In the first part of Chapter three Paul
talks about how He was chosen to bring the word of God to the Gentiles. “As
you already know, God has given me this special ministry of announcing his
favor to you Gentiles.”(vs3:2) Paul
brings this up for the reason that he wants to talk about the mystery that God
has revealed to him. What is this
mystery, is it that the Gentiles are now able to be saved?
If we look at the Old Testament we can see that is not the mystery, let
us look at several passages; “And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse,
which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek:
and his rest shall be glorious” (Isa. 11:10). Another: “And the Gentiles shall
come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising” (Isa. 60:3).
Isaiah also wrote: “I the Lord
have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep
thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles”
(Isa. 42:6). Zechariah also mentions it: “And many nations shall be joined to
the Lord in that day, and shall be
my people: and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto thee”
(Zech. 2:11). And Malachi: “For from the rising of the sun even unto the going
down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place
incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall
be great among the heathen, saith the Lord
of host” (Mal. 1:11).
As
we look at those pieces of scripture we see that the Jews understood that at
some point everyone would be able to be saved.
So what is this big mystery Paul is talking about that has been revealed
to him? Paul reveals to us what this
answer to this mystery is in verse six; “this is the secret plan: The Gentiles
have an equal share with the Jews in all the riches inherited by God’s
children. Both groups have believed the Good News, and both are part of the
same body and enjoy together the promise of blessings through Christ
Jesus.” What Paul is saying would come
to be a shock to all Jews, for none them would have ever thought that God would
allow anyone else the same rights and more than what they had. As one commentator writes, “In other words, converted Gentiles now enjoy equal title and
privileges with converted Jews. First,
they are fellow heirs. As far as
the inheritance is concerned, they share equally with saved Jews. They are
heirs of God, joint heirs with Jesus Christ, and fellow heirs with all the redeemed. Then they are fellow members of the same body. They are at no
distance or disadvantage now, but share a position of equality with saved Jews
in the church. Finally, they are fellow partakers of the promise in Christ through the gospel.
The promise here may mean the
Holy Spirit (Acts 15:8; Gal. 3:14), or it may take in all that is promised in the gospel to those who are in Christ Jesus. Gentiles are copartners with Jews in
all of this. None of this was true in
the OT
dispensation, nor will it be true in the coming kingdom of Christ. In the OT, Israel held a distinct place of
privilege before God. A Jew would have laughed at any suggestion that a Gentile
held an equal share with him in the promises of God. It simply was not true.
The prophets of Israel did predict the call of the Gentiles (Isa. 49:6; 56:6,
7), but they nowhere hinted that Gentiles would be fellow members of a body in
which Jews did not have any priority. In
the coming kingdom of our Lord, Israel will be the head of the nations (Isa.
60:12); Gentiles will be blessed, but it will be through Israel (Isa. 60:3;
61:6; Zech. 8:23). The calling of Israel
was primarily, though not exclusively, to temporal blessings in earthly places
(Deut. 28; Amos 9:13–15). The calling of the church is primarily to spiritual
blessings in heavenly places (Eph. 1:3). Israel was called to be God’s chosen
earthly people. The church is called to be the heavenly Bride of Christ (Rev.
21:2, 9). Israel will be blessed under the rule of Christ in the Millennium
(Hos. 3:5); the church will reign with Him over the entire universe, sharing
His glory (Eph. 1:22, 23). Therefore it
should be clear that the church is not the same as Israel or the kingdom. It is
a new society, a unique fellowship, and the most privileged body of believers
we read about in the Bible. The church came into being after Christ ascended
and the Holy Spirit was given (Acts 2). It was formed by the baptism of the
Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13). And it will be completed at the Rapture, when all
who belong to Christ will be taken home to heaven (1 Thess. 4:13–18; 1 Cor.
15:23, 51–58.”[1]
All
this being said, what does it mean for you and me; it means that when we come
to Christ we are accepted into His Kingdom.
That means first, that we no longer belong to this earth, we are
connected to God through the Holy Spirit.
God works through the Holy Spirit to strengthen us, comfort us and Guide
us. It means that we are now able to go to God in prayer with great confidence
and boldness. “I write this to you who believe in the Son of God, so that you
may know you have eternal life. And we
can be confident that he will listen to us whenever we ask him for anything in
line with his will. And if we know he is listening when we make our requests,
we can be sure that he will give us what we ask for.”(1st John 5:13-15) It means that we are no longer living for
ourselves but for God who created us and loves us. We no longer need to fear death. But it also means we come to the understanding
that we are to go and be the church, we are to go out and let people know who
Christ is. We no longer are able to live
for ourselves and our wants we must begin to seek out what it is that our King
and God desires of our lives.
[1]MacDonald,
W. 1997, c1995. Believer's Bible Commentary : Old and New Testaments
(Eph 3:6). Thomas Nelson: Nashville
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