Ephesians 3:1-9
For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,
If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward:
How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words,
Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)
Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;
That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:
Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power.
Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;
And to make all [men] see what [is] the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:
This reference from the KJV is the keystone passage for everything else that follows in both Cows in the Pews and The Atheists Too and this website and is the basis for much of my view of the religious world at large. It captures the sum-total of the Apostle Paul’s ministry and specifically his apostleship to the Gentiles. In case you’re not sure, if you’re not a Jew, you’re a Gentile. Everything I understand about the Bible is predicated on the wealth of knowledge Paul is preaching in these nine verses of his epistle to the Ephesians who, by the way, were Gentiles.
I thought it would be a good idea for me to lay this out now since I’ve spent the last several posts communicating my view of organized religion and those on the inside, the Christian herd, and those on the outside, the atheist herd. It’s pretty easy for me to just keep shooting my mouth off about my “opinion” of those who identify themselves as one or the other. So, I figure at some point I need to go a little deeper and make the case biblically since one man’s opinion ain’t gonna get me but so far.
And before I go too much further, please understand something. I know this is not new information. In fact, there are “Grace Believers”, if you need a label, all over the world. There are teachers, preachers, churches, literature, radio programs, TV programs, etc. that have been spreading the message of grace for quite some time. All of that to say that in no way, do I think I possess some “special” revelation of God. Not at all. However, what I do think, and what I hope to be able to demonstrate, is that much of what has been preached by organized religion throughout history has inadvertently marginalized, if not outright ignored, Paul’s dispensation of the Grace of God. In fact, Paul’s distinct message and it revealed as a mystery TO the Gentiles is lost in the noise of the predominate versions of “Christianity” so prevalent in denominational doctrines that have existed for so long.
Rather bold… I get that. So, come with me on this journey through the bible and hear His word for yourself in hopes of expounding unto you the way of God more perfectly, which is to say, more completely.
The take away from the Ephesians passage above is as follows:
Paul is a prisoner of Jesus Christ for us, the Gentiles.
The dispensation of the Grace of God was given to Paul so he could give it to us, the Gentiles.
What God gave Paul to dispense to us was a revelation that was a mystery so we could understand Paul’s knowledge in the Mystery of Christ.
As a mystery, it was hidden until this point in time when it was revealed to Paul so he could preach it to the Gentiles.
Note also that he is preaching among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, which is to say untraceable riches of Christ. What this means is that you can’t find anything in the old testament, and for that matter, in the gospels of the new testament about the mystery of Christ Paul is revealing to the Gentiles. You can only find the dispensation of the grace of God after the crucifixion, after the resurrection, after His ascension to the right hand of God, after the day of Pentecost, and finally after the stoning of Stephen. Not until Jesus Christ himself called upon Paul, was the mystery revealed. And the overarching good news revealed to and through Paul is “That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel” and that he had been commissioned to “make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery”.
For sake of an even deeper understanding and context, consider the condition of the typical gentile before this point in time where Paul reveals the mystery “That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel”:
Ephesians 2:11-12
Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;
That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:
I’m sure that for some, you are already familiar with these passages and praise be to God that you are. For those unfamiliar with these passages, I hope that several things occur to you as you think on these things:
Why was it necessary for Paul to be appointed the Apostle to the Gentiles if the gospel preached by the twelve was the same gospel for the whole world?
What is the significance of the fact that Paul was revealing a mystery, again, if the gospel preached by the twelve was the same gospel for the whole world?
More importantly, how is it that as gentiles, our standing before God went from “being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel… without God in the world” to fellowheirs through our faith in the Gospel preached by Paul?
Well, I hope you get the picture. As I said, pretty much everything that I have to offer stems from this critical and very specific bit of scriptural context that is the basis for understanding the bible as God intended. I realize that all I’ve done here is paste these passages in this blog and went about restating and emphasizing parts of it to make my case. I do it because I think it’s too easy for people to read a passage like this and not fully appreciate the significance of what’s being said. Remember, this is God’s testimony in His bible and knowing now what you may not have understood before, do you believe it?
