Ephesians 3.6d-The Basis and Means By Which Gentile and Jewish Church Age Believers are United
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Saturday April 20, 2024
Ephesians Series: Ephesians 3:6d-The Basis and Means By Which Gentile and Jewish Church Age Believers are United
Lesson # 148
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. 6 Namely, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs as well as fellow members of the body likewise fellow partakers of the promise because of justification by faith in and union and identification with Christ Jesus by means of the proclamation of the gospel. (Lecturer’s translation)
Ephesians 3:6 is composed of the infinitival appositional clause einai ta ethnē synklēronoma kai syssōma kai symmetocha tēs epangelias (εἶναι τὰ ἔθνη συγκληρονόμα καὶ σύσσωμα καὶ συμμέτοχα τῆς ἐπαγγελίας), “Namely, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs as well as fellow members of the body likewise fellow partakers of the promise.” (Author’s translation)
It is modified by two prepositional phrases.
The first is en Christō Iēsou (ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ), “because of justification by faith in and union and identification with Christ Jesus.” (Author’s translation) and the second is dia tou euangeliou (σ διὰ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου), “by means of the proclamation of the gospel.” (Author’s translation)
The infinitive conjugation of the verb eimi (εἰμί) functions as an appositional infinitive, which means that it introduces a clause which defines 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 Messianic promise with Jewish church age believers because of their faith in Christ Jesus at justification and union and identification with Him.
The prepositional phrase en Christō Iēsou (ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ), “because of justification by faith in and union and identification with Christ Jesus” (Author’s translation) is modifying this infinitival appositional clause einai ta ethnē synklēronoma kai syssōma kai symmetocha tēs epangelias (εἶναι τὰ ἔθνη συγκληρονόμα καὶ σύσσωμα καὶ συμμέτοχα τῆς ἐπαγγελίας), “Namely, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs as well as fellow members of the body likewise fellow partakers of the promise.” (Author’s translation)
It presents “the reason why” Gentile and Jewish church age believers are fellow heirs, fellow members of the body of Christ, and fellow partakers of the Messianic promise.
As was the case in Ephesians 1:9, 12, 2:6, 7, 10, and 13, the proper name Christos (Χριστός), “Christ” here in Ephesians 3:6 contains the figure of metonymy.
This means that the Christ is put for the church age believer’s faith in Him at justification as well as their union and identification with Him through the baptism of the Spirit at their justification.
The proper noun Iēsous (Ἰησοῦς), “Jesus” and refers to the human nature of the incarnate Son of God, Jesus of Nazareth and simply clarifies who is Christ here, namely Jesus of Nazareth since there were many in the first century who made the claim.
The noun Christos (Χριστός) is the object of the preposition en (ἐν), “because of” functions as a marker of cause or reason.
This indicates that the church age believer’s faith in Jesus Christ at justification as well as their union and identification with Him through the baptism of the Spirit at justification is “the reason why” Gentile and Jewish church age believers are fellow partakers of the Messianic promise or promise of a Savior.
Lastly, the prepositional phrase dia tou euangeliou (σ διὰ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου), “by means of the proclamation of the gospel” (Author’s translation) is also modifying this infinitival appositional clause einai ta ethnē synklēronoma kai syssōma kai symmetocha tēs epangelias (εἶναι τὰ ἔθνη συγκληρονόμα καὶ σύσσωμα καὶ συμμέτοχα τῆς ἐπαγγελίας), “Namely, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs as well as fellow members of the body likewise fellow partakers of the promise.” (Author’s translation)
However, it presents “the means by which” Gentile and Jewish church age believers are fellow heirs, fellow members of the body of Christ, and fellow partakers of the Messianic promise.
Now, as was the case in Ephesians 1:13, the noun euangelion (εὐαγγέλιον) here in Ephesians 3:6 contains the figure of metonymy meaning that the gospel is put for the communication or proclamation of the gospel message to the recipients of the Ephesian epistle when they were unregenerate sinners.
This noun pertains to communicating the good news to the unbeliever that Christ died and rose from the dead for them and that through faith in Him they could receive the gift of eternal life and the forgiveness of sins and avoid experiencing the wrath of God.
The articular construction of this word is anaphoric, which means that it is pointing back to the previous use of this word in Ephesians 1:13 indicating that it retains the same meaning and referent here in Ephesians 3:6.
It also indicates that the Christian gospel is the most important of gospels since the Roman civil authorities like the emperor published their gospels.
The noun euangelion (εὐαγγέλιον) is the object of the preposition dia (διά), which functions as a marker of means.
This indicates that the proclamation of the Christian gospel is “the means by which” Jewish and Gentile believers are fellow heirs, fellow members of the body of Christ, and fellow partakers of the Messianic promise.
The proclamation of the gospel is “the means by which” Jewish and Gentile believers are fellow heirs, fellow members of the body of Christ, and fellow partakers of the Messianic promise.
In other words, they could never be justified by faith in Jesus Christ and placed in union and identified with Him unless they heard the proclamation of the gospel.
This union between Jewish and Gentile church age believers that Paul described in Ephesians 2:11-22 and now here in Ephesians 3:1-6 does not mean that the church is the “new” Israel or that the church does not have any relationship to the nation of Israel.
There is discontinuity with regards to the relationship between Israel and the church, but there is also continuity.
This is indicated by several factors.
First of all, Paul taught in Romans 2:28-29 and 3:21-31 that a true Jew is one who is not only a biological descendant of Jacob whose name was changed by God to “Israel,” but also they have trusted in Jesus Christ as their Savior.
Paul teaches in Romans 9:1-5 that the nation of Israel was given the covenants which is a reference to the Abrahamic, Palestinian, Davidic and New covenants.
In Romans 11:17, Paul also teaches that Gentile believers, who he describes as a “wild olive tree,” are engrafted into regenerate Israel who he describes an “olive tree.”
Consequently, regenerate Gentiles benefit from the promises of the four unconditional covenants God established with Israel, namely the Abrahamic, Palestinian (land), Davidic and New covenants.
The Abrahamic covenant is the “rich root” in Romans 11:17.
The apostle to the Gentiles also taught in Galatians 3:26-28, Ephesians 2:11-22 and Colossians 3:11 that the church is composed of both regenerate Jew and Gentiles.
Paul also teaches in Romans 11:5 that regenerate Jews living during the church age compose the remnant of Israel.
Thus, the church and Israel are connected by this remnant of regenerate Jews living during the church age and by the fact that regenerate Gentiles have been engrafted into regenerate Israel and during the church age. Jewish church age believers.
However, they are distinguished from each other because of race.
In fact, in support of this, the Lord Jesus taught His apostles in Matthew 19:28 that they would be judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
This implies that they have authority over Israel.
So we know that the apostles’ teaching was the foundation of the church as we noted in our study of Ephesians 2:20 and here the Lord is saying in Matthew 19:28 that they would have authority over Israel implying that though they are a part of the church, they are also a part of the nation of Israel.
Now some like Hoehner argue that the land promises to Israel would not extend to the church.
However, if the church is the bride of Christ and Ephesians 5:22-33 asserts that she is, then if Jesus Christ, the King of Israel inherits the land promised by God in the Palestinian or land covenant, which is related to the Abrahamic covenant, wouldn’t the bride of Christ inherit this land as well?
Since the Gentile church age believer’s union with Jesus Christ establishes their union with Jewish church age believers, we can infer that Gentile church age believers will also inherit the land God promised to Jewish believers under the Palestinian or land covenant.
A comparison of Romans 4:13 with Genesis 13:14-17 would also indicate that Gentile church age believers would inherit the land promised to Abraham since they assert that Abraham and his spiritual descendants will inherit the land the Lord promised to Abraham and his spiritual descendants.