Ephesians 3:3 - 3:6 -- Mystery Revealed

Ephesians Study

Chapter 3

Ephesians 3:3 - 3:6 — Mystery Revealed

Amplified Bible:

Ephesians 3:3 [And] that the mystery (secret) was made known to me and I was allowed to comprehend it by direct revelation, as I already briefly wrote you.

Ephesians 3:4  When you read this you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ.

Ephesians 3:5  [This mystery] was never disclosed to human beings in past generations as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles (consecrated messengers) and prophets by the [Holy] Spirit.

Ephesians 3:6  [It is this:] that the Gentiles are now to be fellow heirs [with the Jews], members of the same body and joint partakers [sharing] in the same divine promise in Christ through [their acceptance of] the glad tidings (the Gospel).

Paul states that what he is sharing is a mystery (secret) that has been made known to him through direct revelation.  This gave him an insight into this understanding that had not previously been revealed to man.  The mystery (secret) is that Gentiles and Jews are to be one…of the same body, partaking of the same promise in Christ as they accept the glad tidings of the gospel.  Do you see yourself as one with Gentile, Jew, Christian and others?  This call to oneness challenges our comfort level.  Have you ever looked at a group of people at a restaurant and felt that oneness?  We are journey companions.  Our trip may not look the same, but that is a matter of perception.  As soon as we think our trip is "better than" all those around us we have created walls.  It is very freeing to feel that you have nothing to prove to anyone!  Trusting God with their journey keeps us from judging and building walls.

Paul's teaching models Christ's life.  Christ was always breaking down walls that separated.  He sat and ate with those who were considered unworthy.  He taught all no matter what level of training they  already had...Nicodemus versus those on a hillside.  He broke down the walls that kept the demon possessed away from life, others, and God.  We have Christ's life Paul's message of tearing down the walls.  The Lord never justified the walls.  He was always finding a way to demolish them.  Even His examples of Sabbath keeping were breaking down the traditions of men and those walls that made it a burden.

Written way before Paul’s time, the following is beautiful and speaks of this time.   I’m sure it can be applied to any time that Israel was in captivity, but it really speaks to me in this regard.  One of the definitions of Jerusalem is city of peace.  There can be no peace unless there is oneness.  Peace suggests that a transformation has taken place…"the pain that we do not transform, we transmit" (Rohr).  That pain is usually transmitted in some form of walls.  Walls do something to the heart that cuts it off from the source of spiritual life.  Walls to others are indicative to the walls we have for ourself.  

Psalm 102:18 - 22

This shall be written for the generation to come:        

and the people which shall be created shall praise the LORD.

For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary;

from heaven did the LORD behold the earth;

to hear the groaning of the prisoner;    

to loose those that are appointed to death;

to declare the name of the LORD in Zion,    

and his praise in Jerusalem

when the people are gathered together,

and the kingdoms, to serve the LORD.

Paul is saying that his insight into this oneness mystery can now be understood…one body and joint partakers of the divine promise in Christ and the acceptance of the gospel.  This makes me think of communion again; the body and the blood.  What I keep returning to are these words: Do this in remembrance of Me.  How can we be one with anyone else if we are not one with Him?  Rightly discerning the body and blood of Christ is more than something that we do.  It engages the body, mind, and spirit.  It includes the emotions and spiritual beliefs.  

Do in remembrance of Him.  Did He say that because He knew that it was all too easy to turn this into just a ritual.  A non-feeling, non-sensing something that is done rather than taking us to a place of knowing Him.  It is intimate.  What do these precious elements of communion tell us about Him?  What do they speak to our hearts?  This is our daily bread.  It makes oneness possible.  Oneness starts with Christ’s flesh and blood.  For days, I have been thinking about His instructions to us: Do this is remembrance of Me.  I know that it is bigger than we have understood.  I feel that this mystery is still unfolding as we seek to understand oneness and being partakers of divine promises.  

I think the following scripture helps us further understand what Paul is saying.

“Grace and peace be multiplied to you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, according as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who has called us to glory and virtue, through which He has given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, so that BY THESE YOU MIGHT BE PARTAKERS OF THE DIVINE NATURE, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” 2Peter 1:2-4. Praise God!