Ephesians 6:20

ὑπὲρ οὗ πρεσβεύω ἐν ἁλύσει : in behalf of which I am an ambassador in a chain. The οὗ is best referred, not to τοῦ εὐαγγελίου, but to τὸ μυστήριον, the mystery contained in the Gospel being the thing that Paul desired to make known (γνωρίσαι). So in Colossians 4:3 it is this μυστήριον that the writer is to utter (λαλῆσαι) and on account of which he is bound (δέδεμαι). πρεσβεύω = “I act as ambassador,” only here and in 2 Corinthians 5:20. The ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ of the latter passage is left to be understood here. The legation or embassage in Christ's cause, which Paul here ascribes to himself, is not to be limited to the Roman Court (Mich.), but is to be understood as to the whole Gentile world, in the wide sense of the commission given (Acts 9:15; Acts 17:15); the debt professed (Romans 1:14); the office claimed (Romans 11:13), and recognised (Galatians 2:9). The noun ἅλυσις, which is not of frequent occurrence in classical Greek, means there a chain (Herod., ix., 74; Eurip., Or., 984); also a woman's ornament, a bracelet (Aristoph., Frag., Mem., ii., p. 1079). It is taken by some to be a word of general application, denoting a chain or bond by which any part of the body may be bound, and it is questioned (e.g., by Mey.), whether it is distinguished from πέδη as hand -fetter from foot -fetter. But, while in such passages as Revelation 20:1 the specific sense may not be required, it seems clear that the distinction between manacle and fetter does obtain (cf. Polyb., iii., 82, 8); that this distinction is made in Mark 5:4; and that ἅλυσις is used of the “handcuff” by which a prisoner was attached to his guard (Joseph., Antiq., xviii., 6, 7, 10; Acts 12:6; Acts 21:33, etc.; cf. Light., Phil., p. 8). This may be its meaning here, and there will be no necessity for taking it to be a collective sing. = bonds; of which use indeed, though possible (cf. Bernh., Synt., ii., 1, p. 58), there does not appear to be any clear example in the NT itself. And such phrases as εἰς τὴν ἅλυσιν ἐμπίπτειν (Polyb., iv., 76, 5, xxi., 3, 3) are inconclusive, the article giving the word the generic sense. It has been thought that the expression points to the custodia militaris endured by Paul in Rome (Acts 28:16; Acts 28:20; cf. 2 Timothy 1:16; Beza, Grot., Paley, Steyer, etc.). That is possible, and indeed even probable, so far as the custodia is concerned. But the description might apply to the imprisonment in Cæsarea as well as to that in Rome. The real point of the clause is in the view it gives of the need of the παρρησία and of the intercessions that should bring that gift. ἵνα ἐν αὐτῷ παρρησιάσωμαι ὡς δεῖ με λαλῆσαι : in order that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak. How is this purpose-clause to be connected? Some attach it to the πρεσβεύω (Beng., Meyer, Von Soden), as if = “I act as ambassador in a chain with the object of speaking boldly,” etc. Others connect it with the whole foregoing clause, making it subordinate to that, and an explanation of the object of the gift of utterance, = “that utterance may be given to me to make known the mystery, with the view that I should speak boldly” (Harl.). But ἵνα is repeatedly used to introduce something that is not subordinate to, but coordinate with, what is stated in a former ἵνα clause (Romans 8:13; Galatians 3:14; 1 Corinthians 12:20; 2 Corinthians 9:3). It is best, therefore, to take it so here, and to understand the clause as giving a second object contemplated in the προσευχόμενοι and ἀγρυπνοῖντες, etc. First the gift of utterance, and now secondly the gift more particularly of a boldness or freedom (παρρησιάσωμαι) in preaching such as became the Apostle's office and responsibility (ὡς δεῖ με λαλῆσαι). The αὐτῷ refers to the μυστήριον which was to be preached. The ἐν is taken by some (e.g., Harl.) to denote the source or ground of the boldness in speaking (παρρησιάσωμαι). But it is God who is named as the source of such boldness (ἐπαρρησιασάμεθα ἐν τῷ Θεῷ, 1 Thessalonians 2:2). It might be an instance of ἐν expressing that on which a certain power operates or in which it shows itself (as in ἵνα οὕτω γένηται ἐν ἐμοί, 1 Corinthians 9:15; ἐν ἡμῖν μάθητε, 1 Corinthians 4:6; cf. Thayer-Grimm, Lex., p. 210). But it is best understood as the note of that in which one is busied (cf. Acts 22:12; 1 Timothy 4:15; Colossians 4:2, etc.), and so = “that, occupied with that mystery, i.e., in proclaiming it, I may speak boldly” (Mey.).