Ephesians 3.5b-The Agencies and Means By Which This Mystery Was Revealed to the Church
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday April 11, 2024
Ephesians Series: Ephesians 3:5b-The Agencies and Means By Which This Mystery Was Revealed to the Church
Lesson # 144
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.” (Lecturer’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.” (Lecturer’s translation)
Now, in the comparative clause which completes Ephesians 3:5, we have the comparative particle hōs (ὡς), “as,” which is used to mark a comparison between members of the human race living in the dispensations prior to the church age and those living during the church age.
The adverb of time nun (νῦν) “now” indicates that Paul composing in writing this epistle and the dispensation of the church age take place simultaneously.
The verb apokalyptō (ἀποκαλύπτω) pertains to something becoming known to the public and specifically information that was previously unknown to people.
Now, as was the case in Ephesians 2:20, the noun apostolos (ἀπόστολος) here in Ephesians 3:5 is employed as designation for the temporary spiritual gift assigned to the twelve men Jesus Christ sovereignly chose and delegated authority to exercise over the church.
Here it refers to the exercise or function of the spiritual gift of apostle.
As was the case in Ephesians 2:20, the noun prophētēs (προφήτης) here in Ephesians 3:5 refers to the exercise of the temporary or discontinued spiritual gift of being a prophet, which is no longer existent since it existed during the pre-canon period of the church to fill the void until the New Testament canon had been completed (See 1 Corinthians 12:10; 13:2; 14:22; Ephesians 2:20; 3:5; 4:11).
This word also contains the figure of metonymy, which means that these New Testament prophets are put for their communication of the gospel to the members of the body of Christ prior to justification and which communication resulted in their justification as a result of them exercising faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior.
As was the case in Ephesians 2:20, the articular construction of the noun apostolos (ἀπόστολος) here in Ephesians 3:5 does not signify that the Granville Sharp rule is in effect, which would signal that the prophets and apostles are one in the same.
Therefore, as was the case in Ephesians 2:20, the presence of the article before the noun apostolos (ἀπόστολος) here in Ephesians 3:5 does not indicate that the Granville Sharp rule is in effect.
If it was in effect, this would indicate that the nouns apostolos (ἀπόστολος) and prophētēs (προφήτης) are one in the same.
However, this rule does not apply to plural nouns but only singular nouns since both these nouns are in the plural.
Rather, the articular construction of the noun apostolos (ἀπόστολος) is simply used by Paul to tie both the temporary spiritual gifts of apostles and prophets together as being the recipients of the doctrine that was a mystery or secret to the Old Testament prophets.
This mystery asserts 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.
Specifically, the article simply binds these two temporary spiritual gifts together signifying that the exercise of both of these discontinued communication spiritual gifts constitutes the recipients of this mystery or secret doctrine and agencies which communicated this mystery doctrine to the members of the church.
Therefore, I interpret the articular construction of the noun apostolos (ἀπόστολος) as simply joining both the temporary spiritual gifts of apostle and prophet together identifying them as the recipients of this mystery doctrine.
Specifically, the article simply binds them together signifying that the exercise of both of these discontinued communication spiritual gifts constitutes the recipients of this mystery or secret doctrine that Gentile believers are by no means second class citizens in relation to Jewish believers.
It also binds them together signifying that the exercise of both of these discontinued communication spiritual gifts constitutes the personal agencies, which the Holy Spirit employed to communicate this mystery doctrine to the members of the body of Christ.
The articular construction of the noun apostolos (ἀπόστολος) also indicates that both nouns, apostolos (ἀπόστολος), “apostles” and prophētēs (προφήτης), “prophets” are modified by the articular dative masculine plural form of the adjective hagios (ἅγιος).
The articular dative masculine plural form of the adjective hagios (ἅγιος) means “holy” since the word pertains to someone who is dedicated to God or in other words, it pertains to someone who is set apart to serve and worship God exclusively.
Therefore, this word describes the apostles and New Testament prophets as dedicated to God and His purposes in the sense that they have been set apart from the rest of the human race in order to serve and worship Him.
The referent of the genitive third person masculine singular form of the intensive personal pronoun autos (αὐτός) is the articular genitive masculine singular form of the proper name Christos (Χριστός).
This is indicated by the fact that the latter which appears in Ephesians 3:4, agrees with the former in gender (masculine) and number (singular) as well as case (genitive).
The intensive personal pronoun autos (αὐτός) emphasizes Jesus Christ’s identity and is the demonstrative force intensified.
The articular construction of the adjective hagios (ἅγιος) is also employed with the genitive third person masculine singular form of the intensive personal pronoun autos (αὐτός) in order to denote possession or ownership indicating that the apostles and New Testament prophets are the “possession” of Jesus Christ.
Both the noun apostolos (ἀπόστολος), “apostles” and prophētēs (προφήτης), “prophets” function as a dative of agency.
Therefore, both these nouns identify the apostles and New Testament prophets as the personal agencies employed by the Holy Spirit and sent by the Son to reveal the mystery doctrine of the church age.
As we noted, this mystery asserts 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.
The referent of the dative neuter singular form of the noun pneuma (πνεῦμα), “the Spirit” is of course the Holy Spirit, who is the third member of the Trinity in the sense that He proceeds from both the Son as well as the Father.
This word also contains the figure of metonymy, which means that the person of the Holy Spirit is put for the exercise of His divine omnipotence.
The dative neuter singular form of the noun pneuma (πνεῦμα), “the Spirit” is the object of the preposition en (ἐν), which functions as a marker of means.
This means it marks this word as the means by which the action of the apokalyptō (ἀποκαλύπτω) is accomplished.
Therefore, this prepositional phrase indicates the omnipotence of the Spirit is “the means by which” members of the body of Christ received the revelation of the mystery doctrine 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.
The passive voice of this verb apokalyptō (ἀποκαλύπτω) means that the subject receives the action of the verb from either an expressed or unexpressed agency.
Here the agency is expressed in Ephesians 3:5 by the prepositional phrase en pneumati (ἐν πνεύματι), “by means of the omnipotence of the Spirit.”
Therefore, the passive of this verb indicates that this mystery doctrine received the action of being revealed to members of the church through the apostles and New Testament prophets by the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit.