The Sacred Secret Revealed

Ephesians 3:1-13

At the start of chapter 3, Paul continues his prayer for the church at Ephesus begun in chapter 1 and prompted again by his teaching in chapter 2 regarding the grace of God so richly bestowed on them. But he hardly gets started before he digresses, explaining how he came to be called as apostle to the nations. Referring to his imprisonment reminded him of his call since it was obedience to that call which got him into trouble with Jewish leaders and ultimately imprisoned. Paul was accused Act_21:28-29 of taking a Gentile into the temple, into the area that was off-limits to non-Jews. Interestingly, this particular individual was Trophimus, a native of Ephesus.

1. the sacred secret revealed vv. 1-5

Paul here reminds the Ephesians of his present condition, that he is a prisoner of the Roman government although he doesn't express it just that way. He had been arrested on false charges made by the Jews and was imprisoned under Roman authority. Yet he viewed himself as a prisoner of Jesus Christ - the events in his life including his incarceration were under the sovereign control of his Lord. Paul could see beyond his immediate circumstances and recognize God's fingerprints on his ministry.

Paul goes on to declare that his circumstances had resulted from his commission as minister to the Gentiles - he was a prisoner of Christ "for the sake of", "on behalf of" the nations (εθνων). Paul recognized that he was God's agent to fulfill the promise made to Abraham - that "all the nations" of the earth would be blessed. Even more poignant was the fact that the immediate cause of his incarceration was Trophimus.

Paul was commissioned to take a specific message to the nations; he didn't make himself a minister, it was the gracious act of God that had made him such. Paul didn't invent his own message, it was the gracious act of God that provided him with the truth that the nations needed to hear. "He was appointed a steward by God’s grace and then became a steward of God’s grace." MacArthur

Paul was commissioned to take a message to the nations, the revelation that he put into words so the church at Ephesus could read and then comprehend. This message had been hinted at in previous generations but it had not been declared plainly and fully.

Throughout the Old Testament God had indicated his purpose to make his people ethnically diverse. The Great Commission was first given to Abraham - in you shall all nations be blessed. Repeated in the Psalms, reinforced in the lives of Rahab and Ruth, demonstrated by Jonah's experience, we see evidence of Gentiles being included in the covenant community. But in the old dispensation it was through the means of "conversion to Judaism", joining the Jews in their Old Testament heritage and becoming proselytes, that their inclusion was accomplished.
Finally, with the commissioning of Paul, the disclosure of the secret to the other NT apostles and prophets, and in the conclusions reached by the Jerusalem council (and all that implies) the secret is revealed in its fullness.

2. the sacred secret explained vv. 6-12

The secret is capsulized in Eph 3:6 "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." HCSB
Beginning with "the nations", emphasizing the catholicity of both his message and the mystery, Paul uses three words to describe the new relationship between all the nations in the New Testament church -

συγκληρονομα (sugkleronoma, joint heir)
συσσωμα (sussoma, joint body)
συμμετοχα (summetocha, joint participant)

Here in three compound words, Paul turned the Jewish worldview on its head. Jews really weren't the sole pride and joy of Jehovah to the exclusion of all others. In fact, they would have to share their inheritance in Christ on equal terms with every one else regardless of their heritage.

"The form in which the calling of the Gentiles was predicted in the Old Testament led to the general impression that they were to partake of the blessings of the Messiah’s reign by becoming Jews, by being as proselytes merged into the old theocracy, which was to remain in all its peculiarities. It seems never to have entered into any human mind until the day of Pentecost, that the theocracy itself was to be abolished, and a new form of religion was to be introduced, designed and adapted equally for all mankind, under which the distinction between Jew and Gentile was to be done away. It was this catholicity of the Gospel which was the expanding and elevating revelation made to the apostles, and which raised them from sectarians to Christians." Kistemaker

In God's new economy, there would be no class distinctions, especially those based on nationality, color, gender, or social status. The elect from all nations would have the same rights of inheritance to the blessings of the covenant of grace. The intimacy of relationship between Christ and his people would recognize no distinction - "The hand is not in the body by permission of the eye, nor the eye by permission of the hand. Neither is the Gentile in the church by courtesy of the Jews, nor the Jew by courtesy of the Gentiles. They are one body." Kistemaker Neither would there be any difference in how God's people participate in the promise that comes to them through the Gospel.

And there in that last phrase of verse 6 is the vital element without which this unity between the nations disintegrates - our union is in Christ through the conduit of the Gospel. Specifically, the promise refers to the giving of the Holy Spirit as Paul indicates in Gal_3:14 "that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith."

Jesus commanded His disciples not to depart from Jerusalem, but to "wait for the promise of the Father, which, says He, you have heard of me." Act_1:4-5 This promise God fulfils to His elect among the Gentiles; pouring into their souls this heavenly power, by which they are taught their need, filled with conviction of sin, and brought to the Cross for salvation. All these mercies are communicated through the Gospel. It is through the preaching of the Word that the Spirit descends. Wherever this Word is proclaimed, the footsteps of Deity may be traced. This thought should make us diligent to hear and to propagate the glorious Gospel. Henry Law

Again, Paul reminds us that he was what he was by the grace of God and for no other reason. His calling to ministry and equipping for that task was a gracious gift of God. In anticipation of what he will teach in the next chapter regarding spiritual gifts, we see here the principle that God graciously bestows gifts on his children for a particular purpose. He did not reveal the sacred secret of the nature of the church to Paul for him to keep it secret and gloat over his privilege. Nor did God equip him as a minister of the Gospel without expecting that he would use that gift - with the gift came the duty to exercise it, in this case for the benefit of the nations.
Paul's ministry had a two-fold emphasis - first, to proclaim the incalculable riches to be found in Christ; second, to make plain by shedding light on the subject how God intended to work out the details of the mystery just now revealed.

Like a “reservoir so deep that soundings cannot reach the bottom of it,” no limit can be placed on the resources of Christ. No sinner can be so foul, no multitude can be so huge, that the blood of Christ and the love of Christ are inadequate. No scholar can exhaust the “treasures of wisdom and knowledge” in Christ (Col 2:3); no philosopher can surpass “the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col 1:27). College Press Commentary

Paul wastes no time in getting on with his ministry; he begins in the next verse to shed light on God's purpose in the sacred secret and the means he would use to carry out that purpose. The church is to be the instrument by which God carries out his eternal purpose realized in Christ. The church is Exhibit A of the incredible and comprehensive wisdom of God. Remember the overarching theme of Ephesians:

God's eternal purpose is to gather into one the whole created universe by reconciling His creatures to Himself and to each other, a purpose He is working out through Christ in the church and ultimately to the praise of His glory.

It is not only mankind who will praise His glory; God intends to wow the angelic host by what he has accomplished in the church. Peter tells us in 1Pe_1:10-12 that the angels are intensely curious about the details, mechanics, of the salvation of souls. To satisfy that curiosity God says to them "Look at my church - there you can observe my plan in action."

3. the sacred secret validated v. 13

Paul began this section with a reference to his imprisonment, here in verse 13 he refers again to it. He was determined that the Ephesian saints not view his incarceration as evidence that he was "out of God's will". He perhaps feared that they would be tempted to think as Job's friends, assuming that Paul must have sin in his life somewhere and his imprisonment was God's way of correcting him.

Quite to the contrary, Paul indicates that his treatment was evidence that he was right in the center of God's will for his life, that he was obediently following his call. It was the truth that he preached to the Ephesians that was the cause both of his suffering and their salvation. Paul encourages them not to lose heart, not to think that his message was faulty or that the Gospel was not worth suffering for. Rather, he wears his suffering for the cause of Christ as a badge of honor for himself and for them as well.

Henry Law (1884) "The offence of the Cross will never cease, while Satan rules the God of this world. But let us look up for help and boldly march onward. Let us fight the good fight of faith. Fierce may be the conflict; many and smarting may be the wounds, but the victory is secure."
The fact that someone of the stature of the Apostle Paul would willingly suffer what he did for the sake of the Gospel gives us an indication of its worth, its glory. The same can be said for the Ephesians - it redounded to their honor that Paul was willing to suffer without complaint for their sake.

"Far from finding cause for discouragement in the spectacle of Paul's sufferings, they will glory in them as he himself had learned to do, seeing in them the proof that god's purpose was advancing towards its consummation." F. F. Bruce

It seems from anecdotal evidence that the church prospers and grows most when it is persecuted. As Tertullian said in the second century, "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church". See Ian Clary's blog entry re: awakening in India here and a second article here.

Two concepts with which to leave - Henry Law and propagating the Gospel, suffering may mean we are dead center in God's will.

Reconciliation Continued

Ephesians 2:11-22

"God has not only conquered spiritual death through Jesus Christ; he has also conquered human division. Just as the first half of chapter two traced the pattern of death, rescue, new life, the second half will trace a similar pattern of division, rescue, new fellowship. “Therefore,” seeing that Christ reconciles man to God, we should observe that he also reconciles man to his fellow man." College Press NT Commentary

In this passage Paul contrasts the state of his readers before their conversion - without Christ - and after conversion - in Christ. These verses are saturated with the person and work of Christ, presenting him as as essential to the building of the church. Not only is it his church because he purchased it with his blood, he is moment by moment crafting the individual pieces of his body so they fit together in a closely-jointed (interlocking) way to form his temple.

1. Therefore remember v.11

your former relationship

to the church

viewed as heathens, not merely Gentiles

outside the covenant

not just Gentiles but uncircumcised Gentiles

to God

without Christ

without a country

without promise

without hope

without God

The alienation Gentiles had experienced was two-fold - social and spiritual. Socially they were viewed as inferior to Jews not only from Jewish perspective but from God's perspective as well. They questioned whether Gentiles could even be recipients of God's blessing, whether the Gospel should be preached to them. The disdain and disregard Jews displayed toward Gentiles is very reminiscent of the racial hatred whites have showed toward non-whites, especially blacks and native Americans in previous decades, Muslims and Arabs in the present. They were viewed not only as socially inferior but as less valuable and intelligent.

Regarding their spiritual alienation, it was a two-sided affair: because of God's decree all mankind, Jew and Gentile, was alienated from a holy and righteous God; because of the corruption of sin inherited from Adam, all mankind has an innate hostility toward God and his ways. 2Co_2:15-16 Unregenerate man avoids the smell of death; the irony is that he thinks it is us who smell that way when in reality it is his own aroma.

Without Christ, promise or hope, history has no purpose - there is no point in the future toward which human existence is progressing. Instead, life is simply going around another time on the wheel, repeating history and futility in an endless cycle. The only rescue from the mindset that "all is vanity" is the hope found in Christ and his victory over sin and death.

Unlike God's people, the Gentiles were a people without a country; that is, no heavenly inheritance toward which they were progressing. The earthly theocracy was simply a foretaste of what is to come, although it was a real and wonderful "sample" of experience under the beneficent rule of a loving God.

Without a proper sense of history and the one who knows the future, they had no hope; that is they lacked any true confidence in the future since they had no basis for hope outside themselves. Coupled with this they had no God, they were ἄθεοι , that is they were without God. Not that they had no gods, they did, in abundance; the problem was the objects of their worship were impotent creations of corrupted imaginations.

Here we see how desperate their condition was - not only were they without Christ, the person in whom true hope can be found, they were destitute of any meaningful connection with the true God who would lead them to a knowledge of Christ.

2. But now in Christ v.13

things are different

reconciled to God by the blood of Christ

reconciled to fellow believers by the peace of Christ

The first step in real and lasting reconciliation is application of the blood of Christ. something that is accomplished by an entity other than the one receiving the application. The verb here is in the passive voice, the subject is the recipient, not the initiator of the action. Paul's Gentile audience "were made near", caused to be near, brought into the church by the blood of Christ. This was not effected through baptism, profession of faith, praying a prayer, or birth into a covenant family. It was God who accomplished this by applying the blood of Christ to his people and bringing those who were at a great distance close by, near to him, brought back into a cordial relationship.

In chapter 1 Paul describes the theological mechanism of our reconciliation to God - chosen, predestined, adopted, accepted, redeemed, forgiven. Here Paul describes the relational aspect of reconciliation to God as we are brought near under the covering of the blood of Christ. It is the blood of Christ that "cleanse[s] our conscience[s] from dead works to serve the living God". Heb_9:14 It is the blood of Christ which "cleanses us from all sin". 1Jo_1:7 Once this is accomplished the relationship between us and God is "repaired" to the greatest extent it can be this side of heaven.

It is Christ himself who is our peace and brings peace between his followers.

"The basic feature of the Gk. concept of εἰρήνη is that the word does not primarily denote a relationship between several people, or an attitude, but a state, i.e., time of peace or state of peace, originally conceived of purely as an interlude in the everlasting state of war. While the Latin pax in the first instance denotes a reciprocal legal relationship between two parties, εἰρήνη is primarily no more than the passionately asserted, emotionally felt and palpable opposite of πόλεµος." TDNT

What does Paul say Christ did to accomplish the cessation of hostilities between Jew and Gentile? He "abolished ...the enmity", he "put to death the enmity". And what was his purpose in doing so? hina purpose clause - "[in order] that the two he might create in himself into one new man". YLT Whatever it was in the "law of commandments in ordinances" that Christ brought to an end was that which caused hostility between Jew and Gentile.

Paul is not saying here that Christ eliminated the need, the obligation, for mankind to obey God's moral law that has been known to man since creation. He even says in Rom_3:31 that faith does not make void the law but rather establishes or makes it to stand up. John in his first epistle declares that "sin is lawlessness (ἀνομία)" 1Jo_3:4 so Paul must be referring to something other than the law in its entirety. In fact, Paul was anticipating in a nutshell what the author of Hebrews took several chapters on which to discourse - that the ceremonial requirements of the law which distinguished between Jew and Gentile were no longer in effect. John Calvin puts it this way:

"The ceremonies, by which the distinction was declared, have been abolished through Christ. What were circumcision, sacrifices, washings, and abstaining from certain kinds of food, but symbols of sanctification, reminding the Jews that their lot was different from that of other nations. ...Paul declares not only that the Gentiles are equally with the Jews admitted to the fellowship of grace, so that they no longer differ from each other, but that the mark of difference has been taken away; for ceremonies have been abolished. If two contending nations were brought under the dominion of one prince, he would not only desire that they should live in harmony, but would remove the badges and marks of their former enmity."

It is here, at the cross, that we see the ground of true reconciliation; just as the cross points in two directions, vertical and horizontal, so Christ in his sacrifice on that cross reconciles men vertically with God, horizontally with men. As a cross without one of its pieces is no longer a cross, so the two aspects of reconciliation are inseparable. We cannot be truly reconciled to God and legitimately remain enemies of his people. That is why John can say so forthrightly "If anyone says "I love God" and yet hates his fellow Christian, he is a liar" 1Jo_4:20

The work of Christ removes the reason for our banishment from the King's presence; the person of Christ provides our introduction into the King's presence and favor. Christ did not merely open the door of the throne room by his atonement and make it possible for people to enter if they choose. He opens the door and takes his people in by the hand to introduce and present them to his father.

Paul reinforces two other principles here in verse 18: both of us, that is Jew and Gentile, have the same introductory access to the Father. Further he demonstrates the three persons of the Godhead working in unity - through Christ by the Spirit to the Father. By virtue of triune participation in our salvation and reconciliation we have freedom to approach the Father knowing we have found favor with him through Christ.

3. Now therefore no longer aliens v.19

you are

fellow-citizens in the kingdom

members of the family

building blocks of the temple on the foundation of Christ

One Holy Catholic Apostolic Church

If then we have access to the very throne room of God, what should we expect for privileges there? Being fellow citizens, both Jew and Gentile are treated as natives of the same town, citizens together of God's kingdom; although we are travelers, pilgrims here on earth, we have citizenship in heaven with all the privileges that are attached to that status. This describes a society in which there is no class structure; there are no distinctions made because of circumstances of birth as every citizen shares equally in the privileges and participates in the benefits of citizenship.

As members of "the household of faith, the church of God consisting of believers, the family in heaven and in earth named of Christ; in which family or household God is the Father, Christ is the firstborn, ministers are stewards; and here are saints of various growth and size, some fathers, some young men, some children: and to this family all believers belong, whether Gentiles or Jews; and which they come into, not by birth, nor by merit, but by adopting grace; and happy are they that belong to this city and house! They are freed from all servitude and bondage; they can never be arrested, or come into condemnation; they have liberty of access to God, and share in the fulness of grace in Christ; they are well taken care of; they are richly clothed, and have plenty of provisions; and will never be turned out, and are heirs of a never fading inheritance." John Gill

In Paul's usage of images here, not only are we saints who have residence in the house of God, we are the house in which God has residence. Remember what Paul asked the Corinthian church in 1Co_3:16 "Don't you know that you are God's sanctuary and that the Spirit of God lives in you?" The foundation of the structure is Christ, the Cornerstone, and the teaching of apostles and prophets.

“The akrogōniaios here is the primary foundation-stone at the angle of the structure by which the architect fixes a standard for the bearings of the walls and cross-walls throughout” (W. W. Lloyd). RWP

Each stone in the edifice is essential to the proper function and structural integrity of the whole. Our duty as expressed by Paul is to be growing together in closely jointed union with one another. We must be functioning within the body in harmony with each other and with the purpose of Christ for his church.

“from whom the whole body—as one which is fitted and held together by each link which serves to support it—corresponding to the activity appropriate to each part achieves growth of the body to the building up of itself in love.” TDNT

The cornerstone of a building, in addition to being part of the foundation and therefore supporting the superstructure, finalizes its shape, for, being placed at the corner formed by the junction of two primary walls, it determines the lay of the walls and crosswalls throughout. All the other stones must adjust themselves to this cornerstone. So also, in addition to resting in Christ, the spiritual house is determined as to its character by him. It is he who settles the question as to what this house is to be in the sight of God, and as to what is its function in God’s universe. It is Christ who gives the house its needed direction. Believers, as “living stones” (I Peter 2:5), must regulate their lives in accordance with the will of the cornerstone, Christ. Kistemaker

If we would see lasting peace in the church and in the world, we must pray and strive for reconciliation between men and God, between men and men, and in that order.