“For this reason, I Paul, prisoner (literally, in bonds) of the Christ Jesus (or of Jesus Christ) for you nations, (if indeed ye have heard of the administration of the grace of God which has been given to me towards you, that by revelation the mystery has been made known to me (according as I have written before briefly, by which, in reading it, ye can understand my intelligence in the mystery of the Christ) which in other generations has not been made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the power of the Spirit, that they who are of the nations should be joint heirs, and a joint body, and joint partakers of His promise in Christ Jesus by the glad tidings, of which I am become minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me according to the working of his power. To me, less than the least of all saints has this grace been given, to announce among the nations the glad tidings of the unsearchable riches of the Christ and to enlighten all with the knowledge of what is the administration of the mystery hidden throughout the ages in God who has created all things in order that now to the principalities and authorities in the heavenlies might be made known through the assembly the all-various wisdom of God, according to the purpose of the ages (or eternal purpose) which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access in confidence by the faith of Him. Wherefore I beseech you not to faint through my tribulations for you, which is your glory” (verses 1-13, JND).
The whole of this chapter is a parenthesis, and in it, parenthesis follows parenthesis, includes parenthesis, too; so that, keeping this before us, all becomes clear as we study the chapter.
The first chapter gave to use the counsels and purposes of God in a remarkable way, including the church or assembly as the body of Christ united to Him as Head.
Chapter 2 deals with the work which forms the assembly, showing it growing unto a holy temple, in the Lord, a habitation of God through the Spirit.
Chapter 3 prepares the way for the fourth chapter.
Paul was not only an apostle (chapter 1); he was also a prisoner for the Gentiles, because he preached the gospel to them (see, among many passages, Acts 22:2222And they gave him audience unto this word, and then lifted up their voices, and said, Away with such a fellow from the earth: for it is not fit that he should live. (Acts 22:22)). Further, he was the administrator of the grace of God, the gospel, or glad tidings, as he says, in Colossians 1:23,2923If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister; (Colossians 1:23)
29Whereunto I also labor, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily. (Colossians 1:29). He speaks of the mystery of the Christ, which in other generations had not been made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the power of the Spirit (verses 3, 5).
The mystery had been made known to the Apostle Paul by special revelation. Mystery it was, concealed in the divine bosom; and this of necessity; because in the past centuries God had raised a partition wall between Jew and Gentile and established Israel on a special footing.
It was in the power of the Spirit that the revelation had been made to God’s apostles and prophets of the New Testament. The Old Testament saints, one and all, knew nothing of this, except, if an exception there was, that to them, by means of various prophets, it was revealed that the Gentiles would be blessed in a future day, but Israel remained a separate people. Nothing can be found in Old Testament holy writ, that the day was coming when they who are of the nations should be joint heirs and a joint body, and joint partakers of God’s promise in Christ Jesus. As far as the writer knows, the only direct mention of the church of God in the Old Testament occurs in Psalm 22, verse 22; “in the midst of the congregation will I praise Thee”, and we would not be assured of this but for its quotation in Hebrews 2:1212Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee. (Hebrews 2:12). The place of Israel in Psalm 22 is distinct, as verse 25 shows.
But what was the mystery? First, that Israel’s Messiah, the Christ, instead of taking the kingdom which was and is His, foretold by the Old Testament prophets, should completely disappear from the world, and that God should set Him in heaven at His own right hand as the Head of all glory, both heavenly and earthly; further, that He should give the whole universe into His hands to administer the kingdom, and maintain the glory of God the Father in it.
This is the first and most essential part of the mystery: the second the part of the church, being only the consequence of it.
Writing to the saints at Ephesus, the apostle then makes known that to him, less than the least of all saints, this grace has been given to announce among the nations the glad tidings of the unsearchable riches of the Christ, and to enlighten all with the knowledge of what is the administration of the mystery hidden throughout the ages in God. And, further (verse 10) that now to the principalities and authorities in the heavenlies the angels might be known through the church the all-various wisdom of God according to the purpose of the ages which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. One has remarked as to this last, that God is now making known a new kind of wisdom to the angels by His dealings with us, the saints of God now on the earth. This is something we may have forgotten, if we ever knew it. Think of what it means! The angels looking at us to see what God is doing, working in us by His Word and the Holy Spirit to bring us to the consciousness of our privileges!