Ephesians 3:1–12

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 3:8 To me—less than the least of all the saints19—this grace was given,20 to proclaim to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ 3:9 and to enlighten21 everyone about God’s secret plan22—a secret that has been hidden for ages23 in God24 who has created all things. 3:10 The purpose of this enlightenment is that25 through the church the multifaceted wisdom26 of God should now be disclosed to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly realms. 3:11 This was according to27 the eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, 3:12 in whom we have boldness and confident access28 to God29 because of30 Christ’s31 faithfulness.32

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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.
19	sn In Pauline writings saints means any true believer. Thus for Paul to view himself as less than the least of all the saints is to view himself as the most unworthy object of Christ’s redemption.
20	sn The parallel phrases to proclaim and to enlighten which follow indicate why God’s grace was manifested to Paul. Grace was not something just to be received, but to be shared with others (cf. Acts 13:47).
21	tn There is a possible causative nuance in the Greek verb, but this is difficult to convey in the translation.
22	tn Grk “what is the plan of the divine secret.” Earlier the author had used οἰκονομία (oikonomia; here “plan”) to refer to his own “stewardship” (v. 2). But now he is speaking about the content of this secret, not his own activity in relation to it.
23	tn Or “for eternity,” or perhaps “from the Aeons.” Cf. 2:2, 7.
24	tn Or “by God.” It is possible that ἐν (en) plus the dative here indicates agency, that is, that God has performed the action of hiding the secret. However, this usage of the preposition ἐν is quite rare in the NT, and even though here it does follow a perfect passive verb as in the Classical idiom, it is more likely that a different nuance is intended.
25	tn Grk “that.” Verse 10 is a subordinate clause to the verb “enlighten” in v. 9.
26	tn Or “manifold wisdom,” “wisdom in its rich variety.”
27	tn Grk “according to.” The verse is a prepositional phrase subordinate to v. 10.
28	tn Grk “access in confidence.”
29	tn The phrase “to God” is not in the text, but is clearly implied by the preceding, “access.”
30	tn Grk “through,” “by way of.”
31	tn Grk “his.”
32	tn Or “faith in him.” A decision is difficult here. Though traditionally translated “faith in Jesus Christ,” an increasing number of NT scholars are arguing that πίστις Χριστοῦ (pistis Christou) and similar phrases in Paul (here and in Rom 3:22, 26; Gal 2:16, 20; 3:22; Phil 3:9) involve a subjective genitive and mean “Christ’s faith” or “Christ’s faithfulness” (cf., e.g., G. Howard, “The ‘Faith of Christ’,” ExpTim 85 [1974]: 212–15; R. B. Hays, The Faith of Jesus Christ [SBLDS]; Morna D. Hooker, “Πίστις Χριστοῦ,” NTS 35 [1989]: 321–42). Noteworthy among the arguments for the subjective genitive view is that when πίστις takes a personal genitive it is almost never an objective genitive (cf. Matt 9:2, 22, 29; Mark 2:5; 5:34; 10:52; Luke 5:20; 7:50; 8:25, 48; 17:19; 18:42; 22:32; Rom 1:8; 12; 3:3; 4:5, 12, 16; 1 Cor 2:5; 15:14, 17; 2 Cor 10:15; Phil 2:17; Col 1:4; 2:5; 1 Thess 1:8; 3:2, 5, 10; 2 Thess 1:3; Titus 1:1; Phlm 6; 1 Pet 1:9, 21; 2 Pet 1:5). On the other hand, the objective genitive view has its adherents: A. Hultgren, “The Pistis Christou Formulations in Paul,” NovT 22 (1980): 248–63; J. D. G. Dunn, “Once More, ΠΙΣΤΙΣ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΥ,” SBL Seminar Papers, 1991, 730–44. Most commentaries on Romans and Galatians usually side with the objective view. sn Because of Christ’s faithfulness. Though Paul elsewhere teaches justification by faith, this presupposes that the object of our faith is reliable and worthy of such faith.

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