Ephesians 3:1

“For this cause. Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus in behalf of you Gentiles”

“For this cause”: Resuming the prayer started in Ephesians 1:15, which will actually be expressed in Ephesians 3:14-19. “The prisoner of Christ Jesus”: When Paul wrote this letter he was. prisoner in Rome, awaiting trial before Caesar (Acts 28:16; Acts 28:30). “Any ordinary person would have said that Paul was the prisoner of the Roman government; and so he was. But Paul never thought of himself as the prisoner of Rome; he always thought of himself as the prisoner of Christ. One's point of view makes all the difference in the world” (Barclay p. 121). “Though imprisoned in Rome and awaiting trial by Caesar, Paul is the prisoner of Christ Jesus. Should his Lord decide that Paul must go free, all the armies of Nero could not stop him” (Boles p. 242). Jesus had the same perspective when standing before Pilate (John 19:10). “He had come to be. prisoner, not one who had been arrested for only. few days, but one that had been bound for several years” (Lenski p. 462).

“In behalf of you Gentiles”: “For the sake of” (NASV). “The situation which led to Paul's arrest and subsequent detention in Jerusalem, Caesarea, and Rome arose directly out of his Gentile ministry. It was while he was in Jerusalem with representatives of Gentile churches who were taking their churches' respective gifts that he was charged with violating the sanctity of the temple. This charge, and others associated with it, still hung over him as he waited in Rome for his appeal to come up for hearing in the supreme court” (Bruce pp. 309-310). Compare with Acts 21:17. “It was because he had publicly proclaimed that the gospel was intended for all the world and that God had sent him to the Gentiles that Paul was detested by the Jews and persecuted by them. To this hatred and persecution, indeed, his present imprisonment was due” (Erdman p. 65). See Acts 22:22.