_CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES_ Ephesians 3:1. THE PRISONER OF JESUS CHRIST may be regarded as “the prisoner whom the Lord has bound” (so Winer and Meyer), or as “a prisoner belonging to Christ,” or again as “the prisoner for Christ’s sake.” The indignity of an ambassador being “thrown into irons”... [ Continue Reading ]
_CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES_ Ephesians 3:7. WHEREOF I WAS MADE A MINISTER.—A deacon, a runner of errands. A lowly word, which reminds us of his own self-estimate—“not worthy to be called an apostle”—and prepares us for the strange expression in Ephesians 3:8. Ephesians 3:8. LESS THAN THE LEAST... [ Continue Reading ]
_CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES_ Ephesians 3:10. TO THE INTENT THAT NOW … MIGHT BE KNOWN BY THE CHURCH THE MANIFOLD WISDOM OF GOD.—The Church as it expands from a “little flock” to a “multitude which no man can number” is to declare the multiform wisdom of God, ever fertile in new modes of operatio... [ Continue Reading ]
_CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES_ Ephesians 3:15. THE WHOLE FAMILY.—R.V. “every family.” The word for “family” is only found in the New Testament in St. Luke 2:4 and Acts 3:25; in one translated “lineage,” in the other “kindreds” in A.V.; consistently as “family” by R.V. Chrysostom, and others who f... [ Continue Reading ]