Lesson for April 11, 2021
The Book of Ephesians
Chapter 3:1-7
Verses 1-3
“For this reason, I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace which was given to me for you; that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief.”
When Paul said he was a prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of the Gentiles, he was referring to the fact that God had sent him specifically to the Gentiles to deliver the Gospel and teach Bible doctrine. And yes, he was in Rome under house arrest when he wrote this epistle. He reminds those who had heard of his ministry to the Gentiles that God had given a stewardship of grace. The Greek word for stewardship means the administration of duties and is sometimes translated “dispensation,” which refers to God’s administration of His policies to a specific generation (the dispensation of the Church or the dispensation of Israel). In Paul’s case, it refers to the responsibility entrusted to him by God to preach the Gospel and make known the mystery doctrine of the Church Age to the Gentiles.
The mystery doctrine is a truth revealed for the first time, which in this case was the fact that all believers, both Jews and Gentiles upon faith in Christ are one in the body of Christ. This mystery was hidden in past but was now being revealed by Paul to the churches, which God the Holy Spirit had revealed to Paul. (Colossians 1:25-27)
For this reason, refers back to Ephesians 2:19-22 where Paul explained that these Gentile believers were no longer strangers and aliens, but they were now citizens of Heaven and members of the Royal Family of God. It was for this reason that Paul was given his ministry to declare the Gospel and explain the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which results in union with Christ for Jews and Gentiles alike. God’s method of administering His policies changed from the Law of Moses to the Law of Christ on the Day of Pentecost. With this change in administration came the permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit and all of the Holy Spirit’s ministries to believers in Christ.
The Greek word for mystery is “musterion” originally referring to the secrets doctrines and policies of fraternities in the ancient world. Once a person had memorized these things and has passed all the tests, he then became a member of the fraternity. Therefore, the doctrines of the fraternity were only instructed to those who were in it. The people on the outside never knew what was taught, the doctrines of the fraternity were kept secret and they were called “musterion. The word mystery in the Bible is simply doctrines hidden from the Old Testament.
In the epistles of the New Testament the word “mystery” refers to Church Age doctrine, either all of it or some specific part of it. (Ephesians 3:2-6) Mystery doctrine of the Church Age was not revealed to the Old Testament prophets. (Romans 16:25,26; Colossians 1:26-27) Part of the mystery doctrine includes the blindness of Israel during the Church Age. It is now the responsibility of the pastor for to teach the mystery doctrine of the Church Age. This means that he must be able to teach the entire realm of doctrine related to the Age of Grace (the Church Age. This includes doctrine unique to the dispensation in which we live. Some of these doctrines are the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the Protocol Plan of God, our spiritual assets, Problem-Solving Devices, the Rapture of the Church, the body of Christ just to name a few.
Verses 4-7
“By referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ,which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit; to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel,of which I was made a minister, according to the gift of God’s grace which was given to me according to the working of His power.”
The word “read” means to communicate the truth of the mystery doctrine, which is done by the pastor. The word “understand”means to think, consider, or perceive. It means thinking in the sense of concentration, to concentrate or direct one’s mind to a subject. In this case, the subject is the doctrine of the mystery and the verb means to perceive, to understand through concentration. When the pastor-teacher communicates this accurately, the congregation will understand it. What the congregation will understand is the categorical knowledge of the mystery doctrine of the Church.
The mystery doctrine belongs to the head of the Church Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is what this dispensation is all about. His strategic victory caused this dispensation to dramatically interrupt the Age of Israel. So, Jesus Christ is the Church Age doctrine. Paul had the doctrine of the mystery in his frame of reference, in his memory center; it was a part of his own vocabulary, he had completely categorized it in before he attempted to communicate any part of it. In other words, he had a complete understanding of this doctrine before he taught it.
The mystery doctrine is revealed only in the Church Age. No previous dispensation received revelation from God regarding the Church Age. Old Testament prophets “saw” the end of the Age of Israel and the millennial reign of Jesus Christ. God had a purpose in keeping Church Age doctrine a mystery. There were many purposes but the one which is important to us is the fact that something done of the great prophets of the Old Testament knew. That mystery is “Christ in you the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:25-27) Church Age doctrine had now been received by revelation to the Church beginning with the apostles, even prophets and then pastor-teachers. Once the Canon of Scripture was completed, it became a matter of the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher studying and teaching it.
The Gentiles were having a tendency to look at the Jewish believers as still possessing certain privileges they didn’t have. But the Jewish dispensation was over and now Jews and Gentiles are one in Christ. Now Jews and Gentiles believers were royal family and royal priests. They were all now in full time Christian service (as are we) in their jobs, their businesses, their professions, their activities in life and as members of the royal priesthood. It is God’s objective in the Church Age to bless him in these activities and to utilize these activities for promotion, happiness, and for success in life.
In verse 6 we have the threefold description of Gentile believers in the Church Age. They have the same rights and privileges as Jewish believers and, as a matter of fact, God has provided for all believers, super-grace blessings. Description number one is that Gentile believers are fellow heirs in Christ. Eternal inheritance implies a family relationship and eternal is a permanent, everlasting relationship. This is certainly the case for every Christian. At salvation, every believer becomes a child of God. One of the amazing things is that as children of God, we also become heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. This means that we share in Christ’s inheritance. The Bible declares that it has not even entered into the mind of man what God has prepared for him. (Galatians 3:26; 4:26; Romans 8:17)
Description number two is that Gentile believers are members of the body of Christ. When a person trusts Christ as Savior, they are positionally placed into the “body of Christ.” The baptism of the Holy Spirit, which is neither seen nor felt, is how this is accomplished. Technically, it is when the believer is placed into union with Jesus Christ at salvation. (I Corinthians 12:13)
Description three is that Gentile believers are fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus. Every blessing that has been bestowed upon Jesus Christ is something that believers share because of our union with Him. This means that we can depend on Him for anything and everything, and it means He has unlimited resources. The fellow-partakers of His promise means that we, as believers, should have God’s happiness, blessings, prosperity, success, and promotion.
Not only is the Gospel the information by which every believer enters the plan of God but in the Church Age it is the means of providing equal spiritual privileges and equal opportunities for both Jews and Gentiles who are believers. This was never true in the Old Testament. The content of the Gospel is the same in every dispensation, but we have something that the Jewish believer did not have. We are members of the Royal Family of God.
The privileges now are greater than they have ever been but, of course, the battle is also greater. We live in the intensified stage of the Angelic Conflict. This means that in previous dispensations when anyone believed in Christ, they were not placed into union with Christ. They had spiritual privileges, but the spiritual privileges of our dispensation are much greater and absolutely unique.