From: Ephesians 3:2-12
St Paul’s Mission
[7] Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace
which was given me by the working of his power. [8] To me, though I am the very
least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsear-
chable riches of Christ, [9] and to make all men see what is the plan of the mys-
tery hidden for ages in God who created all things; that through the church the
manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the principalities and po-
wers in the heavenly places. [11] This was according to the eternal purpose
which he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, [12] in whom we have boldness
and confidence of access through our faith in him.
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Commentary:
1-21. Christ’s saving work on behalf of the Gentiles, calling them to be with the
Jews, living stones in the edifice of the Church, leads the Apostle once again to
overflow in prayer (vv. 14-21). But first he considers his own position and what
Christ has done in him by making him a minister or servant of the Mystery of
Christ (vv. 2-13). He witnesses to the revelation he himself has received, which
made this Mystery known to him (vv. 2-5); and he goes on to give a summary
of the Mystery, emphasizing the call of the Gentiles to the Church through the
preaching of the Gospel (v. 6); he then explains that his mission is precisely to
preach the Mystery of Christ to the Gentiles (vv. 7-13).
1-4. What led to St Paul’s imprisonment was Jewish charges that he had
preached against the Law and had brought Gentiles into the temple (they thought
Trophimus, a citizen of Ephesus, was a Gentile: cf. Acts 21:28f). He did not mind
so much the chains or the imprisonment or the Romans being his judges and jai-
lers: what he wanted to make clear was that he was imprisoned for preaching to
the Gentiles the salvation won by Jesus Christ.
He is very conscious of being an instrument specially chosen by God: he has
been given the grace to reveal the “Mystery” (cf. Rom 1:15; 2 Cor 12:2f). He is
clearly referring to the vision he had on the road to Damascus (cf. Acts 9:2) and
possibly to later revelations as well. His encounter with the risen Christ, who iden-
tifies himself with his Church (cf. Acts 9:5), is the origin and basis of his grasp of
God’s eternal plan, the “Mystery”, which is one of the central teachings in this let-
ter. The fact that Christ revealed himself to Paul and chose him to be the preacher
of the Gospel to the Gentiles is something which Paul sees as part of the syste-
matic implementation — the “oikonomia” — of God’s plan.
5. In the Old Testament the promise made to Abraham revealed that in his off-
spring all the nations of the earth would be blessed (cf. Gen 12:3; Sir 44:21); but
how this would happen was not revealed. The Jews always thought that it would
come about through their exaltation over other nations. Through the revelation Je-
sus made to him, St Paul has discovered that God has chosen another way —
that of bringing the Gentiles into the Church, the body of Christ, on equal terms
with the Jews. This is the “Mystery”, the plan of God as revealed by the mission
Christ gave his apostles or envoys (cf. Mt 28:19), of whom St Paul is one (cf. 3:8).
Once again, as in 2:20, prophets are mentioned together with apostles; this may
mean either the Old Testament prophets who announced the coming Messiah,
or the New Testament prophets, that is, the Apostles themselves and other Chris-
tians who had insight, through revelation, into God’s saving plans for the Gentiles
and who proclaimed them under the inspiration of the Spirit. The context and other
passages in Ephesians and elsewhere in the New Testament (cf. Eph 4:11; 1 Cor
12:28f; Acts 11:27; etc.) would suggest that he is referring to New Testament pro-
phets. The Holy Spirit has revealed the Mystery to them “that they might preach
the Gospel, stir up faith in Jesus the Messiah and Lord, and bring together the
Church” (Vatican II, “Dei Verbum”, 17). St Paul does not see himself as the only
person to whom it has been given to know the Mystery revealed in Jesus Christ.
All that he is saying is that, by the grace of God, it has been made known to him
and that its preaching has been entrusted to him in a special way, just as it was
given to St Peter to preach it to the Jews (cf. Gal 2:7).
St Paul attributes to the Holy Spirit the revelation of the Mystery, recalling, no
doubt, how he himself came to know it after his meeting with Jesus on the road
to Damascus (cf. Acts 9:17). It is the Spirit also who acts in the apostles and
prophets (cf. Acts 2:17), and it is he who on an on-going basis vivifies the Church,
enabling it to proclaim the Gospel. “The Holy Spirit is the soul of the Church. It
is he who explains to the faithful the deep meaning of the teaching of Jesus and
of his mystery. It is the Holy Spirit who, today just as at the beginning of the
Church acts in every evangelizer who allows himself to be possessed and led by
him. The Holy Spirit places on his lips the words which he could not find himself,
and at the same time the Holy Spirit predisposes the soul of the hearer to be o-
pen and receptive to the Good News and to the Kingdom being proclaimed” (Paul
VI, “Evangelii Nuntiandi”, 75).
7. The preacher of the Gospel carries out a ministry, a service to the people of
God and to the Gospel itself. St Paul stresses that he has been made a “minis-
ter” of the Gospel; he seems to be saying, “I am not carrying out this task as if
it were an initiative of my own; I am performing it as a service which comes from
God” (St Thomas Aquinas, “Commentary on Eph, ad loc.”). Those who teach
Christian doctrine are not passing on their personal opinions, but a divine mes-
sage. “That is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of
the mysteries of God” (1 Cor 4:1).
In all generations, God, in his mercy and by his power, calls people to the minis-
try of the Word, to ensure that the Gospel is forever proclaimed and made known
to all mankind. This ministry belongs, in the first place, to bishops. As succes-
sors to the Apostles, “the bishops are heralds of the faith, who draw new disci-
ples to Christ; they are authentic teachers, that is, teachers endowed with the
authority of Christ, who preach the faith to the people assigned to them, the faith
which is destined to inform their thinking and direct their conduct; and under the
light of the Holy Spirit they make that faith shine forth, drawing from the store-
house of revelation new things and old (cf. Mt 13:52)” (”Lumen Gentium”, 25).
Alongside the bishops and acting as their helpers, priests and deacons also car-
ry out the ministry of the Word: “it is the first task of priests as co-workers of the
bishops to preach the Gospel of God to all men. In this way they carry out the
Lord’s command ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole crea-
tion’ (Mk 16:15) and thus set up and increase the people of God” (Vatican II,
“Presbyterorum Ordinis”, 4).
The Christian faithful have the basic right, recognized by the Church, to have the
word of God preached to them. “The people of God are first united through the
word of the living God, and are fully entitled to seek this word from their priests.
For this reason sacred ministers are to consider the office of preaching as of
great importance, since proclaiming the Gospel of God to all is among their prin-
cipal duties” (”Code of Canon Law”, can. 762).
“When carrying out the ministry of the word”, Benedict XV comments, “preachers
should have this purpose in mind, as clearly indicated by St Paul: ‘we are ambas-
sadors for Christ’ (2 Cor 5:20). Every preacher should make these words his own.
But if they are ambassadors for Christ, when exercising their mission they have
a duty to keep strictly to Christ’s purpose when he gave them this charge; they
must not have any other aims than those which Christ himself had when he lived
on this earth [...]. Therefore, preachers must have these two goals — to spread the
truth taught by God; and to awaken and nurture supernatural life in those who are
listening to them. To sum up: they must seek the salvation of souls, promote the
glory of God” (”Humani Generis Redemptionem”).
8. Humble abandonment to the action of God in his soul leads St Paul to regard
himself as the very lowest of Christians (cf. 1 Cor 15:9); his only credit is the
grace God has given him. This grace includes the revelation of “the Mystery”
and also the mission to proclaim it (cf. note on Phil 1:7).
He sees the gifts which Christ extends to all, the Gentiles included, as an inex-
haustible source of riches (cf. 1:18; 2:7; 3:16). In this present life no one can fully
grasp the marvels God has done (cf. Job 5:9) or plumb the depths of God’s mercy
as manifested in Jesus Christ (cf. note on Col 2:2-3).
Every generation can and should discover in the mystery of Christ “full awareness
of (man’s) dignity, of the heights to which he is raised, of the surpassing worth of
his own humanity, and of the meaning of his existence” (Bl. John Paul II, “Redem-
ptor Hominis”, 11). The Church’s mission is precisely this: “the revealing of Christ
to the world, helping each person to find himself in Christ, and helping the contem-
porary generations of our brothers and sisters the peoples, nations, states, man-
kind, developing countries and countries of opulence — in short, helping everyone
to get to know ‘the unsearchable riches of Christ’, since these riches are for every
individual and are everybody’s property” (”ibid.”).
9. The Apostle establishes a close parallel between God’s plan of Redemption
and the very act of creation (cf. 1 Cor 2:7; Eph 1:4). This saving design, hidden
until now, is what has been revealed by Christ; it enables us to grasp God’s infi-
nite love for men, for it shows that creation itself is part of God’s plan of salvation.
For if “all things were created” (Col 1:16) in and for and with Christ, the “Myste-
ry” of which he is speaking was already latent in the very creation of the world.
Hence God’s eternal plan, which envisages man’s salvation, affects the very act
of creation and includes the incarnation of the Son of God.
Bl. John Paul II said this in “Redemptor Hominis”, 8: “The Redeemer of the
world! In him has been revealed in a new and more wonderful way the fundamen-
tal truth concerning creation to which the Book of Genesis gives witness when it
repeats several times, ‘God saw that it was good’ (cf. Gen 1 “passim”). The good
has its source in Wisdom and Love. In Jesus Christ the visible world which God
created for man (cf. Gen 1:26-30) — the world which, when sin entered, ‘was sub-
jected to futility’ (Rom 8:19-22) — recovers again its original link with the divine
source of Wisdom and Love.”
10-12. This text shows that the apostolic ministry of preaching has a universal,
cosmic, impact. Thanks to the Church’s preaching of “the mystery”, it is made
known not only to mankind but also to the principalities and powers of the heav-
ens. This preaching reveals the hidden, eternal plans of salvation whereby Jews
and Gentiles, by being converted to Christ, come to have an equal place in the
Church, and this fact in turn reveals the “mystery” of salvation even to the angels
(cf. 1 Pet 1 :12), who come to realize the harmony that lies in God’s various inter-
ventions in the course of history, from the Creation to the Redemption, including
the history of the people of Israel.
The “principalities” and “powers” refer to the angelic powers which, according to
Jewish belief, were the promulgators and guardians of the Law and whose mis-
sion included the government of men. But these “powers” did not know what
God’s plans were until they were carried out by Christ and his Church. In this
passage St Paul does not say anything about whether these powers are good
or evil (cf. note on 1:21). What he does re-assert, very clearly, is Christ’s supre-
macy over all these powers, and the Church’s role in bringing all creation to re-
cognize that Christ is Lord of all. Therefore, the powers in the heavenly places
no longer have any mastery over the Christian: through faith in Christ he acquires
the freedom of a son of God and is able to address God confidently.
St Jerome, St Thomas and others interpret “the principalities and powers” as
being good angels, like the “thrones” and “dominions” (cf. Col 1:16) and “virtues”
(”powers”: cf. Eph 1:21). If we add to these titles appearing in St Paul’s letters
those to be found in other books of Sacred Scripture — cherubim, seraphim, arch-
angels and angels — we get the nine angelic hierarchies known to tradition. The
names simply reflect the qualities with which angels are endowed: they are spiri-
tual beings, personal and free; they are incorporeal and because they are pure
spirits, they have intellect, will and power far in excess of man’s.
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.