Ephesians 3:1

For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles…

Paul now describes himself as a prisoner of Christ for the Gentiles.

This particular verse seems to be difficult for translators, who generally put the dash at the end and start a new sentence hoping you won't notice something. There is no primary verb here or in the subsequent verse.

since the verb to be is optional in Greek, it seems to make sense to write this as “ I Paul am a prisoner of Christ.” The lack of punctuation in the original text does complicate things somewhat so we don't know if this verse was meant to be a sentence by itself.

overlooking the grammatical difficulties, we can look at what the verse has to say to us now.

Paul describes himself as a prisoner of Christ “for this reason.” We have to look back at the part that went before this verse to find the reason. Previously Paul had talked about how God was building the church - household, a temple, a dwelling place. In this project He determines where each person, indeed each faith community, should fit in the overall scheme of things.

for this reason, Paul is a prisoner of Christ. He is in prison because of his particular role in the Body of Christ, which is to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. There is no regret for Paul because he knows exactly what the purpose of his suffering is, and it is all a part of God’s plan for his life and ministry.

paul is a prisoner of Christ. Even though the Romans hold him physically, it is Christ who is using the experience to build the church, especially in respect of the gentile christians .

we might expect Paul to describe himself as a prisoner for Christ, but he is definitely here that he is a prisoner of Christ.

to be a prisoner of Christ is one of those phrases that can be interpreted in many ways

• As stated before, he is a prisoner because Christ is building the church, and this is essential to Paul's role
• although the Romans hold the building, it is Christ who holds the key
• he is captivated by Christ's love and by the calling on his life
• in other places Paul describes himself as a slave for Christ. This is a similar kind of analogy

In all these interpretations, we need to remember that Paul is a voluntary captive. Paul has given his heart to the Lord, and it is in that sense that he is a prisoner of Christ. If he wished, he could gain the freedom to not be a prisoner anymore. He could renounce Christ and walk away back to the bondage of the Jewish law and of sin.

if Paul is a prisoner of Christ, he's a prisoner for a particular purpose. He's a prisoner for the Gentiles.

Paul became convinced very early in his Christian life that salvation was for the Gentiles and not just for the Jews. He also became convinced that his calling was to take the good news to the Gentiles. Paul is the apostle to the Gentiles.

Hence Paul's imprisonment, part of his mission to the Gentiles, was for the Genttiles. Paul knew that if God had decided he needed to be in prison, then it was part of the mission, part of the calling to take the gospel to the Gentiles .

this is an incredible insight and the source of great strength. Prison time was not wasted time for Paul. He wasn't sitting on the sidelines missing all the action. For some reason, this was the action; this was the mission.

regardless of whether there was an outcome that he could see, Paul knew that he was a prisoner of Christ for the sake of the Gentiles .

Key points in this verse

• Paul was the Prisoner of Christ, not of the Romans
• his life was devoted to serving Christ, regardless of the location or situation
• Paul was a prisoner for the Gentiles
• prison time was not wasted time because even this was the mission Christ had set for him