The Mystery Revealed (3:1-13)

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For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace which was given to me for you; that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief. And by referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit; to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel, of which I was made a minister, according to the gift of God’s grace which was given to me according to the working of His power. To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God, who created all things; in order that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him. Therefore I ask you not to lose heart at my tribulations on your behalf, for they are your glory. (3:1-13)

This passage is largely a parenthesis, which runs from verse 2 through verse 13. Paul begins a prayer for believers to understand their resources as one in Christ and then decides to reemphasize and expand some of the truths he has already mentioned. He does not actually get into the prayer until verse 14, where he repeats the phrase “For this reason” in order to pick up the thought originally introduced in verse 1. He seems to have felt that the Ephesians were not ready to hear his prayer in their behalf until they better understood—and were therefore better able to apply—the truths he wanted to pray about. And it seemed essential for Paul to affirm his authority for teaching such a new and far-reaching truth as the oneness of Jew and Gentile in Christ, which he does by saying that God Himself gave him the truth and the commission to proclaim it (vv. 2-7).

The primary reemphasis is on the great mystery now revealed by God that Gentiles and Jews are one in Christ and that there is no longer any distinction. The revelation of the mystery is discussed in vv. 1-3, the explanation of it in vv. 4-6, the proclamation of it in vv. 7-9, and finally the intention of it in vv. 10-13. “To be specific,” he says in verse 6, the sacred secret never before revealed is that “the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.” That verse is essentially a summary of 2:11-22.

In 3:1-13 the apostle leads us to focus on five aspects of this divine mystery: its prisoner, its plan, its preaching, its purpose, and its privileges.

THE PRISONER OF THE MYSTERY

For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace which was given to me for you; that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief. And by referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, (3:1-4)

For this reason introduces the cause of Paul’s prayer (which really begins in v. 14) and refers back to the group of unifying truths Paul has just discussed in chapter 2—including the truths that the person in Christ becomes new (v. 15); that all believers are in one body (v. 16); that the Gentiles, who were once far away, now become near when they believe (v. 17); that all believers are equally citizens of God’s kingdom and members of His family (v. 19); and that all believers are being built into God’s temple and dwelling (vv. 21-22).

As already mentioned, however, before beginning his prayer, Paul decided to go over again some of those truths which prompted it, emphasizing their divine source. The apostle knew the value of repetition in teaching and the importance of establishing authority when teaching such new and non-traditional doctrine. None of us understands everything about a truth when we first hear it. God’s truths are so marvelous and vast that we will never comprehend them fully in this life, no matter how many times we hear and study them. Even things we come to understand to some extent, we often forget and need to be reminded of, and some truths would be unacceptable to our human minds if we did not know they came from God (cf. John 6:60; 2 Pet. 3:16).

The first truth Paul mentions is about his own situation and God-given ministry. Outside of the Lord Jesus Himself, Paul is by far the dominant figure in the New Testament. He wrote at least thirteen of its 27 books. He is also the dominant human instrument of the Spirit in the book of Acts. And more than any other apostle he delineated the mysteries of the gospel, the truths hidden even to the most faithful believers of former ages but made known to the church of Jesus Christ.

In the opening of the letter Paul gives his credentials as Christ’s apostle (1:1), but here he speaks of himself as the prisoner of Christ Jesus. He had been a prisoner for some five years, two years in Caesarea and the rest in Rome. He had been arrested on false charges made by Jews from the province of Asia who were visiting in Jerusalem. They had accused him of taking the Gentile Trophimus into forbidden areas of the Temple, though he had not done so. Paul had faced hearings before the Sanhedrin, before the Roman governor Felix, before Felix’s successor, Festus, and even before King Agrippa. Had Paul not appealed to Caesar while defending himself before Festus, Agrippa would have released him. From Caesarea the apostle was taken to Rome, where he was allowed to stay in private quarters with a soldier to guard him (see Acts 21:27—28:16).

Although arrested on Jewish charges, Paul did not consider himself a prisoner of the Jews. Although imprisoned by Roman authority, he did not consider himself a prisoner of Rome. Although he had appealed to Caesar, he did not consider himself Caesar’s prisoner. He was a minister of Jesus Christ, bought with a price, and given the special mission of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles. He was therefore the prisoner of Christ Jesus. Whatever he did and wherever he went were under Christ’s control. Without his Lord’s consent, he was not subject to the plans, power, punishment, or imprisonment of any man or government. The Greek form of the phrase has been called a genitive of originating cause, to identify Paul as a prisoner belonging to Jesus Christ, who was the cause of his imprisonment.

Perspective is all-important. How we view and react to circumstances is more important than the circumstances themselves. If all we can see is our immediate situation, then our circumstances control us. We feel good when our circumstances are good but miserable when they are not. Had Paul been able to see only his circumstances, he would quickly have given up his ministry. Had he thought that his life was ultimately in the hands of his persecutors, his jailers, his guards, or the Roman government, he would long since have given up in despair.

But Paul’s perspective was a divine perspective, and he lived with total trust in God’s purposes. It was not that he himself knew his future or fully understood the divine purposes behind his afflictions, but that he knew his future, his afflictions, and every other aspect of his life were totally in His Lord’s hands. Despite his apostleship and his many revelations from the Lord, Paul lived and worked by faith, not by sight. He knew—not because of what he could see but because of the Lord’s own Word—“that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Rom. 8:28). That is why as believers we are to “consider it all joy” when we “encounter various trials.” We know that those trials, or testings, produce faith, that faith produces endurance, and that endurance leads to the perfection and completion of our preparation for living a godly life (James 1:2-4; cf. Acts 16:19-25; 1 Pet. 4:12-19).

Paul knew that his circumstances had “turned out for the greater progress of the gospel,” so that his “imprisonment in the cause of Christ [had] become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else, and that most of the brethren, trusting in the Lord because of [his] imprisonment, [had] far more courage to speak the word of God without fear” (Phil. 1:12-14).

Paul was imprisoned for Christ’s saving purpose, which was for the sake of you Gentiles. Just as Christ was not crucified for His own sake, Paul was not imprisoned for his own sake, but for the sake of his Lord and the sake of those he had been given a special calling to serve (Acts 9:15; 15:7; 20:20-24; 22:21; Rom. 11:13; etc.). “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake,” he told the Colossian believers, “and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body (which is the church) in filling up that which is lacking in Christ’s afflictions” (Col. 1:24). In the next verses he told the Colossian Gentiles, “I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, that I might fully carry out the preaching the word of God, that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations; but has now been manifested to His saints” (vv. 25-26).

Paul knew he was in the ministry because he had been called by God to minister. He was not in it for his own purposes, and he did not try to carry it out in his own power. He made the supreme sacrifices of unselfish service for the sake of bringing others to glory (Eph. 3:13). In 2 Corinthians Paul expands our understanding of this commitment:

The words if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace which was given to me for you begin Paul’s parenthesis to emphasize his divine authority for this teaching. The Greek first-class conditional clause indicates that the condition (if indeed you have heard…) is assumed to be true. Paul is therefore saying, “As I am sure you have already heard ….”

That about which they had heard was the stewardship of God’s grace which was given to Paul on their behalf as Gentiles. Oikonomia (stewardship) primarily referred to the management of a household, business, or other concern on behalf of someone else. A steward was responsible for taking care of that which belonged to someone else. He supervised such things as buying, selling, bookkeeping, planting, harvesting, storing, the preparation of meals, the assignment of duties to slaves, and whatever else needed to be done.

Paul did not choose his apostleship or his ministry; he was appointed. “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service; even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor” (1 Tim. 1:12-13; cf. Rom. 15:15-16; Gal. 2:9). Paul was chosen and commissioned purely by God’s grace. He was appointed a steward by God’s grace and then became a steward of God’s grace. In 1 Corinthians 9:16-17 Paul articulates the sense of divine compulsion behind his ministry: “For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel. For if I do this voluntarily, I have a reward; but if against my will [the sovereign act of God on the Damascus road], I have a stewardship entrusted to me.” He therefore requested that men “regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God” (1 Cor. 4:1).

Every believer is a steward of the calling, spiritual gifts, opportunities, skills, knowledge, and every other blessing he has from the Lord. Everything we have belongs to the Lord, and we are therefore entrusted as stewards to manage our lives and everything we possess in behalf of the One to whom they belong. We are faithful stewards when we use what we have to minister to those within the family of God and witness to those who are without. “As each one has received a special gift,” Peter admonishes us, “employ it in serving one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God” (1 Pet. 4:10).

Paul’s stewardship was unique even for an apostle, and it was so revolutionary that he found it necessary to add that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief. Obviously the mystery is that of Jew and Gentile being one in Christ, about which he wrote before in brief in 1:9-12 and 2:11-12. It was unknowable, incomprehensible truth hidden from all men until revealed by God (cf. 2 Tim. 3:16-17; 2 Pet. 1:19-21). And by referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ. Paul was instrumental in revealing many mysteries to the church, but the particular mystery in view here is the one he has already mentioned in general and is about to state specifically—namely, that in Christ, Jew and Gentile become one in God’s sight and in His kingdom and family (3:6).

It was Paul’s intention not simply to declare the mystery but to explain and clarify it. When Ephesian believers, and every subsequent believer, would read his explanations (here stated as an assumed part of Christian living), Paul’s hope was that they would come to understand his God-given insight into the mystery of Christ. Sunesis (insight) literally means to bring together and metaphorically refers to comprehension and understanding, mentally bringing knowledge together in order to grasp its full meaning and significance. Spiritual insight must always precede practical application, because what is not properly understood cannot be properly applied.

The opposite of spiritual insight is “foolishness” (asunetos, Rom. 1:21), lack of spiritual discernment. As is made clear from the first part of that verse, lack of discernment existed even though the necessary spiritual facts were known—“For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, or give thanks; but they became futile in their speculations.”

Paul did not get his zeal for the gospel and his passion for souls from high emotional experiences, though he may have had many of them. His love, passion, and energetic zeal to win the lost and to build up the saved came from his great insight into the gospel. The more he comprehended God’s fathomless love and grace, the more he was compelled to share and exemplify that love and that grace.

Paul was so filled with understanding of the mystery of Christ that he sacrificed his health, his freedom, and his very life in the ministry of imparting that understanding to others so that they, too, could understand. And for him, such sacrifice was supreme joy.

THE PLAN OF THE MYSTERY

which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit; to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel, (3:5-6)

In verse 5 Paul defines the general meaning of mystery as it is used in the New Testament, and in verse 6 he identifies the particular mystery he is explaining to the Ephesians.

The antecedent of which is “the mystery of Christ,” about which the apostle had been given special revelation and insight (vv. 3-4). In other generations this mystery was not made known to the sons of men. Sons of men refers to mankind in general, not just to God’s chosen people, Israel. Before the church age no person, not even the greatest of God’s prophets, had anything but a glimpse of the truth that Paul now discloses. The Old Testament teachings that relate to this mystery can only be understood clearly in light of New Testament revelation. We know the meaning of many Old Testament passages only because they are explained in the New (cf. Heb. 11:39-40; 1 Pet. 1:10-12).

No one knew the full meaning of God’s promise to Abraham that “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen. 12:3) until Paul wrote, “And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘All the nations shall be blessed in you’” (Gal. 3:8). No one knew the full meaning of Isaiah’s prediction, “I will also make You a light of the nations so that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth” (Isa. 49:6), until it was explained by Paul to mean the offering of the gospel of Jesus Christ (the Messiah) to the Gentiles as well as the Jews (Acts 13:46-47).

Old Testament saints had no vision of the church, the assembling together of all the saved into one united Body, in which there were absolutely no racial distinctions. The clues they had in the Old Testament were a mystery to them because too much information was lacking. That is why Jews in the early church—even the apostle Peter (see Acts 10)—had such a difficult time accepting Gentile believers as being completely on the same spiritual level as Jews. And that is why Paul was concerned in this letter to the Ephesians to state and restate, to explain and explain again, that great truth.

That truth has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit. The Greek behind has … been revealed is in the aorist tense, which refers to specific acts or events. Coupled with now, it here indicates the present immediacy of the revelation, which was given exclusively to New Testament holy apostles and prophets, and not to any other persons before or after them. These men were the instruments of writing Scripture, and 1 John 1:1-3 describes their unique function. The last time they met was at the Jerusalem Council, and the man who officiated there (James, the half brother of Jesus; see Acts 15:13) was not an apostle. They were soon scattered and died, but not before the revelation was complete. They are referred to in Ephesians 2:20 and 4:11, but only here are they called holy, to affirm that they were fit for such revelation and were authentic.

Some have noted that the personal pronoun (autou, His) is linked with apostles and that there is no such pronoun with prophets. This would be an emphasis on both the primacy and chronological priority of the apostles over the prophets who followed them. The distinction will be treated in connection with the discussion of 4:11.

The Spirit is the divine agency of God’s revelation through these men. “Know this first of all,” Peter explains, “that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God” (2 Pet. 1:20-21). This was the fulfillment of our Lord’s promise in John 14:25-26 and 15:26-27.

To be specific, Paul goes on to say, the mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

As mentioned before, it is difficult for us to realize how incredibly revolutionary that truth was to Jews of Paul’s day. In spite of the fact that the Old Testament teaches that Gentiles will be blessed by God (Gen. 12:3; 22:18; 26:4; 28:14), that Gentiles will bless God (Psalm 72), that the Messiah will come to Gentiles (Isa. 11:10; 49:6; 54:1-3; 60:1-3), that they will be saved by the Messiah (Hos. 1:10; Amos 9:llff.), and that they will receive the Holy Spirit (Joel 2:28-29), the idea of including Gentiles in one body with Jews was the spiritual equivalent of saying that lepers were no longer to be isolated, that they were now perfectly free to intermingle and associate with everyone else as normal members of society. In the minds of most Jews, their spiritual separation from Gentiles was so absolute and so right that the thought of total equality before God was inconceivable and little short of blasphemy.

Yet Paul declares that, first of all, the Gentiles are fellow heirs. Those who once were “excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise” (2:12) now have exactly the same legal status before God as His chosen people, the Jews. They have the same marvelous, boundless inheritance in Christ that Paul has already mentioned (1:11, 14, 18). Every believer is blessed “with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ” (1:3). As the apostle told the Galatians, regardless of your racial or other heritage, “If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise” (Gal. 3:29). The Gentiles are not boarders or strangers but sons (cf. 1:11, 14, 18; 2:19), having the same legal status as all other believers.

Gentiles are also now fellow members of the body. They are now equally blessed as outsiders, as joint heirs who have the same benefits as Jews but who experience those benefits in some sort of separate but equal existence. They are full members of the body, linked by common life with every other person in God’s holy family. They are not second-class in-laws, begrudgingly acknowledged as distant relatives. They are fellow members, indistinguishable in God’s eyes from any other member. Every child of God is only God’s child. Spiritually, he has no genes but divine genes. “For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:12-13).

In addition to having the same legal and family status, Gentiles also are fellow partakers of the promise in Christ through the gospel. That is not so much a third status as it is a summary of the other two. All Christians, regardless of their status or position before being saved, are now fellow partakers of everything that pertains to Christ through the gospel—which is everything that pertains to Christ. The essence of the gospel is that, through faith in Jesus Christ, believers are made everything He is and given everything He has. The phrase “the mystery of Christ” (v. 4) is also used in Col. 4:3 as the very essence of Paul’s message. It carries the truth of Colossians 1:27, that Christ is in believing Gentiles as well as believing Jews as “the hope of glory” for both. It also carries the truth of Colossians 2:2, that the mystery is “Christ Himself,” in whom believers have everything (v. 3). So the mystery is fully understood to be Jew and Gentile in Christ—Christ in Jew and Gentile, so that there is the intimate shared union of eternal life as they both become immersed in the Lord Jesus Christ (Gal. 2:20). God predestines every believer “to become conformed to the image of His Son” (Rom. 8:29). This is in answer to the prayer of our Lord recorded in John 17:

Being in Christ through acceptance of the gospel is what creates among believers their perfect and absolutely new society. There can never be true oneness apart from that reality. And there can never be practical unity in the church until Christians realize and live by the positional unity they already have in Christ, their one Lord and Savior.

THE PREACHING OF THE MYSTERY

of which I was made a minister, according to the gift of God’s grace which was given to me according to the working of His power. To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God, who created all things; (3:7-9)

The gospel is spread by men whom God calls to proclaim it, and it is the gospel of which Paul was made a minister. “How then shall they call upon Him in whom they have not believed?” Paul asks in Romans. “And how shall they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?” (Rom. 10:14). Although they had heard God’s truth, many Israelites did not “heed the glad tidings; for Isaiah says, ‘Lord, who has believed our report?’” (v. 16)—just as many who hear the gospel do not heed it. But it must be heard before it can be heeded, and Paul’s calling, like the calling of every preacher, was to proclaim God’s good news as a minister, according to the gift of God’s grace. In a similar line of thought in 1 Corinthians, Paul emphasizes this calling of grace: “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with Me” (1 Cor. 15:10).

Minister is from diakonos, the basic meaning of which is servant, in particular a servant who waits on tables. It later came to refer to servants in general. By definition, a servant is one who acts on the commands of others, who recognizes and submits to a higher power. His primary responsibility is to do what he is told to do. Paul’s single responsibility was to faithfully be a servant, according to the gift of God’s grace which was given to [him] according to the working of His power. “What then is Apollos?” Paul asked the factious Corinthians. “And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one” (1 Cor. 3:5). The Lord is the power behind the servant. To the Colossians the apostle said, “I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me” (Col. 1:29).

Paul emphasizes the fact that he did not make himself a minister but that he was made a minister (cf. Col. 1:23, 25). The calling, the message, the work, and the empowering were all God’s. When he was first saved on the Damascus Road, and while he was still blinded from the great light, Paul was given his commission by Jesus. “Arise, and stand on your feet; for this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you a minister and a witness” (Acts 26:16). It was not Paul’s education, natural abilities, experience, power, personality, influence, or any other such thing that qualified him to be a minister of Jesus Christ. He was made an apostle, a preacher, and a servant by the will and power of His Lord. He felt unworthy of any reward, as if he had sought sacrificially to serve in this way. The choice was not his at all, so he deserved no commendation (1 Cor. 9:16-18). He did not want accolades but prayers, because he was in serious trouble if he failed to fulfill a calling he had not even chosen!

Any person in the ministry of the church whom God has not appointed is a usurper. No matter how seemingly good his intentions, he can do nothing but harm to the work of the Lord and to the Lord’s people. Jeremiah speaks to this matter when he writes the Lord’s word: “I did not send these prophets, but they ran. I did not speak to them, but they prophesied…. I did not send them or command them” (Jer. 23:21, 32). No man should enter the ministry unless he is absolutely certain of the Lord’s calling.

The key for present knowledge of a divine call is given in 1 Timothy 3, where Paul speaks of the pastor or spiritual overseer as a man who “aspires to the office” and who is verified and approved by those who know him as one who is “above reproach” (vv. 3-7). The present call, then, is bound up in a man’s strong desire and affirmation as to a godly life. God calls through desire and church verification.

Then or now, the man who is genuinely called by God is in constant danger of losing his effectiveness by coming to think of himself as more than a servant. When he loses his sense of servanthood, at that same time he loses his spiritual power and usefulness. When he exalts himself and begins to work in his own human power and according to his own plans, he competes with God and forfeits his spiritual power. To lose dependence is to lose everything, because everything that is of any value in our lives, including power for effective service, comes only from the Lord. Among the greatest dangers to the ministry, and to all faithful Christian living, are things that in the world’s eyes are of supreme value—personal ambition, prestige, recognition, honor, reputation, and success. God not only chooses weak and foolish people to save (1 Cor. 1:26-29), but weak and foolish preachers through whom to save them (2 Cor. 11:30; 12:7-10). For those not willing to pay that price, their seeking the position is illegitimate.

Unholiness is also a disqualification, prompting Paul to say, “I buffet my body and make it my slave, lest possibly, after I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified” (1 Cor. 9:27).

Paul’s calling to the ministry of the gospel, like everything else he received from the Lord, was the gift of God’s grace. To me, the very least of all the saints, he goes on to say, this grace was given. Though an apostle and a specially chosen minister of the mysteries of the gospel, Paul considered himself the very least of all the saints. The term very least is a comparative, indicating less than the least. That was not mock humility but his honest assessment of himself. Because he had such an unusually clear comprehension of God’s righteousness, he also had an unusually clear understanding of how far short he himself fell of that righteousness. Paul claimed no second work of grace by which he was perfected in holiness, love, or anything else. To the end of his life he considered himself the foremost of sinners (1 Tim. 1:15) and was overwhelmed by his sense of unworthiness. That attitude does not limit a man’s service but rather is the key to his usefulness (cf. Gideon in Judges 6:15-16 and Isaiah in Isa. 6:1-9).

The unfathomable riches of Christ include all His truths and all His blessings, all that He is and has. The purpose of every preacher is to declare those riches, to tell believers how rich they are in Christ. That is why it is so important for Christians to understand the greatness of their position in the Lord. The obedient, productive, and happy Christian life cannot be lived apart from understanding that glorious position. Before we can do what the Lord wants us to do for Him, we must understand what He already has done for us. We have riches beyond measure in the One of whom it was said, “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:3) and in the One in whom we have “everything pertaining to life and godliness” (2 Pet. 1:3).

Among the unfathomable riches with which Christ has blessed us are “His kindness and forbearance and patience” (Rom. 2:4), His “wisdom and knowledge” (11:33), His mercy and great love (Eph. 2:4), “His glory” (3:16), His supplying us with “all things to enjoy” (1 Tim. 6:17), His assurance (Col. 2:2), His word (3:16), and even our being reproached for His sake (Heb. 11:26). Little wonder that Paul triumphantly reminds us that “in Him you have been made complete” (Col. 2:10).

Simply knowing about the riches of Christ is not enough, however. When we fall into sin and disobedience we forfeit the present blessing of those riches, just as did the fleshly, disobedient Corinthian believers. “You are already filled,” Paul told them sarcastically. “You have already become rich, you have become kings without us; and I would indeed that you had become kings so that we also might reign with you” (1 Cor. 4:8). Like the Laodiceans, they thought they were rich and in need of nothing, not realizing that they were really “wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked” (Rev. 3:17).

Paul’s ministry was also to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God, who created all things. Administration is from the same Greek word (oikonomia) as “stewardship” in verse 2. Paul is saying, in effect, “I am not only called in the vertical area to preach the unfathomable riches of Christ, but in the horizontal area to teach about the administration, the stewardship or dispensation, of the mystery of the church age.” The first area deals with our relationship to God and the second with our daily living and our ministry to each other as fellow believers.

Paul’s mission was to bring to light, or reveal, the full expression of the operation of this great truth of Gentile and Jews being one, a truth hidden for so long in the mind of God the Creator.

THE PURPOSE OF THE MYSTERY

in order that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, (3:10-11)

The purpose (hina with subjunctive verb) of God’s revealing the mystery of the church is that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places, namely, the angels. Angels are also spoken of in such terms in Ephesians 1:21 and Colossians 1:16. In Ephesians 6:12 Paul uses similar words in regard to fallen angels. God has brought the church into being for the purpose of manifesting His great wisdom before the angels, both holy and unholy. The New Testament emphasis is on the holy angels’ concern with the church, but it is obvious that the fallen angels can also to some extent see what is going on, though they have no desire or capacity for praise.

This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, Paul continues to explain. Everything God has ever done has had the ultimate purpose of giving Himself glory. As Paul declares elsewhere, “There is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him” (1 Cor. 8:6), and “All things have been created by Him and for Him” (Col. 1:16).

The church does not exist simply for the purpose of saving souls, though that is a marvelous and important work. The supreme purpose of the church, as Paul makes explicit here, is to glorify God by manifesting His wisdom before the angels, who can then offer greater praise to God. The purpose of the universe is to give glory to God, and that will be its ultimate reality after all evil is conquered and destroyed. Even now, “The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands” (Ps. 19:1). The church is not an end in itself but a means to an end, the end of glorifying God. The real drama of redemption can only be understood when we realize that the glory of God is the supreme goal of creation. Holy angels are especially made and confirmed in purity and praise as creatures who will forever give God glory (Ps. 148:2; Heb. 1:6), and the redemption of fallen men enriches their praise. Redeemed people, then, are to enhance angelic praise and some day in heaven to join in it (Rev. 4:8-11; 5:8-14; 7:9-12; 14:1-3; 19:1-8).

Even the fallen angels glorify God, though they do not intend to do so. It was their very rejection of His glory and the seeking of their own glory that caused them to be cast out of heaven in the first place. Yet Jesus said, “I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it” (Matt. 16:18). God is glorified through the fallen angels by continually frustrating their rebellious plans and showing the futility of their evil intentions to destroy His church. His holy wrath also displays His glory, since it is a revelation of who He is (cf. Rom. 9:19-22).

The angels can see the power of God in creation, the wrath of God at Sinai, and the love of God at Calvary. But above all they see His manifold [multi-colored, multi-faceted] wisdom that is made known through the church. They see Him taking Jew and Gentile, slave and free, male and female—who together murdered the Messiah and were worthy only of hell—and making them, by that very cross of murder, one spiritual Body in Jesus Christ. They see Him breaking down every barrier, every wall that divides and making all believers one in an indivisible, intimate, and eternal union with the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, and every other believer from every other age and circumstance. “There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents,” Jesus said (Luke 15:10). Every sinner who repents and turns to Christ adds another spiritual stone to God’s temple, another member to His Body, and becomes another forgiven and cleansed sinner who is made eternally one with every other forgiven and cleansed sinner. The holy angels not only are interested in the salvation of men (1 Pet. 1:12) but constantly watch the face of God in heaven to see His reaction to the treatment of His saved earthly children (Matt. 18:10, 14), standing ready to carry out any mission in their behalf.

When Paul admonished the Corinthian women to show submission to their husbands through the custom of wearing long hair, he reinforced the command by saying it was given “because of the angels” (1 Cor. 11:10), so as not to offend their sense of submissiveness and to give them greater cause to glorify God by the obedience of the church in the matter of proper male and female responses. They are led to praise the Lord when they see the right relationship in the church overruling the perversion of man’s relationship engineered by Satan and sin. After Paul had stated certain principles regarding elders in the church, he wrote, “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of His chosen angels, to maintain these principles without bias” (1 Tim. 5:21). Angels are exceedingly concerned about the discipline needed to produce holy behavior and pure living in the church as well as godly leadership (vv. 17-25). After all, says the writer of Hebrews, “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?” (Heb. 1:14). They minister to and watch over the church.

In the classroom of God’s universe, He is the Teacher, the angels are the students, the church is the illustration, and the subject is the manifold wisdom of God.

THE PRIVILEGE OF THE MYSTERY

in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him. Therefore I ask you not to lose heart at my tribulations on your behalf, for they are your glory. (3:12-13)

When we put our faith in Jesus Christ we can freely come to God and share in all of heaven’s unfathomable riches. In Judaism only the high priest could enter the presence of God in the Holy of Holies, and that but briefly once a year on the Day of Atonement. For anyone else to come into God’s presence meant instant death. But now, Paul says, every person who comes to Christ in faith can come before God at any time and with boldness and confident access. That is the privilege within the mystery of the church. “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:15-16).

We are not to be flippant or irreverent but are to come to the Lord with an honest, open heart—in freedom of speech and freedom of spirit. Confident access is trust that knows no fear of rejection, because we belong to Him (cf. 1 Tim. 3:13).

In light of such great privilege, Paul says, I ask you not to lose heart at my tribulations on your behalf, for they are your glory. In and through every circumstance of His children, God works His goodness, blessing, and glory. Apparently many believers grieved over Paul’s extended years of imprisonment and over the almost continual suffering he endured because of his ministry. But “I consider that the sufferings of this present time,” he explained to the Roman believers, “are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Rom. 8:18). And Paul’s suffering turned out for the honor rather than the disgrace of those to whom he ministered (cf. Phil. 1:12).