Ephesians Chapter 3
1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles
2 if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace which was given to me for you;
Knowing your hopeless state before you were in Christ, and your excellent state after Christ redeemed you should give you a tremendous sense of gratitude to God. This gratitude should motivate you to give your life to Him completely and hold nothing back. Jesus said that he who is forgiven much loves much (Lk 7:47). The secret of Paul’s ministry was that he saw clearly his own hopeless state before Christ and his new status in Christ. If we see the same thing as clearly as Paul did we will also give ourselves to God the way Paul did. Paul understood this secret and wanted to convey it to the Ephesians in chapters one and two.
If you are finding it hard to obey God or to serve Him faithfully read Ephesians chapters one and two and meditate on it. Let it soften your heart and change your life.
Paul now talks about how God is using him (the least of all the saints) for the building of His kingdom. He wants to show them by example that God also has a plan to use them exceeding abundantly for His kingdom. He is preparing them for what he wants to tell them in Chapter 4 regarding the gifts of the Spirit and their use for building up the body of Christ.
3 that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief.
4 By referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ,
5 which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit;
6 to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel,
7 of which I was made a minister, according to the gift of God's grace which was given to me according to the working of His power.
Paul refers to the mystery of Christ. What was this mystery? It is explained in verse 6 that the mystery was that the Gentiles would be included in God’s promises and God’s plan of salvation. This was a remarkable change from what the Jews understood at that time. They believed that they were the chosen people and that to be in the favor of God you had to be a Jew.
Even Daniel did not have a revelation of this “bringing in of the Gentiles”. His prophecy totally skips the happenings from the time of Jesus to the end of the age (Eph 3:9).
Peter (1 Pet 1:10-12) tells us that the prophets who prophesied this salvation could not understand fully what their prophecy meant. They were told that it was not meant for them to understand. So we are privileged to be living in this time, when God’s fully plan has been revealed.
In Ac chapters 10 and 11 we see how the Jewish believers were so surprised (Ac 10:45, 11:17-18) when they saw that God had granted the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.
Why was it kept a mystery?
Why did God reveal it to Paul?
How was it revealed to Paul? (Gal 1:15-24; Gal 2:1-9).
The Lord revealed to Abraham what His plans were (Gen 18:17).
God reveals His secrets and plans to those who fear Him (Ps 25:14).
8 To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ,
Here Paul refers to himself as the least of all saints. In 1 Cor 15:9 Paul called himself the least of the apostles because he persecuted the church. In 2 Cor 11:5 Paul considered himself among the best of apostles. Finally, in 1 Tm 1:15 Paul considers himself the chief of sinners. We see that as time went by (the epistle to the Corinthians was written before the one to the Ephesians which was before the one to Timothy) Paul became smaller and smaller in his own eyes. That is a mark of spiritual progress. Are we becoming smaller and smaller in our own eyes as time goes by? Do we consider ourselves more holy this year than last year or are we bigger sinners in our own eyes this year compared to last year?
Paul describes the spiritual blessing that we have received in Christ as unfathomable riches. Do we see it the same way? If we did would we also not give our whole life for God just as Paul did?
If grace to have a ministry was given to Paul, the least of all the saints in his mind, then surely God will give His grace to you also so that you can perform a ministry. To the extent that you are humble to that extent will be the extent of your ministry. Paul was humble enough to consider himself the least of all saints. Therefore he had such a fantastic ministry.
9 and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things;
The mystery that Paul refers to was that the Gentiles were also part of God’s plan of salvation. Before Paul made it known the Jews thought that God’s plan only concerned the Jews and that all Gentiles were lost.
God created all things. Rev 4:11 says that they were created by God’s will. God creates things by willing them into existence.
God created all things through Jesus Christ (by Him and for Him) (Jn 1:3) (1 Cor 8:6) (Col 1:16) (Heb 1:2). Comparing Col 1:16 with 1 Cor 8:6 shows that all things were created for the Father and the Son. Note also the consistency of Scripture – John, Paul, and the writer to the Hebrews all agree that the world was created by God the Father through God the Son.
10 so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.
The rulers and authorities are in the heavenly places – the second and third heavens.
Note that it is through the church that God’s wisdom is made known to these rulers and authorities. The demons must see our lives and recognize that God has indeed done a wise thing in saving the Gentiles.
The wisdom of God is manifold. That means it has many aspects to it.
11 This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord,
12 in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him.
13 Therefore I ask you not to lose heart at my tribulations on your behalf, for they are your glory.
God’s plan to also save the Gentiles existed eternally (even before the foundation of the earth).
It was carried out through Jesus Christ.
We have access to God’s plan through faith in Jesus Christ.
Paul encourages the Ephesians to not lose heart because of the tribulations Paul is facing because those tribulations are part of God’s ministry to Paul. The Ephesians had great fondness for Paul. When we see our loved ones suffering for the cause of Christ we are to not lose heart because God will comfort them.
14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,
15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name,
Because the Ephesians (who were mostly Gentiles) were part of Paul’s ministry he pleads with the Father to grant them to be strengthened in the inner man. This is the way a true shepherd thinks about his sheep. He is concerned for them even though he is in prison.
Scripture seems to prefer that the whole family take the father’s last name. Women who prefer to keep their own last name may find this verse difficult.
When we take on the name of the Father i.e. when we become children of God then we are destined to become like God in character (Rom 8:28-30). How is that accomplished? By experiencing God’s love to us and then expressing that kind of love to others.
16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man,
17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.
We need to be strengthened with power in the inner man. The inner man is our spirit. A strong inner man helps us to resist and overcome sin. It is the Holy Spirit through whom we are strengthened. The strength comes from being overcome by the greatness (height, depth and breadth) of God’s love to us. The end result is that Christ dwells in our hearts, or in other words, we are filled with all the fullness (or nature) of God (Christ).
Paul’s aim in telling us (in chapters one to three) how bad our state was and how God changed things so wonderfully is to create a great gratitude in our hearts towards God. This results in a great desire to give our lives completely to Him and do what Paul lays down in chapters four to six.
God’s goal is that we be filled up to all the fullness of God’s character. Like all other believers, when we understand the length, breadth, height and depth of the Father’s love, and that of Christ, then we can be filled up with the fullness of God’s character. It is this rooting and grounding in God’s love that enables us to be all that God wants us to be.
For example, if God asks you to stand for him at work, and you lose your job because of that, you won’t be unwilling to do that if you understand the suffering Jesus endured to pay for your sins, and if you understand that God loves you so much that He will not let you starve but have another job available for you, if that is according to His will for you.
For another example, if you recognize how patient God is with you then you won’t have trouble being patient with yourself and with others.
20 Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us,
21 to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.
Just in case that you think that such a thing (to be filled with all the fullness of God) is not possible Paul reminds us that God is able to do far beyond what we ask or think.
The result of knowing this is that we give all the glory to God forever and ever.
If you recognize what God has done for you, and therefore want to do something for God, but feel as if your past has been too terrible for God to use you, then take encouragement from what Paul wrote in chapter three. Note how God used Paul to build His kingdom. Believe that God will use you too, and make yourself available to God. Then read chapter four to begin understanding how God can use people who are available to Him.
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