January 11
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MYSTERY OF CHRIST REVEALED
For this reason, I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles— 2 if indeed you have heard of the administration of God’s grace which was given to me for you; 3 that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before briefly. 4 By referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 which in other generations was not made known to mankind, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit; 6 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, 7 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. -Ephesians 3:1-7
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According to David Guzik, during his Roman imprisonment Paul was under house arrest. In the day he was free to move around the house with the supervision of soldiers, but every night he was chained to a soldier to make sure he did not escape before his trial before Caesar. Yet he saw himself as the prisoner of Jesus Christ. He knew that Jesus was the Lord of his life, not the Roman government, so if he was a prisoner, he was Jesus’ prisoner. The entire reason he was under arrest and awaiting trial was because of his missionary efforts on behalf of the Gentiles. Paul suffered for the very truth he would explain to the Ephesians, and this did not make him back down one bit.
It is interesting how Paul spoke to the Ephesians with authority. In verses 2-3, he speaks to them of God’s administration which was given to him by revelation. According to Paul, the mystery of Christ has been revealed to him which was never done in past generations.
The word dispensation speaks of the “implemented strategy” of God’s plan in the church. According to Woods as in Ephesians 1:10, however, it is to be interpreted rather as the implementation of a strategy.” Clarke comments that “By the dispensation of the grace of God we may understand, either the apostolic office and gifts granted to St. Paul, for the purpose of preaching the Gospel among the Gentiles… or the knowledge which God gave him of that gracious and Divine plan which he had formed for the conversion of the Gentiles.” In verses 6-7, Paul declares to the Ephesians the responsibility of ministering to the Gentiles and that he is to use all his gifts to bring to them the mystery revealed to Him by the Spirit of God.
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REFLECTION
• How can you as a believer bring other baby Christians into the mystery of Christ?