Ephesians 3.1a-The Basis for Paul's Second Intercessory Prayer on Behalf of Gentile Christians
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday March 12, 2024
Ephesians Series: Ephesians 3:1a-The Basis for Paul’s Second Intercessory Prayer on Behalf of Gentile Christians
Lesson # 131
Ephesians 3:1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—3:2 if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you, 3:3 that by revelation the divine secret was made known to me, as I wrote before briefly. 3:4 When reading this, you will be able to understand my insight into this secret of Christ. 3:5 Now this secret was not disclosed to people in former generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, 3:6 namely, that through the gospel the Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus. 3:7 I became a servant of this gospel according to the gift of God’s grace that was given to me by the exercise of his power. 3:8 To me—less than the least of all the saints—this grace was given, to proclaim to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ 3:9 and to enlighten everyone about God’s secret plan—a secret that has been hidden for ages in God who has created all things. 3:10 The purpose of this enlightenment is that through the church the multifaceted wisdom of God should now be disclosed to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly realms. 3:11 This was according to the eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, 3:12 in whom we have boldness and confident access to God because of Christ’s faithfulness. 3:13 For this reason I ask you not to lose heart because of what I am suffering for you, which is your glory. (NET)
We noted in our introduction that Ephesians is divided into two main sections.
Chapters 1-3 contains the “indicatives of the faith” while chapters 4-6 contain the “imperatives.”
Therefore, the latter presents the practical application of the former and the prologue or preface of the letter appears in Ephesians 1:3-14.
There are also two magnificent intercessory prayers offered by Paul to the Father for the recipients of the epistle.
The first appears in Ephesians 1:15-23 and serves as a hinge to chapters two and three and its purpose is for the recipients of the letter to gain understanding regarding the contents of the first two chapters.
The second intercessory prayer for the recipients of the letter appears in Ephesians 3:14-21 and serves as a hinge to the final three chapters and presents the practical application of the first three chapters.
Now, in chapter three, the apostle Paul teaches the Christian community regarding the mystery of Christ, which is that Gentile believers are fellow-heirs with Jewish believers, fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus (Eph. 3:1-6).
Paul teaches that the Father’s eternal plan was accomplished through His Son (Eph. 3:7-11) and the believer has confident access to the Father in prayer because of their union and identification with Jesus Christ (Eph. 3:12).
The apostle also asserts that he prayed to the Father that Christ would dwell in the hearts of the Christian community in the Roman province of Asia and that they would know experientially Christ’s love for them (Eph. 3:14-21).
In Ephesians 3:1, the referent of the genitive neuter singular form of the immediate demonstrative pronoun houtos (οὗτος), “this” is the contents of the Ephesians 2:11-22.
This is indicated by the fact that this word is put in the neuter gender indicating the writer is not referring to a particular word in Ephesians 2:11-22 but rather the entire contents of this pericope.
The genitive neuter singular form of the immediate demonstrative pronoun houtos (οὗτος), “this” is the object of the improper preposition charin (χάριν), which always appears after its object and it can express purpose or cause.
Here it is marker of reason indicating that the contents of Ephesians 2:11-22 are the basis or the reason for Paul’s intercessory prayer in Ephesians 3:14-21.
It does not function as a marker of purpose, which would indicate that the contents of Ephesians 2:11-22 are the purpose for which Paul intercedes in prayer to the Father on behalf of the recipients of this epistle.
This is indicated by the fact that these verses are not an object or end to be attained or the intended result of Paul communicating this mystery of Christ.
In other words, these verses do not constitute the intended result of Paul communicating this mystery because in Ephesians 3:2 he asserts that the reason why he communicates this mystery, i.e. the gospel is that the Father gave him this stewardship to do this.
Rather, the contents of Ephesians 2:11-22 serve as the basis for Paul interceding in prayer on behalf of the recipients of this epistle since they constitute the new humanity, which along with Jesus Christ, will rule over the works of God’s hands during the millennial reign of Jesus Christ.
Therefore, this expression Toutou charin (Τούτου χάριν), “for this reason” is anaphoric rather than kataphoric, which means that the former is pointing to the immediate preceding context and specifically, the contents of the Ephesians 2:11-22, which serves as the basis for the intercessory prayer in Ephesians 3:14-21.
The latter means that it is pointing forward to the contents of Ephesians 3:2-13, which is autobiographical.
Specifically, it is a digression in that Paul does not communicate his intercessory prayer on behalf of the recipients of this letter until Ephesians 3:14-21 in order to remind them that he is a communicator of the mystery of Christ, which he also identifies as the gospel in Ephesians 3:7.
Paul interrupts himself and digresses in order to provide the reader with more insight into the church as a mystery and his responsibility to communicate this mystery to the Gentiles.
He describes it as a mystery because it was not known to Old Testament prophets but has now been revealed by the Spirit through the teaching of the apostles and specifically himself.
In Ephesians 3:2-6, he defines this mystery by asserting that Gentile believers are fellow-heirs with Jewish believers, fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus.
Then in Ephesians 3:7-11, he asserts that the Father’s eternal plan was accomplished through His Son and in Ephesians 3:12, he teaches that the believer has confident access to the Father in prayer because of their union and identification with Jesus Christ.
Lastly, in Ephesians 3:13, he asks the recipients of this letter to not lose heart because of his imprisonment, which was for their glory.
Therefore, the contents of Ephesians 2:11-22 could not possibly be the basis for the digression in Ephesians 3:2-13 because the church composed of both Jewish and Gentile Christian communities and permanently indwelt by the Holy Spirit is not the reason why Paul’s has a stewardship to communicate the mystery of Christ.
In fact, he asserts in Ephesians 3:2 that the reason why he possesses this stewardship is that the Father gave him it to him.
Rather, the contents of Ephesians 2:11-22 are the basis for Paul’s intercessory prayer recorded in Ephesians 3:14-21.
Lastly, the expression Toutou charin (Τούτου χάριν), which appears in Ephesians 3:1, appears again in Ephesians 3:14 indicating that Paul is resuming his thought which began in Ephesians 3:1 and interrupted with an autobiographical digression in Ephesians 3:2-13.
This is not the first time in Ephesians that Paul has begun a thought but breaks it off temporarily but then resumes it again since he does this in Ephesians 2:1-5.
The thought begun in Ephesians 2:1 is not completed until Ephesians 2:5-6, which thus creates an “anacoluthon” in Ephesians 2:2-4, which means that there is a break in the grammar.
In Ephesians 2:1-3, the main verb and the subject have not been mentioned until Ephesians 2:4 where the subject God the Father is mentioned.
The main verb is mentioned in Ephesians 2:5, which we noted is the third person singular aorist active indicative conjugation of the verb syzōopoieō (συζωοποιέω), “made alive together” (NET).
Ephesians 2:1-4 is one incomplete sentence in order leave the readers in suspense as to how God the Father would solve the dilemma the recipients of this epistle were in prior to their justification.
To mark the resumption of this thought Paul employs almost the same identical protasis of a concessive clause, which appears in Ephesians 2:1.
If you recall, in Ephesians 2:5, Paul asserts ontas hēmas nekrous tois paraptōmasin (ὄντας ἡμᾶς νεκροὺς τοῖς παραπτώμασιν), “Even though each and every one of us as a corporate unit were spiritually dead ones because of our transgressions.” (Author’s translation).
The only difference between the two is that the one in Ephesians 2:1 employs the accusative second personal plural form of the personal pronoun su (σύ), which refers to the recipients of the Ephesian epistle.
On the other hand, the one in Ephesians 2:5 employs the accusative first person plural form of the personal pronoun ego (ἐγώ), which refers to both Paul and the recipients of this epistle.
Therefore, the conjunction kai (καί) in Ephesians 2:5 introduces a concessive clause, which resumes and completes the one it introduces in Ephesians 2:1 but with a slight difference in subject.
Therefore, in Ephesians 3:1-14, Paul once again employs the figure of anacoluthon and in Ephesians 3:14, he marks the resumption of his thought by repeating the exact same expression Toutou charin (Τούτου χάριν), which begins Ephesians 3:1.
Thus, the evidence within Ephesians itself indicates that the expression Toutou charin (Τούτου χάριν) in Ephesians 3:1 is anaphoric rather than kataphoric.
Therefore, in Ephesians 3:1, the expression Toutou charin (Τούτου χάριν), “for this reason” is anaphoric, which means that it is pointing to the immediate preceding context and specifically, the contents of the Ephesians 2:11-22, which serves as the basis for the intercessory prayer in Ephesians 3:14-21.