The Revelation Of The Mystery

“For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, if ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward: how that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) 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; that the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel: whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power. Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord: in whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him. Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.” —Ephesians 3:1–13

The apostle comes now to the unfolding of the great secret which had been in the heart of God from eternity, but in this glorious dispensation of grace, has at last been fully revealed. It is my thought we should see that in a very special sense, Paul was the chosen one to make known this mystery in all its fullness. On the other hand, we need to guard against the idea that no others participated in this knowledge, for in the 5th verse of the portion we have just read, we note that he declares, “It is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit.” Others, therefore, shared with him in this blessed knowledge, but preeminently he was the apostle of the mystery.

We might say it was because of this very truth that he was in prison at the time he wrote the Ephesian letter. This I think is involved in the expression, “I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles.” You will remember that in his defense on the temple stairs at Jerusalem, it was when he announced that he had been commanded by the Lord to go unto the Gentiles that the ire of his Jewish hearers was stirred to the deepest depths and they cried, “Away with such a fellow from the earth; it is not fit for him to live.” We, therefore, who are Gentiles by nature, have special reason to be grateful to Paul for his faithfulness in proclaiming the purpose of God concerning our part in the divine program. Because of this, he suffered obloquy and shame and spent many weary months in prison rather than surrender in the least degree the truth of God committed to him.

Here, as in Colossians, he indicates that his was a double ministry. First, he speaks in verse 2 of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given him. A dispensation, as we have seen, is a stewardship. Paul, like every true New Testament preacher, was a steward of the grace of God. Notice how the apostle Paul also speaks in his first epistle, chapter 4, verse 10, “As every man has received the gift, even so minister the same one to another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” Grace, we have already observed, is God’s unmerited favor to those who have deserved the very opposite. It is this that is proclaimed in the Gospel. And this, of course, is the first part of the mystery. The apostle goes on to show that he was not only a minister of the Gospel, but in a special sense, a minister of this now revealed secret.

He says that by revelation, the mystery was made known to him and he calls it the “mystery of Christ.” It is God’s wonderful secret concerning the glory of His blessed Son. How good it is to know that Christ’s glory and our salvation are eternally linked and can never be separated. Speaking of the mystery, he says, “As I wrote afore in few words.” This, I take it, refers to what he had already said in chapter 1, verses 9–13. He will now elaborate that more fully. He had also written before to others concerning this mystery, as, for instance, to the Romans in chapter 16, verses 25–26; to the Corinthians, see the first epistle, chapter 2, verse 7; and in others of his letters we have similar references. I mention this because of the unwarranted position taken by some that the mystery was never revealed until Paul’s imprisonment. On the contrary, he had been proclaiming it from the very beginning, both by voice and pen.

Now what is this mystery which in other ages was hidden from the sons of men? We are told in verse 6: “That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs and of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel.” In what does this differ from the Old Testament declaration that God would bless the Gentiles through Israel? The great difference, I take it, is this: According to the Old Testament prophets the day is coming when Israel will be restored to covenant relationship with God and will be brought into a place of special blessing here on the earth, and the Gentile nations living at that time will be blessed with and in subjection to them. But the great truth for our age is that God is now calling out a people for the heavens to be the body and bridge of His Son throughout the ages to come and through whom he will administer the affairs of a redeemed universe. This body is composed of those who were once by nature Jews and others who were Gentiles, but who have both been brought into the new creation by a second birth and united to the Lord Himself by the Spirit, thus becoming one body with Him and each other. It was this great truth that Paul was specially called to minister “according to the gift of the grace of God,” which had been bestowed upon him. The Holy Spirit effectually worked in and through him to bring lost sinners of the Gentiles into this wonderful place of privilege and inalienable blessing.

Note how meekly the apostle speaks of himself, even in connection with this great ministry committed to him, which was enough to have turned any ordinary man’s head. He says, “Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given.” He was not exalted by the abundance of the revelation made known to him, but accepted it as a divine trust which he was to minister for the glory of God and the blessing of others. Alas, what a different spirit often actuates some today, who, getting a little smattering of truth, are carried away by their fancied superior intelligence and manifest the most shocking pride and conceit because of the imagined inferiority of other believers who have not yet attained to their knowledge of the truth! Surely every new divine revelation to our souls should only humble us the more as we realize that we have nothing that we have not received. Apart from divine grace, we would still be in nature’s darkness and ignorance. Paul took the very lowest place as he went about preaching among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. To those who were in the greatest spiritual poverty he proclaimed the possibilities of wealth beyond the power of human tongue to express, and he would have all men enter into the blessedness of this and enjoy in reality the fellowship of the mystery, or, as we might render it, the communion of this secret. Men form their secret societies and delight to meet in hidden places to enjoy together mysteries that others cannot share. The Christian is through grace already a member of the society of the redeemed, a fellowship divinely formed by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and as such can enjoy with fellow-believers the marvelous secret which God has now made known. From the beginning of the world it has been hidden in Himself, He who created all things by Jesus Christ. Observe, it was not simply hidden in the Bible, as though the Old Testament contained this message and we only needed to ferret it out. But it was hidden in God and could not have been apprehended by man at all excepting by divine revelation. Upon the rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ by Israel and the descent of the Holy Spirit to bear witness to the perfection of His finished work, it pleased God to make known this mystery. Even angels, whether good or bad, had no knowledge of it until it was given to God’s saints on Earth. This, I understand is what is involved in the remarkable statement of verse 10, “to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by (or really, through) the church, the manifold wisdom of God.” That is, the unseen hosts of glorious beings in the heavens, as well as the vast armies of fallen spirits dominated by Satan, are learning, as they observe what God is doing here on Earth in His church, the many-sided wisdom of God, “according to the purpose of the ages, which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” One of our poets has written:

“Through the ages
One unceasing purpose runs.”

The humble student of the Word of God can see unfolded in the New Testament the great purpose that God had in mind when He created the universe and man and counseled with Himself to take out of that world from the children of Adam a vast company who would be united to His blessed Son throughout eternity. All will work out for the glory of Christ Jesus, our Lord.

In Him we now have immediate access with fullest confidence into the presence of God. We are so intimately linked up with Him, so truly one with Him, that we can approach the throne of grace without dread or fear, knowing that all that we ask in His name, that is, by His authority, the Father delights to do.

No wonder the apostle could glory in suffering because of this great truth, and he would not have the saints become discouraged because of his trials, but he rather would have them remember that whatever tribulation he was passing through was on their behalf and for their glory.

To the extent that we enter into and appropriate these precious things for ourselves, will be our practical sanctification—our separation from the world and worldly-religious systems that ignore entirely the truth of the mystery of the one body. He who thus apprehends his unity with Christ, and hence with all who are in Christ, cannot be sectarian in heart or practice, but must of very necessity embrace all believers in his fellowship and interest.