Ephesians 6:20

for which On behalf of which, in the interests of which. The Gospel is, so to speak, the Powerwhose envoy he is. Cp. 2 Corinthians 5:20 for the same phrase and image with express mention of the Sovereign, Christ, represented by His envoys.

an ambassador Cp. 2 Cor. just quoted. And see Philemon 1:8, where Bp Lightfoot renders (and so R. V. margin) "an ambassador, and now also a prisoner, of Jesus Christ;" giving this passage, so closely parallel and exactly contemporary, as a main reason for the rendering. See his note there. This is not the place to discuss the question.

in bonds Lit., in a chain. The Gr. word occurs elsewhere in St Paul's speech or writings, Acts 28:20; 2 Timothy 1:16. Prisoners detained upon appeal to the Emperor, as was St Paul, were sometimes "coupled by a slight chain round the right wrist to the left of a soldier, and, thus shackled … if they could afford it, were at liberty to hire a lodging for themselves without the walls, but within the prescribed limits" (Lewin, Life, &c., of St Paul, ii. 236. See too Bp Lightfoot, Philippians, p. 8). Cp. Josephus, Antiquities, xviii. c. 6, for similar custody (though not upon appeal) in the case of Agrippa, the Herod of Acts 12, in his earlier life in Italy in the reign of Tiberius. For St Paul's allusions to the "bonds" of this Roman imprisonment, see Philippians 1:7; Philippians 1:13-14; Philippians 1:16; Colossians 4:18; Philemon 1:10; Philemon 1:13; and above, Ephesians 3:1; Ephesians 4:1.

Wetstein calls attention here to the paradox; "an ambassadorin chains."

therein I.e., in "the mystery of the Gospel." This was the field or sphere of his speech. The Gr. makes it plain that the reference is to this, and not to the "bonds."

speak boldly The verb is cognate to the noun in Ephesians 6:19. See note above on "boldly" there. The tense is aorist, and suggests that he prays for grace to take, as it were, a "new departure" in outspoken testimony and exposition.

I ought under the holy obligation of my commission. Cp. 1 Corinthians 9:16.

speak The Gr. verb indicates specially the wordingof the message. He prays for grace to be perfectly explicit in terms. The tense is aorist; see last note but one.