Ephesians 3.3b-Paul Received This Mystery as Revelation from the Holy Spirit
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday March 28, 2024
Ephesians Series: Ephesians 3:3b-Paul Received This Mystery as Revelation from the Holy Spirit
Lesson # 138
Ephesians 3:1 For this reason, I myself, Paul, the prisoner owned by and under the authority of the one and only Christ who is Jesus for the benefit of each and every one of you as a corporate unit, who are Gentiles—2 if and let us assume that it is true for the sake of argument that each and every one of you as a corporate unit have surely heard about the stewardship, which is unique to the grace, which originates from the one and only God, which was given to me for the benefit of all of you as a corporate unit without exception. (Of course, every one of you have in fact heard about it.) 3 Namely that, the mystery was made known for the benefit of myself as revelation as I wrote beforehand in a concise manner. (Lecturer’s translation)
Ephesians 3:3 is composed of the following: (1) hoti (ὅτι) epexegetical clause hoti kata apokalypsin egnōristhē moi to mystērion (ὅτι κατὰ ἀποκάλυψιν ἐγνωρίσθη μοι τὸ μυστήριον), “Namely that, the mystery was made known for the benefit of myself as revelation” (Author’s translation) (2) comparative clause proegrapsa en oligō (προέγραψα ἐν ὀλίγῳ), “as I wrote beforehand in a concise manner.” (Author’s translation)
The hoti (ὅτι) epexegetical clause explains the noun oikonomia (οἰκονομία), “the stewardship” and specifically, it explains the nature of this stewardship, namely it is being a steward of the mystery or the divine secret that was made known to Paul by revelation from the Holy Spirit.
As was the case in Ephesians 1:17, the noun apokalypsis (ἀποκάλυψις) here in Ephesians 3:3 means “revelation” since the word in both instances pertains to communication of knowledge which was previously hidden to man by a divine or supernatural agency.
However, in Ephesians 1:17, it refers to the revelation the Holy Spirit provided Paul and his fellow apostles regarding the Father’s plan for the church age believer, which now appears in the Greek New Testament.
But here in Ephesians 3:3, it refers to the revelation the Holy Spirit (Eph. 3:5) provided Paul in relation to his stewardship, which he describes in Ephesians 3:2 as unique to the grace, which originates form the one and only God which is a reference to the Father.
As we noted in our study of Ephesians 3:2, the protasis is introduced in Ephesians 3:2 but explained in detail in Ephesians 3:3-12.
In Ephesians 3:3-5, the apostle Paul defines this stewardship of God’s grace as the revelation of the mystery and asserts that he was given insight into this mystery of Christ, which was not known to Old Testament saints but has now been revealed to the apostles and New Testament prophets by the Spirit.
In Ephesians 3:6, he defines this mystery of Christ as Gentile church age believers being fellow heirs, fellow members of the body of Christ, and fellow partakers of the promise because of their faith in Christ Jesus at justification and union and identification with Him as a result of their obedience to the gospel.
Then, in Ephesians 3:7-8, Paul asserts that he became a servant of the gospel according to the gift of God’s grace that was given to him by the exercise of God’s power to proclaim to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ and to enlighten everyone about God’s plan concealed from the saints in living in past dispensations.
Thus, the implication is that Paul enlightened the recipients of this letter regarding God’s secret plan to have Jewish and Gentile believers being fellow heirs, fellow members of the body of Christ, and fellow partakers of the promise because of their faith in Christ Jesus at justification and union and identification with Him with the Jewish church age believers as a result of their obedience to the gospel.
In Ephesians 3:10, Paul asserts that the purpose of this enlightenment is that through the church the multifaced wisdom of God would be disclosed during the church age to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly realms, which is a reference to Satan and his fellow evil spirits.
Then, in Ephesians 3:11, he asserts that this was according to the eternal purpose that the Father accomplished by means of the Lord Jesus Christ’s crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father.
Therefore, in Ephesians 3:3, the noun apokalypsis (ἀποκάλυψις), which we noted means “revelation” refers to Paul’s stewardship, which we also noted, he defines as the mystery of Christ, which was communicated through the gospel by the apostles and prophets of Jesus Christ by the agency of the Holy Spirit.
The content of this revelation is that Jewish and Gentile church age believers are now fellow heirs, fellow members of the body of Christ, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus.
It was a mystery in the sense that it was a secret plan not known to Old Testaments but now communicated during the church age through the apostles and prophets of Jesus Christ.
The purpose of this enlightenment we also noted was to disclose to Satan and his kingdom in the heavenly realms through the church the multifaceted wisdom of God.
There has been much conjecture as to when Paul received this revelation.
It could refer to Paul’s Damascus road experience at his conversion (Acts. 9:3-8; 22:6-11; 26:12-18), or the teaching of Ananias in Damascus (Acts 9:10-19), or the vision in Jerusalem Paul received (Acts 22:17) or lastly, his training by God in Arabia (Gal.1:12,17-18).
However, none of these accounts reveals or suggests that Paul received this revelation that Jewish and Gentile Christians are now fellow heirs, fellow members of the body of Christ, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus.
The reader must be aware of the fact that there is a distinction between revelation and inspiration.
The latter is God revealing Himself through the Word of God which is His mind whereas the former is God using a vehicle.
Inspiration is the means God used to reveal Himself through the Bible whereas revelation is concerned with the divine origin of Scripture and the giving of truth to men.
Interpretation emphasizes the understanding of God’s revelation to man.
Through revelation, God reveals truth and by interpretation man understands this truth.
Interpretation deals with understanding the revelation provided in Scripture whereas illumination refers to the ministry of the Holy Spirit helping the believer to understand this revelation from God in the Scriptures.
In revelation we have the vertical reception of God’s truth while in inspiration we have the horizontal communication of that revelation accurately to others.
The word of God in its original languages is the vehicle by which God reveals Himself to mankind.
In other words, inspiration is the process by which God worked through the human authors without destroying their individual personalities, vocabularies and writing styles to produce divine authoritative and inerrant writings.
God reveals Himself to man in four ways: (1) by nature or creation (Psalm 19:1-6; Rom. 1:19-20). (2) Human conscience (Romans 2:14-15). (3) The Living Word, i.e., the Lord Jesus Christ (John 1:18; 1 Tim. 3:16; 1 Cor. 1:24; Heb. 1:1-3). (4) The Written Word, the Bible in its original languages.
God’s will, purpose and plan for your life can only be found in the written Word, not in nature since nature cannot: (1) Give information about God’s purpose for your life. (2) Give information about God’s will for your life. (3) Give information about God’s plan for your life. (4) Give the way of salvation.
God’s will, purpose, plan and way of salvation are revealed to us: (1) in the written Word of God, i.e., the Bible. (2) By the Living Word of God, i.e., the Lord Jesus Christ.
So the process goes like this: (1) revelation is the objective fact of God communicating to mankind (2) inspiration is the means by which God communicated to mankind (3) interpretation is the process of understanding what God has communicated.
The Holy Spirit is involved in every step.
He is the member of the Trinity responsible for this revelation since He guided and directed the human authors of Scripture to put down in the original autographs God’s complete and connected thought to mankind.
So the Spirit was the means by which God communicated His will to men.
He is responsible for the inspiration of Scripture.
He is also the one who guides the believer in the interpretation of this revelation and helps them to understand it so as to make application.
Now, in Ephesians 3:3, the prepositional phrase kata apokalypsin (κατὰ ἀποκάλυψιν), “as revelation” not only modifies the hoti epexegetical clause egnōristhē moi to mystērion (ἐγνωρίσθη μοι τὸ μυστήριον), “the mystery was made known for the benefit of myself” but also corresponds to it.
Specifically, the former corresponds to the latter in that both speak of Paul receiving revelation from the Holy Spirit.
In other words, they are equivalent to each other in that they both refer to the same thing.
Namely, this divine secret or mystery was made known to him by the Spirit is “equivalent” to receiving revelation from the Holy Spirit.
In Ephesians 3:3, the statement kata apokalypsin egnōristhē moi to mystērion (κατὰ ἀποκάλυψιν ἐγνωρίσθη μοι τὸ μυστήριον), “Namely that, the mystery was made known for the benefit of myself as revelation” means that the divine secret or mystery that Gentile and Jewish church age believers are fellow heirs, fellow members of the body of Christ, and fellow partakers of the promise.
This all came about because of their faith in Christ Jesus at justification and union and identification with Him was made known for the benefit of Paul as revelation.