For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus
Christ,
&c.] Not actively, whom Christ had apprehended by his grace,
and made a prisoner of hope; but passively, who was made a
prisoner for Christ, on account of preaching Christ, and his
Gospel: he was not a prisoner for any capital crime, as theft,
murder and therefore be was not ashamed of his bonds, but rather
glories in them; and a prison has often been the portion of the
best of men in this world: from hence we learn, that this epistle
was written when the apostle was a prisoner at Rome; and the
consideration of this his condition serves much to confirm the
truths he had before delivered, seeing they were such as he
could, and did suffer for; and which must engage the attention of
the Ephesians to them, and especially since his sufferings were
on their account:
for you Gentiles:
because he preached the Gospel to the Gentiles, which the Jews
forbid, that they might not be saved; and because he taught them,
that circumcision and the rest of the ceremonies of the law were
not binding upon them; which gave great offence to the Jews, who
were the means of bringing of him into these circumstances, and
particularly the Asiatic Jews, the Jews of Ephesus; who having
seen and heard him there, knew him again when in the temple at
Jerusalem, and raised a mob upon him, having bore a grudge
against him for his ministry at Ephesus, by which means he became
a prisoner; so that he might truly say, he was a prisoner for the
sake of them; see ( Acts
21:27-33 ) . One of Stevens's copies adds, "am an
ambassador", as in ( Ephesians
6:20 ) and another of them, "glory", or "rejoice"; see (
Philippians 2:16
Philippians 2:17 ) .
