Ephesians 3:1-6

God’s New Revelation Is Revealed in His Making the Church Into the New Israel.

‘For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ on behalf of you Gentiles - if so be that you have heard of that stewardship of the grace of God which was given to me for your benefit, how that by revelation was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in few words, which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men as it has now been revealed to his holy Apostles and Prophets in the Spirit, which is that the Gentiles are fellow-heirs, and fellow-members of the body, and fellow-partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the Gospel.’

Paul begins his sentence and then diverts as another thought strikes him. He suddenly decides that, having declared this message of the oneness of Jews and Gentiles in Christ, he must establish a firm basis for his authority to speak in this way. It is possible, though not certain, that his return to his theme is in Ephesians 3:14 (it could, for example, be Ephesians 4:1 where he again refers to his being a prisoner in the Lord).

‘For this reason - .’ Because of what he has been saying in the previous chapter.

‘I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles.’ His forthright teaching of these facts, and his fight for the full inclusion of the Gentiles without circumcision (because they are already circumcised in Christ - Colossians 2:11), has brought about his imprisonment. He is a prisoner for their sakes. Had he been willing to accept circumcision and submission to the ritual law he would not have been so persecuted.

‘The prisoner of Christ Jesus.’ This was so in two senses. Firstly in that the reason why he was a prisoner was because of his service for Christ Jesus, but secondly because there was a sense in which Christ had made him a prisoner for the furtherance of the Gospel and for the benefit of the Gentiles (Philippians 1:12-14). He was Rome’s prisoner, but he was also Christ’s prisoner.

‘You Gentiles.’ This may suggest that the letter is for a wider audience of Gentiles than just a church he has founded, but not necessarily so, for he may merely be emphasising that it is as the Apostle to the Gentiles that he suffers on their behalf. Either way Paul is establishing his position so that even those who do not know him will recognise his authority. And this is what then makes him switch his thoughts to a different topic.

‘If so be that you have heard of that stewardship of the grace of God which was given me for your benefit, how that by revelation was made known to me the mystery - .’

‘If so be that you have heard.’ This again suggests that he has in mind many who have not personally heard him, although this could in fact be referring to some who became Christians after he left Ephesus. He has decided he needs to establish his credentials, for if they have heard previously what he is about to say they will have no difficulty in recognising that he is a prisoner on their behalf.

‘Of that stewardship of the grace of God which was given me for your benefit.’ This stewardship is his Apostleship to the Gentiles. He has been entrusted with the message of God’s free grace to all, which especially, (at least outwardly), benefits the Gentiles, for among other things it makes them fellow-heirs with the believing Jews (Philippians 1:6).

Alternately he may mean that the stewardship was given to him by the grace of God (compare Galatians 1:15) and consists in the content of the revelation he is about to speak of.

‘How that by revelation was made know to me the mystery - .’ Either way his position was finally established by the special revelation that God gave him. Compare on this revelation Galatians 1:12-17. What he was bringing to them was not what men had taught him, not even the Apostles, it was what was personally revealed in him by God.

Some would restrict this to the revelation on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:3-6), but there seem good grounds for thinking that it included further revelation, possibly during his time in Arabia (Galatians 1:17). Was that for forty days like his Master? (During the ‘three years’ he had a solid period of ministry in Damascus of ‘many days’ - Acts 9:23 - thus he was not in Arabia for three years). Consider the man in Christ who was lifted up into Heaven (2 Corinthians 12:2). He learned and experienced that which was to be the basis of his ministry, and it is not necessary to assume that all that he heard was unlawful to utter.

Certainly the revelation, whether it came by meditation on his experience or by further special revelation from the Lord, included ‘the mystery’ (in the New Testament the idea of ‘mystery’ indicates what had been hidden but was now revealed. It was no longer a mystery to those who were taught), the fact of the full acceptance of the Gentiles.

‘As I wrote before in a few words.’ This may refer to Ephesians 2:11-22 or even Ephesians 1:3-14. Or it could refer to a previous letter, or even to the letter to the Colossians, or that to the Galatians, passed on to other churches.

‘Whereby when you read you can perceive my understanding in the mystery of Christ.’ What was written made clear his full understanding in Christ’s mystery re the Gentiles. Either the previous verses or Galatians or Colossians would suit this admirably. All made known the acceptance of the Gentiles by God in full measure without circumcision.

‘Which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy Apostles and Prophets in Spirit (or ‘by the Spirit’).’

The mystery of Christ, now revealed, was not known in previous generations to ‘the sons of men’, that is men in general (this description may suggest, but not necessarily, that it was known to some who were not the sons of men, i.e. ‘the bene elohim - ‘the sons of God’ (the angels) and/or the Spirit-inspired Prophets). But now it has been revealed to His holy Apostles and Prophets. ‘Holy’ means set apart for God for a special purpose. All the people of God are sanctified and therefore ‘holy’, because they have been set apart for God and endued with His Spirit (1 Corinthians 1:2), and thus it is even more so of the Apostles and Prophets. Paul wants us to know that they have been set apart by God and are uniquely His.

‘As it has now been revealed to His holy Apostles and Prophets in Spirit, (or ‘by the Spirit’).’ Who are these Prophets? The fact is that nowhere else does Paul give such status to New Testament prophets. While therefore this is considered by many to refer to such New Testament prophets there are weighty arguments against it, and consideration must be given to the fact that he may well mean the Old Testament Prophets as now revealing more fully by the Spirit the significance of what they had prophesied. For in Romans 16:25 he says that the mystery ‘is now manifested, and by the scriptures of the Prophets -- - is made known to all ’. This clearly links the Old Testament Prophets with the revealing of the mystery, and 1 Peter 1:10 says the Old Testament Prophets ‘prophesied of the grace that would come’ to them. And these Prophets are constantly appealed to (Romans 1:2; Romans 16:26; James 5:10; 1 Peter 1:10; 2 Peter 3:2) while the New Testament prophets are never elsewhere appealed to in this way or put on such equivalence with the Apostles.

Furthermore it is the Old Testament Prophets who are called ‘holy Prophets’ in 2 Peter 3:2, and the Apostles are directly connected with these Prophets in Revelation 18:20 (compare Revelation 18:24) with ‘Apostles’ coming first. ‘Prophets in Spirit’ may thus well mean that what the Prophets wrote, and did not fully understand, is now ‘by the Spirit’ through their writings being made known and revealed on earth, while also possibly being now made known to them by the Spirit in their heavenly existence as they are aware of events on earth (see Hebrews 12:1 and compare the awareness of delayed judgment in Revelation 6:10-11. Consider also Ephesians 3:10. If the principalities and powers could know, why not the prophets?).