Studies in Ephesians

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Apr 1, 1913

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 40, No. 13.

Read the full edition

Studies in Ephesians

The Great Mystery

Chapter 3, Verses 1-5

Questioning the Text

1. What did Paul call himself?

“For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus.” Verse 1.

2. In whose behalf was he a prisoner?

“In behalf of you Gentiles.” Verse 1. Note 1.

3. What did he imply that they had heard?

“If so be that ye have heard of the dispensation of that grace of God which was given me to you-ward.” Verse 2. Note 2.

4. What was made known to him by revelation?

“How that by revelation was made known unto me the mystery as I wrote before in few words.” Verse 3. Note 3.

5. What might they understand as they read his letter regarding this?

“Whereby, when ye read, ye can perceive my understanding in the mystery of Christ.” Verse 4. Note 4.

6. Had this mystery always been revealed? Are there fuller revelations?

“Which in other generations was not made known unto the sons of men, as it hath now been revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets in the spirit.” Verse 5. Note 5.

Notes

1. “For this cause.”—The apostle refers back to what had been previously said. He had just told these Gentile believers that they were built into the household of God, members of the commonwealth of Israel, no more strangers to the covenants of promise. This is a part of Paul’s preface to the wonderful prayer that he has for them. “The prisoner of Christ Jesus.”—Paul’s earnest desire for the Gentiles led to the enmity, jealousy, and hatred of the Jews, and this led to his imprisonment. However, he does not look upon it as something which he should hold against the Jews, but a part of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ who called him. He was told, in the very beginning of his call, of the things that he must suffer for Christ’s sake, and those were a part of the things which God had appointed, so that while he was a prisoner, he was a prisoner in connection with his work and in behalf of the Gentiles. How blessed it is to so regard the afflictions and trials which come to us. If we look upon them as God’s appointment, we will find blessing in them. If we look upon them as perplexities and trials which we in no wise deserve, and which some evil-minded person has brought against us, they will cause endless trouble and worry. Rather, let us take them as from the Master—prisoners in behalf of His blessed cause. The apostle preferred to preach to the Jews. He longed to go back to Jerusalem, as we are told again and again in Acts, but God saw in him a chosen vessel, one that could be used mightily in giving light to the Gentiles, and this the apostle ever keeps before him.

2. “If so be that ye have heard.”—Just a gentle reminder that he had told them of these things. The dispensation of the grace of God.—That is, the divine arrangement, or the disposition, the way in which God’s grace had been revealed, dispensed, and poured out upon the children of men. Of this he tells us all through the first part of his epistle. Doubtless he had given it to these brethren in Ephesus in great detail while he labored among them. He has also given instruction concerning this in his epistles to the Colossians, Philippians, and elsewhere. God had granted to him a dispensation, or stewardship. Paul himself was to be among those, preeminently, who should dispense, or spread abroad, the news of the blessings of the grace of God. And this, in a measure, is given to every one according to his ability.

3. “By revelation.”—The apostle did not receive his gospel through Jesus as He walked here in the flesh, nor did he receive his mission from the other apostles. He informs us in Galatians, the first chapter and the 11th and 12th verses: “For I make known to you, brethren, as touching the gospel which was preached by me, that it is not after man. For neither did I receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came to me through revelation of Jesus Christ.” The Lord Himself, he tells us, appeared to him as one born out of due time. 1 Cor. 15: 8. He, like others, had seen the Lord. An abundance of revelations and visions was given unto him. The whole plan and scheme of God’s gospel, as taught in all the prophets of the past and fulfilled in our Lord Jesus Christ, was opened before the apostle.

4. “The mystery of God.”—Not a mystery in the sense in which secret society people held mysteries, then or now, but the mysteries which God reveals to all those who will come into fellowship and harmony with Him—the mystery of the gospel, as stated in Ephesians the 6th chapter and 19th verse, “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him.” What this mystery included, or involved, to the Gentiles we will learn in our next study. Let it suffice here to say that it embraced the gospel of Jesus Christ.

5. “Not made known.”—Not always had this fulness of the gospel been known, yet it had been known sufficiently so that souls could embrace it and live. That has been demonstrated in every generation by the believers in God, and in His plan to save. Righteous Abel was a witness of his generation as against Cain the unbeliever. Enoch witnessed for God during the time which he lived. Noah witnessed, Abraham witnessed, Melchizedek, Jethro, Moses, and all the believers in Israel. Balaam, the wise men who came from the east,—all the good of all the ages past,—were witnesses to the effectiveness of the plan of salvation, dimly tho it were revealed in type and shadow and promise. But the abundance of that revelation did not come until our Lord manifested it in the flesh, showing in His own life the power of God to save and to keep mankind from sin in a world of sin,—that the Seed of the woman could live above all environments,—that is the mystery of godliness, God manifest in the flesh. 2 Tim. 3: 15. It had been revealed dimly before, even as the moon reflects the light of the sun, but when the Lord Jesus came, He revealed it in far fuller measure; and the weakened, wicked world needed the greater, the brighter, the clearer revelation. But this will be revealed,—that in the last great day it will be seen that there has been light enough, always, for men to come to the true light if they would but receive it. Yet there is more of the light of God. For, “the path of the just is as the shining light, which shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” Even unto the end of this world’s probationary period, floods of light will be poured out upon God’s people. Blessed is the man who by fresh supplies of life keeps the wine-skin of heart and mind fresh and expansive to the new wine of God’s truth.