Commentaries:
Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown
For—Greek, as in Ephesians 6:19, "On behalf of which."
an ambassador in bonds—a paradox. Ambassadors were held inviolable by the law of nations, and could not, without outrage to every sacred right, be put in chains. Yet Christ's "ambassador is in a chain!" The Greek is singular. The Romans used to bind a prisoner to a soldier by a single chain, in a kind of free custody. So Acts 28:16, Acts 28:20, "I am bound with this chain." The term, "bonds" (plural), on the other hand, is used when the prisoner's hands or feet were bound together (Acts 26:29); compare Acts 12:6, where the plural marks the distinction. The singular is only used of the particular kind of custody described above; an undesigned coincidence [PALEY].
Other Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown entries containing Ephesians 6:20:
Colossians 4:3
1 Thessalonians 2:2
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