"The Great Mystery"

  

 

Ephesians 3:1-6  
 

We all love a good mystery. There is something about our human makeup that is endlessly fascinated by what is hidden and secret, waiting to be discovered and revealed. God understands us so thoroughly that He has embedded His mysteries in every aspect of life. There is always an element we don't understand. Even terms we use every day--"love," 'joy," "life"--are fundamentally mysterious to us. We struggle constantly to understand the great realities they represent.

This is true in every area of our lives. Even physicists tell us that, hidden within every physical manifestation of the universe, there is mystery. Quantum theory, upon which much of modern physics is based, has at its heart the "Uncertainty principle," which states that it is impossible to specify both the position and momentum of a particle (such as an electron) with certainty. The measurement of the position of the particle renders the momentum of the particle a mystery; the measurement of the momentum renders the position a mystery. Physicists can only deal in probabilities, not certainties. Truth remains a mystery.

In the Scriptures too we are confronted with mystery. "It is the glory of God to conceal a matter," says Proverbs 25:2. "To search out a matter is the glory of kings." God knows we all want to be kings--that we are made to reign. And the glory of kings is to discover that which is hidden.

In Ephesians 3:1-6, Paul describes the greatest mystery of life:

(Read Ephesians 3:1-6)

This paragraph falls into two divisions. First, Paul describes his role as a teacher of this mystery. Then, he describes the mystery itself.

   I.        The Teacher of the Mystery (vv. 1-4)

Sometimes it is difficult to see the structure of Paul's argument in the English translation. This is particularly true of this passage. Paul begins with the phrase, "For this reason." This phrase actually connects with verse 13 of chapter 3. Everything between the phrase "For this reason" and verse 13 is parenthetical. This is the way the apostle's mind worked. He starts out to say one thing, but then he is captured by the truth of something else he is going to say. So he pours this truth into a parenthetical clause, which he builds, truth upon truth, until he finally returns to his original thought and completes the statement he began to make in verse 1.

So here is how this statement should be read: "For this reason . . . I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory." Understanding how verses 1 and 13 connect gives us a context for understanding what Paul is saying in the intervening sentences.

The apostle wanted the Christians to whom he was writing to understand why he was going through persecution and imprisonment. Paul wrote this letter from a rented room where he lived under house arrest, chained day and night to a Roman soldier. Paul's Christian friends must have wondered how God could allow this great missionary to be confined in this way, his voice shut up within four walls, his feet in chains--reduced to conducting his ministry by letters alone.

1.   A Prisoner of Christ

His first statement was to proclaim himself a prisoner--not a prisoner of the Roman government, but of Christ. Paul did not think himself a prisoner of the Roman Caesar, awaiting the judgment of Nero. No, he saw himself as a prisoner of his Lord, accountable only to the judgment of God. Nero did not have the final say about Paul's life or death; God did. Paul was content to be in prison if it served Christ. He was content to live free if it served Christ. He was content to die if it served Christ. He was the prisoner of Jesus Christ. Imagine how our lives and our attitudes toward problems and suffering would change if we viewed our lives the way Paul viewed his.

Paul goes on to state that he is a prisoner for the sake of the Gentiles. This refers not only to the fact that he was arrested for preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, but also to the fact that the gospel benefited the Gentiles. The Jews were angry with Paul and charged him with sedition because Paul claimed to carry a message from God to the Gentiles. Jewish sensibilities were outraged that a Jew would treat Gentiles as equals.

Acts 21 and 22 tells the story of Paul's arrest in the temple courts after his presence there starts a riot. After his arrest, Paul speaks to the Jewish mob in his own defense. He begins by giving his testimony--the story of his encounter with the living Lord Jesus. The mob listens quietly until he says, "Then the Lord said to me, 'Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.' " (Acts 22:21).

At that point, the crowd flies into a murderous rage. "Rid the earth of him! He's not fit to live!" What triggers the crowd's wrath? The word Gentiles. They would have lynched Paul on the spot had it not been for the Roman guards. So it was because of this great message of salvation, delivered unto the Gentiles, that Paul became a prisoner.

I think it is also fair to infer from Paul's words that he wanted the Ephesians to know that they were benefiting from his arrest, due to the fact that his imprisonment gave him time to write this and other letters--letters that have changed the course of history. Paul's concern for these Ephesian Gentiles was such that he would have gone to them had he been free to do so. He would have preached to them and taught them directly from the Word--but he might never have had time to write his great insights down. So it may be that one reason the Lord Jesus allowed him to remain imprisoned was in order to produce some of the great epistles of the New Testament.

2.   The administration of God's grace

The second thing Paul says about himself is, "Surely you have heard about the administration of God's grace that was given to me for you." He wanted the Ephesians to understand that he was going through these trials because God had committed a responsibility to him--the responsibility of being a steward or administrator of God's grace.

A steward or administrator is one who is made responsible to manage and dispense certain goods or commodities. For example, if you are the administrator of an estate it is your responsibility to see that the estate is dispensed in the ways stipulated in the will. The commodity that had been entrusted to Paul was God's grace, and he was a responsible steward of that commodity. This is a strange statement for Paul to make, but it is in line with a statement he made to another church in 1 Corinthians 4:1: "So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God."

What is Paul talking about? The secret things of God are the mysteries that God knows about life, and which humanity desperately needs to know. Paul is not suggesting that he alone is a steward of God's secrets. All Christians are stewards of God's mysteries. You are and so am I. We have received the gospel, the story that explains all of life and enables us to solve the riddle of our existence. This responsibility was committed to us by God, and he expects us to dispense this secret to those around us.

Now, it is important to remember, as Paul himself makes clear in verse 3, that "the mystery [was] made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly." Paul was personally instructed by none other than the Lord Jesus himself. That is the source of Paul's authority as an apostle. So Paul's apostleship is not less than that of John or Peter, who also learned directly from Jesus. His apostleship and the message of the gospel were given him by direct revelation from Jesus (see also Galatians 1:12).

Some have suggested that Paul's apostleship was a secondhand apostleship, the result of a gospel he received from talking with the other apostles. But in fact Paul didn't talk with the apostles during the first few years of his Christian experience. It was three years before he ever went back to Jerusalem after his conversion, and then he only saw James, the Lord's brother, and they didn't discuss doctrine. It wasn't until fourteen years later that he had an opportunity to sit down and compare notes with all the other apostles. They didn't teach him anything, Paul said, because he already understood all facets of the gospel as they did, because Jesus had taught him directly, just as He had taught the Twelve. Paul spoke with direct authority, because he was commissioned by the Lord Jesus Himself.

Notice again verse 3, "the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly." Bible scholars have puzzled over that last phrase, "as I have already written briefly." Some believe it is a reference to a previous letter--but we know of no other letter Paul wrote to the Ephesians. I personally believe Paul refers to a previous passage in this same Ephesian letter--chapter 1, verses 9-10:

And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment--to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.

I believe that this brief statement he had written to these Ephesian Christians is what he is referring to. He says in effect, "You can understand that I have a great understanding of this mystery, the secret that touches all of life and lies at the heart of human existence. It is the mystery of the goal toward which God is moving in human affairs." All of this is summed up by Paul in these few words, "the mystery of Christ." Jesus Christ is at the heart of all things.

If we listen carefully to the questions that are asked in our newspapers, on TV and radio talk shows, and on the Internet, it becomes clear that we live in troubled times, and everyone is seeking an answer to the mystery of life. We worry about pollution, poverty, the threat of war, racism, crime, divorce, illegitimacy, domestic violence, child abuse, AIDS, drug abuse, and more. We think our world is beset with many problems, yet they are really extensions of the one problem that has plagued humankind since the beginning.

Some propose one solution, while others propose other solutions. Some solutions are partially right, some are clearly wrong. But the reason the best and brightest minds of our time cannot solve these problems is that they have never come to grips with the core problem. That core problem is the sin problem--and the key to solving it is what Paul calls the mystery of Christ.

II.        The Revelation of the Mystery (vv. 4-6)

In the next sentence, Paul goes on to give us a brief summary of this great mystery that is the solution to all the problems of humanity:

In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which 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. This 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.

That is the mystery.

The first thing Paul says about it is that it has been hidden in the past. The greatest men of God in the Old Testament did not understand this mystery. Moses, David, Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and the rest may have understood much of God's plan, as God revealed it to them, but they did not understand this mystery. The secret was hidden in past ages.

This mystery was unfolded through Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus himself began to unfold the mystery. In Matthew 13:34-35 we have these amazing words about Jesus:

Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable. So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet: "I will open my mouth in parables,
I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world."

Our Lord, then, began to unfold this mystery, to tell us things that were hidden from the very foundation of the world. So it is obvious, from what the apostle says in Ephesians, that God needed to prepare humanity for the unfolding of this secret. He accomplished this preparation with the rituals and symbols of the Old Testament--the giving of the Law and the sacrifices, which helped us to understand that we human beings have something inherently wrong with us, which cannot be cured by making a few good resolutions. The only thing that can cure our sin problem is death itself. God had to prepare this race to be able to grasp and accept this terrible fact. Even then, He had not fully unveiled this mystery. A little was revealed in the past, but the great secret was kept hidden.

"It has now been revealed," Paul says, "by the Spirit to God's holy apostles and prophets." But, as we have already seen, it was the Lord Jesus who began to unveil it. Paul simply says that it was made known to all the apostles and prophets--that is, the writers of the Scriptures, such as Luke and James and others who were not apostles, but who were prophets.

In the closing verses of Romans 16 there is a very clear statement on the unveiling of this mystery:

Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him--to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen (16:25-27).

The mystery itself consists of this great truth, as we read in Ephesians 3:6: "The Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus." One of Paul's identifying traits, known well among Bible scholars who read his writings in the original Greek, is his fondness for coining new words. No other New Testament writers do that. But Paul has so much he wants to say, and the truths God has given him to convey are so exalted and astounding, that he runs out of language. The words of ordinary language are insufficient to the task, so he has to invent new words by jamming old words together in new ways. So here, in Ephesians 3:6, he invents three new words which are found nowhere else in the Greek New Testament. In English, those words are: 1. Joint-heirs, 2. Joint-members, and 3. Joint-partakers.

Upon coming to Christ, Jewish believers and Gentile believers become joint heirs together, joint members of one body, and joint partakers of the promise. What does all of that mean? In those three terms you have the answers to the greatest struggles with which humanity struggles today:

1.   Joint heirs

To be a joint-heir has to do with possessions. This term touches the whole problem of man and his universe, living in a natural world. It deals with our inability to solve our ecological riddles. In Genesis, man was created to have dominion over the earth, but with the entry of sin into the world, the ground became cursed. So the old creation is now gripped by an unbreakable law, which Paul calls "the law of decay" in Romans 8. Scientists call this the Second Law of Thermodynamics, the law of entropy. This law states that energy is becoming less available, that order is on the decline and disorder is on the rise, that everything is running down and deteriorating. We cannot get around this immutable law of nature.

But Paul says that in Christ the breakthrough has occurred. In Christ, God is beginning a new creation, one that lives by a wholly different principle and is not subject to the law of entropy. And this creation has already begun! It began with the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The resurrection was an act of creation, the reversal of the process of entropy and death--and never in their wildest imaginings did anyone in Old Testament times foresee such an event. In the Old Testament we find a few veiled prophetic statements that we now can see refer to the resurrection of the body. For example, in Job 19:26, they read these words: "And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God." But the believers of Old Testament times didn't understand what these statements meant. They believed God would provide them with a life beyond death, but they didn't know what kind of life. The full splendor of the resurrection was hidden from them. They died hoping in God--but that hope was vague and undefined.

One crucial aspect of the resurrection life that was hidden from them is that resurrection life is available to us not only after we die, but here and now, while we still live. You never find that taught in the Old Testament. But that is what the apostles taught--that God has already broken through the old creation, and He is right now, at this very moment, bringing about His new creation. As Christians, we are to live on the basis of that new creation.

As Christians, we have the answer to the ecological crisis. We are joint heirs with Christ, and what we inherit from God is the world. Paul tells us, "All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future--all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God" (1 Corinthians 3:21-23). And Hebrews 1 tells us that we do not yet see all things subject to Christ, but we do see Jesus, the One who has been made heir of all things, and in Him we share that inheritance, so that one day all things subject to this new law will be ours. One day there will be a reversal of the law of entropy and decay, and all creation will be endowed and imbued with new energy and a new order. All of creation will be revitalized, restored, and renewed.

2.   Joint members of one body

The next phrase in Ephesians 3:6 speaks of us as joint members of one body. This statement relates to the question of relationship. It answers the age-old problem of why human beings can't get along with each other. It answers the problem of family breakups, arguing and strife, church divisions, malice and hatred, racism, crime, and even war. All the struggles and battles of humanity are answered by our becoming joint members of one body.

Human divisions and strife began with the introduction of sin into the world. After Adam ate the forbidden fruit, God asked him, "Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?" And Adam replied, "The woman you put here with me--she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it" (Genesis 3:11-12). First Adam blamed God ("the woman you put here"), then Adam blamed his mate ("she gave me some fruit"), and thus was division created between man and God and between man and other human beings, beginning with his own mate. The rest of the Bible is the story of how the stakes in these divisions were raised from family arguments and recrimination (Adam and Eve) to murder (Cain and Abel) to racial divisions and wars.

Why can't we get along with one another? Because when we are still living in the old creation, these things are inevitable. If you fulfill the flesh, there is no way by which you can keep from living in disharmony with people around you. But in the realm of the Spirit, the breakthrough has already occurred. When we begin to walk in the Spirit, we can love, forgive, and reach out to others. The whole experience of life is transformed--not in some distant, hoped-for future, but right here, right now.

3.   Sharers together in the promise

Finally, Paul takes up the issue of power for living--the power of the Holy Spirit. He says that we are "sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus." What promise does Paul mean? The promise of Jesus that after He left, the Holy Spirit would come to live in us and empower us to do everything God wants us to do. Anytime we sense that there is something God wants us to do, but we don't feel like doing, we can cast ourselves upon the Lord, trusting the promise that the power of the Spirit is available to us. When we rely on Him, the power of the Spirit will come flowing through to enable us to do what otherwise we could never do.

This is Paul's explanation of the great mystery. It is a breakthrough, a new and marvelous way of life which has already begun in our experience, and which, ultimately, will solve all the problems facing humanity. Amazingly, we do not have to wait for some future fulfillment--we can experience it right now. In Colossians, Paul puts it this way: "To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27).

Our present civilization with its politics, its art, its science, its information technologies, and all its proud achievements can be likened to a cocoon, clinging lifelessly to the branch of history. But inside that cocoon, God is working a metamorphosis; a new creation is taking place. Someday that cocoon will open, in the springtime of the world. At that moment, a new entity will emerge, which is being created at this very moment within the cocoon.

Caterpillars crawl on the ground. Everything that lies in a caterpillar's path is a horrible obstacle over which it must painfully crawl. It cannot see very far, and it doesn't know which turn to take. This is an apt description of the way we live our lives as natural human beings.

But God has a wonderful program in mind for a caterpillar. The caterpillar fastens itself to a twig or branch, and its life as a caterpillar comes to an end. It encases itself in a death-shroud, a silken cocoon. Its motion ceases. It hangs limp and lifeless.

But that is not the end of the caterpillar's story. Inside that cocoon, a mystery takes place. Springtime comes and the cocoon begins to move and split--then something beautiful emerges from that death-shroud. It spreads its wings and takes flight--a beautiful and spectacularly colorful creature. It no longer crawls blindly over the ground. It soars over the fields and hills. It is a butterfly, one of God's most wondrous expressions of beauty and joy in nature.

The life of a butterfly is a great mystery. So is your life and mine. The springtime of the world awaits us. Here, within the cocoon of our daily lives, God is preparing us to be manifested, like butterflies, as creatures of God's new creation, wrapped in the beauty of His grace, the joyous splendor of His creative power.

This, by the way, is what Christmas is all about. This is what began at Bethlehem. The first breakthrough was on Christmas Day, when in the darkness of the world -- sunk in apathy and misery, in superstition and blindness, and in death -- a light broke through. "The people walking in darkness have seen a great light," (Isaiah 9:2). And that light has been reaching out to the world ever since, bringing men out of the old into the new.

I don't know how you think of yourself, but I know that it helps greatly to personalize these great truths, to remember that this is where God wants the application finally to be made -- right home in your hearts, in your lives, in your families. You are a new creation in Jesus Christ. You are no longer part of the old but part of that new creation which is waiting for the dawn of a new world, a new life, and a new day, when all people shall be one over all the earth, and no harm or heartache will occur in all the world.

This is the mystery, as Paul describes it to us, and as God wants us to understand it. May God help us to make it personal in our own lives.