A Walk through Ephesians - Pt 8

For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles— assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you, how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, 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. 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. (Ephesians 3:1–6 ESV).

 

What a whirlwind of theology and spiritual understanding the Apostle Paul has written thus far in just two chapters! We have seen Paul describe our blessings in Christ, his prayer for us to further know those blessings, his articulation on how we have been reconciled in Christ both to God and to one another, and the wondrous reality of belonging to Jesus’ church. Chapter three is the final section of Ephesians’ doctrinal first half and the first of Paul’s detailing the unsearchable riches in the kingdom.

 

With our reading today we begin another path of the understanding of who we are in this marvelous, mysterious gift of God in Christ Jesus. The key word within our present text is indeed “mystery”, which Paul has already used once before in this letter. Clarifying and expounding upon the themes of chapter two, the apostle now presents to us what is the long-hidden mystery of Christ.

 

Remember that Paul was a Jew of such pedigree that he called himself “a Hebrew of Hebrews” (Philippians 3:5). This most Jewish of all Jews now claims to be imprisoned on the Gentiles’ behalf, even though he was actually imprisoned by Gentiles. We should understand why he would say this. John Chrysostom strikes at the very heart of the matter:

 

“This is a very emphatic statement. Not only do we not hate you; we are even imprisoned on your account!”

 

So far has Christ removed the hostility between Jew and Gentile from Paul that he is happily in chains on their behalf.

 

This is the truly uniting work of the gospel. The world seems to promote counterfeits of unity by calling us to be tolerant, respectful, and nice toward one another, which rarely seems to play out. The gospel, however, does not merely call us to tolerate one another; it calls us to love one another, even sacrificially. This is love that the world cannot imitate because it only flows from the One who is love. The same love displayed through God the Son giving His own life in our place is also displayed in Paul the Jew being imprisoned for the message of grace that he proclaimed to the Gentiles. This grace knows no imitation!

 

What a contrast to today’s culture! The name calling and vitriol that passes for the passion of our belief and our effort to right the wrongs of our culture has no place in true Christianity. The gospel is a unifying force among all peoples. Of course, Paul is not condoning an acceptance of that which is clearly not God’s will and purpose; however, he is condemning the hatred of the sinner instead of the sin. That is our calling today!