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The mystery of Christ has been fully revealed to the apostles and the prophets to create a humanity that never before existed in Christ to build a community that we know as the church.
Ephesians 3:1-5 - 1 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.
How do you handle secrets? How do you respond when someone tells you, “I have a secret?” When my son, Arius, was about a year and a half, he would say, “Daddy, I got a secret.” At first, when he said that, I was surprised and rushed to hear the secret, but then he whispered gibberish in my ear that ended with “pizza.”
He used the word, secret, to get my attention to communicate what he wanted. The Bible does the same. In the New Testament, “mystery” is a secret that had been hidden in the past, but now it is revealed to show what it is that God wants from us. It appears 28 times in the New Testament. Paul uses it 21 times in his letters with six of those times in the letter to the Ephesians.
The problem is that when people read the word “mystery” in the Bible, they think this is a secret that they need to decipher. They need to know that “mystery” in the New Testament is something that was hidden in the past but now is revealed in God’s Word.
In Ephesians 3:1-13, Paul told his readers that the mystery of Christ was not something they needed to solve but that it was something that had been hidden in the past and was revealed through the apostles and prophets in the New Testament.
The big idea is that everything that God needed to reveal has been revealed in God’s Word and the mystery of Christ is no different. How was it revealed and what is its significance?
As we continue our verse-by-verse study of Ephesians, in Ephesians 3:1-13, Paul answers those questions by explaining three truths about the mystery of Christ: the problem of the mystery of Christ, the proclamation of the mystery of Christ, and the purpose of the mystery of Christ. Today, we will focus on the problem of the mystery in verses 1-5 and next time, we will finish up the other two truths.
The Problem of the Mystery of Christ
The first five verses state that the problem of the mystery of Christ was that it was not revealed. Why was it not revealed? The answer has to do with God’s progressional revelation to mankind regarding His great salvation plan for them. The Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, is one long progressional story of God’s faithfulness to restore what was lost in the Garden of Eden.
However, this story was revealed over different periods of time through progressional revelation. God did not reveal His will and great salvation plan for mankind all at once but rather, in the dispensation of time. Each time, what God revealed, brought us closer to the full and complete revelation which Paul refers to as the mystery of Christ because it was not revealed to other generations in the Old Testament but now in the dispensation of time, has been fully revealed to the apostles and the prophets to create a humanity that never before existed in Christ to build a community that we know as the church.
Paul describes that others not knowing the mystery of Christ creates the reason for, responsibility to, and revelation of witness.
The Reason for Witness
Paul starts Ephesians 3:1 with, “For this reason.” I believe the phrase “for this reason” points back to Ephesians 2. There we saw Christ kill the hostility, which is the hate and enmity between God and man and between Jews and Gentiles by making them one in Himself in the body of Christ, the Church, Christ is the glue and the cement that holds the whole church together, made of people from all sorts of backgrounds to grant them equal access to God.
That is a powerful truth of the Gospel which was a mystery before Christ because before Christ, only a few selected people were allowed to communicate with God— priests and prophets. In Christ, we all have equal access. We do not need priests, prophets, and saints to speak on our behalf.
We are made priesthood in Christ. We are the priesthood of believers. The phrase, “For this reason” also points to what comes next. Verse 1 says, “For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles—” Paul shares that the reason for his imprisonment is his witness.
He was not in prison for any crime he committed but for his commitment to Christ and the gospel mission to the Gentiles, in this case, the Ephesians. He does not use his imprisonment to gain sympathy or to brag about his suffering for the Lord; it is to show the readers the cause of his suffering was the cost of the gospel that he was willing to pay joyfully. We see that in his other prison letter, for example, Philippians.
Principle
No cost is greater than the loss of souls. What cost are you willing to pay to save your soul and the souls of others? Today, it seems that we are so consumed by the here and now that by and large, we don’t even think about the soul and eternity. When was the last time you thought of eternity and your soul?
The Responsibility of Witness
Paul does not stop with the reason to witness. He tells the Ephesians that God made him responsible to witness to them because that’s the job of every witness. Verse 2 reads, “assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for you,” The sense here is that surely the Ephesians have heard of His stewardship.
The word “stewardship” in Greek is oikonomia, which means an overseer, an administration, and a steward. A steward is one who has been given the responsibility to manage or care for something for someone else. Therefore, a steward is accountable to the owner. Paul reminds them that God gave him the responsibility to witness to them and care for them. He was the steward of God’s grace, God’s unmerited undeserving favor, by which He revealed the mystery of Christ to him for them. As a good steward, he kept this message of Christ pure and true and was even thrown in prison for it. A bad steward would have compromised to avoid prison, but not Paul.
Principle
All believers are divinely appointed stewards of the gospel truths. We have been made responsible to manage and care for our Christian witness. We are accountable to Christ for our time, talents, and gifts. James 1:17 says every good gift is from God, which means from our breath to everything we have, including family, all is a gift from God.
The Revelation for Witness
In verses 3-5, Paul reminds them how he receives insight into the mystery of Christ and how he passed it on to them through his writing. He points to the source of all of this, God’s revelation. Ephesians 3:3-5 continues, “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.”
There are things in the Bible that are mysteries for mankind, either because they are too complicated for our finite minds or some other divine reason. When Paul uses the word, mystery, it is almost always used in reference to God’s will and great salvation plan for the Gentiles, which was hidden in the past in the Old Testament but was fully revealed in the New Testament.
It is not that Israel did not know about Christ the Messiah and that there is salvation for all nations. They knew that. What they did not know was how God would make Jews and Gentiles one in Christ in the church. Israel was not meant to be the end of God's blessing but a means of it to the nations.
Principle
The apostles and prophets received direct revelation but to us, it was given in the revealed Word of God. This means that we do not need any more revelation because everything that God needed to reveal has been revealed in the Bible.
Today, there are many false teachers who say they have special insight into the mystery of God. They share the gospel, the good news, without explaining the bad news. They prophesy prosperity. They say that you shouldn’t be suffering, you shouldn’t be struggling. Health and wealth is their gospel. Their mission is to make people comfortable and complacent.
This past week, I was talking to my mentor, Timo, in Greece. He said that he does not hear the evangelical church in Greece and in America teaching about hell anymore because it makes people uncomfortable. We have been made stewards of God’s message and we are responsible for believing and sharing the whole counsel of God and not avoiding certain topics that make us or others uncomfortable. Would it not be better to be uncomfortable for a brief moment than uncomfortable for eternity in hell?
Application
God has already revealed the mystery of Christ and He gave us His Word and the Holy Spirit to illuminate the Word of God so that we can interact with the living Word. The prerequisite for that is the relationship with Jesus. That means not just the knowledge of Christ but rather knowing Christ personally and experientially.
Jesus in Mark 4:11, speaking to His disciples, said, “To you has been given the secret [mystery] of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables.” So, those who do not have Jesus do not have the knowledge of the Word of God. To them, they are mere words and stories.
I had a conversation with a Muslim man. When he found out that I was a Christian, he began to tell me how the Qur’an speaks more about Jesus than about Muhammad.
From his perspective, Jesus was a miracle worker, an esteemed prophet, and a moralist.
From my perspective, it made no difference that this Muslim man believed that Jesus was a prophet, that He is not dead, and that He is coming back because none of that means anything unless he believed that Jesus is the Son of God, the redeemer, and savior of the World. That was the mystery of Christ that was hidden in the past.
Action Step
Ask yourself, what cost are you willing to pay to follow Jesus? For Paul, it was persecution, prison, and finally death. If you are a believer, how much time do you spend studying the Word? Here is the deal— if God speaks through His Word through the power of His Spirit, how are you going to hear from Him if you don’t have time to read His Word?
Appeal
Make time for Jesus. Everything that you have belongs to Jesus. So be a good steward of all the gifts and talents and utilize them for Jesus. We do not need a new revelation. We need a realization that God has already revealed everything that we need to know in His Word and has given us the reason to witness, the responsibility of witness, and revelation for witness.
Study Questions
1. To what reason is Paul referring when he says, “For this reason” in Ephesians 3:1?
2. Why does Paul talk about his imprisonment? What is its significance and how is it relevant to the theme of the “mystery of Christ?”
3. What does Paul mean by “assuming” and “stewardship” in Ephesians 3:2?
4. In what way is Paul a steward of God’s grace?
5. The focus of Ephesians 3:1-5 is the Mystery of Christ. How did Paul get insight into it?
Deeper Study Questions
1. In Ephesians 3:1, Paul discusses his suffering. Read 2 Timothy 1:8 and share how you might be suffering for the gospel by the power of God.
2. In Ephesians 3:2, Paul talks about being a steward of the grace of God. How are you being a steward of the grace of God as a follower of Jesus? Consider the primary function of a steward.
3. In Ephesians 3:3-4, Paul, an apostle of Christ, received the revelation of the mystery of Christ. Discuss direct revelation from God. Consider: Do we need new revelations or has everything that God needs to reveal been revealed in His Word?
4. If you believe that everything we need has been revealed in the Bible, share how often you read the Bible and in what way you apply those truths in your everyday life.
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