Albert Barnes Commentary Ephesians 3:13

"Wherefore I ask that ye may not faint at my tribulations for you, which are your glory." — Ephesians 3:13 (ASV)

Wherefore I desire that ye faint not. The connection here is this: Paul was then a prisoner at Rome. He had been imprisoned as a consequence of his efforts to spread the Christian religion among the Gentiles (Ephesians 3:1).

His zeal in this cause, and the opinions he held on this subject, had roused the wrath of the Jews and led to all the calamities he was now suffering. He supposes the Ephesians were aware of that. It was natural that they should be distressed at his sufferings, for all his privations were endured on their behalf. But here he tells them not to be troubled or disheartened. He was indeed suffering, but he was reconciled to it, and they should be also, since it was promoting their welfare.

The word rendered "faint"—ekkakew—means, literally, to turn out a coward or to lose one's courage; then to be faint-hearted, etc. (2 Corinthians 4:1).

It is rendered faint in Luke 18:1, 2 Corinthians 4:1 and 16, and Ephesians 3:13; and weary in Galatians 6:9 and 2 Thessalonians 3:13. It does not occur elsewhere.

Locke renders it here as dismayed. Koppe supposes it means that they should not think the Christian religion was vain and false because Paul was suffering so much from his countrymen on account of it. But it rather means that they might be in danger of being discouraged by the fact that he was enduring so much. They might become disheartened in their attachment to a system of religion which exposed its friends to such calamities. Paul tells them that this ought not to follow. They were to profit from all his sufferings, and they should, therefore, hold fast to a religion which was attended with so many benefits to them—even though he should suffer.

Which is your glory. This tends to your honor and welfare. You have reason to rejoice that you have a friend who is willing to suffer thus for you; you have reason to rejoice in all the benefits that will result to you from his trials on your behalf.