Eph 3:4-5 | KingComments | STEP | Chapter 3 is a kind of parenthesis. You will understand what I mean by that if you compare of this chapter with the first verse of chapter 4 ( ). After having written about God’s counsels in chapter 1 and about the way God made us partakers of them, you might expect that Paul is going to tell us now what that means for your practice, your walk. It looks like he wanted to start with that in chapter 3. Yet, that only happens in chapter 4. There he begins with nearly the same words with which he begins chapter 3, and then the admonitions follow which belong to his teachings he gave in chapter 2. Yet the Holy Spirit leads him, however, to first write chapter 3. Why? To explain that to him, Paul, was entrusted this particular service to make known “the mystery of Christ” ( ). That mystery was not an idea or invention of his own, but it was revealed by God ( ). This mystery is about the fact that Jew and Gentile together form the church and that they are connected to Christ as one body. The difference between Jew and Gentile has disappeared. . He begins with “I, Paul” and thereby stresses the absolutely unique truth that was only revealed to him. He was the first man, who was informed of this by God. It also stresses the apostolic authority with which he now passes on this revelation. What Paul is teaching is totally apart from what the Jews read in the Old Testament. That is right indeed, as we cannot find there the things we saw in chapters 1-2. The preaching of this truth has made him a “prisoner”. That’s why he writes that he was a prisoner “for the sake of you Gentiles”. When he spoke of God wanting him to go to the Gentiles in Acts 22, the Jews became furious and wanted to kill him ( ). That did not happen, but the whole story – you can read it in Acts 23-28 – ends with him being a prisoner in Rome. Yet he does not regard himself a prisoner of Caesar, but a “the prisoner of Christ Jesus”. What we can learn from this is, that whatever happens in our life, we can see everything in relation to the Lord Jesus. That will protect us against bitterness. Then we shall indeed be able to cope with disappointments. Paul could have been mourning about not being active anymore for his Lord. But what do you see? Exactly in his imprisonment he writes some letters we read in the Bible. The letter to the Ephesians is one of them. . Paul stayed for three years in Ephesus ( ). In that time the Ephesians became familiar with “the stewardship” that was entrusted to Paul. The word ‘stewardship’ is derived from the word economist – literally: a house manager. An example of such a person is Joseph, who was the manager of ‘the house(hold)’ of Potiphar and to whom all persons and goods of Potiphar’s house were entrusted. This fact connects to the previous chapter, in which the household of God is being spoken about. To Paul God entrusted the goods of that household, the wonderful truths of that household. He is allowed to present the goods of God’s house in their glory to those who are members of that household. Paul is very impressed by that. His amazing service, however, doesn’t make him proud. He points out that this service that was given to him for the sake of the church, flows forth from “God’s grace”. Also the whole content of what is entrusted to him consists of this grace. It is important to continuously be aware of this if you may do something for the Lord. You may do it because you know His grace; this grace is also what you pass on to others in your service. . “The mystery” that God made known to Paul “by revelation” is hidden in the Old Testament. There are two conceivable misconceptions concerning this mystery. The first one is to suppose that it was present in the Scriptures of the Old Testament but hidden, and that now the Holy Spirit shows Paul where to find it. But that is not right. It was not something that was hidden in the Old Testament. He could never ever have discovered it either, for it was simply not present in it. The second misconception is to suppose that it is also for us still a mystery. If we think that, we ignore the revelation of it. It is often also an excuse not to deepen yourself too much in this matter, for it is not possible to understand it; it is a mystery after all. Sometimes even 1 Corinthians 2 is being referred to ( ), while the next verse ( ) is being ignored for convenience’s sake. It is really true that on the one hand it is something that was hidden in God from eternity ( ) and on the other hand it is now made known, first to Paul and afterward through him to you and me and every other member of the church! Paul “wrote before in brief” about this. He is referring here to what he wrote in the previous chapters about this. . He presents what he just said to the readers to consider. They could conclude that he writes as one who is fully informed. It sounds easy, but you can only form a view of what Paul writes, if you read what he writes. That is what he says to the Ephesians, and also to us. Reading therefore means more than just seeing letters. Reading is receiving the message, trying to understand what the writer says. In this case a right spiritual mind is an absolute condition. Note: it is not about an intellectual capacity, but about a heart that desires to receive and understand the mystery ( ). It is about nothing less than the “mystery of Christ”. You might have expected that he is now going to speak about the ‘mystery of the church’ as that is the subject here. After all it is about the particular character of the church wherein Jew and Gentile have been made one. Yet that doesn’t happen and Paul writes about ‘the mystery of the Christ’, as it literally says. In fact this detail shows us the core of the mystery. It is not only that the believers from the Jews and Gentiles are related to each other, but that they have been made one body. The issue is the unity between the Head in heaven and the members on earth. God had the purpose to unite us together, but above all to unite us with the Head. It was His counsel to give a body to Christ. In chapter 5 we see another picture of that mystery: “This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church” ( ). So when ‘the Christ’ is spoken of, then it is because God wants to have all emphasis on Him. You and I consent to that heartily! It is about Him. Now read Ephesians 3:1-4 again. Reflection: What does the ‘stewardship’ of Paul mean and what is ‘the mystery’?

‏ Ephesians 3:4-5

The Mystery of Christ

Chapter 3 is a kind of parenthesis. You will understand what I mean by that if you compare Eph 3:1 of this chapter with the first verse of chapter 4 (Eph 4:1). After having written about God’s counsels in chapter 1 and about the way God made us partakers of them, you might expect that Paul is going to tell us now what that means for your practice, your walk.

It looks like he wanted to start with that in chapter 3. Yet, that only happens in chapter 4. There he begins with nearly the same words with which he begins chapter 3, and then the admonitions follow which belong to his teachings he gave in chapter 2.

Yet the Holy Spirit leads him, however, to first write chapter 3. Why? To explain that to him, Paul, was entrusted this particular service to make known “the mystery of Christ” (Eph 3:4). That mystery was not an idea or invention of his own, but it was revealed by God (Eph 3:3). This mystery is about the fact that Jew and Gentile together form the church and that they are connected to Christ as one body. The difference between Jew and Gentile has disappeared.

Eph 3:1. He begins with “I, Paul” and thereby stresses the absolutely unique truth that was only revealed to him. He was the first man, who was informed of this by God. It also stresses the apostolic authority with which he now passes on this revelation. What Paul is teaching is totally apart from what the Jews read in the Old Testament. That is right indeed, as we cannot find there the things we saw in chapters 1-2.

The preaching of this truth has made him a “prisoner”. That’s why he writes that he was a prisoner “for the sake of you Gentiles”. When he spoke of God wanting him to go to the Gentiles in Acts 22, the Jews became furious and wanted to kill him (Acts 22:21-23). That did not happen, but the whole story – you can read it in Acts 23-28 – ends with him being a prisoner in Rome. Yet he does not regard himself a prisoner of Caesar, but a “the prisoner of Christ Jesus”.

What we can learn from this is, that whatever happens in our life, we can see everything in relation to the Lord Jesus. That will protect us against bitterness. Then we shall indeed be able to cope with disappointments. Paul could have been mourning about not being active anymore for his Lord. But what do you see? Exactly in his imprisonment he writes some letters we read in the Bible. The letter to the Ephesians is one of them.

Eph 3:2. Paul stayed for three years in Ephesus (Acts 20:31). In that time the Ephesians became familiar with “the stewardship” that was entrusted to Paul. The word ‘stewardship’ is derived from the word economist – literally: a house manager. An example of such a person is Joseph, who was the manager of ‘the house(hold)’ of Potiphar and to whom all persons and goods of Potiphar’s house were entrusted.

This fact connects to the previous chapter, in which the household of God is being spoken about. To Paul God entrusted the goods of that household, the wonderful truths of that household. He is allowed to present the goods of God’s house in their glory to those who are members of that household. Paul is very impressed by that.

His amazing service, however, doesn’t make him proud. He points out that this service that was given to him for the sake of the church, flows forth from “God’s grace”. Also the whole content of what is entrusted to him consists of this grace. It is important to continuously be aware of this if you may do something for the Lord. You may do it because you know His grace; this grace is also what you pass on to others in your service.

Eph 3:3. “The mystery” that God made known to Paul “by revelation” is hidden in the Old Testament. There are two conceivable misconceptions concerning this mystery. The first one is to suppose that it was present in the Scriptures of the Old Testament but hidden, and that now the Holy Spirit shows Paul where to find it. But that is not right. It was not something that was hidden in the Old Testament. He could never ever have discovered it either, for it was simply not present in it.

The second misconception is to suppose that it is also for us still a mystery. If we think that, we ignore the revelation of it. It is often also an excuse not to deepen yourself too much in this matter, for it is not possible to understand it; it is a mystery after all. Sometimes even 1 Corinthians 2 is being referred to (1Cor 2:9), while the next verse (1Cor 2:10) is being ignored for convenience’s sake.

It is really true that on the one hand it is something that was hidden in God from eternity (Eph 3:9) and on the other hand it is now made known, first to Paul and afterward through him to you and me and every other member of the church! Paul “wrote before in brief” about this. He is referring here to what he wrote in the previous chapters about this.

Eph 3:4. He presents what he just said to the readers to consider. They could conclude that he writes as one who is fully informed. It sounds easy, but you can only form a view of what Paul writes, if you read what he writes. That is what he says to the Ephesians, and also to us. Reading therefore means more than just seeing letters. Reading is receiving the message, trying to understand what the writer says. In this case a right spiritual mind is an absolute condition. Note: it is not about an intellectual capacity, but about a heart that desires to receive and understand the mystery (Eph 1:17-18).

It is about nothing less than the “mystery of Christ”. You might have expected that he is now going to speak about the ‘mystery of the church’ as that is the subject here. After all it is about the particular character of the church wherein Jew and Gentile have been made one. Yet that doesn’t happen and Paul writes about ‘the mystery of the Christ’, as it literally says.

In fact this detail shows us the core of the mystery. It is not only that the believers from the Jews and Gentiles are related to each other, but that they have been made one body. The issue is the unity between the Head in heaven and the members on earth.

God had the purpose to unite us together, but above all to unite us with the Head. It was His counsel to give a body to Christ. In chapter 5 we see another picture of that mystery: “This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church” (Eph 5:32). So when ‘the Christ’ is spoken of, then it is because God wants to have all emphasis on Him.

You and I consent to that heartily! It is about Him.

Now read Ephesians 3:1-4 again.

Reflection: What does the ‘stewardship’ of Paul mean and what is ‘the mystery’?

Fellow Heirs, Fellow Members, Fellow Partakers

Eph 3:5. The mystery of the church was not revealed in the time of the Old Testament. It was not only unknown to the people of Israel, but “to the sons of men”. How privileged Israel was in whatever God had made known of Himself to them, yet the church was not mentioned in those communications. To no man, Jew or Gentile, did God tell anything about this. It really was a secret.

That secret has now been revealed to all ‘saints and faithful in Christ Jesus’ (Eph 1:1). To all unbelievers it is still a mystery, and unfortunately also to all believers who are not interested in these things. This lack of interest can be caused by indifference, but also by a wrong conception of the position of the believer on earth. He who thinks that the greatest mission for the Christian is ‘to improve the world’, will not manage to discover the real Christian life. That real life is to show on earth that all his interests are in heaven, because Christ with Whom he is made one, is there.

There is another significant aspect regarding the fact that the church was not made known in the Old Testament. That is the fact that something like a ‘church since Adam’ can’t exist. God kept silent about the church in the Old Testament. In Matthew 16 the Lord Jesus breaks this silence when He says: “Upon this rock I will build My church” (Mt 16:18). This is the first time that this mystery is spoken about.

The Lord Jesus also uses the future tense, “will build”. In order to build His church He had to die, arise, ascend to heaven and send from there the Holy Spirit. Through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, an event that is mentioned in Acts 2 (Acts 2:1-4), the church is ‘baptized to one body’ (1Cor 12:13). Those who were present at this event did not realize that hereby the church was established.

What the church is, how God has always had her in mind, and the way He works out His thoughts about her, He revealed to Paul. Only in the letters of Paul you will find teachings about the church. For this reason he is especially set apart, one of those “holy apostles and prophets” of Jesus Christ.

Eph 3:6. What that mystery means, is described in this verse. There are three phrases that are used here and of which none of them is found in the Old Testament: “fellow heirs, fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers”. It is about this completely new phenomenon, that the Gentiles and the Jews together, which is the meaning of “fellow” here, have become

1. heirs,

2. one body and

3. partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus.

In a certain way blessing was also promised to the nations in the Old Testament, but only via Israel, that remained a separate nation. Also in the future, in the millennial realm, when all the blessings that God made will be reality for both Israel and the nations, Israel will remain a separate nation. That the nations would be fellow heirs and members of the same body, in which every difference between Jews and other nations has disappeared, that was hidden until the moment that God revealed it to Paul.

Now what makes the mystery of the church go beyond what has been given to Israel? First, because believers from Jews and Gentiles are related as “fellow heirs” to Him Who will reign over all things which are in heaven and which are on earth (Eph 1:10). This amazing inheritance goes far beyond what Israel will possess as a separate nation in the future.

You can be heirs together, but yet have no further relation with each other. The Jewish believer and the Gentile believer, however, are not separated anymore from each other. The words “fellow members of the body” indicate a connection that cannot be described more intimately. It means that the believers from the nations now belong to the same body together with the Jewish believers: they form one body together.

This second “fellow” goes further than the first “fellow”. It was quite understandable for the Jew to share an inheritance, but to be made one body with the Gentiles is beyond his understanding.

The third “fellow” regards the being “fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus” of both Jew and Gentile. The question is what promise is meant here. It is not about any promise that God has made in the Old Testament. Since we are aware of what Eph 3:5 says, it is about a promise that was formerly hidden in God. But isn’t a promise something you make to a person? Yes, that’s right, and the second verse of Titus 1 can be a help to the question. There you read about “eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago” (Tit 1:2) i.e. before time began.

So when yet there was no man, God already made a promise, but to whom? It cannot be about anything else than the promise that the Father made to His Son, the eternal Son. This promise is the eternal life. Although Titus 1 is not about Christ and the church, but about what God promised to every single believer, the character of the promise is still applicable to the church.

The accomplishment of this promise could only happen when the Lord Jesus was on earth and accomplished the work that the Father wanted Him to do (Jn 17:1-4). Only then could God fulfill “the promise of life in Christ Jesus” (2Tim 1:1) by giving this life to all who are related to Him. The eternal life is the part of everyone who belongs to the church. Because of being partakers of this promise, we are capable of enjoying the blessings of the other two things we share.

Also this promise goes beyond all the promises that were made to Israel, both literarily and spiritually. The promises to Israel have to do with life and material blessings here on earth. The ‘promise in Christ Jesus’ is in accordance with the eternal life and the spiritual blessings in heaven.

All the glorious aspects that were embedded in “the mystery of the Christ” (Eph 3:4), have come to us “through the gospel”. That is the way through which God has revealed to us all the riches of Christ.

Eph 3:7. Paul became a servant of the gospel; he preached the gospel and in that way made known the mystery. He doesn’t boast about it. He is aware that he received it by God’s grace. The content of his preaching, the enormous riches of it, the way he serves, are all through the grace of God only.

Who is capable to measure God’s grace? Nobody indeed! That’s why nobody is capable of measuring the content of the gospel that Paul brings here. Paul considers this a task for which he himself has no power. But God gives him the possibility to fulfill his service “according to the working of His power”.

The grace of God is the source from which everything comes. We have seen that already and we will see more of it. Only by the power of God Who made Paul capable to preach this rich gospel, have we also become partakers.

Now read Ephesians 3:5-7 again.

Reflection: Which differences came forward in these verses between the blessings for Israel and that of the church?