Ephesians 3:1-13 – Mystery of Christ Revealed
The Mystery of Christ is revealed in Ephesians 3:1-13.
1 This is why, I, Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ for the sake of you foreigners,
2 (well, I’m assuming you’ve heard that God gave me the specific responsibility of sharing God’s grace with you),
3 how, by what God showed me, made clear the mystery that was previously hidden. I wrote to you briefly before about this,
4, and when you read this, you’ll be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ.
5 In past generations, this wasn’t made clear to anyone, but now it’s been revealed to God’s holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit
6 that foreigners are joint heirs, part of the same body, and in Christ Jesus share together in the promise through the good news.
7 I became a minister of this good news through the gift of God’s grace that I was given by his power that was at work in me.
8 This grace was given to me, the least important of all Christians, in order to share with the foreigners the incredible value of Christ,
9 and to help everyone see the purpose of the mystery, which from the very beginning was hidden in God who made everything.
10 God’s plan was that through the church, the various aspects of his wisdom would be revealed to the rulers and authorities in heaven.
11 This was in accordance with God’s eternal purpose that he carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord.
12 Because of him and our trust in him, we can come to God in total freedom and confidence.
13 So I’m asking that you don’t get discouraged that I’m suffering—it’s for you, and you should value that! 1
A Prisoner
1. “This is why”
Because of the peace that he has just been referring to in chapter 2.
“that I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ (the Messiah)”
Prisoner is now a title that he wears with pride, unlike others who may see it as a thing of shame. These days, we think little of the fact that Paul was in prison, and we assume that prison was all different back then. However, as Paul points out, this was not the case. Being or having been in prison was just as big a deal then as it is today. People usually view those who are or have been in prison with suspicion and fear. This is even the case for famous political prisoners.
You can understand the people of Paul’s day thinking, “Why should we listen to this person? After all, he is a law-breaking criminal?” Even saying, as many have today, “it doesn’t say much about the power of God if he is in prison, does it. “His God didn’t rescue him from that situation, did He?” Some people feared for their own safety if they associated with him. Others worried that he might influence them badly. Still others felt ashamed to associate with someone they viewed as a criminal.
Such attitudes may not have come from the Christians of his day, as they would have been very familiar with persecution, but that does not diminish the negative impact.
Elitism
“for the sake of you foreigners (Gentiles)”
We learn from both the text and history that the Ephesian church is predominantly Gentile. So it is that Paul makes it clear the reason he is in prison “for the sake of you Gentiles …” and he then goes on to explain what that entails. He is a prisoner because some of God’s people, especially the Pharisees, and the society of his time refused to accept God’s desire to redeem others besides themselves. It is religious elitism.
He says something new is happening here, something that is so powerful that the authorities are afraid of it. So much so, they have tried to restrain it by putting him in prison.
Questions:
- Who is the real prisoner here? Who remains imprisoned: the person behind bars, or the people who refuse to open the door for others?
- Who are the people today God has opened the door to, but we have not opened the door to?
Something To Think About
Throughout history, people have always viewed truth with suspicion and fear. Even the most cursory look around us reveals controversies. Those with the upper hand will try to suppress those with whom they disagree. Some of that suppression is relatively mild, such as trying to silence free speech. Other forms are harsher: imprisonment or capital punishment. The things we fear most are what we try to suppress the most harshly.
Empires, throughout history and even today, fear the church so deeply that they silence its voice and hide its presence. In many cases, authorities force the church to worship in hidden places. Even below ground. Literally the underground church. A term now used of any church that meets in secret. It’s not just an attempt at suppression to the point of extinction, but the fear of the power latent in people getting together to worship.
Reverse Suppression
The church has been both a perpetrator and a victim of this suppression. As perpetrators, we have done that and worse to those we disagree with. Imagine where we would have been if those who feared Paul and his message had won the day. What truth would we have lost out on?
Opinion:
With the fall of the USSR Empire, there is a lot of bragging about how Capitalism is the only viable economic structure under which to live. This is hard to deny. But one only has to look at the history of excesses to see that, without controls, it too is subject to evil and oppression.
In contrast, people have developed and continue to develop forms of socialism. Citizens mandate a democratically elected government, rather than an authoritarian state, to allocate resources. An ideal that some would say, incorrectly, is very closely related to the new kingdom ideal, except it leaves God out. These, too, continue to fail.
Even the church gets it wrong at times. Regularly misinterpreting scripture. God’s kingdom does not restore God to a form of socialism.
God not only created everything, but everything belongs to Him. Nothing exists without Him. God’s economy is an economy of grace. Everything we have is grace on His part. It is only when we see ourselves as His stewards that we can begin to allocate resources correctly.
The Judeo-Christian Constant
But one thing remains constant. Without the influence of Judeo-Christianity, under the ever-present guidance of the Holy Spirit, correcting our understanding of scripture and each other, helping to bring us back on track, even more people would be living under oppression than are today. Without the new kingdom ideal to aspire to, there is nothing to compare our current situation to. How else can we clearly see what is evil and what is not?
The Mystery of Christ Revealed – The Plan of God’s Grace
2 “(well, I’m assuming you’ve heard that God gave me the specific responsibility of sharing God’s grace with you), ”
Have you ever been in a conversation where you’re explaining something in great detail, only to realise that the person you are speaking to may not really understand your passion for your explanation? This seems to be what Paul has done; he has suddenly imagined the people to whom he is speaking are like kangaroos in the headlights. So he breaks off his train of thought to give that background.
3 “how, by what God showed me, made clear the mystery that was previously hidden.“
Now he is clear. The mystery of Christ is revealed, and he actively proclaims this truth to others. The word “mystery” (μυστήριον – mysterion) describes secret knowledge that required initiation for access. Paul uses this term many times in Galatians. But here, Paul means an open secret.
“God showed me … was previously hidden” (“revealed” is “apocalypse” – meaning to uncover)
“I wrote to you briefly before about this,” (In chapters 1 &2)
Question:
The Greek word “revealed” is “apocalypse”, meaning to uncover. This is the same as the name of the book or the letter of Revelation. How do we understand this word here, and what implications does it have for understanding apocalypse as a whole?
Is Paul A Self-Aggrandizing Nutter?
I don’t know about you, but when someone starts talking to me about some special revelation that they have had, I get a little worried. Honestly, my first thought is ‘oh dear, is this a nutter or just someone who is up themselves’.
Unlike someone self-deluded who believes they are superior because of a supposed special word from God, Paul differs. Church leaders confirmed his revelation, as seen in Acts 9:15 and Acts 13:2. He stands firmly behind this revelation, even accepting imprisonment for it. Even risking death.
The Insight into the Mystery of Christ Revealed
4. “… and when you read this, you’ll be able to understand my (revealed) insight into the mystery of Christ.”
In Greek, “mysterion” originally referred to a secret that someone kept privately for personal enjoyment and use. Knowledge of this secret means you can use that information to obtain and exercise power over others. For Paul, God unveils this secret in the gospel and entrusts it directly to him as revelation.
He is effectively acknowledging the strangeness of the situation that he, of all people, is the one to bring this message. He persecuted the church and opposed the gospel with vehemence, yet now he sits imprisoned for the same gospel.
Not The Good News That Jesus Died For Our Sins.
The mystery of Christ revealed by Paul is not the good news – “the gospel” – that Jesus died for our sins. It is not the gospel itself that he has had an apocalypse about, and this is strange in itself, but it is achieved through the gospel.
Paul here is drawing our attention to just how hard it is to comprehend the amazing thing. This should be a “wow” moment. Our eyes are as wide open as they can be. The awe we should be experiencing should cause our jaw to drop just as far as it can and our body to express itself most dramatically. It is a thing that history has proven, time and time again, to be quite impossible to achieve without God’s direct intervention and continued maintenance. That’s how mind-blowing this secret is.
5. “In past generations this wasn’t made clear to anyone, but now it’s been revealed to God’s holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit”
No one invented this. God reveals it powerfully through His Spirit to the apostles. The apostles see the risen Christ firsthand. The prophets speak God’s truth into new situations as He calls them.
The Apostles, Prophets, Gentiles, and Mystery of Christ Revealed
We should note here how closely the apostles related to the prophets while remaining distinct. This Mystery of Christ is new and old at the same time; it is revealed by the apostles now, but the prophets pointed to it. Paul, as an apostle, is now in the forefront. This is not something that Paul made up. It is something that God had planned from the beginning, something new, not just an accident.
Paul is not bringing this message to the Gentiles because the Jews didn’t want to hear it. He didn’t just give up and go to the Gentiles instead. Paul carries the responsibility of proclaiming this long-planned secret now revealed to the Gentiles. God specifically calls him to announce this new reality and explain it clearly so others understand it.
Mystery of Christ Revealed Through the Gospel
What is this mystery?
And The Mystery is …
(Drum Roll)
6 that foreigners (the Gentiles – the nations – non jews) are joint heirs, part of the same body, and in Christ Jesus share together (fellow heirs) in the promise through the good news.
The mystery of Christ is finally revealed: It is now possible for all human beings to become one human being, one family. Through King Jesus, the Gentiles can now SHARE and be fellow members of Israel’s inheritance. Something that no one considered possible. Even today, many still don’t. But it is.
This is an enormous privilege, and people often understate it. Those without rank or privilege suddenly become fellow heirs and inheritors. We do not discard rank or privilege, but they offer no advantage. This is truly and eternally thankful for.
It is desperately important, and Paul takes great pains in his ministry. We understand this is a shared promise (Rom. 9 – 11).
Wait… What?
Why is Paul making a break in his flow of thought to make a mystery out of something he has just been writing openly about?
Mystery? What Mystery?
Paul has already made it clear that it is no trivial thing that God has paved the way for Gentiles to share the inheritance with the Jews. But now he is telling us it is a mystery on top of that. A mystery so important that he breaks the flow of the letter to point it out. So what is this mystery he is talking about?
He is saying that it is only possible to present everything he just made clear because of the special understanding (an apocalypse) he received of that mystery, revealed as a special gift. That “through the gospel” “the Gentiles” are “fellow heirs, and fellow members of the body, and fellow sharers of the promise in Christ Jesus” – Eph. 3:6(LEB), that this knowledge is deeper than it may appear to any reader. And that he has become a custodian of that deeper knowledge.
It makes him sound like a massive conspiracy theorist. But he is in fact not exaggerating in the slightest.
Not Personal Salvation
The immediate assumption here is that he is talking about personal salvation. But that is not what he is talking about. This goes beyond personal salvation, though that is indeed incomprehensible. As the classic hymn “How Great Thou Art” puts it:
And when I think that God, his Son, not sparing,
sent him to die – I scarcely can take it in
that on the cross, my burden gladly bearing,
He bled and died to take away my sin
It is related to personal salvation in that it is “through the gospel”. However, we should begin to see and continue to develop in our minds that this is much less individual than we, in our modern way of thinking, like to insist on.
Mystery of Christ Revealed: The Fellow Heirs
The mystery of Christ that is revealed is corporate in nature. “The Gentiles” are “fellow heirs, fellow members of the body, fellow sharers of the promise in Christ Jesus”. But as it is “through the gospel”, the corporate mystery and the mystery of salvation must be the same.
Paul assumes that the Ephesians knew what he was talking about, but we may be left floundering. Fortunately for us, Paul gives more detail in another of his letters. He says:
“Now we do speak wisdom among the mature, but wisdom not of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are perishing, 7 but we speak the hidden wisdom of God in a mystery, which God predestined before the ages for our glory, 8 which none of the rulers of this age knew. For if they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But just as it is written,
‘Things which eye has not seen, and ear has not heard,
and have not entered into the heart of man,
all that God has prepared for those who love him.’”
(Quote from Isaiah 64:4)
1 Corinthians 2:6–9 (LEB)
This Mystery of Christ Revealed is A Secret So Important
Can you grasp what Paul is saying here?
He declares this mystery of Christ is so important that God did not reveal it to the rulers of this age.
This is mind-blowing.
The forces of darkness were duped into conspiring to kill Jesus. If they had understood the consequences of Jesus’ death, they would never have had him killed.
The Messianic Secret Became the Mystery of Christ Revealed
In human terms, we talk about something being so Top Secret that it is labelled as being “For your eyes only”. Well, this is even more secret than that. This is a secret so deep that it was a Divine Top Secret. It was “For The Disciples’ Eyes Only”.
An attempt to capture the depths of this secret can be seen in C.S. Lewis’s book “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.” No one who has read it can forget when Aslan surrenders his life to the hordes of the White Witch and dies on the stone table. But just as Aslan outsmarted the White Witch, so too Jesus turned this apparent defeat into the greatest triumph of all time.
The Perfect Misdirection
Scholars call this divine secret the messianic secret. So called because Jesus was always forbidding people, particularly His disciples, from telling anyone what He had done for them or what He told them 2. By doing so, He directed attention away from the true purpose of His death and resurrection. But Paul is now saying that it was even more than His overcoming death.
Divine wisdom orchestrated a perfect misdirection designed with divine precision. A secret so mysterious that the disciples didn’t even get it:
From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised on the third day. 22 And Peter took him aside and* began to rebuke him, saying, ⌊God forbid⌋, Lord! This will never happen to you!” 23 But he turned around and* said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a cause for stumbling to me, because you are not intent on the things of God, but the things of people!” (Matthew 16:21–23 – LEB).
Not The Military Campaign Anyone Was Expecting
Many Jewish people at the time believed the Messiah would lead a military campaign to overthrow their oppressors. Only then would the exile finally be over.
According to some readings of the New Testament, that may still happen. But they did not understand that God first intended to defeat death before He took any further action.
The Reversal of Eden – God’s Secret Plan
God wants His children to have eternal life. God intended Eden to be that. But the first supernatural rebellion in Eden by the serpent brought death into God’s world. Everyone was destined to end up in the realm of the dead, where the serpent was cast down. That’s what it means when God condemns the serpent of Gen. 3 to crawl in the dust. This is not just any snake but a supernatural being bent on corruption, and the dust is not just the ground beneath our feet but the world of the dead. Yet even in the moment of rebellion, God had planned not only to defeat death but to save all humanity.
And I will put hostility
between you and between the woman,
and between your offspring and between her offspring;
he will strike you on the head,
and you will strike him on the heel.
Genesis 3:15 (LEB)
The Unstoppable Plan
Every rebellion staged to stop the plan has been thwarted. Eden was just the first.
The second major spiritual rebellion in Genesis 6 was dealt with through Noah and the flood.
The third rebellion at the Tower of Babel (Gen. 11). God dealt with that by dividing the people into nations.
This plan was unstoppable.
Only Clues To The Plan in The Old Testament
The Old Testament leaves clues to the plan scattered throughout. In dozens of places. Like that of Isaiah 64:4 (above) and Genesis 3. But it doesn’t spell it all out in any one place.
The plan was kept from plain sight. Only visible to those who had the Spirit to help them see it in the scriptures. Intelligent evil: Satan, similar spiritual beings3 and demons, which are clearly not omniscient, did not know. Only God is all-knowing, and He is on our side.
With the resurrection of Jesus, the secret was out, and the mystery was revealed. By the Spirit, through the apocalypse given to Paul and the other apostles. They now have the task of building in public the enigma of the prophets.
The Plan Comes Together – The Battle Lines Are Drawn
God wants to include humans in His family. That’s why Jesus came.
“Now is the judgment of this world! Now the ruler of this world will be thrown out! And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” (John 12:30–32 -LEB)
Clearly, Jesus is referring here to the raising of the serpent in the wilderness in Numbers 21:6-9. But, as we have seen, the disciples and the powers, if they had thought they understood that reference at all, would have assumed this symbolism was about ascension to the throne of the world through military conquest. The cross would have been far from their minds.
Satan, the ruler of this world, knew that Jesus wanted as many people as possible, including the Gentiles from every nation, symbolised by those at Babel, to be part of God’s family and kingdom. That’s what Jesus meant when He said “all people”.
Satan’s Attempt at Distortion
Knowing that part of the plan was to reunite the nations, Satan, when he tempted Jesus in the wilderness, offered Jesus just that. All the kingdoms of the world (Matthew 4:1-11, Mark 1:12-13, and Luke 4:1-13).
The only catch was,
“if you will fall down and worship me.” (Matthew 4:1-11)
The cosmic battle lines are drawn. The Devil, the ultimate megalomaniac, dreams of Jesus, Yahweh in the flesh, prostrate and worshipping at his feet.
Satan’s offer was real. He was saying to Jesus, “The Nations are currently mine. You can have them all. We don’t have to fight. Just give me what I want.”
Jesus rejected this offer because He knew something Satan didn’t. Through His death and resurrection, He was going to liberate from death and unite in Himself anyone who believes in Him. There was already a plan in place to bring people into God’s family. One that didn’t involve worshipping Satan. But even in this confrontation, Jesus didn’t reveal God’s plan.
Comment:
Satan is smart enough to know our hearts’ desires, and he is ready to give them to us. It will look like everything we ever wanted, just achieved more easily. But there is always a catch. The results will always be distorted. Turning the pure into impure, the ideal into less than ideal. Self-centred and self-serving tide up in hateful bondage, not true freedom.
Worse, it will require the worship of Satan as god. A god who hates us. He will appear to be the most important thing in existence. People disguise self-gain and aggrandisement as actions that benefit everyone.
Shortcuts may sometimes be helpful, but be sure they are leading to the right result. Not a substandard substitute. The path of the cross is not easy. As I always say to my Judo students, “Get it right, don’t get it fast”. Slow may be frustrating, but it will lead to more accuracy. That will end up being fast enough, if not even faster.
Righteousness is always better than quick and easy.
The Nations And The Mystery of Christ Revealed
The plan was to defeat death and reclaim the nations of the world that had been allotted to lesser spiritual beings at Babel. This is clearly seen on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2.
At Babel, God confused the languages and divided the nations. When Jesus triumphed over death, He was granted authority over all things. Satan has no claim over God’s people. Jesus was the ultimate conqueror. So at Pentecost, God reversed the Babel judgment. The powerful events at Pentecost nullified the authority of the Powers. God was taking back the nations.
The apostle Paul understood that the evil entities’ domains were violated in Pentecost’s wake. He knew from his bible (our Old Testament) that rulers and principalities, authorities, powers, dominions, lords, and thrones were all terms indicating cosmic geographical rulership. They reflect how the Old Testament depicts the relationship between the unseen and the seen worlds.
This is why Paul interrupted the flow in the letter. That it was more than the Gentiles becoming proselytes of the Jewish faith. He wanted his reader to know that the nations were “fellow heirs” because of Christ’s resurrection.
All Clear Now, Right?
Does this make the mystery more comprehensible?
Well, let’s face it, it is deep, very deep, and a very big deal. In some ways, somewhat beyond our comprehension. There are so, so many questions left unanswered.
The point is that God drew the Gentiles into the fold with the Jewish believers through the Gospel. That’s what we know: this was a part of a divine top-secret plan. Executing this plan was not only far from trivial, but it’s also a big, big, mind-blowing, incomprehensible deal. It is a wonderful mystery that if it weren’t for Paul’s apocalypse and that of the other apostles and prophets, it would not even have been known.
Gentiles being “fellow heirs, and fellow members of the body, and fellow sharers of the promise in Christ Jesus” requires the same sacred commitment as marriage as God intended to every believer, Jew or Gentle. What God has joined together let no man put asunder.4
The Gospel Paul’s Appointment
7 “I became a minister of this good news”
This then is Paul’s calling.
“through the gift of God’s grace that I was given”
This calling is deeply honoured and gratefully received because he is profoundly aware that he is totally undeserving of this great honour.
“by his power that was at work in me.”
He is not alone, despite appearances; the unstoppable power of God’s Gift is the ultimate authority.
8 This grace was given to me, the least important of all Christians,
We know that Paul is talking about himself here; however, I don’t know about you, but I find it tremendously comforting that this phenomenal, boundless and fathomless wealth of grace is available to the least of us. No matter what our status or station. No matter what mistakes we have made. This gift of grace is ours. How could anyone, even me, not be so grateful for a gift so valuable? How can we resist paying it forward?
Irony
There is a significant irony here. Irony that was not lost on Paul when he himself says in 1 Cor 15:9ff that he is the least of the apostles. He was in prison, not for being the murderer he was, but for the sake of the very thing that he tried to wipe out.
Paul is painfully aware of his history. His own persecution of the church and how others had come before him with this message. But as Jesus pointed out, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick (Matthew 9:12). God has always chosen the broken to bring His message. For it is the broken who appreciate it the most. Such appreciation gives Paul the ability to speak so passionately when he says:
“in order to share with the foreigners the incredible value of Christ”
THE KINGDOM NEW TESTAMENT5 puts it better:
“However, he gave me this task as a gift (Grace): that I should be the one to tell the Gentiles the good news of the king’s wealth, wealth no one could begin to count.”
Irony Compounded
God compounds the irony by arranging for this amazing Mystery of Christ message to be revealed to the Gentiles via a hard-line Pharisee. Paul is very aware that others were close to Jesus, in His very human flesh. Those like Peter, James and John. But extraordinary grace has strangely brought him into that circle from outside it.
More than that, any accusations that the person who bought this message was always soft on the law are eliminated. There can be no implication that what Paul is putting forward here was easy for him. He, above all people, knew this was not going to be easy for anybody to accept (Galatians 1).
The Promise of Wealth and Riches
It is worth discussing at this point the concept of individual wealth as a blessing.
God does not despise wealth. There are promises He makes that clearly show that God does not despise wealth (Deut. 8:18, 2 Chron. 1:11). He does despise its usurping of Him and the misuse of it [Deut. 8:17, Mark 10:25). He actually promises wealth to some in the Bible, and it is seen as a blessing (Deut. 28:1 – 11). He never promises wealth to all believers. There are no such guarantees in the bible.
A nations and an individual’s positive or negative response to poverty and faithfulness to God will attract God’s approval or disapproval (Ps.12:5). It is an indication but not of itself a guarantee, of God’s spirit acting within (Is.6:1-2, Lk.4:18). In other words, if God abides with the spirit of a nation, an individual or in fact any body of people such as the church, they will be positive towards the poor.
Whilst wealth is often seen as a blessing from God, Jesus makes it clear that it has significant burdens (Eccl. 5:12). It is easier than the eye of a needle (Matt. 19:16-22), that not all those who are wealthy receive God’s ongoing blessing (Lk. 16:19-21). Hence, you can be wealthy, and God may have withdrawn His blessing so that your wealth is not an indication that you are blessed.
But There is Wealth For All Believers After All
Paul turns this idea on its head by offering wealth to all believers. The wealth that Ephesians talks about is not physical, however. It is of a different nature altogether. The bounty of wealth that God offers and provides here is spiritual. That is not to say that God cannot provide physical wealth.
All the blessings and warnings about wealth in the Old Testament continue to be in play. Physical wealth is a blessing. But it is a blessing one should always be wary of. That is not what is on offer in this letter, however. There is nothing in this form of wealth to be concerned about. Ever!
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Grace: Accepting The Gift
When we accept this “undeserved favour” (Gift), we accept undefinable debt. How great, then, should our reciprocating faithfulness be? It is, in real terms, beyond our capacity to reciprocate appropriately. Yet God accepts what little we have.
In 1 Corinthians 15:9, Paul says, “Listen, I’m the least of the apostles. I was the last one. I used to help arrange the assassination of Christians.” He carries that his whole life and says, “I shouldn’t even be an apostle because I persecuted the church of God. It’s only by God’s grace. I don’t deserve it, but God gave me the gift anyway.” But he continues, “His grace to me did not prove in vain. He gave me the gift, and I have been reciprocating.” He’s not earning the gift. He is giving his obligatory loyalty in light of the gift he has been given. “In fact,” he says, “you know what? I’ve worked harder than all the other apostles. Excuse me, not me, but the grace of God with me.”
Question: So what does grace mean right there?
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From The Very Beginning, The Plan, Hidden, Made Clear
9 and to help everyone see the purpose of the mystery, which from the very beginning was hidden in God who made everything.
Whilst the secret itself, as revealed through “God’s holy apostles and prophets,” is that “the Gentiles are to share Israel’s inheritance”, it is Paul’s specific job to “make clear” God’s purpose in doing it.
It is a secret plan that God had from the very beginning, from creation to the cross and beyond. It’s why he chose Abraham and the people of Israel, and sent Moses and the prophets, and David as King. It’s why he sent Jesus. Now it’s why he sent Paul. The hints always existed, and now we reveal them.
God’s plan in creation is on track! He has dealt with the problems in Genesis 3, 6, and 11: human idolatry, sin, and empire building. Now the purpose that began with Abraham, the blessing of all the nations, has at last come.
Wisdom
God’s Wisdom and The Secret Plan
10 God’s plan was that through the church, the various aspects of his wisdom would be revealed to the rulers and authorities in heaven.
The New Kingdom New Testament expresses this far better:
10 This is it: that God’s wisdom, in all its rich variety, was to be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places—through the church!
“This is it:” (the secret plan) “that God’s wisdom,” (not conventional wisdom) is to be made known to literally everyone and everything throughout the heavens and the earth, the entire cosmos, “through the church”.
“God’s wisdom” is on display here, “in all its rich variety” (KJV 1900): “manifold” (LEB): “many-sided”, (Tim Mackie): “multi-faceted”, like love, it is “many splendid”. Reflecting on Ps. 104:24, which says “O Lord, how manifold are your works, in wisdom you have made them all, the earth is full of your creatures”, we see that wisdom is bound to the “God who created all things” (verse 9). So this wisdom, that the church is to show, is God’s new creation and just as God’s original creation was good, God’s new creation is a bounty of wonderful things. The first creation suffered corruption, while the new creation shows healing, hope, and renewal.
God’s Wisdom, God’s Economy
It is this wisdom that is
“to be made known to the rulers and authorities”
The word for authority is the Greek οἰκονομία (oikonomia) from which we get the word economy. God is making known his grand design, His economy, as distinct from every other economy, by which he is making all things work together.
This wisdom must reach every authority and nation responsible for governing all things and every sphere of life.
“in the heavenly places”,
God is declaring that by virtue of His Wisdom, His authority, His rule, His economy is superior in every way to any other, everywhere. This declaration is not only to the world but also to the authorities (economies) behind this world, as in the examples above.
Paul is not making a sharp distinction between government and the spiritual forces. What we call the abstract forces, such as the economic and social forces, etc., have deeper forces behind them. Spiritual forces. These forces can expose countries, companies, organisations, and even families. So Paul is saying that the church has something to say to these forces.
God’s Wisdom, God’s Economy of the Church, Make a distinction
The church has no authoritarian government over it (communist or dictator), though its ruler, Jesus, The Christ, holds universal authority over everything and everyone. Citizens do not govern it by mandating a democratically elected government to allocate resources socially, although it regularly distributes resources justly among its constituents (Acts 2). It does not operate for profit in a capitalist sense, yet it maintains a corporate nature. Everyone remains free to pursue profit for the glory of the kingdom, although profit does not always refer to financial returns.
It is not a democracy, though all who are eligible are members, and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, elect people to offices. But such elections are merely an acknowledgment of those whom God has already assigned. King Jesus is its head, but it is not under a monarchy in any traditional sense.
The church is a new human, coming into being through the unity of the body of The Messiah, who is both our king and our head, into which we are growing. There is no other comparable form of government (economy). It is unique.
The church should stop trying to model its governance after any economic system in this world. Whenever people say, “This is how business, community, or others would do it,” we as new humans in Him should ask, “Does this response reflect His body?” The poor and the rich will remain among us until the Lord returns. Justice is for all. It is a prime focus. But neither riches nor poverty should be our only guide or motivation.
Wisdom: The Church is The Conduit of the Mystery of Christ Revealed
“through the church”.
The church can actually affect the forces. The united people of God represent God’s wisdom through how they behave, act, and speak together as one body.
The United People of God is an extraordinary phenomenon. It is a new family of new people, the likes of which exist nowhere else; there is no other organisation in the world that brings together male and female, Gentile and Jew, black and white, slave (worker and underlings) and master (boss and aristocrat) like the church.
Only the gospel can create this family and this new phenomenon. When this family emerges, the rules and forces of this world must acknowledge something profoundly different. Even if they feel troubled by it, they must admit that God exists and that Jesus is Lord.
Wisdom Affects The Forces. Practical Examples
Years ago, our church ran a street outreach. At the time, there were gangs and fights in the local streets. I remember the police, when they felt the need to attend for some reason, sometimes it was only to check everything was alright, would park outside the church and wait for one of the team to come out to them so they would not disturb what we were doing. When we asked why, they said what we were doing was helping, and didn’t want to muck it up.
There are many significant instances throughout history of this sort of thing happening. No other organisation has had the same long-term effect as the church. Anti Slavery, an organisation to help alleviate poverty, the forerunners of unions and workers’ rights and other people’s rights; missions as the forerunners of “Doctors without borders,” education, fighting for justice. The list goes on.
Individuals, too, when they act on behalf of the true body, make a significant impact on society. People in this group are almost innumerable, and they do not always show strong moral character, yet God mysteriously draws them into His great plan.
The church becomes a force to reckon with when it lives out its true identity.
The church, the new creation, reveals this wisdom. It reveals the wonders throughout God’s creation, along with signs of healing, hope, and renewal. God established this purpose.
Mystery of Christ Revealed God’s Wisdom Focused on Jesus
Paul draws on Jewish tradition about God’s wisdom that formed the world. He reshapes this tradition around Jesus, then extends it into a wise human family. Remember in Eph. chapter 1, he is praying that people will have wisdom and revelation and insight that they may become genuine human beings able to think their way into an understanding of what God’s plan and purpose is.
Notice particularly how, throughout this passage, this isn’t about us gaining some special privilege so that we can escape the world and go to heaven. We are already forming into a community in the present. Our communal life expresses what we say.
It won’t always be about how we act and behave, that’s of great significance, though. Sooner or later, we will have something to speak into the situation just as the prophet did. Something that is a sign to the world that God is and that Jesus is Lord. Paul has already glimpsed that, and he knows why he is in prison, which for us is itself a glimpse into the cost of being true to our calling.
Mystery of Christ Revealed – God’s Eternal Purpose Accomplished
This new way of thinking disrupts people, and this new force now moves freely through the world. They think their power is under threat, and in a sense it is, but not in the way they think. The threat is this new community through the very power of love. And so he says,
11 This was in accordance with God’s eternal purpose that he carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Earlier, we noted that God had a plan from the very beginning. It was always the same plan. It was “carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord“. There was no plan B. In His “Wisdom”, “God’s… purpose” was “eternal”.
We see the failings of those He commissioned, of those He sent before, and we say things like “His plan was back on track”. But those are our definitions, not God’s terms.
God revealed the Mystery of Christ and proved that nothing derailed His plan. It may have appeared to have taken some side tracks. It may have seemed sidelined at times. But His “wisdom” is manifold; it is multifaceted. God achieved everything He set out to accomplish through King Jesus our Lord. He’s accomplished it in King Jesus our Lord. There was never any doubt that it would be.
It is a big deal. We should celebrate it. What an amazing, astounding, outstanding, and any other superlatives you wish to apply, accomplishment. There is nothing else that can compare to this accomplishment in all eternity.
Mystery of Christ Revealed Confidence
12 Because of him and our trust in him, we can come to God in total freedom and confidence.
The KINGDOM NEW TESTAMENT puts this much better:
12 We have confidence, and access to God, in him, in full assurance, through his faithfulness.
“We have confidence,”
The Greek word πεποίθησις (pepoithasis) means confidence, and it can also mean boldness or trust. It is confidence that no one and nothing can deny; the confidence of an accepted, welcomed and invited member of a family.
“and access to God, in him,”
The Mystery of Christ Revealed, as we have seen, removed all the barriers, both physical and spiritual. We have open and free access to the very presence of God. The creator and master of all things. It is a privilege, not a right. But it is available to all believers, all those “in Him,” as long as we remain faithful. Of this, we can have:
“in full assurance”
Because it is guaranteed:
“through his faithfulness.”
Unlike the flimsy guarantees of this world, which fine print and insignificant technicalities can easily weaken, we trust the assurance of the ultimate authority and the most reliable source possible. As long as we remain faithful or, if we mess up, we return to faithfulness, “we have confidence, and access to God, in him, in full assurance, through his faithfulness.” There is nothing, absolutely nothing whatsoever to block it.
And so
Brave Heart
13 So I’m asking (I beg you) that you don’t get discouraged that I’m suffering—it’s for you, and you should value that!
Paul reassures his readers that they should not worry or feel discouraged about his imprisonment. They need not fear the authorities, question Paul’s character, worry about his welfare, or think the movement faces suppression. Instead, they can take pride in his imprisonment just as Paul does.
Free Bible Version completely misses the point when it uses the translation “you should value that!“
N.T. Write in his THE KINGDOM NEW TESTAMENT is much more correct with the translation:
“That’s your glory!”
He is saying, they share in this bounty, this display of God’s power (See further ‘Glory’ above).
Paul’s imprisonment reveals that the battle has begun. This is how God’s purpose is going forward. This isn’t a setback, it is a sign to the contrary that the gospel is going ahead and the principalities and powers are realising, whether they want to say it in words or not, that there really is a God, and He is the creator and He is our new creator in and through Jesus as Lord.
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1English: Free Bible Version Provided by: Free Bible Ministry, Inc. and open.bible, licensed under CC BY ND Published:
2 Mark 1:24f., 34; 3:11f., 8:30; 9:9, 1:44; 5:43; 7:36; 8:26, 5:36
3There is a lot of confusion about these spiritual beings. The Hebrew scripture calls the Elohim, which is translated God, when it refers to the one and only true God, the God I Am. But translators often didn’t, and still don’t, know what to do with it when it referred to lesser spiritual beings. I am not a scholar, but I would think that one thing is clear: if you translate the word Elohim as gods, when it refers to lesser spiritual beings, they are not equivalent to the God of Abraham and the prophets. The Lord of all creation created them, and God gives and removes every authority and power they possess. The one from whom being proceeds. Who is not just the definition of being but being Himself.
4. You can go into much more detail about it by watching the video “The Unseen Realm” by Dr Michael Heiser, https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2QM7anD5vSI&t=3020s. Better still, read his book “The Unseen Realm” (Affiliate link) or the less technical version “Supernatural”.
5. THE KINGDOM NEW TESTAMENT: A CONTEMPORARY TRANSLATION by N.T. WRIGHT. Copyright (c) 2011 by Nicholas Thomas Wright.
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