V 1
With this in mind, I, Paul, who in the cause of you Gentiles am now the prisoner of Christ Jesus -
NLT.  I, Paul, am a prisoner of Christ Jesus because of my preaching to you Gentiles.
TEV.  For this reason, I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you  Gentiles, pray to God.
The Message.  This is why I, Paul, am in jail for Christ, having taken up the cause of you outsiders, so-called.

Paul considered himself  both Christ’s ‘prisoner’ (like a ‘prisoner of love’) as well as an actual prisoner because he was in gaol because of his activities in  spreading Christ’s message.

Quest Study Bible note, p 1615.  When Paul wrote Ephesians, he was a literal prisoner, probably in Rome.  Yet he wasn’t bitter.  He had committed himself to serving Christ and preaching the gospel, whatever the cost.  In the same way we can, like Paul, identify so closely with Christ that we consider ourselves prisoners to his will.

What? A prisoner? I can imagine the horror of some people who wouldn’t want to worship a God who makes you a prisoner!  Most of us value our ‘freedom’ and want to live our lives as we please.  The truth is that acceptance of Christ as saviour brings the best kind of freedom - from self-centredness and all the stresses and worries that brings and leaves us free to be the people God intended us to be.  That’s real freedom.  Any ‘imprisonment’ is voluntary  -  accepting the kind of bonds that loving brings.

New Bible Commentary, p 1233.  V 1 takes up again the report of his prayer for the Gentile churches.  However, having introduced himself as the subject of the sentence, Paul breaks off into  a second digression even before he gets to the main verb!  The Good News Bible (TEV) does not tolerate this abruptness and smooths it out by supplying the predicate ‘pray to God’ to complete the sentence but Paul himself does not complete it until he returns to it and repeat its opening in v.14.  (This is evidence that the letter is a real one, written in some haste, not a carefully planned theological update of Paul written in a later generation.)

V 2
for surely you have heard how God has assigned the gift of his grace to me for your benefit.
TEV. Surely you have heard that God, in his grace, has given me this work to do for your good.
NLT.  As you already know, God has given me this special ministry of announcing his favour to you Gentiles.
The Message.  I take it that you’re familiar with the part I was given in God’s plan for including everyone.

Paul wants to remind the Ephesians and people from other churches who might read his letter that God had given him the job of bringing them the gospel of Jesus Christ because God cares about them, regardless of their nationality or previous lifestyles. This was a very special task that God had given to Paul especially.

When we work for the church, it’s important to remember whose work we’re doing and why we’re doing it.  It’s very easy to get caught up in all kinds of activity which may  or may not be what God wants us to do.  Paul always remembered what he was like before he met Jesus and remembered that the work he did he only did because of the grace of God in forgiving him and calling him to the role of apostle to the Gentiles.  God has something special or eachofus to do for him and he calls us to do that, just as he called Paul.  If we’re listening to him, he will lead us into the work he wants us to do.

V 3
It was by a revelation that his secret was made known to me.  I have already written a brief account of this,
NIV.  That is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly.
NLT.  As I briefly mentioned earlier in this letter, God himself revealed his secret plan to me.
The Message.  I got the inside story on this from God himself, as I just wrote you in brief.

Paul has already told them, in the first part of his letter, what God had told him of his plan for humanity, including the Gentiles. He now reinforces that this is not something he has dreamed up for himself, it is what God told him by a revelation.  Paul was told this information in a very special way that left Paul in no doubt that it was a message straight from God.

Quest Study Bible note, p 1615.  The term mystery does not refer to a riddle or a secret.  Rather it refers to a spiritual insight or revelation from God unknown to previous generations.  The Old Testament revealed that Gentiles would be saved.  But only in the New Testament is the method of salvation made clear and the mystery solved: it is through Jesus Christ, his sacrificial death and his resurrection.  Now by faith, both Jews and Gentiles are heirs together of eternal life and will receive the same inheitance in Christ.

V 4.
and by reading it you may perceive that I understand the secret of Christ.
NIV.  In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ,
NLT.  As you read what I have written, you will understand what I  know about this plan regarding Christ.

Paul is anxious that his readers will understand how Jesus Christ brought God’s plan into fruition as they read what he has written to them.

The gospel is something to be shared.  It is our task to share what we know of Jesus with others so that they will come to know him for themselves.  There are different ways of sharing the gospel. We don’t all have the task of sharing it through preaching and writing as Paul did, but we will have some way that is unique to each of  us and which puts into use the gifts that God has given us.

V 5.
In former generations this was not disclosed to the human race; but now it has been revealed by inspiration to his dedicated apostles and prophets,
NIV  which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets.
NLT.  God did not reveal it to previous generations, but now he has revealed it by the Holy Spirit to his holy apostles and prophets.
The Message.  None of our ancestors understood this.  Only in our time has it been made clear by God’s Spirit through his holy apostles and prophets of this new order.

God’s plan was not revealed to anyone until the time was right. Glimpses of his plan had been given to various prophets in Old Testament times, but no-one knew the full  picture of what God was planning.  At the right time, Jesus came and when he ascended to heaven the Holy Spirit became available to all who believe so that we are able to understand God’s plan for salvation for all. (Romans 5:6 tells us, ‘When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.’ NLT)

New Bible Commentary, pp1233,1234.  Paul’s wording allows that there were hints of the gospel in the Old Testament……. But that God should make the Gentiles co-heirs, co-body members of a new people of God, and co-sharers of the promise of new creation in Christ, was decisively new.

V 6.
that through the Gospel the Gentiles are joint heirs with the Jews, part of the same body, sharers together in the promise made in Christ Jesus.
NIV.  This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.
NLT.  And this is the secret plan: The Gentiles have an equal share with the Jews in all the riches inherited by God’s children.  Both groups have believed the Good News, and both are part of the same body and enjoy together the promise of blessings through Christ Jesus.

Some of what had been revealed of God’s plan previously had led the Jews to believe that they were God’s special people.  They had taken that to mean that they were God’s only true people, not thqt God had a special role for them to play in bringing all of humanity into his kingdom and his family.  Paul tells them here that it was part of God’s plan that the Gentiles, as well as the Jews are to be heirs to the promises he has made throughout the ages.

For Jews, this would have been hard to swallow. Gentiles, knowing the Jewish attitudes to them, would have found it almost as unbelievable.  It was only through hearing the gospel and the assurance brought by the Holy Spirit that they would have been able to accept this with certainty.

V7.
Such is the gospel of which I was made a minister, by God’s gift, bestowed unmerited on me in the working of his power.
NIV.  I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power.
NLT.  By God’s special favour and mighty power, I have been given the wonderful privilege of serving him by spreading this Good News.

Paul again emphasises, as he did in V2, that his work of spreading the gospel was not something he took on as his own decision, but because God has given him that job to do and has given him the special gifts he needs to do it.  Paul accepts this role as evidence that God has accepted him even though he does not deserve it and has done nothing to merit God entrusting him with such an important task.

In this sense God appoints all believers as ‘ministers’ or servants to do his work ande none of us deserve that privilege or naturally have all the skills and talents to do it properly.  We must rely onGod’s gifts and the guidance of the Holy Spirit when we work for him - as Paul did.

V 8.
To me, who am less than the least of all God’s people, he has granted of his grace the privilege of proclaiming to the Gentiles the good news of the unfathomable riches of Christ,
NIV.  Although I am less than the least of all God’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,
NLT.  Just think!  Though I did nothing to deserve it, and though I am the least deserving Christian there is, I was chosen for this special joy of telling the Gentiles about the endless treasures available to them in Christ.

Paul keeps in mind where he came from and what he might have become without Christ.  He knew he was nomore special to God than any other Christian.  In fact , Paul genuinely saw himself as less deserving of God’s love and care than any other person he knew of. This is rue humility; knowing our worth in the eyes of God - knowing that while God sees us as important, we are no more important than anyone else and that anything we do is only successful because of the love and the gifts of God.

V 9, 10.
and of  bringing to light how this hidden purpose was to be put into effect.  It was hidden for long ages in God the creator of the universe, in order that now, through the church, the wisdom of God in all its varied forms might be made known to the rulers and authorities in the realms of heaven.
NLT.  I was chosen to explain to everyone this plan that God, the Creator of all things, had kept secret from the beginning.  God’s purpose was to show his wisdom inall its rich variety to all the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms.  They will see this when Jews and Gentiles are joined together in his church.

Paul saw himself as a small part of God’s huge plan.  It was Paul’s job to explain God’s plan.  God’s purpose in all of it is to emphasise his own wisdom, especially to all the heavenly powers, who presumably had a  fair bit of heavenly wisdom themselves.  God is asserting his superiority as creator of everything in heaven and on earth (which of course he has a right to do).

Paul believed that God’s great plan would be completed when all people, both Jew and Gentile are united in the church. What a responsbility for the church.  Jesus’ insructions to his disciples recorded in Matthew 28:19 re-inforce this for us: Go forth therefore and make all nations my disciples: baptise men [people] everywhere in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to observe all that I have commanded you.

This is our commission: to spread the good news of Jesus Christ to all people, to make all people his disciples so that God’s wisdom will be shown to all the heavenly powers.

New Bible Commentary, p 1234.  The rulers in question are probably the whole host of heavenly beings; not merely God’s angels nor merely the evil powers of Ephesians 6: 12 but both. They are the assembled witnesses beofre whom God vindicates his wisdom to expression.  That wisdom is his eternal purpose in Christ, which quite clearly is his intent to unify all things in Christ.  It is brought to expression in a universal church where Jew and Gentile live and worship as one body, in harmony with God and with brothers and sisters in Christ. … In this [Paul’s teaching] follows Jesus whose final testamentary prayer in John 17 focused on the request that God keep the church in a unity of love which matches and witnesses to the unity of love between the Father and the Son.

How it must hurt God when he sees Christians not getting along with each other - in fact people who call themselves ‘Christian’ speaking words of hate against each other and even making war on each other. How it must hurt when Christian denominations won’t talk with each other or won’t share worship together, or when one group of Christians begins to think they, and only they, are doing it right!

V11.
This is in accord with his age-long purpose, which he achieved in Christ Jesus our Lord.
NLT.  This was his plan for all eternity, and it has now been carried out through Christ Jesus our Lord.

God’s plan culminated in Jesus Christ and the work he did on earth - his life , death and resurrection.

V 12.
In him we have access to God with freedom, in the confidence born of trust in him.
NIV.  In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.    NLT.  Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come fearlessly into God’s presence.

What a wonderful message!  That through Christ and what he did for us, and because of our belief and trust in him, we can have direct communication with God, knowing that he not only hears our requests, but that he actually wants to enter into a personal relationship with each one of us, because he loves each one of us as if we were his only child.  Each one of us who believe in him has direct access to God.  We don’t have to go through  any other human being, either alive or dead, to take our joys, or troubles or our confessions to God.  We can go direct to God ourselves.