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placed within brackets (. . . . .). However, if we would be perfectly accurate, we must
call the inserted verses (Eph. 3: 2-13) a parembole, for words in parenthesis are not
complete in themselves, but words of a parembole are. The place occupied in the
outworking of the theme can be seen if the whole passage be set out thus:
A | Eph. 2: 19-22. The church a temple, a habitation or dwelling of God in Spirit.
B | 3: 1. For this cause.
C
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3: 2-13.
A parenthesis made necessary by Paul's claim that his
imprisonment was connected with the blessing of the
Gentiles, which he explains as linked with a dispensation
given to himself. He returns to the matter of his tribulations
which are for their glory, and repeats the words:
B | 3: 14. For this cause.
A | 3: 14-21. The individual believer should pray that he may experimentally enjoy
this privilege of 2: 19-22, which for the present is expressed in the
words: "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith".
We will, therefore, follow the Apostle in his argument, and postpone the examination
of the connection suggested by the words `for this cause' until we reach verse fourteen.
The reason why the Apostle paused to explain is because of the claim inherent in the
words:
"I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles" (Eph. 3: 1).
This is the fist occurrence of the personal pronoun ego in the epistle. Here, the
message is placed first, the messenger second. On the other occasions, as for example the
fight for the faith in the epistle to the Galatians, the commission and the independence of
the messenger takes precedence. The occasions upon which the Apostle was led to use
the personal `I Paul' are six in number, as follows: II Cor. 10: 1, Gal. 5: 2; Eph. 3: 1;
Col. 1: 23; I Thess. 2: 18 and Philemon 19. The only two which are used to make a
claim to special revelation and stewardship are those in Ephesians and Colossians:
"I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles."
"Whereof I Paul am made a minister."
It is evident that so much is involved and implied in the claims of Eph. 3: 1 that it
justifies the long digression of the next twelve verses. What was this claim? Let us
notice the last claim first. "For you Gentiles." It was no new thing for Paul's name to
be intimately associated with the Gentiles. At his conversion he was described as a
chosen vessel to bear the name of the Lord "before the Gentiles" (Acts 9: 15) and in
Rom. 11: 13 he declares himself to be `the Apostle of the Gentiles', a claim already
recognized by Peter, James and John (Gal. 2: 8, 9). It was the connection of Paul's
imprisonment with the Gentile that introduced the claim that demanded explanation. He
was the Prisoner of Christ Jesus (R.V.) for the Gentiles, and it is the `Prison ministry' that
must claim our attention.
We must commence our survey with Paul's own introduction of the subject as
described in Acts 20: It is evident that Paul has come to the end of one ministry, and is