Paul speaks today of what he calls the "mystery" of Christ. He isn't saying that we can't possibly know Christ or understand who He is or what He has done for mankind. He's saying that God's plan of salvation, which was put in place before the world was created, has now been revealed in Christ. It is no longer a mystery what the prophets foresaw when they had their visions of the Promised One. By taking a look at the Greek word Paul uses we will get some fresh insight into what he means.
He begins Chapter 3 with a thought and then suddenly breaks it off and comes back to it in verse 14, so it may seem a little choppy to us at first as we look at this passage. "For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for the sake of you Gentiles---" (Ephesians 3:1) Paul is writing this letter while a prisoner in Rome. He will never leave Rome alive but will be beheaded under the reign of that madman Nero who harbored a hatred for the Christians which is comparable only to Adolf Hitler's hatred for the Jews. Paul is in prison because he was persecuted for preaching the gospel, and since God called him to be an apostle to the Gentiles, it can also be said that he's in prison for the sake of the Gentiles. But in saying this he realizes that his Gentile readers may feel very sorrowful about his suffering or they may even feel responsible for his predicament, so he breaks off what he meant to say in order to speak of his thankfulness in being called by God to understand the "mystery" of Christ and to preach this mystery to the Gentiles. To Paul it is a great honor to serve Christ and to suffer for Him.
"Surely you have heard about the administration of God's grace that was given to me for you, that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly." (Ephesians 3:2-3) The Ephesians know Paul's conversion story. He once was a man violently opposed to Christ and to Christians. He wanted Christians either to renounce Christ or to be put to death. He wanted the name of Christ to be wiped from history. But Christ revealed Himself to Paul on the road to Damascus and everything changed in an instant. Until that moment the gospel was indeed a mystery to a man like Paul whose heart and mind were closed off to the idea of righteousness by faith instead of righteousness by works. But suddenly he understood it all, everything he'd studied all his life in order to become a high-ranking member of the Pharisee sect. Everything he'd ever read in the law and every prophecy he'd ever puzzled over became clear: it was all about Christ. It always had been. It always would be. This is why he can say that is was God's grace that called him to be an apostle to the Gentiles and that it's God's grace that he is in prison right now, because otherwise he'd still be the angry and bitter man he used to be. He'd still be lost. He'd still be seeking righteousness through a set of laws he could not possibly hope to obey.
"In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to people 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." (Ephesians 3:4-6) The prophets of the Old Testament foresaw the coming Messiah and Redeemer, but they didn't see the salvation plan as a whole. They also foresaw the inclusion of the Gentiles in God's family, but they had no idea how this was going to be accomplished. Now though, since Christ has come, all these prophecies have been made clear. The salvation plan in its entirety has been revealed. God's intention to make the Gentiles righteous in His sight (a thing which must have appeared impossible while they still lived in the ignorance of idolatry) has come to pass. It's easy to imagine that in ancient times the people of Israel must have had difficulty understanding how God could or why He would call the Gentiles into His grace. But in Christ this mystery has been cleared up.
Paul uses the Greek word "mysterion" which doesn't mean something that can't be understood but means something that is held in reserve until the proper time or something which is revealed only to those who seek it. It can mean a "hidden purpose or counsel" of God. Until Christ came and fulfilled the law and the prophets, no one fully understood what God's hidden purpose or counsel was. No one knew how to interpret the prophecies of the Messiah. No one knew why He would be born of a virgin, or why He would be born in the tiny town of Bethlehem, or why God would have to call Him out of Egypt, or why He would be rejected, or why He would suffer, or why He would die. And if He was going to die, they wondered how He could be the Messiah at all. How could they reconcile the Suffering Servant with the Conquering King? No one knew what to make of what appeared to be conflicting prophecies regarding this Person, but now we know how the pieces of the puzzle fit together. We, like Paul, should view this as the grace of God. Thank God we have been called out of darkness into light! Thank God that, no matter what form of persecution we might have to face for the name of Christ, we are no longer who we used to be!
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