Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

Ephesians 3:13

Ephesians 3:13. Wherefore. In view of my position as the minister of such a gospel, thus leading back to Ephesians 3:1, the thought of which is resumed in Ephesians 3:14. This is preferable to referring it merely to the subordinate thought in Ephesians 3:12.

I desire you not to faint, or, ‘I pray God that. faint not' The literal rendering: ‘I ask not to faint,' will indicate the difficulty in interpreting the verse, namely, the absence of an object after the verb ‘ask,' and of a subject with the infinitive, ‘to faint.' One view supplies ‘you ‘as both object and subject; the other supplies ‘God' as the object and ‘I' as the subject. The verb ‘ask' suits either explanation. Both views have able supporters, but the former has been rightly adopted by the majority of commentators. (1.) It seems unlike Paul to insert such a prayer for himself here; he rejoiced in suffering (Colossians 1:24) and gloried in infirmity (2 Corinthians 11:30), and was speaking of high privilege, little likely to imply faint-heartedness in himself. (2.) The next clause presents a motive (Meyer) which is irrelevant, unless this clause applies to them. (3.) ‘My' does not imply that ‘faint' refers to him. (4.) It is grammatically simpler to supply one word (‘you') which need not be repeated, than to supply two, one of them (‘God') not directly suggested by the context nor necessary to complete the sense of the verb. Galatians 4:14, where the correct reading is ‘your temptation which was in my flesh,' shows that the sympathy between Paul and his converts was such as to make this view of the clause perfectly natural. The danger of the weakness was greater for them than for him.

At (‘lit,' ‘in') my tribulations in behalf of you, suggesting again the thought of Ephesians 3:1. The preposition ‘in' points to the sphere in which their faint-heartedness might be shown.

Which are your glory. ‘Are' shows that' which' refers to ‘tribulations,' seeing they are ‘your glory.' The thought is, not that it would be a disgrace for them to have a founder who fainted in tribulations, and that his not fainting is their glory, but that the reason they should not faint is the character of his tribulations, as the Apostle of the Gentiles. They were for his readers, were tokens of the love of God in sending his ministers to suffer that the gospel might be universal and the Gentiles sharers in its blessings. It was the sympathy of Christ, in whom the Apostle's ‘boldness and access' was possessed ‘in confidence,' that gave to him such sympathy with them. He was concerned for them rather than for himself. It will be seen how well this view accords with the thought resumed in Ephesians 3:14, and the subsequent prayer.

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Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

Ephesians 3:13

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