The Holy Spirit Reveals God’s Hidden Plan – Eph 3:1-6

The letter to the Ephesians is so loaded with language of our faith, from basic terminology of our becoming a christian, to deep phrases and thoughts of our supernatural experience in the body of Christ. The function of the Church is a complex spiritual power in the earth that must be understood, and today we take another sip of water from Paul’s fire hose as he discloses more of the mystery of the church.

The Father loves to play hide and seek. He wants us to search out things. We do not know anything completely. There is always a part we don’t understand. He made us curious. We automatically wonder where we came from, and where are we going? It was in the Father’s design for His children to search Him out. We are ever confronted with mystery. It is mystery which makes life fascinating and exciting. It is a mystery that God wants us to be kings. A wise man once said, “It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out,” that was Solomon (Pr 25:2 RSV). God made us all want to be kings, and to reign. And the glory of kings is to discover what He has hidden for us. The Apostle Paul describes the greatest mystery of life to the Ephesians in these words;

Eph 3:1-6 (NKJV) –[1] For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles– [2] if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, [3] how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, [4] by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), [5] which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: [6] that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel,

There, in brief, is the full statement of the greatest secret ever presented to the minds of men. It is not new to us – we have been studying and discovering aspects of it all along in this letter.

Eph 3:1 (NKJV) – For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles–

“For this reason” – refers to the end of chapter two, where Paul is talking about building up the church, the temple of God. Paul calls himself a “prisoner of Christ Jesus.” Even though he is in a Roman jail, Paul knows the Lord can still use him to compose this letter. Paul may be chained, but the Word of God “lives and abides forever” (1Pet 1:23).

“For you Gentiles” – When Paul wrote this letter he was locked up because of a riot in Jerusalem (cf. Acts 21:27-22:22). The riot occurred when the Jews accused Paul of taking Trophimus, an Ephesian convert, into the Temple. The Jews knew him to be a Gentile and were outraged because Paul took this Gentile to their side of “the middle wall of separation” (cf. Eph 2:14).

Paul was in a serious situation, the Jews would have killed him if the centurions and soldiers had not arrested him. We don’t know if he was guilty, or just accused of “defiling the temple” by taking “unclean” Gentiles into the holy place (See, Acts 21:27-29). But there was a wall in the Jewish temple, separating the court of the Gentiles from the rest of the temple areas. Archaeologists have discovered the inscription from Herod’s temple, and it reads like this:

No foreigner may enter within the barricade which surrounds the sanctuary and enclosure. Anyone who is caught doing so will have himself to blame for his certain death.

This was the wall of separation that Jesus destroyed by His blood on the cross, in order for the Jews and Gentiles to be reconciled. When He died the veil in the temple was literally torn in two, this wall figuratively being torn down. This removed the barrier which had separated Jews and Gentiles for centuries.

Now, “there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call upon Him. Whoever will call upon the name of the lord will be saved.” (Rom 10:12-13). As believers neither Jew nor Gentile is under the law, but under grace as a new man in Christ.

The Apostle Paul was fulfilling the call of his ministry. Jesus had called him to be an apostle, by sending Ananias to Paul to pray with him and welcome him into the Christian family: “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel” (Acts 9:15).

As Paul tells why he is in jail, he goes into what Bible scholars call his famous “parenthetical statement.” These detours happens to me all the time – I call them rabbit trails. The Holy Spirit interrupted Paul, and blessed him with a rabbit trail – in order to reveal the mystery of the church. Which is, in itself, a parenthetical time-frame in prophecy that no one could see coming.

Paul returns to his train of thought with another “For this reason…” at verse 14, but first we will look at this important diversion from his prayer.

[3:2-3] if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, [3] how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already,

“If” = (NIV) surely you have heard, or (ESV) assuming that you have heard.

“Dispensation” = Stewardship (NASB), Means the administration (of a household or estate). Here it is a spiritual dispensation, management, or economy of God’s grace. Paul was commissioned by God to share the grace he had received since the ministers of the gospel are the dispensers, “stewards of the mysteries of God” (1Cor 4:1), “which was given to me for you.”

The Bible is divided into seven dispensations, the complete number of God. God is logical and organized despite the way many believers act or what they claim God told them.

The Old Testament period covers five dispensations. “God who at sundry [various] times and in divers [different] manners, spake in times past [BC] unto the fathers [Jews] by the prophets” (Heb 1:1).

These time periods are the five dispensations from Adam to the cross of Jesus. The word for dispensation in the Greek is oikonomia, depicts a landlord or one who watches over a house. It is better defined as administration.

In our country, we have administrations. When a new president is elected, he comes in with a new administration and usually dismisses many of the previous administration. God works in similar ways from one administration to another. From dispensation to dispensation, many things change, yet many remain the same. How God speaks to man changes with the dispensation, but how man approaches God never changes.

God may approach man directly by walking and talking with him in the Garden of Eden, or He may teach him through angels like He did with Daniel and Ezekiel. Yet, during each time period, man has always approached God, through faith. Hebrews 11 is a roster of God’s Hall of Fame. Faith is the common thread running through each of the people listed, yet they cover every dispensation of the Old Testament. From Abel until the judges and prophets, God said that “without faith it is impossible to please Him” (Heb 11:6).

Each of the five dispensations of the Old Testament began with God’s grace and ends with man’s failure. The first dispensation began with the creation of Adam and Eve. It is called innocence and lasted until the fall. The second dispensation is called conscience, which ended with the flood in Noah’s time. The third dispensation is human government, which ended with the building of the Tower of Babel. The fourth dispensation began with Abraham and is called promise. This period lasted until the Egyptian captivity when God raised up a deliverer for Israel named Moses. This marked the beginning of the final dispensation of the Old Testament called law.

We know that the law was given until the time of the crucifixion of Jesus. After the cross, the door was opened for a new dispensation to be ushered in, which Paul calls, “the dispensation of the grace of God.” This dispensation, which we call “the church age,” began on the day of Pentecost and will end at the resurrection of the dead in Christ/rapture of the church. During our dispensation, God approaches man in a unique way, but the way man approaches God is still the same as when Adam, Abraham, Moses, David, or any of the prophets approached Him – by faith. “Hath in these last days [the church age] spoken unto us [the church] by His Son (Heb 1:2). The final dispensation will be the millennial reign of Jesus.

Paul also points out in this verse, that the revelation of “the dispensation of the grace of God” was given to him to give to us. (v. 3) Briefly written already, (cf, Eph 1:10; 2:11,22).

[3:4] by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ).

Now let’s look at the word “mystery.” This word comes from the Greek word musterion and refers to the teachings of ancient fraternities known only to its members. In the ancient world there were different fraternities, one of which is found in Matthew 2 – the Magi, or “wise men.” This fraternal society of men traveled in the regions of ancient Chaldea and Mesopotamia. Although their existence is well documented, their teachings and beliefs are not. They were a secret organization whose creeds were called “mysteries.” To know and understand the teaching, one had to become a member of the fraternity.

Fraternities are still around today, and the concept is the same. To know the teachings and beliefs of organizations like the Masons or Odd Fellows, one has to become a member. I am not endorsing these organizations for you to join, but only using them as examples! Many such organizations are satanic in origin, and their roots of operation go back to the ancient secret societies.

However, the word “mystery” is used repeatedly in the New Testament. Jesus first used it with His disciples in Matthew 13:11 and Mark 4:10 and 11. The kingdom parables, where Jesus was introducing the church age to one, explained “the mysteries of the kingdom.”

What is the significance of this word in the New Testament? The prophets and saints of the Old Testament did not know of the age to come. Their concept of dispensations was that after Messiah came, the millennium would be the next event on God’s calendar. This is why the disciples continually thought the kingdom was coming.

Think of prophecy as looking at a mountain range. You see the foothills in the foreground and the majestic mountains in the distance, totally unaware of a shorter range in between. The reality of a mid-range of mountains has not been foretold, and is a mystery to be revealed only to those who travel through that prophecy.

The church was a “mystery.” It was unknown to those on the outside looking in, but it is known to the members of the great fraternity known as the church. To know the teaching of the fraternity, you have to become a member.

The profession of faith is the password for membership:

Rom 10:9-10 (NKJV) –[9] that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. [10] For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Remember, when you find the word “mystery” in the New Testament, it is not something that is dark, puzzling, mystical, or spooky. The Greek word musterion, does not mean, something that is unknown to us. It always refers to something that was once unknown, but now has been revealed to us. Paul spells this out in the next verse;

[Eph 3:5-6] which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: [6] that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel,

We see that in other ages it was not known, but it is now revealed. God has given us the revelation, by the Holy Spirit, through the New Testament apostles and prophets. (Paul was the primary administrator, but he was not exclusive to this revelation knowledge.) This spiritual insight included the fact that Gentiles can become born again and enjoy the blessings of the covenant.

It was not enough simply to win the Gentiles as converts and install them into local assemblies. Paul taught them they were fellow heirs of the covenant of Abraham (Gal 3:29), members in the body of Christ, partakers of God’s promises equal with the Jews. This is possible through the gospel. The mystery was not that the Gentiles would be saved, that was evident in the Old Testament, but rather that believing Jews and Gentiles are joined together in the same body. The wall of separation was now gone!

God bless you my friend,

— Dwight Hammond