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*/Ephesians 3:1-6/*
Last week we looked at the consequences of the Jew~/Gentile union into one new man, the Church.
Paul’s described the Church as a Holy Temple that God is currently building to be a dwelling place of the Holy Spirit.
In verse 19 we discover that we are no longer traveling foreigners or resident strangers but we are fellow citizens with all the saints.
We have become a part of the entire company of redeemed people through all the ages.
But we also have a unique status as becoming a part of God’s household.
We have become a part of the family of God unlike saints of other ages.
The basis of this new household is a foundation composed of apostles and prophets.
These refer to NT apostles and prophets.
These NT apostles held the office of apostle (either category 1 or category 2).
The thing both groups had in common was that they received direct revelation from God.
They therefore form the foundation of the new entity, the Church.
The cornerstone of this foundation is Jesus Christ Himself.
The cornerstone is the most important part of the foundation.
In some cultures it was even more important than the foundation itself.
It is the stone by which all the other stones in the foundation and superstructure were measured, aligned, and set.
Jesus Christ Himself is that cornerstone.
The building will therefore conform to His perfection and standards of righteousness so that it will be a fit habitation of God.
The building of this structure takes place in Christ.
It is fitted together, stone by stone in Him.
The individual Jew and Gentile believers are like individual stones that Christ is cutting and smoothing in order to fit us together perfectly.
This building is growing throughout the Church age as each member of the body of Christ is added to the whole.
What are we being built into?
Paul describes this building as a holy temple.
The word for temple here is the word that is consistently used of the Holy of Holies in the Jewish Temple (/naos/).
It is not the general word for temple used of the entire temple compound (/ieron/).
For what purpose is this holy temple being built?
To be a dwelling place of God the Holy Spirit.
The building is to function as a dwelling place for God.
God no longer dwells in temples made with hands as he did in the OT (Acts 17:24) but rather dwells in the corporate body, the Church.
The word for dwelling means a “resting place”, a place where God is going to settle down and retire.
This is a radically different view of God and where He dwells.
God is not confined to temples built by human hands.
In fact, men don’t even make dwelling places for God.
Christ Himself is constructing this holy temple.
It will be the dwelling place of the third member of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit.
God the Spirit now dwells in individuals of the Church which make up this holy temple and in the Church corporately.
The completed holy temple will be made up of all glorified saints from the day of Pentecost until the Rapture.
*F.
PARENTHETICAL EXPANSION OF THE MYSTERY (3:1-13)*
With Paul’s explanation of the union of believing Jews and Gentiles in one new man in Eph.
2:11-22 he begins to offer a prayer in 3:1.
This is not unusual for Paul.
Remember Paul’s progression in chapter 1. Paul gave an extensive Praise to God for all the spiritual blessings in Eph.
1:3-14 and then he went directly into a Prayer in Eph.
1:15-23.
Chapter 2 has been loaded with doctrine and this moves Paul toward prayer once more in 3:1.
So, it’s typical for Paul to move from doctrine to prayer.
But notice at the end of 3:1 the little dashed line?
That’s an indication that he cuts off his prayer just as he got started.
He decides to digress and give a fuller explanation of the mystery of Christ in vv.
2-13.
This explanation has three elements; /his responsibility to make the mystery known, when and to whom this new revelation came, and the content of the mystery/.
Then Paul picks up and continues his prayer in v. 14.
So, we’re moving into a parenthetical section.
Apparently, as Paul began to pray he was reminded of certain doctrinal points that needed to be crystallized in the Ephesian’s minds.
Once again this is a single sentence in the Greek and is composed of 189 words.
This is the fourth long sentence in Ephesians.
Each of these long sentences is full of a complex of ideas that can’t be separated in Paul’s thinking.
*1.
The Introduction (3:1)*
This verse introduces the prayer which he abruptly digresses from and picks up again in v. 14.
Ephesians 3:1, 14-21 is therefore a complete sentence.
*/Greek Text 3:1/**/ /**/Touto charin ego Paulos ho desmios tou Christou [Iesou] huper humon ton ethnon/*
*Translation 3:1 **For this reason, I Paul, the prisoner of Christ [Jesus], for the sake of you Gentiles—*
*Touto charin**, “For this reason” *is Paul’s way of introducing a prayer (cf.
*1:15 and 3:14*).
The *reason *Paul begins praying for the Ephesians is because of what he’s just written in 2:11-22.
Therefore, this prayer that he resumes in 3:14-21 is a picture of what Paul desired for us to do with the truths in 2:11-21.
In light of the new man in Christ Jesus, composed of Jews and Gentiles, Paul prays that we would comprehend this new union more deeply and that strengthened love toward one another would result.
*ego Paulos ho desmios tou Christou [Iesou]**, “I Paul, the prisoner of Christ [Jesus],*.
Here Paul designates himself as the author of the letter once again (cf.
1:1).
This is not a pseudepigraphal letter but a genuine letter written by Paul or dictated by Paul to Tychicus (cf.
6:21).
Paul says that he was *the prisoner of Christ Jesus*/.
/This is a/ /little odd because we know that when Paul wrote, in 62AD, he was a prisoner of Herod.
Ephesians is one of four Prison Epistles along with Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon.
But Paul doesn’t mention being a prisoner of Herod.
Instead he says he’s a *prisoner of Christ Jesus*.
Why is this?
There are two things about Paul’s life that we have to understand to be able to understand this.
First of all, Paul’s calling in life.
Paul never separated his physical circumstances from the calling of God for his life.
Paul is not trying to get the Ephesian Gentiles to feel sorry for him.
The Ephesians knew Paul’s was a prisoner of Herod.
So, what he’s doing is demonstrating an important principle of the Christian life.
Lot’s of Christians would think that imprisonment by Herod would hinder Paul’s ministry.
“Oh Paul, why did you have to make such a ruckus, why didn’t you have to be so public in your ministry and cause problems with the Jews?
Now you’re all locked away and you can’t minister effectively.”
But Paul realized something very few Christians realize.
First, he realized that when Christians lay low and always try to keep the peace nothing happens.
The Christian Church never flourished under peacemakers (the blood of the martyrs is the seed bed of the Church).
The Christian Church never flourished under pacifist Christians.
It has always flourished under Christian activists; truth seekers.
People who could care less about what everyone else thinks.
People who stand up for what’s right regardless of what secular group they might offend.
Second thing Paul realized was that ministry can happen anywhere.
His ministry wasn’t hindered by being in prison.
His imprisonment by Herod wasn’t by chance and it wasn’t something to get all depressed about.
It was part and parcel of the plan of God.
And Paul wasn’t going to waste his time pining away in prison, pouting about his situation and worrying about what’s going to happen to him.
Paul was going to make something happen.
This is because Paul understood that this was God’s plan for his life.
And Paul had a very strong sense of calling in life.
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