What Is the Big Mystery?
What is The Big Mystery
Do You Love Mysteries?
Main Truth: The revealed mystery IS gospel unity in Christ.
I. The Christian must steward the ministry of gospel unity, 1-5
A. Paul was COMMITTED, 1
The expression I, Paul indicates a special emphasis on the few occasions it turns up in the apostle’s letters.4 Here, as in Colossians 1:23, it stresses his calling to proclaim the gospel to Gentiles, and it is in this role par excellence that he will pray again for his readers.
B. Paul was COMMISSIONED by God, 2
II. The revealed mystery provides the church a divine unity, 6
The content of God’s ‘open secret’ (v.4) is now spelled out.38 For a heightened effect and in order to describe it more precisely Paul assembles three parallel, composite adjectives,39 each beginning with the prefix with, to declare that Gentiles are ‘fellow-heirs with, one body with, and joint partakers of the promise with [those of Jewish birth] in Christ Jesus through the gospel’.
“This mystery,” he says, “is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus” (italics added). The open secret, which was not understood in times past, is that Jews and Gentiles are 1) “heirs together,” 2) “members together” (sussoma, a new word coined by Paul because no word could adequately describe the mystery of Gentiles being on the same footing with Jews,2 and 3) “sharers together” — fellow partakers.
The closer they were to God, the closer they were to each other. No Jew or Gentile had ever conceived of such a mystery in his wildest dreams! And for Paul this remained an abiding wonder and joy throughout his life.