Ephesians Study 3: 1-13

 

Summary of last week’s discussion:

• Addressing the Gentiles particularly, Paul reminds them that at one time they were separated from Christ, and from the benefits of being part of God’s covenant, but now, through Jesus’ blood, they are brought near.

• The strong wall around the holy places of the temple has been broken down by Jesus’ death. There is now no division between Jews and Gentiles. The Law of Moses has effectively been dissolved. He speaks of ‘one new man’ who now stands instead of both Jews and Gentiles.

• 2:19 is a key verse: So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.

• Having previously described God’s people as a ‘body’, he now calls them a temple—the true Temple—a dwelling place for God, built on the testimony of the apostles and prophets, and of Jesus Christ himself.

Paul continues to describe how the gospel—the good news of Jesus—is sent to the Gentiles.

It’s worth reflecting before we dig into this, how global and multi-ethnic the church has become. In pretty much every community in the world, there are Christ-followers. And whereas some other religions will expect followers to adopt their cultural clothes, Jesus doesn’t do that.

God’s Temple is not a Jewish thing. Nor is it a Roman thing, or a white Anglo-Saxon thing. The largest single congregation in the world right now is in Nigeria (previously, it was in South Korea), and the fastest-growing church in the world is in Iran.

Billions of people around the world right now are looking to Jesus for salvation. None of these cultures ‘own’ the church; but God works in and through them all—and against them all, because ‘God’s kingdom is not of this world’, nor of any particular culture. 

Jesus is the Messiah for all people in all places at all times. He is the saviour of all nations. 

Tim Mackie 

How did the gospel get from Nazareth, a small village in the Galilee, to be this vast multi-cultural, multi-ethnic movement?

Ephesians 3: 1-13 

For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles— 2 assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for you, 3 how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. 4 When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. 6 This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. 

7 Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given me by the working of his power. 8 To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, 10 so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. 11 This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realised in Christ Jesus our Lord, 12 in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him. 13 So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory. 

vv. 1-3 

For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles— 2 assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for you, 3 how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. 

Following on from the previous chapter, Paul describes himself as a prisoner of Christ Jesus. 

• What does it mean to be a prisoner of Christ Jesus? 

Objectively, he was a prisoner of the Romans. But they don’t count because Jesus is Lord, not Caesar. Paul could have construed himself as a victim of Roman oppression, or of Jewish persecution, but he doesn’t. He embraces suffering because it gives a platform to the gospel. 

When we are undergoing hardship, unpopularity, material loss for the sake of Christian principles we may either regard ourselves as the victims of men or as the champions of Christ. Paul is our example; he regarded himself, not as the prisoner of Nero, but as the prisoner of Christ

William Barclay

vv.3-6 

3 …how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. 4 When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. 6 This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. 

Paul has already mentioned this ‘mystery’ (1:9, 10), which is God’s plan to unite all things in Christ. A mystery, as we said, is something that has been hidden, but is now revealed: a ‘revelation’, in fact. In Chapter 3, it is mentioned four times more. 

• How does the power of the Holy Spirit enable us to do things that are well beyond our own abilities, and transcend social norms? 

This is not something that Paul has figured out in his study or through his cleverness, and definitely not something that he learned from someone else. This is what God has shown him as part of his commission to take the message of Christ to the Gentiles, that they—i.e. everybody—can get to share in the promises and blessings that God promises to his people. 

As we’ll see in a moment, this isn’t a ‘new teaching’, it has been implied in the Scriptures right from Genesis, but up to this point, it hadn’t been clearly or widely understood. God hadn’t unlocked it.

And it isn’t just Paul, this is revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit (v.5). Jesus’ commission to his disciples was Go therefore and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28: 19) and Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation (Mark 16: 15). We understand from tradition that Thomas travelled to India, and that Matthew went to Ethiopia, for example, and that Thaddeus went to Armenia. John-Mark is associated both with the Copts in Egypt and with St. Mark’s basilica in Venice and Mary Magdalene is linked to southern France.

We know, however, that at Pentecost, Peter’s message was miraculously translated into multiple languages; and it was Peter who obeyed the call of Cornelius the centurion. A watershed moment.

It is significant that early in both Matthew’s Gospel and the Acts, Roman soldiers come seeking salvation.

It transgresses a strong taboo. The Jews and the Gentiles regarded each other with suspicion, if not outright hostility, and no one seriously thought that:

the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel (v.6)

vv.7-9 

7 Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given me by the working of his power. 8 To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things… 

Paul contemplates how amazing God’s grace is. Who is he, after all? 

• God could have given this ministry to one of Jesus’ original 12 who were with him at the beginning, but he didn’t. He selected one who came in later, after persecuting the church and trying to eradicate it.
• He could have opened this mystery to countless Jewish scholars through the centuries, through their diligent preservation of the scriptures. But he didn’t, he revealed it to Paul, on the road to Damascus, when he was up to no good, and reversed the course of his life. 

This is the nature of grace. Paul calls himself the very least of all the saints (v.8), and he means it.

Just to reiterate: Paul is made a minister (or a ‘servant’) of the gospel according to the gift of God's grace (v.7).

In spite of Paul being self-conscious of his frailties and inadequacies, by the working of his power, God has given him the task to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things…

People like conspiracy theories. This is God’s conspiracy with himself; his ‘mystery’, hidden for ages (v.9), but it was hidden in the Scriptures—in plain sight, to be fair:

Genesis 12: 3 (as we’ve already seen). God said to Abram, in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

Families and nations and people-groups who were not yet born.

Isaiah 2: 2

It shall come to pass in the latter days

that the mountain of the house of the Lord

shall be established as the highest of the mountains …

and all the nations shall flow to it,

Psalm 22: 27

All the ends of the earth shall remember

and turn to the Lord,

and all the families of the nations.

Psalm 86: 9

All the nations you have made shall come

and worship before you, O Lord,

and shall glorify your name.

So, the idea of God’s grace being available to people other than the Jews was not new. It had been there all along. 

v.10 

so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

Paul reiterates what he has said in Chapter 1: 22, 23: 

And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fulness of him who fills all in all.

and chapter 2: 6

[God] raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

God raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand, above all powers and authorities and names, and he has given us life too, and raised us up and seated us with Christ in the heavenly places.

All these spiritual powers and authorities, and all earthly rulers are brought under the total dominion of Christ, and this authority is invested in the church—in God’s holy people on earth.

That is, in us.

• This is why he calls us his Temple (2: 21).

• This is why Jesus places his Great Commission to his disciples in the context of his supreme authority:

Matthew 28: 18, 19 

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore… 

And when Jesus teaches his disciples to pray (Matthew 6: 10): 

Your kingdom come,

your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven. 

He gives them his own authority to make this happen. 

• What do the ‘rulers and authorities’ learn from the Church?

These Ephesian Christians were to serve him and establish this bridgehead of his kingdom in the middle of a world that was dominated by the evil powers. They were to put aside their differences, however profound and important they seemed, and stand together as his body, God’s temple on earth. They are the holy place.

The dividing wall has been demolished, not only between the Jews and the non-Jews, but between all the people. There is no hindrance to anyone who seeks God and desires him. There is no obscure Law to keep; no initiation rituals; no secret words.

And, as we read last time in Galatians 3: 28:

28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Tim Mackie describes this as a ‘new humanity’—a new race of people, who, as Peter says, have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God (1 Peter 1: 23).

We are here to transform the world around us.

• To what extent has the world we live in been transformed?

[True, there is much wrong with our world. Sin is clearly evident, but think of all the ways the teaching of Christ and Paul has been embraced:

• The abolition of legal slavery

• Cultural norms (and government policies) that support and protect the poor and the vulnerable

• The idea of the rule of law (rather than of some Caesar)

• Not least, the widespread freedom to worship God

There are many other things.]

These things are partial and imperfect. We have not yet seen the full potential of the church, not only to make space for the worship of God, but to establish righteousness and justice in the world.

• In what ways has the world we live in yet to be transformed?

It will ultimately be transformed when Jesus returns, but until then we are to ‘do business till he comes’.

The spiritual powers of the world will try to introduce divisions among us, but, as Paul will go on to say (in 4: 27), we should give no opportunity to the devil. When we are offended, we must not harbour bitterness and resentment but forgive quickly.

The sign of a healthy church is not the absence of anger and conflict, but the presence of a commitment to work it out, to move towards the person, to forgive and reconcile. 

Tim Mackie

Just another footnote on v.10. Paul says:

that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known

That word ‘manifold’ is πολυποίκιλος, meaning ‘multi-multi-coloured.’ The wisdom of God is ultra-diverse and many-faceted. This implies that:

• It is beautiful.

• It is ubiquitous. It can answer any complication or opposition the world or its dominating powers choose to throw at it.

• How have you encountered God’s richly diverse wisdom?

And finally…

vv. 11-13 

This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realised in Christ Jesus our Lord, 12 in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him. 13 So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory. 

• Why is it that some believers lack the confidence that God would like them to have?

It is our privilege to be ‘in on the secret’, so to speak, and to be part of this amazing, exciting plan, this mystery.

Through Jesus Christ, we have unlimited access to the Father. Jesus said (John 16: 27)

The Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.

Paul is in chains on behalf of these Ephesian believers, but before long they would also face persecution (see the messages in Rev 2 and 3). Paul writes to encourage them.

And us.

A final thought, to return to the idea of the global, multi-ethnic “πολυποίκιλος” church that we started with. This gathering of all people in Christ—Jews and Gentiles—was always part of God’s plan, not God’s afterthought when the Jews rejected Christ.

In you, God said to Abram, back in Genesis 12, shall all the families of the earth be blessed.