"To MAKE KNOWN the secret of the evangel, for which I am conducting an embassy in a chain..." (Eph.6:20). An embassy in a chain! The words seem paradoxical. One would imagine that the ambassador of Christ, entrusted with His evangel, would have had every freedom to herald His message, would have journeyed unhindered and been given unlimited scope in his ministry. But it is not so. Such is the limitless graciousness of God that He permits His beloved apostle to be chained and imprisoned and to conduct his ministry in bonds. Surely, no manifestation of God's conciliatory attitude toward humanity could be more satisfying and complete than this--a fettered ambassador. An embassy in a chain! Vividly the words recall to mind the pathetic picture of the beloved apostle before Agrippa (Acts 26:29). A touching scene expressive of his zealous abandonment to his calling: silently eloquent of his sensitiveness to the bonds that fettered him. "May I ever wish to God, even briefly and greatly, not only you, but also all who are hearing me today, to become a kind such as I am also, outside of these bonds!" His ardour for the religion of his fathers is only excelled by His love for all men and passionate longing that they should share his knowledge of the Saviour and God's grace. But he adds, prayerfully I believe, outside of these bonds. Paul's frequent reference to his bonds is worthy of sincere consideration. Surely, it is not that he complained of them, for he had learned, in whatsoever state, to be content. Rather, that the mention of his chain might focus attention upon the magnitude of God's grace, in that He suffered His ambassador to be chained, judged, unjustly condemned, beaten, and imprisoned, for he "is not committing anything deserving death or bonds" (Acts 26:31). Paul did not complain. The reverse is the fact. He gloried in his afflictions (Rom.5:3). "My affairs," he wrote to the Philippians (1:12-14) "have rather come to be for the progress of the evangel, so that my bonds in Christ have become apparent..." It would seem that Paul realized that his peculiar ministry and his chain are inseparable. His bondage was essential. God's attitude of peace, manifested in, and procured by, the death of His beloved Son on the cross (Col.1:20) is to be further demonstrated in the fettered ambassador. So much so that "the Holy Spirit, city by city, certifies to me, saying that bonds and afflictions are remaining for me." But he does not dissent or complain. "I am taking account of nothing, nor am I making my soul precious to myself, till I should be perfecting my career and the dispensation which I obtained from the Lord Jesus, to certify the evangel of the grace of God" (Acts 20:23,24). Writing to the Colossians, he affectionately asks them to remember his bonds. He concludes, "The salutation is by my hand-- Paul. Remember my bonds!" He desires to excite their sympathy that, in their prayers, the saints may remember his afflictions and beseech their Heavenly Father that He should open a door of utterance "to speak the secret of Christ" because of which he had been bound. Underlying the superficial meaning of the words "remember my bonds" we can see the pointer to the great truths back of his chains. The beloved apostle would desire that we appreciate the reason for his bondage--the secret of the evangel, and the secret of Christ (Eph. 6:19; Col.4:3). His chains were a symbol of the evangel which he heralded and which he could call his evangel. The transcendent revelations of the conciliation and the universal headship of Christ required a chained ambassador to make them manifest, that the reality of accomplishment should be demonstrated in entirety. Remember Paul's bonds! |
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