The Pulpit Commentary — Ephesians — Section 116

Romans' prisoner, the Gentiles1 prisoner: Christ's prisoner, as suffering for his gospel ; the Jews' prisoner, as suffering by their accusation; the Romans' p1isoner, as suffering ~y t~eir s~nt_ence_; the Gentiles' prisoner,. as suffering for his l~bours unto their salva.- t1on. ' His 1mpr1sonment was thus a higher honour than his rapture into the third heavens. III. Hrs IllPRISONMENT BAD ITS PROVIDE1'"'TIAL ADVANTAGES. Just as John Huss had leisure during his imprisonment in the fortress on the Rhine to write words that fir<'<l the hearts of his countrymen ages after his martyrdom at Constance, and as Martin Luther's one year's imprisonment in the Wartburg enabled him to give the Scriptures t<:> Germany in the tongue of the people, so the Apostle Paul was enabled in the leisure of his Roman imprisonment to throw off thooe beautiful Epistles of the captivity-to the Philippians, to the Ephesians, to the Colossians, to Philemon-which have so largely contribu;ro to the edification and comfort of the Church. He still held the thrrads of a hu:ic.r-ed. interests in his hands,and felt in his prison at Rome the throbbin<" 0 oi thousands of Christian hearts in all parts of Asia and Europe. IV. l'Jm.:o~-LIFE IS ALll0,,'"1' l-"ECESSARILY SAD, BECAUSE OF ITS ISOLATION FROM HulUN RELATIO~-S, ITS SOLITUDE, ITS SUSPENSION OF ACTIVE AND ACCUSTOMED LABOUR, C-.""D ITS USUALLY H.AllD OONDrrIONS. It must have been a. sore trial to the apostle to submit to an enforced inactivity, while the world was everywhere, in so sad a sense, "ripe for the harvest." It would seem e.s if, at a certain point, the sym- pathy of Asiatic Christians failed him (2 Tim. i. 15); and there was an unaccountabh.i indifference to his wants marking the relations of the Roman Christians themselves, which argued that much was not to be expected from their affection. So his prison- experience must have had its dark moments. V. MARK THE SPIRIT I:N WHICH THE APOSTLE LIVED THROUGH THIS PRISON-EX· PEBIENCit. The solitude of such a life often breeds a morbid spirit, which throws a darker colouring into the thoughts of the prisoner. Yet the Epistles of the captivity breathe a beantiful spirit of Christian courage and resignation, not to speak of absolute rejoicing. Compare the letters of the apostle with those of Cicero, Seneca, and Ovid in their exile, and we see at a glance the different effects of Christianity and paganism upon the happiness of man. As the prisoner of Jesus Christ, he abounded in the con- solations of his Divine Master, while he must have been greatly encouraged by the nsir.s of disciples like Epaphroditus, Epaphras, and others, who carried to him the pra::ers and benefactions of the Churches. ,, V1. WE OCGHT TO BEIIEllBER PBISO~IIBS IN OUR PRAYERS, AS "BOUND WITH THEM. Yost prisoners in our day are in jail for crime, but we ought to remember that they are men, that they are our brothers, that they must feel their separation from wife and children and home as keenly as we should. Perhaps, but for restraining gr~e, we should Lam been in their position. But we are bound specially to remember IIl our prayers those suffering for the cause of Christ, and especially those occupied with great sen·ice for the Lord.-T. C. • Vers. 2-5.-Dispensational privileges of the Gentiles. The apostle recurs to a sub- ject already treated in ,. few words" in the :first ch~pter-words_ which he reques~~ thorn w read, that they may folly understand his meamng-respectu:~g the new _pos1t10~ of the Gentiles in the kingdom of God. Their position was determmed by a d1spensat1on, that is, by an arrangement organized in all its parts in ~elation to space and time; for God works by order in grace as well as in nature. Consider- !. THE ORIGIN OF THIS DISPENSATION. "The grace of God given to me to you-ward." It was an act of Divine favour to seleot the apostle as the person through whom "the mystery" of the dispensation was to be, not only revealed, but applied in _its redeemiug effects to the Ephebian heathens. It was ~ot the honou~ ?r tbe autho~1ty involved in it that made it precious in his eyes; 1t was the pnv1lege of mak1~g known the unsearchable riches of Christ. Thus, as a good steward of the mystenes of God, it was the delight of his life to dispense them in all their gracious mani- foldness to the family of God. lL 'fHE MYSTERY THAT SHROUDED THE DISPENSATION FOB AGES, 1. It U called, "the mystery of Christ," not because "8 i., it11 Author, but because 116_ iB t"8 Centre or Subject of it; for it included far more than the truth that the Gentiles were fellow- OH, DL 1-21.] THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 113