Ephesians 3:1–7

Paul’s Relationship to the Divine Mystery

3:1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus1 for the sake of you Gentiles—3:2 if indeed2 you have heard of the stewardship3 of God’s grace that was given to me for you, 3:3 that4 by revelation the divine secret5 was made known to me, as I wrote before briefly.6 3:4 When reading this,7 you will be able to8 understand my insight into this secret9 of Christ. 3:5 Now this secret10 was not disclosed to people11 in former12 generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by13 the Spirit, 3:6 namely, that through the gospel14 the Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members15 of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus. 3:7 I became a servant of this gospel16 according to the gift of God’s grace that was given to me by17 the exercise of his power.18

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1	tc Several early and important witnesses, chiefly of the Western text (א* D* F G [365]), lack Ἰησοῦ (Iēsou, “Jesus”) here, while most Alexandrian and Byzantine mss (𝔓46 א1 A B [C] D1 Ψ 33 1739 [1881] 𝔐 lat sy bo) have the word. However, because of the Western text’s proclivities to add or delete to the text, seemingly at whim, serious doubts should be attached to the shorter reading. It is strengthened, however, by א’s support. Nevertheless, since both א and D were corrected with the addition of Ἰησοῦ, their testimony might be questioned. Further, in uncial script the nomina sacra here could have led to missing a word by way of homoioteleuton (Χ ΥΙ Υ). At the same time, in light of the rarity of scribal omission of nomina sacra (see TCGNT 582, n. 1), a decision for inclusion of the word here must be tentative. NA 27 rightly places Ἰησοῦ in brackets.
2	sn If indeed. The author is not doubting whether his audience has heard, but is rather using provocative language (if indeed) to engage his audience in thinking about the magnificence of God’s grace. However, in English translation, the apodosis (“then“-clause) does not come until v. 13, leaving the protasis (“if“-clause) dangling. Eph 3:2–7 constitute one sentence in Greek.
3	tn Or “administration,” “dispensation,” “commission.”
4	tn Or “namely, that is.”
5	tn Or “mystery.”
6	tn Or “as I wrote above briefly.” sn As I wrote briefly may refer to the author’s brief discussion of the divine secret in 1:9.
7	tn Grk “which, when reading.”
8	tn Grk “you are able to.”
9	tn Or “mystery.”
10	tn Grk “which.” Verse 5 is technically a relative clause, subordinate to the thought of v. 4.
11	tn Grk “the sons of men” (a Semitic idiom referring to human beings, hence, “people”).
12	tn Grk “other.”
13	tn Or “in.”
14	sn The phrase through the gospel is placed last in the sentence in Greek for emphasis. It has been moved forward for clarity.
15	tn Grk “and fellow members.”
16	tn Grk “of which I was made a minister,” “of which I became a servant.”
17	tn Grk “according to.”
18	sn On the exercise of his power see 1:19–20.

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