Ephesians 3:7

3:7 I became a servant of this gospel ¹  according to the gift of God’s grace that was given to me by ²  the exercise of his power. ³ 

Ephesians 3:1

Paul's Relationship to the Divine Mystery

3:1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus ⁴  for the sake of you Gentiles –

Ephesians 2:13

2:13 But now in Christ Jesus you who used to be far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. ⁵ 

[3:7]  ¹ tn Grk “of which I was made a minister,” “of which I became a servant.”

[3:7]  ² tn Grk “according to.”

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

[3:1]  ⁴ 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.

[2:13]  ⁵ tn Or “have come near in the blood of Christ.”