Ephesians 3:1

THE MESSAGE

This is why I, Paul, am in jail for Christ, having taken up the cause of you outsiders, so-called. I take it that you're familiar with the part I was given in God's plan for including everybody. I got the inside story on this from God himself, as I just wrote you in brief.

Parallel Translations

Easy-to-Read Version
So I, Paul, am a prisoner because I serve Christ Jesus for you who are not Jews.

Revised Standard Version
For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles--

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
For this cause I Paul a in ye bodes of Iesus christ for youre sakes which are hethen:

Hebrew Names Version
For this cause I, Sha'ul, am the prisoner of Messiah Yeshua on behalf of you Goyim,

New American Standard Bible
For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—

New Century Version
So I, Paul, am a prisoner of Christ Jesus for you who are not Jews.

Update Bible Version
For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles-

Webster's Bible Translation
For this cause, I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,

English Standard Version
For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles—

World English Bible
For this cause I, Paul, am the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles,

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
For this cause I Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, (Seeing ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God,

Weymouth's New Testament
For this reason I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles--

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
For the grace of this thing I Poul, the boundun of Crist Jhesu, for you hethene men,

English Revised Version
For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus in behalf of you Gentiles,—

Berean Standard Bible
For this reason, I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles...

Contemporary English Version
Christ Jesus made me his prisoner, so that I could help you Gentiles.

Amplified Bible
For this reason [because I preach that you and believing Jews are joint heirs] I, Paul, am the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles—

American Standard Version
For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus in behalf of you Gentiles,—

Bible in Basic English
For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles,

Complete Jewish Bible
It is a consequence of this that I, Sha'ul, am a prisoner of the Messiah Yeshua on behalf of you Gentiles.

Darby Translation
For this reason *I* Paul, prisoner of the Christ Jesus for you nations,

International Standard Version
For this reason I, Paul, am the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles.Acts 21:33; Galatians 5:11; Ephesians 4:1; 6:20; Philippians 1:7,13-14,16; Colossians 1:24; 2 Timothy 1:8; 2:9-10;">[xr]

Etheridge Translation
On account of this I, Paulos, am bound for Jeshu Meshiha for the sake of you Gentiles:

Murdock Translation
On this account, I Paul am a prisoner of Jesus the Messiah, for the sake of you Gentiles:

King James Version (1611)
For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Iesus Christ for you Gentiles,

New Living Translation
When I think of all this, I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus for the benefit of you Gentiles . . .

New Life Bible
I, Paul, am in prison because I am a missionary for Jesus Christ to you who are not Jews.

New Revised Standard
This is the reason that I Paul am a prisoner for Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—

Geneva Bible (1587)
For this cause, I Paul am the prisoner of Iesus Christ for you Gentiles,

George Lamsa Translation
FOR this cause I, Paul, am a prisoner of Jesus Christ for the sake of you Gentiles.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
For this cause, I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus in behalf of you the nations: -

Douay-Rheims Bible
For this cause, I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ, for you Gentiles:

Bishop's Bible (1568)
For this cause I Paul [am] a prisoner of Iesus Christe, for you heathen:

Good News Translation
For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles, pray to God.

Christian Standard Bible®
For this reason, I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles—

King James Version
For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,

Lexham English Bible
On account of this I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles

Literal Translation
Because of this, I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you, the nations,

Young's Literal Translation
For this cause, I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you the nations,

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
For this cause I Paul am a presoner of Iesus Christ for you Heythen,

Mace New Testament (1729)
This it is that makes me Paul a prisoner for Jesus Christ upon your account, O Gentiles;

New English Translation
For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—

New King James Version
For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles--

Simplified Cowboy Version
It's because of this that I, Paul, who is a prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of the outsiders, pray to God.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—

Legacy Standard Bible
For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles—

Contextual Overview

¹This is why I, Paul, am in jail for Christ, having taken up the cause of you outsiders, so-called. I take it that you're familiar with the part I was given in God's plan for including everybody. I got the inside story on this from God himself, as I just wrote you in brief. ⁴As you read over what I have written to you, you'll be able to see for yourselves into the mystery of Christ. None of our ancestors understood this. Only in our time has it been made clear by God's Spirit through his holy apostles and prophets of this new order. The mystery is that people who have never heard of God and those who have heard of him all their lives (what I've been calling outsiders and insiders) stand on the same ground before God. They get the same offer, same help, same promises in Christ Jesus. The Message is accessible and welcoming to everyone, across the board. ⁷This is my life work: helping people understand and respond to this Message. It came as a sheer gift to me, a real surprise, God handling all the details. When it came to presenting the Message to people who had no background in God's way, I was the least qualified of any of the available Christians. God saw to it that I was equipped, but you can be sure that it had nothing to do with my natural abilities. And so here I am, preaching and writing about things that are way over my head, the inexhaustible riches and generosity of Christ. My task is to bring out in the open and make plain what God, who created all this in the first place, has been doing in secret and behind the scenes all along. Through followers of Jesus like yourselves gathered in churches, this extraordinary plan of God is becoming known and talked about even among the angels! All this is proceeding along lines planned all along by God and then executed in Christ Jesus. When we trust in him, we're free to say whatever needs to be said, bold to go wherever we need to go. So don't let my present trouble on your behalf get you down. Be proud! My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength—that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you'll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ's love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God. God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us. Glory to God in the church! Glory to God in the Messiah, in Jesus! Glory down all the generations! Glory through all millennia! Oh, yes! ⁹The Secret Plan of God This is why I, Paul, am in jail for Christ, having taken up the cause of you outsiders, so-called. I take it that you're familiar with the part I was given in God's plan for including everybody. I got the inside story on this from God himself, as I just wrote you in brief. As you read over what I have written to you, you'll be able to see for yourselves into the mystery of Christ. None of our ancestors understood this. Only in our time has it been made clear by God's Spirit through his holy apostles and prophets of this new order. The mystery is that people who have never heard of God and those who have heard of him all their lives (what I've been calling outsiders and insiders) stand on the same ground before God. They get the same offer, same help, same promises in Christ Jesus. The Message is accessible and welcoming to everyone, across the board. This is my life work: helping people understand and respond to this Message. It came as a sheer gift to me, a real surprise, God handling all the details. When it came to presenting the Message to people who had no background in God's way, I was the least qualified of any of the available Christians. God saw to it that I was equipped, but you can be sure that it had nothing to do with my natural abilities. And so here I am, preaching and writing about things that are way over my head, the inexhaustible riches and generosity of Christ. My task is to bring out in the open and make plain what God, who created all this in the first place, has been doing in secret and behind the scenes all along. Through followers of Jesus like yourselves gathered in churches, this extraordinary plan of God is becoming known and talked about even among the angels! All this is proceeding along lines planned all along by God and then executed in Christ Jesus. When we trust in him, we're free to say whatever needs to be said, bold to go wherever we need to go. So don't let my present trouble on your behalf get you down. Be proud! My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength—that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you'll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ's love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God. God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us. Glory to God in the church! Glory to God in the Messiah, in Jesus! Glory down all the generations! Glory through all millennia! Oh, yes! ¹⁰The Secret Plan of God This is why I, Paul, am in jail for Christ, having taken up the cause of you outsiders, so-called. I take it that you're familiar with the part I was given in God's plan for including everybody. I got the inside story on this from God himself, as I just wrote you in brief. As you read over what I have written to you, you'll be able to see for yourselves into the mystery of Christ. None of our ancestors understood this. Only in our time has it been made clear by God's Spirit through his holy apostles and prophets of this new order. The mystery is that people who have never heard of God and those who have heard of him all their lives (what I've been calling outsiders and insiders) stand on the same ground before God. They get the same offer, same help, same promises in Christ Jesus. The Message is accessible and welcoming to everyone, across the board. This is my life work: helping people understand and respond to this Message. It came as a sheer gift to me, a real surprise, God handling all the details. When it came to presenting the Message to people who had no background in God's way, I was the least qualified of any of the available Christians. God saw to it that I was equipped, but you can be sure that it had nothing to do with my natural abilities. And so here I am, preaching and writing about things that are way over my head, the inexhaustible riches and generosity of Christ. My task is to bring out in the open and make plain what God, who created all this in the first place, has been doing in secret and behind the scenes all along. Through followers of Jesus like yourselves gathered in churches, this extraordinary plan of God is becoming known and talked about even among the angels! ¹¹All this is proceeding along lines planned all along by God and then executed in Christ Jesus. When we trust in him, we're free to say whatever needs to be said, bold to go wherever we need to go. So don't let my present trouble on your behalf get you down. Be proud!

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

I: 2 Corinthians 10:1, Galatians 5:2

the: Ephesians 4:1, Ephesians 6:20, Luke 21:12, Acts 21:33, Acts 26:29, Acts 28:17-20, 2 Corinthians 11:23, Philippians 1:7, Philippians 1:13-16, Colossians 1:24, Colossians 4:3, Colossians 4:18, 2 Timothy 1:8, 2 Timothy 1:16, 2 Timothy 2:9, Philemon 1:1, Philemon 1:9, Revelation 2:10

for: Galatians 5:11, Colossians 1:24, 1 Thessalonians 2:15, 1 Thessalonians 2:16, 2 Timothy 2:10

Reciprocal: 1 Kings 22:27 - Put this fellow Psalms 69:33 - his prisoners Jeremiah 36:5 - General Matthew 5:48 - even Acts 16:23 - they cast Acts 21:11 - So shall Acts 23:18 - Paul Acts 28:20 - this chain Romans 15:8 - truth Romans 15:16 - I should 2 Corinthians 6:5 - imprisonments Galatians 1:16 - that Ephesians 3:13 - at 2 Timothy 1:12 - the which Philemon 1:13 - the bonds Hebrews 10:34 - in my Hebrews 11:36 - bonds

Cross-References

Genesis 3:13
"The serpent seduced me," she said, "and I ate."

Isaiah 27:1
At that time God will unsheathe his sword, his merciless, massive, mighty sword. He'll punish the serpent Leviathan as it flees, the serpent Leviathan thrashing in flight. He'll kill that old dragon that lives in the sea.

Matthew 10:16
"Stay alert. This is hazardous work I'm assigning you. You're going to be like sheep running through a wolf pack, so don't call attention to yourselves. Be as cunning as a snake, inoffensive as a dove.

2 Corinthians 11:14
Pseudo-Servants of God Will you put up with a little foolish aside from me? Please, just for a moment. The thing that has me so upset is that I care about you so much—this is the passion of God burning inside me! I promised your hand in marriage to Christ, presented you as a pure virgin to her husband. And now I'm afraid that exactly as the Snake seduced Eve with his smooth patter, you are being lured away from the simple purity of your love for Christ. It seems that if someone shows up preaching quite another Jesus than we preached—different spirit, different message—you put up with him quite nicely. But if you put up with these big-shot "apostles," why can't you put up with simple me? I'm as good as they are. It's true that I don't have their voice, haven't mastered that smooth eloquence that impresses you so much. But when I do open my mouth, I at least know what I'm talking about. We haven't kept anything back. We let you in on everything. I wonder, did I make a bad mistake in proclaiming God's Message to you without asking for something in return, serving you free of charge so that you wouldn't be inconvenienced by me? It turns out that the other churches paid my way so that you could have a free ride. Not once during the time I lived among you did anyone have to lift a finger to help me out. My needs were always supplied by the believers from Macedonia province. I was careful never to be a burden to you, and I never will be, you can count on it. With Christ as my witness, it's a point of honor with me, and I'm not going to keep it quiet just to protect you from what the neighbors will think. It's not that I don't love you; God knows I do. I'm just trying to keep things open and honest between us. And I'm not changing my position on this. I'd die before taking your money. I'm giving nobody grounds for lumping me in with those money-grubbing "preachers," vaunting themselves as something special. They're a sorry bunch—pseudo-apostles, lying preachers, crooked workers—posing as Christ's agents but sham to the core. And no wonder! Satan does it all the time, dressing up as a beautiful angel of light. So it shouldn't surprise us when his servants masquerade as servants of God. But they're not getting by with anything. They'll pay for it in the end. Let me come back to where I started—and don't hold it against me if I continue to sound a little foolish. Or if you'd rather, just accept that I am a fool and let me rant on a little. I didn't learn this kind of talk from Christ. Oh, no, it's a bad habit I picked up from the three-ring preachers that are so popular these days. Since you sit there in the judgment seat observing all these shenanigans, you can afford to humor an occasional fool who happens along. You have such admirable tolerance for impostors who rob your freedom, rip you off, steal you blind, put you down—even slap your face! I shouldn't admit it to you, but our stomachs aren't strong enough to tolerate that kind of stuff. Since you admire the egomaniacs of the pulpit so much (remember, this is your old friend, the fool, talking), let me try my hand at it. Do they brag of being Hebrews, Israelites, the pure race of Abraham? I'm their match. Are they servants of Christ? I can go them one better. (I can't believe I'm saying these things. It's crazy to talk this way! But I started, and I'm going to finish.) I've worked much harder, been jailed more often, beaten up more times than I can count, and at death's door time after time. I've been flogged five times with the Jews' thirty-nine lashes, beaten by Roman rods three times, pummeled with rocks once. I've been shipwrecked three times, and immersed in the open sea for a night and a day. In hard traveling year in and year out, I've had to ford rivers, fend off robbers, struggle with friends, struggle with foes. I've been at risk in the city, at risk in the country, endangered by desert sun and sea storm, and betrayed by those I thought were my brothers. I've known drudgery and hard labor, many a long and lonely night without sleep, many a missed meal, blasted by the cold, naked to the weather. And that's not the half of it, when you throw in the daily pressures and anxieties of all the churches. When someone gets to the end of his rope, I feel the desperation in my bones. When someone is duped into sin, an angry fire burns in my gut. If I have to "brag" about myself, I'll brag about the humiliations that make me like Jesus. The eternal and blessed God and Father of our Master Jesus knows I'm not lying. Remember the time I was in Damascus and the governor of King Aretas posted guards at the city gates to arrest me? I crawled through a window in the wall, was let down in a basket, and had to run for my life.

1 Peter 3:7
The same goes for you husbands: Be good husbands to your wives. Honor them, delight in them. As women they lack some of your advantages. But in the new life of God's grace, you're equals. Treat your wives, then, as equals so your prayers don't run aground.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ,.... Not actively, whom Christ had apprehended by his grace, and made a prisoner of hope; but passively, who was made a prisoner for Christ, on account of preaching Christ, and his Gospel: he was not a prisoner for any capital crime, as theft, murder, c. and therefore be was not ashamed of his bonds, but rather glories in them and a prison has often been the portion of the best of men in this world: from hence we learn, that this epistle was written when the apostle was a prisoner at Rome; and the consideration of this his condition serves much to confirm the truths he had before delivered, seeing they were such as he could, and did suffer for; and which must engage the attention of the Ephesians to them, and especially since his sufferings were on their account:

for you Gentiles: because he preached the Gospel to the Gentiles, which the Jews forbid, that they might not be saved; and because he taught them, that circumcision and the rest of the ceremonies of the law were not binding upon them; which gave great offence to the Jews, who were the means of bringing of him into these circumstances, and particularly the Asiatic Jews, the Jews of Ephesus; who having seen and heard him there, knew him again when in the temple at Jerusalem, and raised a mob upon him, having bore a grudge against him for his ministry at Ephesus, by which means he became a prisoner; so that he might truly say, he was a prisoner for the sake of them; see Acts 21:27. One of Stevens's copies adds, "am an ambassador", as in Ephesians 6:20 and another of them, "glory", or "rejoice"; see Philippians 2:16.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For this cause - On account of preaching this doctrine; that is, the doctrine that the gospel was to be proclaimed to the Gentiles.

I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ - A prisoner in the service of the Lord Jesus; or made a prisoner in his cause. Not a prisoner for crime or debt, or as a captive in war, but a captive in the service of the Redeemer. This proves that at the time of writing this, Paul was in bonds, and there can he no question that he was in Rome. This would be more correctly rendered, “For this cause I, Paul, am the prisoner,” etc. So Tyndale renders it, “For this cause I, Paul, the servant of Jesus, am in bonds.” So also Locke, Rosenmuller, Doddridge, Whitby, Koppe, and others understand it. By this construction the abruptness now manifest in our common version is avoided.

For you Gentiles - Made a prisoner at Rome on your behalf, because I maintained that the gospel was to be preached to the Gentiles; see Acts 22:21-23. He was taken first to Cesarea, and then to Rome. The cause of his imprisonment and of all his difficulties was, that he maintained that the gospel was to be preached to the Gentiles; that when the Jews rejected it God rejected them; and that he was specially called to carry the message of salvation to the pagan world.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

CHAPTER III.

Paul, a prisoner for the testimony of Jesus, declares his

knowledge of what had been a mystery from all ages, that the

Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same body with the

Jews, 1-6.

Which doctrine he was made a minister, that he might declare the

unsearchable riches of Christ, and make known to principalities

and powers this eternal purpose of God, 7-12.

He desires them not to be discouraged on account of his

tribulations, 13.

His prayer that they might be filled with all the fulness of

God, 14-19.

His doxology, 20, 21.

NOTES ON CHAP. III.

Verse Ephesians 3:1. For this cause — Because he maintained that the Gentiles were admitted to all the privileges of the Jews, and all the blessings of the new covenant, without being obliged to submit to circumcision, the Jews persecuted him, and caused him to be imprisoned, first at Caesarea, where he was obliged to appeal to the Roman emperor, in consequence of which he was sent prisoner to Rome. See Acts 21:21-28, c.

The prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles — For preaching the Gospel to the Gentiles, and showing that they were not bound by the law of Moses, and yet were called to be fellow citizens with the saints for this very cause the Jews persecuted him unto bonds, and conspired his death.