Ephesians 3.4b-The Mystery is Produced By Faith in Jesus Christ at Justification and Union and Identification with Him
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday April 4, 2024
Ephesians Series: Ephesians 3:4b-The Mystery is Produced by Faith in Jesus Christ at Justification and Union and Identification with Him
Lesson # 141
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. 4 Concerning which, that is, by each one of you making it your habit of hearing read publicly, all of you will for your own benefit become able to comprehend my insight into this incomparable mystery, which is produced by your unique union and identification with Christ. (Lecturer’s translation)
Ephesians 3:4 is composed of the participial clause dynasthe anaginōskontes noēsai tēn synesin mou (δύνασθε ἀναγινώσκοντες νοῆσαι τὴν σύνεσίν μου), “that is, by each one of you making it your habit of hearing read publicly, all of you will for your own benefit become able to comprehend my insight” and is modified by two prepositional phrases.
The first is pros ho (πρὸς ὃ), “Concerning which” and the second is en tō mystēriō tou Christou (ἐν τῷ μυστηρίῳ τοῦ Χριστοῦ), “into this incomparable mystery, which is produced by your unique union and identification with Christ.”
These prepositional phrases serve as bookends to this participial clause with the first placed in the emphatic position in the clause and the second completing the clause.
The participle conjugation of the verb anaginōskō (ἀναγινώσκω) is describing the means by which the recipients of this letter will be able to comprehend Paul’s insight into this mystery of Christ.
Namely, by making it their habit of hearing read publicly the contents of this letter by their lictors and pastors in the public worship service, which explains in detail this mystery doctrine for the church age.
The second person plural aorist middle indicative conjugation of the verb dunamai (δύναμαι) pertains to possessing the capacity to understand a particular subject.
The referent of the second person plural of this verb is of course the recipients of this epistle who were members of the Gentile Christian community living in the various cities and towns in the Roman province of Asia.
The middle voice of this verb is an indirect middle, which would express the idea that it would be “for the benefit of” the recipients of this epistle to be able to comprehend Paul’s insight into the mystery of Christ.
The aorist active infinitive conjugation of the verb noeō (νοέω), “to understand” pertains to understanding, or comprehending on the basis of careful thought and consideration and speaks of grasping the meaning of a subject intellectually.
It functions as complementary infinitive which means that it is completing the thought of the second person plural present middle indicative conjugation of the verb dunamai (δύναμαι) because it identifies for the reader what they will be able to do by reading the contents of this epistle.
The aorist tense of this verb noeō (νοέω) is an ingressive aorist, which indicates that the recipients of this epistle will be able to “enter into the state of” comprehending Paul’s insight into the mystery of Christ by making it their habit of hearing the contents of this epistle read to them publicly by their lictors and pastors.
The noun sunesis (σύνεσις), “insight” pertains to possessing the ability to understand the meaning and importance of something.
As was the case in Colossians 1:9, 2:2 and 2 Timothy 2:7, the noun sunesis (σύνεσις) here in Ephesians 3:4 pertains to the result of apprehending the inner nature of things or of seeing intuitively.
It pertains to the quality of being able to grasp and comprehend what is obscure, skill in discerning, and the power to see what is not evident to the average mind.
The nominative first person singular form of the personal pronoun ego (ἐγώ) means “my” and its referent is of course Paul.
Now, in the first prepositional phrase pros ho (πρὸς ὃ), “concerning which,” the referent of the accusative neuter singular form of the relative pronoun hos (ὅς) is the articular nominative neuter singular form of the noun mustērion (μυστήριον), “the mystery,” which appears in Ephesians 3:3.
The accusative neuter singular form of the relative pronoun hos (ὅς) is the object is the object of the preposition pros (πρός), which marks this mystery doctrine of the church age as being the connection between what he wrote about it in the first two chapters and what he is going to write about in Ephesians 3:5-13.
The second prepositional in Ephesians 3:4, which completes this verse contains the noun mustērion (μυστήριον) means “mystery, secret, divine secret” since it pertains to revelation that was not known to the Old Testament prophets of Israel but has been given to the apostles and New Testament prophets by the Holy Spirit.
As was the case in Ephesians 3:3, here in Ephesians 3:4 the referent of this word is the revelation that Gentile and Jewish church age believers are 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.
The articular construction of this word is monadic, which means that this mystery is “unique” or “one of a kind.”
This is indicated by the fact that the content of this mystery is that Gentile and Jewish church age believers are 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.
Thus, this mystery is unique because never before in history were Gentile believers on equal footing with Jewish believers.
The noun mustērion (μυστήριον) is the object of the preposition en (ἐν), which marks the content of what Paul possessed insight into.
Namely, this unique mystery or secret, which is union and identification with Christ, which is unique to those Jewish and Gentile sinners who have been declared justified through faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior.
The proper name Christos (Χριστός), “Christ” contains the figure of metonymy which means that the one and only Christ is put for the church age believer’s union and identification with Him through the baptism of the Spirit at their justification.
This interpretation is indicated by the contents of Ephesians 3:5-13, which reveal the content of this mystery.
Namely that Gentile and Jewish church age believers are 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.
Gentile Christians were entered into a relationship with God the Father and with His covenant people Israel by being declared justified through faith in Jesus Christ.
Simultaneously, through the baptism of the Spirit, they were placed in union with Jesus Christ and identified with Him in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the Father’s right hand.
Through the baptism of the Spirit, they were united with Jewish Christians.
Consequently, they benefit from the four unconditional covenants that God established with His covenant people, namely the Abrahamic, Palestinian, Davidic and New covenants.
They received the gift of the Spirit and the forgiveness of sins because of benefiting from the New covenant, which promises these two benefits.
The articular construction of the proper name Christos (Χριστός), “Christ” is monadic emphasizing that Jewish and Gentile church age believer’s union and identification with Jesus Christ is unique in history.
This is indicated by the fact that unlike the church age, Gentile believers in previous dispensations have never been on equal footing with Jewish believers in the sense that Gentiles have never given the privilege of entering into a covenant relationship with God as Jewish believers.
At the moment of justification, Gentile church age believers have been entered into a covenant relationship with God because through the baptism of the Spirit, not only have they been united with Christ and identified with Him but they have also been united with Jewish church age believers as well (cf. Rom. 11:16-21; Eph. 2:11-22).
The articular construction of the proper name Christos (Χριστός) functions as a genitive of production, which takes place when the genitive substantive “produces” the noun to which it stands related, which in our context is the noun mustērion (μυστήριον), “mystery.”
Therefore, this construction expresses the idea that this mystery or secret doctrine, which asserts that Gentile and Jewish church age believers are fellow heirs, fellow members of the body of Christ, and fellow partakers of the promise is “produced by” their faith in Christ Jesus at justification and union and identification with Him.