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Bible chapter guide
Ephesians 3
Paul, a prisoner for the Gentiles, explains the mystery now revealed: the Gentiles are fellow heirs in Christ. He prays that they may be rooted in love and know the breadth, length, height and depth of the love of Christ, which surpasses knowledge.
Summary written for the Labs; read the chapter itself for the full text.
See it in the Labs
Also in this chapter
The letter: who wrote it, where and when
These questions are debated; the views are shown side by side with how sure each is, as in Paul's Roads.
- Plausible
Ephesians written from Rome
The traditional view: Acts 28:30–31 has Paul two years under guard in Rome, free to receive visitors, and the letters mention Caesar's household and the praetorian guard (Philippians 1:13; 4:22).
- Plausible
Paul's authorship of Ephesians is debated.
Many scholars think this letter was written after Paul's death in his name; others hold that Paul wrote it. The lab shows the setting the letter itself gives and takes no side.
- Speculative
Ephesians written from Ephesus
Paul speaks of many imprisonments and of deadly peril in Asia (2 Corinthians 1:8; 11:23), and Ephesus lies close to Colossae and Philippi for the many journeys the letters assume; but Acts records no imprisonment at Ephesus.
- Speculative
Ephesians written from Caesarea
Paul was held two years at Caesarea (Acts 24:27) with friends allowed to visit him (24:23); a minority reading places some prison letters there.