Whose prisoner are you?

Ephesians 3:1

Whose prisoner are you, or maybe it would be better stated, who has imprisoned you?  Your attitude might be I’ve never spent even one day in jail, I am not a prisoner, but the apostle Paul, is not talking about jail.  Paul tells us that he is a prisoner for Christ Jesus on behalf of the Gentiles.  Paul begins this part of his letter to the churches in Ephesus in this manner, “For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles” what is the reason he is referring to?  If we look back at the letter, the reason becomes clear; “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”

Often the Holy Spirit will use symbolism to give us understanding of the Scriptures; like in Romans 11:17-18, “But if some of the branches were broken off, (referring to Israel) and you, (referring to the Gentiles) although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you.”  If we drop down to verses 24-25, “For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.  Lest you be wise in your own conceits, I want you to understand this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.” (Emphasis added)

Paul is proud to state that he is a prisoner of Christ Jesus, in fact he states that truth at least ten times in the Scriptures, and in 2 Timothy 2:9, he declares this; “for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal.  But the word of God is not bound!”   But the question still remains, “Whose prisoner are you; are you imprisoned by the lust of the flesh, is your goal to obtain stuff that has value only for this world, but has no eternal value?  Are we not all someone’s prisoner, Paul was an ambassador in chains because of the reality of the gospel of grace.

Each and everyone of us is a prisoner to someone or something, all who enter into Christ have entered into a combat zone, a violent clash of kingdoms, it is a war with not only cosmic powers, but the flesh warring against the Spirit.  Jesus tells us in John 15:4, “Abide in me, and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.”

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice