Paul the Preacher to the Gentiles
1For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—
2Surely you have heard about the administration of God's grace that was given to me for you, 3that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. 4In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God's holy apostles and prophets. 6This mystery 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.
7I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's grace given me through the working of his power.
Dig Deeper
The high school that I taught and coached basketball at for nearly nine years was a bit of a different type of high school. It was what was called a partnership high school at the time we began; now the more popular term is charter school. When I began, however, because of our unique status, along with the many other charter high schools (there were about 18 or 20 at the time, now there are over 40 in Milwaukee alone), there was no athletic conferences or state associations for them to be a part of. Because of the mixture of small school size and high athletic talent, the WIAA (Wisconsin Interscholastic Athl. Assoc.) wanted no part of them. So, I started the very first conference of charter and partnership schools, known as the PAC-8. The conference was limited to eight teams (and had very specific rules in place to keep it that way) although many of the other charter schools wanted in badly. After two successful years, several of the coach came to me and suggested that we start another conference with the other schools and maybe even begin our own state association for charter schools, complete with a state championship tournament. I smiled as I walked over to my desk and pulled out all of the paperwork, plans, brackets, etc. for such an arrangement. What the other coaches only then learned was that this had been my plan all along from the very beginning, and I had constructed our conference in such a way as to easily do that when the time was right. Had I revealed that plan from the beginning, people would not have understood and assumed that I was being unrealistic. Now they understood and the time was right to unveil and implement the plan.
This is what Paul is saying, in essence, in this letter. Paul sees himself as a messenger that has suddenly been let in a big secret, but what might have looked like a new phase, a new turn in the road, is actually what God had in mind all along. Although it didn’t seem like it was the plan, it had become obvious to Paul that this had been the plan all along.
Paul calls himself the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of the Gentiles. Paul could easily have blamed the Romans or Jews for his predicament of being in prison, but for him, they are just a side issue. The real cause of him being in prison is his status in Christ. For Paul, there is no time or room to complain or cry about being persecuted because he is in Christ (Eph. 6:20; Col. 4:3). That is nothing compared to the glorious riches that accompany being in Christ. The main aspect of being in Christ that had caused Paul’s imprisonment was his belief that Gentiles had the same access to God as did the Jews. If Paul had not included that as a major part of his gospel, he would likely have not been in prison (see 1 Thess. 2:14-16).
Paul is confident (the meaning of "surely" here is actually along the lines of "I take for granted") that they have hear that he has been given, by God, the task of administering God’s grace and bringing Gentiles into the family of God in Christ. His assumption that they have heard of his ministry, though, does lend credence to the belief that Ephesians was a circular letter that went to many congregations rather than one specific congregation with which Paul was familiar.
Paul has already briefly mentioned this mystery (1:9-10, 2:11-22, although he may possibly be referring to another letter like Colossians) but now he mentions it more in fully in this passage. The great mystery (remember that the biblical meaning of mystery has to do with something being unveiled) that Paul has been assigned to reveal is mentioned in several of Paul’s writings. For example: In Col. 1:27 it is the indwelling of Christ; in Col. 4:3 it is the fact that Gentiles are receiving the gospel; in Eph. 1:9 it is the plan to unite or sum up all creation in Christ; in Eph. 3:4 and 6 it is the unity between Jew and Gentile. To make it simple, we can conclude that the mystery to which Paul so often refers is, in total summary, the revelation that all things will be brought together, including Jews and Gentiles, in Christ. The access to God and restoration of all things that are available only in the life of Christ have now been revealed, and Paul has been called to unveil this to the Gentiles specifically.
Paul says, in verse 5, that this mystery was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. Paul does not mean that this purpose was not so much as mentioned in the Old Testament (see Gen. 12:1-3; Isa. 11:10; 42:6; 49:6; 60:3; Jer. 16:19; Mic. 4:2; Zeph. 2:11) or foreshadowed but that it was not realized or available to experience before this. God had always made it known that this would be the outcome, although no one knew how it would come about. Now, Paul says, it had been revealed in Christ.
There are three aspects Paul mentions here that have been revealed in the mystery of the gospel. The first is that they are co-heirs and share the inheritance of Israel, the people of God. This is no small inheritance, as Paul makes it clear elsewhere that the people of God are to inherit the whole world (Rom. 4:13; 1 Cor. 3:21). Second, they have the privilege of entering into and becoming part of the one body of Christ. Third, they have an equal share of the promises that go all the way back to Abraham that have been fulfilled in Christ Jesus.
Paul is a servant of this gospel as a result of God’s grace given to him through the working of the power of God and revealed by the work of the Spirit. This is no clever invention of Paul, devised in order to build a new religion with him at the top. He had not foreseen the revealing of God’s plan this way but it had become clear to him that this was God’s plan all along and he is more than happy to serve God in this way and announce the blessings of Christ for all men. The exciting thing for us is that this revelation is as fresh and relevant for us and the people of the world as it was the day it was unveiled.
Devotional Thought
How incredible is the mystery of God revealed in the life of Jesus Christ? Take some time to meditate on the incredible gift of having access to the inheritance that belongs to Christ, being united together into the body of Christ, and having an equal share in all of God’s promises that have been fulfilled by Christ. What have you done to earn all of that? The obvious answer is ‘nothing’, and that is the whole point.
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