Ephesians 3.5a-The Mystery was Never Made Known to Previous Generations
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday April 9, 2024
Ephesians Series: Ephesians 3:5a-The Mystery was Never Made Known to Previous Generations
Lesson # 143
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. 5 This mystery was by no means made known to members of the human race in previous generations as it has now been revealed through the personal agency of His holy apostles as well as prophets by means of the omnipotence of the Spirit. (Lecturer’s translation)
Ephesians 3:5 is composed of the following:
(1) relative pronoun clause ho heterais geneais ouk egnōristhē tois huiois tōn anthrōpōn (ὃ ἑτέραις γενεαῖς οὐκ ἐγνωρίσθη τοῖς υἱοῖς τῶν ἀνθρώπων), “This mystery was by no means made known to members of the human race in previous generations.” (Author’s translation)
(2) comparative clause hōs nyn apekalyphthē tois hagiois °apostolois autou kai prophētais en pneumati (ὡς νῦν ἀπεκαλύφθη τοῖς ἁγίοις °ἀποστόλοις αὐτοῦ καὶ προφήταις ἐν πνεύματι), “as it has now been revealed through the personal agency of His holy apostles as well as prophets by means of the omnipotence of the Spirit.” (Author’s translation)
The referent of the nominative 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 3:4, which is indicated by the fact that they agree in gender (neuter) and number (singular).
As we also noted in our study of this verse, the latter 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 with Jewish church age believers because of their faith in Christ Jesus at justification and union and identification with Him.
In Ephesians 3:4, we also noted Paul asserts that this mystery is “produced by” these Jewish and Gentile church age believer’s faith in Jesus Christ at justification and union and identification with Him.
Therefore, the referent of the nominative neuter singular form of the relative pronoun hos (ὅς) here in Ephesians 3:5 is the articular nominative neuter singular form of the noun mustērion (μυστήριον), “the mystery,” which Paul asserts is produced by the church age believer’s union and identification with Jesus Christ.
In our study of Ephesians 3:3-4, we noted that this verse expands or explains in greater detail or provides more information about the Father’s will for the church age believer in Ephesians 1:9.
Namely, that it also involves Gentile and Jewish 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.
Therefore, in each instance, the word has the same referent because the Father’s will for the church age believer, which was not known to the Old Testament prophets, 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.
Ephesians 3:1-13 teaches that it was a mystery that the Gentiles through faith in Christ would become fellow heirs with Jewish believers, fellow members of the body of Christ and fellow partakers of the four unconditional covenants of promise to Israel.
The mystery is not that the Gentiles would be saved since this was prophesied in the Old Testament (Isa. 11:10; 60:3).
Rather, the mystery concerning the Gentiles is that they would become fellow heirs with Jewish believers, fellow members with Jewish believers in the body of Christ and fellow partakers of the covenant promises to Israel.
The content of this mystery is three-fold:
(1) The Gentile believers are fellow heirs with Jewish believers in the sense that they share in the spiritual riches God gave them because of His covenant with Abraham (Gal. 3:26-28).
(2) Gentile believers in Christ are fellow members of the body of Christ with Jewish believers. There is one body, the body of Christ (Eph. 4:4), which has no racial distinctions (1 Cor. 12:13) and has the Lord Jesus Christ as its head (Eph. 5:23). Each individual member of the body of Christ shares in the ministry (Eph. 4:15-16).
(3) Gentile believers in Christ are fellow partakers of the four unconditional covenants of promise to Israel.
The four great unconditional covenants to Israel will be fulfilled: (1) Abrahamic deals with the race of Israel (Gen. 12:1-3; 13:16; 22:15-18). (2) Palestinian is the promise of land to Israel (Gen. 13:15; Num. 34:1-12). (3) Davidic deals with the aristocracy of Israel (2 Sam. 7:8-17) (4) New deals with the future restoration of Israel during the millennium (Jer. 31:31-34).
This mystery about Jewish and Gentile church age believers is not only alluded to in Ephesians 1:3-14 and Ephesians 3:2-13 but is also alluded to in Ephesians 2:11-22 because the latter develops the idea of these Gentile Christians being elected by being predestinated in eternity past to adoption as son of the Father, which is taught in Ephesians 1:3-14.
Ephesians 2:11-22 teaches that Gentile church age believers are united with Jewish Gentile believers because of their faith in Jesus Christ at justification and their union and identification with Him accomplished through the baptism of the Spirit at their justification.
Thus, the election and predestination of church age believers to adoption as sons of the Father taught by Paul in Ephesians1:3-14 also involves Jewish and Gentile church age believers being united together to form the new humanity who along with Jesus Christ will dispossess Satan and his fellow evil spirits as rulers over the earth during Jesus Christ’s millennial reign.
Now, in Ephesians 3:5, the dative feminine plural form of the noun genea (γενεά), “generations” refers to generations of human beings extending from Adam up to the church age.
In other words, the referent of this word is the dispensations prior to the church age.
This noun genea (γενεά) is modified by the dative feminine plural form of the adjective heteros (ἕτερος), “previous” which refers to the dispensations that came before the church age.
These dispensations, which preceded the church age, would include the dispensation of the Gentiles and Israel.
The dispensation of the Gentiles begins with the Edenic period, which can be divided into four periods: (1) Edenic: Adam to the Fall (Gen. 1:26-3:6). (2) Ante-Diluvian: Fall of Adam to the Flood (Gen. 3-9). (3) Post-Diluvian: Noah Leaving Ark to Call of Abraham (Gen. 9-12). (4) Patriarchal: Call of Abraham to Giving of Law on Sinai (Gen. 12-Ex. 19).
The dispensation of Israel is broken into six periods: (1) Theocratic Kingdom: Exodus to Samuel (B.C. 1441-B.C. 1020) (2) United Kingdom: Saul to Rehoboam (B.C. 1020-926 B.C.) (3) Northern Kingdom: Jeroboam to Hosea (B.C. 926-B.C. 721).
Lastly, the last dispensation before the church age is the dispensation of the hypostatic union of Jesus Christ or in other words, His First Advent, which of course began with the birth of Christ and culminated in His death, resurrection, ascension and session at the right hand of the Father.
As was the case in Ephesians 2:2, the noun huios (υἱός) here in Ephesians 3:5 does not mean “the sons” but rather “the offspring” since the word pertains to the offspring of human beings without reference to the gender.
It refers to the offspring of the human race who lived during the dispensations prior to the advent of the church age.
The articular genitive masculine plural form of the noun anthrōpos (ἄνθρωπος) is used in a generic sense for the human race.
It functions as a genitive of apposition or epexegetical genitive, which means that is identifying what race these offspring belong to, namely the human race as distinguished from the angelic race.
Therefore, this expression huioi tōn anthrōpōn (υἱοὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων) literally means “the sons of men or human beings” and is a Semitic idiom designating members of the human race (Ps. 107:8, 15, 21, 31; 144:12; Ezek. 2:1, 3, 6, 8; Mk. 3:28).
Now, the reader must understand that this expression does not refer to unregenerate humanity but rather regenerate humanity because this mystery doctrine can only be understood by those who have received the indwelling of the Holy Spirit through faith in Jesus Christ since the Spirit inspired this revelation and gives illumination with regards to its application and significance (cf. 1 Cor. 2; Eph. 1:17-18).
Therefore, in context the referent of this expression is church age believers who have received the indwelling of the Holy Spirit when they were declared justified through faith in Jesus Christ and were consequently placed in union with Jesus Christ and identified with Him in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father through the baptism of the Spirit, which they received at justification.
The third person singular aorist passive indicative conjugation of the verb gnōrizō (γνωρίζω) pertains to causing information to become known to others and is emphatically negated by the emphatic negative adverb ou (οὔ), which expresses an absolute, direct, full negation.
The passive voice of the verb gnōrizō (γνωρίζω) indicates that this mystery doctrine never received the action of being made known to members of the human race who lived in the dispensations prior to the church age through the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit as it has now been made known during the church age.