Ephesians 3:1-12

Paul's Relationship to the Divine Mystery

3:1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus ¹  for the sake of you Gentiles – 3:2 if indeed ²  you have heard of the stewardship ³  of God’s grace that was given to me for you, 3:3 that ⁴  by revelation the divine secret ⁵  was made known to me, as I wrote before briefly. ⁶  3:4 When reading this, ⁷  you will be able to ⁸  understand my insight into this secret ⁹  of Christ. 3:5 Now this secret ¹⁰  was not disclosed to people ¹¹  in former ¹²  generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by ¹³  the Spirit, 3:6 namely, that through the gospel ¹⁴  the Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members ¹⁵  of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus. 3:7 I became a servant of this gospel ¹⁶  according to the gift of God’s grace that was given to me by ¹⁷  the exercise of his power. ¹⁸  3:8 To me – less than the least of all the saints ¹⁹  – this grace was given, ²⁰  to proclaim to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ 3:9 and to enlighten ²¹  everyone about God’s secret plan ²²  – a secret that has been hidden for ages ²³  in God ²⁴  who has created all things. 3:10 The purpose of this enlightenment is that ²⁵  through the church the multifaceted wisdom ²⁶  of God should now be disclosed to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly realms. 3:11 This was according to ²⁷  the eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, 3:12 in whom we have boldness and confident access ²⁸  to God ²⁹  because of ³⁰  Christ’s ³¹  faithfulness. ³² 

[3:1]  ¹ tc Several early and important witnesses, chiefly of the Western text (א* D* F G [365]), lack ᾿Ιησοῦ (Ihsou, “Jesus”) here, while most Alexandrian and Byzantine mss (Ì⁴⁶ א¹ A B [C] D¹ Ψ 33 1739 [1881] Ï lat sy bo) have the word. However, because of the Western text’s proclivities to add or delete to the text, seemingly at whim, serious doubts should be attached to the shorter reading. It is strengthened, however, by א’s support. Nevertheless, since both א and D were corrected with the addition of ᾿Ιησοῦ, their testimony might be questioned. Further, in uncial script the nomina sacra here could have led to missing a word by way of homoioteleuton (cMuiMu). At the same time, in light of the rarity of scribal omission of nomina sacra (see TCGNT 582, n. 1), a decision for inclusion of the word here must be tentative. NA²⁷ rightly places ᾿Ιησοῦ in brackets.

[3:2]  ² sn If indeed. The author is not doubting whether his audience has heard, but is rather using provocative language (if indeed) to engage his audience in thinking about the magnificence of God’s grace. However, in English translation, the apodosis (“then”-clause) does not come until v. 13, leaving the protasis (“if”-clause) dangling. Eph 3:2-7 constitute one sentence in Greek.

[3:2]  ³ tn Or “administration,” “dispensation,” “commission.”

[3:3]  ⁴ tn Or “namely, that is.”

[3:3]  ⁵ tn Or “mystery.”

[3:3]  ⁶ tn Or “as I wrote above briefly.”

[3:4]  ⁷ tn Grk “which, when reading.”

[3:4]  ⁸ tn Grk “you are able to.”

[3:4]  ⁹ tn Or “mystery.”

[3:5]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “which.” Verse 5 is technically a relative clause, subordinate to the thought of v. 4.

[3:5]  ¹¹ tn Grk “the sons of men” (a Semitic idiom referring to human beings, hence, “people”).

[3:5]  ¹² tn Grk “other.”

[3:5]  ¹³ tn Or “in.”

[3:6]  ¹⁴ sn The phrase through the gospel is placed last in the sentence in Greek for emphasis. It has been moved forward for clarity.

[3:6]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “and fellow members.”

[3:7]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “of which I was made a minister,” “of which I became a servant.”

[3:7]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “according to.”

[3:7]  ¹⁸ sn On the exercise of his power see 1:19-20.

[3:8]  ¹⁹ sn In Pauline writings saints means any true believer. Thus for Paul to view himself as less than the least of all the saints is to view himself as the most unworthy object of Christ’s redemption.

[3:8]  ²⁰ sn The parallel phrases to proclaim and to enlighten which follow indicate why God’s grace was manifested to Paul. Grace was not something just to be received, but to be shared with others (cf. Acts 13:47).

[3:9]  ²¹ tn There is a possible causative nuance in the Greek verb, but this is difficult to convey in the translation.

[3:9]  ²² tn Grk “what is the plan of the divine secret.” Earlier the author had used οἰκονομία (oikonomia; here “plan”) to refer to his own “stewardship” (v. 2). But now he is speaking about the content of this secret, not his own activity in relation to it.

[3:9]  ²³ tn Or “for eternity,” or perhaps “from the Aeons.” Cf. 2:2, 7.

[3:9]  ²⁴ tn Or “by God.” It is possible that ἐν (en) plus the dative here indicates agency, that is, that God has performed the action of hiding the secret. However, this usage of the preposition ἐν is quite rare in the NT, and even though here it does follow a perfect passive verb as in the Classical idiom, it is more likely that a different nuance is intended.

[3:10]  ²⁵ tn Grk “that.” Verse 10 is a subordinate clause to the verb “enlighten” in v. 9.

[3:10]  ²⁶ tn Or “manifold wisdom,” “wisdom in its rich variety.”

[3:11]  ²⁷ tn Grk “according to.” The verse is a prepositional phrase subordinate to v. 10.

[3:12]  ²⁸ tn Grk “access in confidence.”

[3:12]  ²⁹ tn The phrase “to God” is not in the text, but is clearly implied by the preceding, “access.”

[3:12]  ³⁰ tn Grk “through,” “by way of.”

[3:12]  ³¹ tn Grk “his.”

[3:12]  ³² tn Or “faith in him.” A decision is difficult here. Though traditionally translated “faith in Jesus Christ,” an increasing number of NT scholars are arguing that πίστις Χριστοῦ (pisti" Cristou) and similar phrases in Paul (here and in Rom 3:22, 26; Gal 2:16, 20; 3:22; Phil 3:9) involve a subjective genitive and mean “Christ’s faith” or “Christ’s faithfulness” (cf., e.g., G. Howard, “The ‘Faith of Christ’,” ExpTim 85 [1974]: 212-15; R. B. Hays, The Faith of Jesus Christ [SBLDS]; Morna D. Hooker, “Πίστις Χριστοῦ,” NTS 35 [1989]: 321-42). Noteworthy among the arguments for the subjective genitive view is that when πίστις takes a personal genitive it is almost never an objective genitive (cf. Matt 9:2, 22, 29; Mark 2:5; 5:34; 10:52; Luke 5:20; 7:50; 8:25, 48; 17:19; 18:42; 22:32; Rom 1:8; 12; 3:3; 4:5, 12, 16; 1 Cor 2:5; 15:14, 17; 2 Cor 10:15; Phil 2:17; Col 1:4; 2:5; 1 Thess 1:8; 3:2, 5, 10; 2 Thess 1:3; Titus 1:1; Phlm 6; 1 Pet 1:9, 21; 2 Pet 1:5). On the other hand, the objective genitive view has its adherents: A. Hultgren, “The Pistis Christou Formulations in Paul,” NovT 22 (1980): 248-63; J. D. G. Dunn, “Once More, ΠΙΣΤΙΣ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΥ,” SBL Seminar Papers, 1991, 730-44. Most commentaries on Romans and Galatians usually side with the objective view.