Separation Ended (part 2 of 2)

Now, just because chapter two of Ephesians has come to an end, that does not mean that Paul is changing his line of thinking.  He continues on with this theme of Gentiles now being brought into the family of God, and joined together with national Israel as those under God’s covenant.  Paul realizes that this ending of the separation of humanity from God, along with the ending of the division between Jew and Gentile, is a magnificent and perhaps unexpected turn of events.  Even with the understanding that Paul has been given, it seems that he refers to God’s choosing to operate this way as “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” (3:4b-5). 

In the seventh verse, Paul goes on to say “Of this Gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace.”  This ministry, Paul says, “was given me by the working of His power” (3:7b).  In this, he appears to admit that the ministry to the Gentiles, this ministry of the Gospel, proclaiming Jesus as King, was not something to which he had been looking or striving.  Indeed, his desires had been quite contrary to the situation in which he now found himself by the working of God’s grace and power, as prior to his encounter with the risen Christ on the road to Damascus, it has been Paul’s intention to persecute the Way of Jesus (and its pronouncement of Him as Messiah and King of the Jews) to the death.  Prior to being bound in the power of God and being made a bondslave to Him through Christ, Paul saw this Gospel message as nothing short of a damnable and highly pestilent heresy, and its adherents as worthy of imprisonment and death.  As he reflected on them, Paul would probably look at this dramatic turn of events in his own life as nothing short of a mystery of God’s power as well. 

Getting back to the mystery referenced in the fourth verse, we see Paul writing that “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” (3:6).  Those who were members of the nation of Israel were not expecting this.  They believed that God’s promises had been reserved to themselves alone, and that the inauguration of the rule of their Messiah as King was to elevate them, as Abraham’s descendants, above all other nations.  Now, this “mystery” that Paul says “was made known to me by revelation” (3:3a), had set things moving in a new direction.  Through Christ, Who had been declared to be the Son of God in power by the Resurrection from the dead (Romans 1:4---something we know was part of Paul’s thinking, though he doesn’t bring it into the letter to the Ephesians, probably because the Caesar was to be found in Rome, not in Ephesus), as the King of the Kingdom of God that was now in place to extend God’s covenant blessings to the entire world, all of mankind had now been brought into the picture, as had been promised to Abraham, though this part of the promises made to him (Abraham) had been lost from view by God’s chosen people.  Through allegiance to the Creator God of Israel through allegiance to His Christ, God’s elect from the Gentile nations had been made fellow heirs, members of the body of God’s people, and partakers in the promised blessings that God made to the whole of His people through Abraham. 

From here, Paul goes on to write about the role that God had given to him.  Referring to the gift of God’s grace for the purpose of ministry, Paul says that “this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ” (3:8b).  Through the preaching of Christ, which included the preaching of God’s unending and unbounded faithfulness to His people, highlighted by the example on offer by Jesus, Paul was “to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God Who created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known” (3:9-10a).  This bringing to light can only be done if Christ is preached as the One sent forth from the Creator and covenant God.  It is in Christ alone that “we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in Him” (3:12).  Yes, through confession of Jesus as King (evidence of faith), all peoples have access to God’s judgment of “righteous, and so to are justified before Him.” 

Pointing to the preaching of the Gospel, and of a world set right with God through Christ and the granting of eternal life in union with Him, Paul indicates that the very preaching of this Gospel of Christ is empowered through the operation of the Spirit.  Indeed, Paul seems to believe that it is only the operation of the Spirit within a person that could cause that person to confess that a crucified man was raised from the dead and is now enthroned as King of the cosmos.  It is the evidence of eternal life (sharing in the life of the age to come), and this eternal life comes from the same power that raised Christ Jesus from the dead and goes forth for the purposes of renewing a fallen and corrupted creation, which is very much the duty of the covenant people, as they work alongside and on behalf of their King. 

This has all been carried out “according to the eternal purpose that He (God) has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord” (3:11).  The uniting of all of humanity in the Christ, and its attendant gift and responsibility of eternal life showed Paul the God “Who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think” (3:20a).  God Himself, through His people as they live according to the model provided, would be faithfully working out His purposes and plans, bestowing His blessings upon His people and upon His creation, so that we might be able to live out the faith, “according to the power at work within us” (3:20b).  This would all take place, the separation between Jew and Gentile and between man and His Creator would be ended, with a new kingdom of the rule of Christ through the operation of the Holy Spirit inaugurated, so that “to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever” (3:21).