For
this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles-- Ephesians 3:1
Before
we go on to look at more of Paul’s message, we need to stop and look at the one
sentence that begins Ephesians 3. It is actually an aborted, incomplete
sentence¾one Paul never finished. We
modern editors would correct it, yet it makes such an important statement. It
says simply, “For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the
sake of you Gentiles….” We have already pointed out that Paul wrote this while
in chains (Ephesians 6:20). He was under arrest, held as a prisoner by the
Roman government. We can only guess as to which imprisonment this refers to,
but in any case, there would have been no doubt to his captors that he was
their prisoner.
But Paul looked at his life in a
completely different way. And this is the key for all who would be spiritual
overcomers. We must have the eyes of our hearts opened to see circumstances in
ways that ordinary people do not see them. Paul saw himself not as a prisoner
of Rome, but as the prisoner of Christ.
With this language, has Paul
suddenly departed from the glorious themes of God’s grace and rich mercy that
we saw in the first two chapters of Ephesians? Is he now shifting to an
entirely different way of viewing his experience with God? Is he now thinking
that he is locked up, tied down and put in a miserable circumstance by Christ?
The answer to all these questions is no. There is a seamless connection between
what Paul had already written and what he says here. He has not for a moment
forgotten God’s grace and love. On the contrary, he is a captive of that love.
It compels him, constrains him and controls him (2 Corinthians 5:14, niv, kjv,
nasb). What God had done was so
great and so good that it had become the driving and dominant force in his
life.
A chain may have bound him to a
Roman guard, but Paul saw himself in a much more important way as one bound to
Christ. He refused to see himself as a victim of Rome, but as the possession of
Christ. Yes, he was a prisoner. Yes, something restrained him, but he chose to
see himself as one under the control of Christ, not as one whose fate was
determined by capricious men.
What seems to bind you? How can you see it through different eyes?
God's love should not only compel me, but it should also constrain and control me. Your putting it in this way helps me to see this aspect of God's love in a different, helpful way. In a world where being "constrained and controlled" is anathema to our humanistic sensibilities, God's way is truly upside down but true through and through. Thank you Tom.
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