Ephesians 3:1

Ephesians 3:1 says, For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, Paul considered himself a prisoner of Christ and not of the powers of the world.  He was a prisoner of Christ because of his commitment to preach salvation to the Gentiles.  When accusations were made against Paul, they all centered on the fact that he was preaching salvation to all equally, and this made the religious leaders angry at him.  We must be prisoners to our faith in Christ no matter what the powers of the world may do to us.  Verse two adds, If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward:  Paul said that God had given him the dispensation of grace.  What Paul was preaching was not something that he himself had decided was the truth, but was the truth given to him by God.  When we proclaim the gospel today, we must make sure that it is what God Himself declared as the truth of the gospel, which is that Christ died to restore any who believes in Him to God.  Verse three continues, How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words,  Verse four concludes, Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)  Paul said in these two verses that he had already written about how he came to know about the mystery of salvation through Christ.  It really is a mystery why God would choose such a way to salvation, until we come to acknowledge the truth of that mystery.  Salvation comes through faith in Christ alone, and until we meet Him personally through faith salvation will always remain a mystery.  Verse five states, Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;  Paul said that the truth of salvation was hidden in times past but was now revealed to God's apostles and prophets by the Spirit.  Why God chose to wait until this time to fulfill the law through Christ is not something we need to understand, but we can only accept by faith that the time was right, just as the time of the return of Christ will be.  Verse six adds, That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel: Paul tells us that the Jews and the Gentiles will be fellow heirs through the salvation of Christ.  We today are all fellow heirs of Christ with all other Christians.  Countries or denominations do not separate us, but we are all a part of the same body of Christ.  Verse seven continues, Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power.  Paul said that he was a minister of Christ through the grace and power of Christ.  Whatever our calling today, we are called through the grace of God and empowered by the Holy Spirit to carry out that calling.  Paul did not claim to be anything of his own abilities and strength, but always gave the glory to God.  Verse eight declares, Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;  Again, Paul states his own unworthiness to be called a saint but proclaims his calling to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.  We can never truly understand the riches that are ours through Christ in this world, nor will we ever deserve them.  This should prevent us from feeling superior to any other Christian, but as Paul we should feel that we are the least worthy.  We should always be humble in our service to Christ.  Verse nine adds, And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:  Paul wanted everyone to understand that salvation had always been and always would be through Christ.  This was God's plan from the beginning.  Salvation would come through Christ Who created all things.  Paul called this a fellowship of the mystery, and we still cannot really understand all aspects of the nature of the Trinity, but we can accept it by faith. Verse ten continues, To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,  Paul said that through Christ we can begin to understand the manifold wisdom of God.  Verse eleven states, According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:  God's purpose, salvation for every person who would believe, was always to be made possible through Christ.  It is not that God had one plan, the law of God, which failed so He had to devise another plan, salvation through Christ.  The law of God was never meant to bring salvation, since it was based on man's abilities and not God's grace.  Verse twelve adds, In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.  Paul tells us that our faith in Christ should give us boldness and confidence in the world today.  Even when imprisoned, Paul was still bold in his proclamation of Christ as Savior and Lord of his life.