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.