Ephesians 3.13b-Paul's Adversities Make It Possible For the Gentile Christian Community to Receive Honor
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Saturday June 15, 2024
Ephesians Series: Ephesians 3:13b-Paul’s Adversities Make It Possible For the Gentile Christian Community to Receive Honor
Lesson # 166
Ephesians 3:13 Therefore, I myself urgently request at the present time that each and every one of you as a corporate unit not be discouraged because of my adversities on behalf of all of you without exception, which are unique in character making possible for each and every one of you to receive honor. (Lecturer’s translation)
Now, in Ephesians 3:13, the plural form of the noun thlipsis (θλῖψις), “adversities” is used in a general sense in relation to the intense outward pressure caused by people or circumstances.
In this context, it is used to describe Paul’s Roman imprisonment which was unjust and the result of persecution by unregenerate Jews in Jerusalem who falsely accused him of brining a Gentile into the Jewish section of Herod’s temple (Acts 21-28).
Thus, it was in reality, underserved suffering for blessing.
The referent of the genitive first person singular form of the personal pronoun ego (ἐγώ) is of course Paul and is employed with the articular construction of the noun thlipsis (θλῖψις) to denote possession expressing the idea that these adversities as “the possession of” Paul.
The noun thlipsis (θλῖψις) is the object of the preposition en (ἐν), which indicates the reason why the recipients of this epistle must not be discouraged, namely because of his adversities, which constituted unjust and thus undeserved suffering for blessing.
Following this prepositional phrase we have the genitive second personal plural form of the personal pronoun su (σύ), which refers to the recipients of the Ephesian epistle who were members of the Gentile Christian community living in the Roman province of Asia.
The word means “each and every one of you” because it is not only referring to the recipients of this epistle as a corporate unit but is also used in a distributive sense emphasizing no exceptions.
This word is the object of the preposition hyper (ὑπέρ), which functions as a marker of benefaction or advantage and is thus expressing the idea that Paul’s suffering unjustly and undeservedly Roman imprisonment was actually “for the benefit of” each member of the Gentile Christian community.
The qualitative relative pronoun clause hētis estin doxa hymōn (ἥτις ἐστὶν δόξα ὑμῶν), “which are in unique in character making possible for each and every one of you to receive honor,” which follows and modifies it, identifies why his imprisonment benefits them.
The indefinite relative pronoun, hostis (ὅστις), “which are unique in character” emphasizes the unique character of Paul’s adversities because they are the result of being persecuted by his fellow unregenerate Jewish countrymen.
His unjust and thus undeserved suffering was unique in character because it was not as a result of his own criminal behavior but rather as a result of fulfilling his ministry to the Gentiles.
It was the result of proclaiming the mystery doctrine to the Gentile Christian community that they were on equal footing with the Jewish Christian community and that together formed the new humanity, which will dispossess Satan and his fellow evil spirits as rulers of planet earth.
This proclamation resulted in Paul experiencing persecution at the hands of unregenerate human beings who were deceived by Satan and the members of his kingdom for the purpose of hindering him from fulfilling this ministry.
The noun doxa (δόξα) refers to the honor, recognition and esteem the members of the Gentile Christian community will receive from the Lord Jesus Christ at the Bema Seat evaluation of the church, which immediately, follows the rapture of the church and will experience during the millennial reign of Jesus Christ.
This word speaks of the honor, recognition, and esteem the members of this community will receive from the Lord at the Bema Seat because they executed the Father’s plan for the church age believer, which is to become like Jesus Christ.
As a result, they will receive rewards for being faithful stewards of the time, talent, treasure and truth He gave them as trusts.
Paul’s suffering, which was the result of proclaiming to the Gentile Christian community that they were fellow heirs and fellow members of the body of Christ and fellow partakers of the Messianic promise, resulted in the spiritual growth of the individual members of this community.
If this growth continues, these church age believers will be rewarded at the Bema Seat by the Lord Jesus Christ with the result that they will possess positions of authority in His millennial government.
Therefore, if it were not for Paul fulfilling his ministry in proclaiming this mystery doctrine to the Gentile Christian community, this recognition from the Lord at the Bema Seat and thus receiving a position in His millennial government could never take place.
In other words, Paul’s ministry, which was attacked by Satan and his kingdom, made it possible for these Gentile church age believers to not only be saved from the wrath of God in the lake of fire, enslavement to the sin nature, the devil and his cosmic, spiritual and physical death, personal sins and condemnation from the Law, but also to become members of the new humanity, who will reign with Jesus Christ during the millennium.
The third person singular present active indicative conjugation of the verb eimi (εἰμί) pertains to making some event possible and the referent of the third person singular form of this verb is the qualitative relative pronoun hostis (ὅστις), which we noted describes the unique character of Paul’s undeserved suffering.
The noun doxa (δόξα) functions as a predicate nominative, which means that it is making an assertion about the adversities Paul was experiencing.
Therefore, this verb eimi (εἰμί) expresses the idea that Paul’s adversities, which were the result of being faithful in fulfilling his ministry to the Gentile Christian community, “made it possible for” the Gentile Christian community to be able to experience honor, recognition and esteem from the Lord Jesus Christ at the Bema Seat evaluation of the church and during the millennial reign of Jesus Christ.
The genitive second personal plural form of the personal pronoun su (σύ) appears a second time in Ephesians 3:13 and once again the referent this word is the recipients of the Ephesian epistle and specifically the Gentile Christian community living in the Roman province of Asia.
As was the first time the word appears in this verse, it means “each and every one of you” because it is again not only referring to the recipients of this epistle as a corporate unit but is also used in a distributive sense emphasizing no exceptions.
The latter emphasizes that Paul adversities made it possible for “each one” of the recipients of this letter to receive honor, recognition and esteem from the Lord Jesus Christ at the Bema Seat and during His millennial reign.
Most translations and expositors interpret the genitive second personal plural form of the personal pronoun su (σύ) as functioning as a possessive genitive, which takes place when the substantive in the genitive possesses the thing to which it stands related.
Here the word stands related to the nominative feminine singular form of the noun doxa (δόξα).
Therefore, the former indicates that this glory is the possession of the members of the Gentile Christian community.
However, I believe that the genitive second personal plural form of the personal pronoun su (σύ) functions as an objective genitive, which takes place when the genitive substantive receives the action implicit in the head noun, which in our context is the noun doxa (δόξα).
Therefore, with this type of genitive, the latter can be converted into its verbal form, namely doxazō (δοξάζω), which means “to glorify, to honor.”
Thus, the genitive second personal plural form of the personal pronoun su (σύ) receives the action of the verbal idea implicit in the noun doxa (δόξα).
Therefore, this would indicate that Paul’s adversities due to the fulfillment of his ministry to the Gentile Christian community made it possible for each member of this community to receive the action of being glorified in the sense of honored by the Lord Jesus Christ at the Bema Seat and during His millennial reign.
Therefore, Ephesians 3:13 is an apodosis of a first class condition which indicates the assumption of truth for the sake of argument and presents a strong inference from the protasis of this first class condition, which appears in Ephesians 3:2-12.
It asserts that Paul’s stewardship, which originated from the Father’s grace policy, was given to him for the benefit of each one of the recipients of this epistle.
Paul is making a request of the Gentile Christian community living in the Roman province of Asia to not be discouraged because of his adversities on behalf of each one of them and in particular his unjust Roman imprisonment.
The reason for this request is that these adversities, which are of such unique character, make it possible for the members of this community to receive glory or honor from the Lord Jesus Christ at the Bema Seat Evaluation of the church and during His millennial reign.
Therefore, Paul is revealing here in Ephesians 3:13 that there is a purpose for his suffering undeservedly as a result of being faithful in his ministry to the Gentile Christian community.
In fact, it is actually a blessing not only to him but the Gentile Christian community.
These Gentile church age believers residing in the various cities and towns in the Roman province of Asia were being blessed because Paul’s teaching and in particular obedience to his teaching would result in them being honored by the Lord Jesus Christ.
Their continued faithfulness in obeying Paul’s apostolic teaching would result in them receiving rewards from the Lord Jesus Christ for faithful service and growing up spiritually and thus executing the Father’s will to become like Him.
They would also receive honor during the Lord’s millennial reign as a result of this faithfulness because Revelation 2:26 teaches that those who overcome during the church age will receive positions of authority in Christ’s millennial government.
Paul would never have suffered this imprisonment if it wasn’t for the fact that he was faithful in carrying out this ministry to the Gentile Christian community.
