The Mystery of the Church
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In other words, he says the fact that we are one building, built on one foundation, one household, one kingdom, one Spirit in us, one body, one new man. In other words, because of our unity, that’s what he’s saying. For the reason of our unity I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles.
A mystery is a secret of God hidden from the foundation of the world and finally revealed in the church age. Now one of those mysteries, and there are many of them, one of them is the mystery that the church would be made up of Jew and Gentile, bond and free, male and female, Greek and Barbarian, and that everybody all inclusive would be one in Jesus Christ. That was a mystery.
You can’t apply what you don’t comprehend.
Confined for the Mystery:
Confined for the Mystery:
1 For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,
Connection
Connection
Verse 1 identifies Paul as “a prisoner”.
The word refers to “one held in bonds.”
By the time Paul wrote the book of Ephesians, he had been in prison for five years. He was originally arrested by the Jews and charged with taking a man named Trophimus, a Gentile companion of Paul’s, into a forbidden area of the Temple in Jerusalem, Acts 21. Paul did not do this, but the Jews believed he did. They tried to kill him, but he came under protection of the Roman soldiers.The Jews wanted Paul dead. The Romans were obliged to protect him since he was a roman citizen, and there was no proof of his guilt. Eventually, Paul was sent to Caesarea, where he spent two years in prison. While there, Paul was examined by the Jewish Sanhedrin, Roman governors Felix and Festus, and before King Agrippa.
If Paul had not appealed to Caesar, Agrippa would have released him.
However, since Paul had appealed his case to Caesar he was sent by ship to Rome. The voyage took nearly a year to complete. When Paul arrived in Rome, he remained under house arrest for the next two years.
Paul lived in a rented house. In that house, he was free to move about during the day, but at night he was chained to Roman soldiers to prevent him from escaping. Paul’s life was not one of luxury. He was a prisoner and his circumstances reflected that fact.
This is just a reminder that life does not always go how we plan it. I am sure that Paul never thought he would end up in prison. I would imagine that he saw himself going to Rome to stand in the Forum preaching to huge crowds. I am sure he thought that he would preach to Caesar and the Senate of Rome and see great numbers of Romans converted. But, here he is, in prison because he dared preach Jesus crucified and resurrected. No, Paul’s ministry did not play out the way he surely thought it would.
Cause
Cause
Paul says, “For this cause I Paul … for you Gentiles.”
Paul wants his readers to know that he is where he is for their sakes. God had taken this strong, prejudiced, powerful Jewish man. God saved him by his grace, and sent him out to take the Gospel to the Gentiles. The Jews hated Paul for this. They saw him as a traitor to God, to the Law, to his birthright, and to God. They wanted him dead! Thus, they did everything in their power to rid themselves of him and his preaching.When Paul was arrested and carted off first to Caesarea and then to Rome, the Jews probably assumed they were finished with Paul forever. They probably believed they had silenced this troublesome preacher. They might have stopped Paul from traveling around the world preaching, but their hatred against Paul had a surprising effect. Because he was locked up in prison, Paul had a lot of time on his hands. He used that time to write many of his epistles. He also used that time to tell people about Jesus Christ, and some, even some in Caesar’s household, were saved.
22 All the saints salute you, chiefly they that are of Caesar’s household.
God used Paul to lay an incredibly important foundation of theology for the church. God actually used Paul’s imprisonment to expand his ministry. If Paul had been free to do as he pleased, he would have traveled around and preached from place to place, but because God was directing the course of his life, Paul ended up right where God wanted him. He ended up in the place he could do the most good.
Certainty
Certainty
The Jews had arrested Paul, but he did not see himself as their prisoner. They charged him with blasphemy and wanted him killed. He had been detained for his own protection, and sent to Rome, at his own request, by the Romans, but he did not see himself as their prisoner either. He was waiting to appear before Caesar to face examination by the most powerful man in the world, but he did not consider himself to be Caesar’s prisoner either!
Paul says that he is “the prisoner of Jesus Christ.” Paul saw himself as a man who lived under the sovereign control of God. He saw all the events of his life, the good and the bad, as being part of God’s divine plan. He knew that the Romans could not hold him; the Jews could not stone him; and Caesar could not execute him, unless it was part of God’s plan for his life. Paul saw himself as “the prisoner of Jesus Christ.” That phrase suggests the idea that Paul saw Jesus Christ as the ultimate cause behind his imprisonment. He knew that unless God had ordained it, he would not be where he was.
The Romans may have kept him chained, but Paul was bound to Christ by the very fact that Jesus had redeemed him from the deadness of his sins and given him a new life. Paul was the prisoner of Jesus Christ, bound to Him forever, regardless of where the Lord might lead him, or cause to happen in his life.
Commissioned with the Mystery:
Commissioned with the Mystery:
2 If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward:
Paul says that he was given a “dispensation.”
This word means, “Stewardship, administration, or management.”
This word refers to a person who was responsible to take care of the business of another. Another person to manage a household, a business, or some other concern trusted this individual. This person would have the oversight of all the responsibilities that pertained to the business of the one who employed him.
In Paul’s case, he was given the oversight of taking the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles. He was tasked with telling them about God’s live, His salvation, His grace and the place they had been given in His kingdom,
15 Nevertheless, brethren, I have written the more boldly unto you in some sort, as putting you in mind, because of the grace that is given to me of God,
16 That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.
Paul did not choose this ministry for himself, he was appointed to it by the Lord,
12 And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry;
Paul wants his readers to know that he was not some self-appointed preacher. He was who he was by the grace of God,
10 But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
In 1 Cor. 9:16–17
16 For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!
17 For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward: but if against my will, a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me.
Paul was compelled to preach the Gospel because the Lord had chosen him for that task. He had been given a dispensation of grace, and it was his duty to faithfully preach the Gospel wherever he went. He fulfilled his duty to the very end of his life, 2 Tim. 4:7.
2 If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward:
If ye have heard - Because of Paul’s management of the gospel you have the gospel.
The question becomes will the next generation have the gospel since the administration of the gospel falls now to us?
Communication of the Mystery:
Communication of the Mystery:
4 Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)
5 Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;
Paul makes it clear that he has been given a “revelation” of a “mystery.”
The word “revelation” refers to “an uncovering.”
The word “mystery” refers to “a hidden thing.”
It speaks of “the secret counsels of God, or to things beyond natural knowledge.”
In other words, Paul is saying that God has lifted the veil away from truths that were hidden with God. What Paul has been writing about is a divine secret. It is a truth that was hidden from the ancients. People like Moses, Abraham, David, Isaiah and others did not possess this knowledge. It was hidden from them in the secret counsels of God.
In Gen. 12:3, God promised Abraham,
Genesis 12:3 (KJV 1900)
3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
“… in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”
No one fully understood that truth until Paul was allowed to understand the mystery and write,
8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
6 And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob, And to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, That thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.
No one fully understood that truth until the revelation of the mystery was given to Paul and he explained it this way,
46 Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.
47 For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth.
In verse 4 Paul says that he wants his readers to understand his “knowledge in the mystery of Christ.” In other words, Paul is telling us that he has been given special “insight” into God’s secrets, and that he has been called to share those insights with us. Thank God for that.
Just for the record, no one is getting any new revelations today. The Scripture is complete. Everything we need to know concerning God and spiritual things is written in the Word of God. There are many truths we will not know until we are home in glory with the Lord. Right now, everything we need to know is written in the Bible.
Read it and be wise; believe it and be safe; live it and be holy!
16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
Clarification of the Mystery:
Clarification of the Mystery:
6 That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:
Paul has already touched on this mystery in
9 Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
10 That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
12 That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
11 Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;
12 That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:
In this verse he explains it more clearly. So, what is the mystery Paul has been given?The mystery is the truth that the Gentiles have been included, alongside the Jews, in God’s plan to form His church.
The mystery is the truth that Jews and Gentiles are to be brought together in one body: the body of Christ.
As I have mentioned in previous messages, it is hard for us to understand just how revolutionary this truth was to the Jews in Paul’s day. It was on the same level as that lepers and other unclean people should no longer be isolated. It was like saying that the chronically ill and the healthy should mix together as if they were both the same. To the Jews this idea was blaspheme.
They hated the Gentiles and allowed no fellowship with them at all. Now, Paul says that, in Jesus, the barriers are removed and Jews and Gentiles are on equal fitting before God.
Paul clarifies the mystery in these verses.
Notice the content of this mystery.
• The Gentiles are “fellow heirs”—
• The Gentiles are “fellow heirs”—
The Gentiles, who were once
12 That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:
now possess the same legal standing as His chosen people the Jews. Every single believer is on the same level.
We are all given the same blessings,
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
We are no longer strangers, aliens and outcasts. Now, in Jesus, we are the sons of God,
1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
In other words, as believers in Jesus, we share all the promises of God to His people. We are “fellowheirs” with all the saints.
• The Gentiles are of “the same body”—
• The Gentiles are of “the same body”—
That is, all believers in Jesus Christ share a common life in Jesus. The same life that flowed through the spirit of Paul lives in your spirit today. Just as every cell in your body shares the life of your body, so every believer in Jesus shares the common life of God. In God’s eyes every believer is absolutely indistinguishable from every other believer.
Paul reminds us of this truth in
12 For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.
13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
• The Gentiles are “partakers of His promise in Christ”—
• The Gentiles are “partakers of His promise in Christ”—
Thus, all those who are in Jesus Christ as inheritors of all God’s promises in Christ. When the Jews looked forward to their Messiah, they were looking for One Who would save them from sin, deliver them from their enemies, secure them as a nation, and bless them with His presence and the goodness of God. All those things are true for all those who are in Jesus, whether they are Jews or Gentiles.
• The Gentiles achieve this standing “by the Gospel”—
• The Gentiles achieve this standing “by the Gospel”—
That is by believing the Gospel message, that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died on the cross for the sin of the sinner, and that He rose again from the dead three days later, lost sinners are saved by the grace of God,
3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
25 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.
The only way anyone is ever saved is through the Gospel.
Believe it and become a part of the body of Christ.
Deny it and go to Hell.
So, the mystery Paul is preaching is the truth that Jews and Gentiles are made one in Jesus Christ.
By the way, everyone who is not a Jew is a Gentile and vice versa. This means that a person’s skin color or ethnic background should not matter to us, since it does not matter to the Lord. It is a sin to create artificial barriers between ourselves and other believers. It is not pleasing the Lord, and it is not a good testimony of the body of Christ.
The reverse side of this mystery is the fact that, not only are all believers in Jesus, but Jesus is in all believers as well.
27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
The same Jesus Who died on Calvary indwells the spirits of His people. He is in every saint of God, regardless of his or her heritage. He is our common ground. He is our unifier. He is the one element that makes us one. Jesus should be bigger than differences in race, ethnicity, religious background, social status, economic means, or any other consideration.
All that matter is Jesus Christ, and when He moves in, He makes us part of His body, and He lives His life through each of us.
That is why we must strive for unity in the body of Christ. We must not allow personal feelings, opinions, or actions to disrupt the unity of the body of Christ.
That is why Paul tells us,
18 If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.
God’s will for His church is clear,
10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
27 Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;
Do you KNOW Jesus Christ as your personal Savior?
Are you SERVING Jesus Christ as your Lord?
Are you Being FRUITFUL?