious overtures that it makes, and
the joyful tidings that it contains, proceed from the rich grace of God;
and it is also the great instrument in the hands of the Spirit by which
God works grace in the souls of men. He speaks of the dispensation of this
grace given to him; he means as he was authorized and commissioned by God
to dispense the doctrine of the gospel, which commission and authority
were given to him chiefly for he service of the Gentiles: to you-ward.
And again, speaking of the gospel, he says, Whereof I was made a minister,
&c., v. 7. Here he again asserts his authority. He was MADE a minister--he
did not make himself such; he took not to himself that honour--and he was
made such according to the gift of the grace of God unto him. God supplied
and furnished him for his work; and in the performance of it suitably assisted
him with all needful gifts and graces, both ordinary and extraordinary,
and that by the effectual working of his power, in himself more especially,
and also in great numbers of those to whom he preached, by which means
his labours among them were successful. Observe, What God calls men to
he fits them for, and does it with an almighty power. An effectual working
of divine power attends the gifts of divine grace. 2. As God appointed
him to the office, so he eminently qualified him for it, by a special revelation
that he made unto him. He makes mention both of the mystery that was revealed
and of the revelation of it. (1.) The mystery revealed is that the Gentiles
should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise
in Christ, by the gospel (v. 6); that is, that they should be joint-heirs
with the believing Jews of the heavenly inheritance; and that they should
be members of the same mystical body, be received into the church of Christ,
and be interested in the gospel-promises, as well as the Jews, and particularly
in that great promise of the Spirit. And this in Christ, being united to
Christ, in whom all the promises are yea and amen; and by the gospel, that
is, in the times of the gospel, as some understand it; or, by the gospel
preached to them, which is the great instrument and means by which God
works faith in Christ, as others. This was the great truth revealed to
the apostles, namely, that God would call the Gentiles to salvation by
faith in Christ, and that without the works of the law. (2.) Of the revelation
of this truth he speaks, v. 3-5. Here we may observe that the coalition
of Jews and Gentiles in the gospel church was a mystery, a great mystery,
what was designed in the counsel of God before all worlds, but what could
not be fully understood for many ages, till the accomplishment expounded
the prophecies of it. It is called a mystery because the several circumstances
and peculiarities of it (such as the time and manner and means by which
it should be effected) were concealed and kept secret in God's own breast,
till be an immediate revelation he made them known to his servant. See
Acts xxvi. 16-18. And it is called the mystery of Christ because it was
revealed by him (Gal. i. 12), and because it relates so very much to him.
Of this the apostle has given some hints afore, or a little before; that
is, in the preceding chapters. Whereby, when you read; or, as those words
may be read, unto which attending (and it is not enough for us barely to
read the scriptures, unless we attend to them, and seriously consider and
lay to heart what we read), you may understand my knowledge in the mystery
of Christ; so as to perceive how God had fitted and qualified him to be
an apostle to the Gentiles, which might be to them an evident token of
his divine authority. This mystery, he says, 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 (v. 5); that is, "It was not so fully and clearly
discovered in the ages before Christ as it is now revealed unto the prophets
of this age, the prophets of the New Testament, who are immediately inspired
and taught by the Spirit." Let us observe, that the conversion of the Gentile
world to the faith of Christ was an adorable mystery, and we ought to bless
God for it. Who would have imagined that those who had been so long in
the dark, and at so great a distance, would be enlightened with the marvellous
light, and be made nigh? Let us learn hence not to despair of the worst,
of the worst of persons, and the worst of nations. Nothing is too hard
for divine grace to do: none so unworthy but God may please to confer great
grace upon them. And how much are we ourselves interested in this affair;
not only as we live in a time in which the mystery is revealed, but particularly
as we are a part of the nations which in times past were foreigners and
strangers, and lived in gross idolatry; but are now enlightened with the
everlasting gospel, and partake of its promises!
III. The apostle informs them how he was employed in this office, and
that with respect to the Gentiles, and to all men.
1. With respect to the Gentiles, he preached to them the unsearchable
riches of Christ, v. 8. Observe, in this verse, how humbly he speaks of
himself, and how highly he speaks of Jesus Christ. (1.) How humbly he speaks
of himself: I am less than the least of all saints. St. Paul, who was the
chief of the apostles, calls himself less than the least of all saints:
he means on account of his having been formerly a persecutor of the followers
of Christ. He was, in his own esteem, as little as could be. What can be
less than the least? To speak himself as little as could be, he speaks
himself less than could be. Observe, Those whom God advances to honourable
employments he humbles and makes low in their own eyes; and, where God
gives grace to be humble, there he gives all other grace. You may also
observe in what a different manner the apostle speaks of himself and of
his office. While he magnifies his office, he debases himself. Observe,
A faithful minister of Christ may be very humble, and think very meanly
of himself, even when he thinks and speaks very highly and honourably of
his sacred function. (2.) How highly he speaks of Jesus Christ: The unsearchable
riches of Christ. There is a mighty treasury of mercy, grace, and love,
laid up in Christ Jesus, and that both for Jews and Gentiles. Or, the riches
of the gospel are here spoken of as the riches of Christ: the riches which
Christ purchased for, and bestows upon, all believers. And they are unsearchable
riches, which we cannot find the bottom of, which human sagacity could
never have discovered, and men could no otherwise attain to the knowledge
of them but by revelation. Now it was the apostle's business and employment
to preach these unsearchable riches of Christ among the Gentiles: and it
was a favour he greatly valued, and looked upon it as an unspeakable honour
to him: "Unto me is this grace given; this special favour God has granted
to such an unworthy creature as I am." And it is an unspeakable favour
to the Gentile world that to them the unsearchable riches of Christ are
preached. Though many remain poor, and are not enriched with these riches,
yet it is a favour to have them preached among us, to have an offer of
them made to us; and, if we are not enriched with them, it is our own fault.
2. With respect to all men, v. 9. His business and employment were to
make all men see (to publish and make known to the whole world) what is
the fellowship of the mystery (that the Gentiles who have hitherto been
strangers to the church, shall be admitted into communion with it) which
from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God (kept secret in his
purpose), who created all things by Jesus Christ: as John i. 3, All things
were made by him, and without him was not any thing made that was made;
and therefore no wonder that he saves the Gentiles as well as the Jews;
for he is the common Creator of them both: and we may conclude that he
is able to perform the work of their redemption, seeing he was able to
accomplish the great work of creation. It is true that both the first creation,
when God made all things out of nothing, and the new creation, whereby
sinners are made new creatures by converting grace, are of God by Jesus
Christ. The apostle adds, To the intent that now unto the principalities
and powers in heavenly places might be known, by the church, the manifold
wisdom of God, v. 10. This was one things, among others, which God had
in his eye in revealing this mystery, that the good angels, who have a
pre-eminence in governing the kingdoms and principalities of the world,
and who are endued with great power to execute the will of God on this
earth (though their ordinary residence is in heaven) may be informed, from
what passes in the church and is done in and by it, of the manifold wisdom
of God; that is, of the great variety with which God wisely dispenses things,
or of his wisdom manifested in the many ways and methods he takes in ordering
his church in the several ages of it, and especially in receiving the Gentiles
into it. The holy angels, who look into the mystery of our redemption by
Christ, could not but take notice of this branch of that mystery, that
among the Gentiles is preached the unsearchable riches of Christ. And this
is according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our
Lord, v. 11. Some translate the words kata prothesin ton aionon thus According
to the fore-disposing of the ages which he made, &c. So Dr. Whitby,
&c. "In the first of the ages," says this author, "his wisdom seeing
fit to give the promise of a Saviour to a fallen Adam: in the second age
to typify and represent him to the Jews in sacred persons, rites, and sacrifices:
and in the age of the Messiah, or the last age, to reveal him to the Jews,
and preach him to the Gentiles." Others understand it, according to our
translation, of the eternal purpose which God purposed to execute in and
through Jesus Christ, the whole of what he has done in the great affair
of man's redemption being in pursuance of his eternal decree about that
matter. The apostle, having mentioned our Lord Jesus Christ, subjoins concerning
him, In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of
him (v. 12); that is, "By (or through) whom we have liberty to open our
minds freely to God, as to a Father, and a well-grounded persuasion of
audience and of acceptance with him; and this by means of the faith we
have in him, as our great Mediator and Advocate." We may come with humble
boldness to hear from God, knowing that the terror of the curse is done
away; and we may expect to hear from him good words and comfortable. We
may have access with confidence to speak to God, knowing that we have such
a Mediator between God and us, and such an Advocate with the Father.
