EPHESIANS - CHAPTER 3 - MYSTERY OF CHRIST (2024)
EPHESIANS – CHAPTER 3 – MYSTERY OF CHRIST TO THE GENTILES
Tuesday Morning Bible Study
August 6, 2024
Pastor Carolyn Sissom
As I begin Chapter 3, one of the most beautiful chapters in the entirety of the beautiful Holy Bible, I find rather than having a “teaching, I
have four sermons. I promise not to preach all four today.
In chapter two, Paul told the Ephesians they were built together for a habitation of God through the Spirit. In subsequent revelations, he received insight into the mysteries of Christ. Here he speaks of the particular mystery of the body of Christ, the church and the Lord’s plan for the Gentiles. He is about to pray for their understanding as to their role in that Body.
Having shown what is the greatness of God’s power in raising Christ, and in constituting the Church His Body, he now begins to expound on the riches of the glory of this inheritance. He starts to express it in prayer, but is deflected by his own words (or prophetic declarations) and returns to his prayer in verse 15.
Paul was not Caesar’s prisoner, it was the will of Christ which held him captive (4:1). It was because of his battle for Gentile liberty from the law that he got enmeshed with Rome. This was his stewardship; to reveal and explain God’s arrangements for the incorporation of the Gentiles in the Church without law or circumcision. This had brought him into conflict with the Judaizers (who were zealous for the law) and ultimately with Rome.
This put him in crosshairs with politics and religion. If Gentile believers were stated to be non-Jewish then they came under Roman laws about illegal religions. So long as they were regarded as a Jewish sect, (Act. 28:22) they were immune from this law and its death penalty.
The truth of the Gentiles being admitted to salvation was never hidden and neither was the fact that they would one day receive a call (Isa. 56:6-7). But that they would someday be admitted without circumcision and made equal to the Jews, by means of an entirely new institution, was never once hinted. The truth of the Body of Christ, in which God would live, was reserved for Christ’s Church where it was to become a startling dimension of Christ’s glory.
I do not believe that the Church as established in the New Testament will cease to exist until Jesus comes. There are those who preach a new church order. Well, Paul sure got in the middle of a big religious/political battle when He preached and was one of the Lord’s primary instruments to establish the Lord’s church. While Peter was the first to win Gentiles, Paul was the one appointed to head up the new program for non-Jews.
Eph. 3:1-5: For this reason, I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles--- if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, how that by revelation, He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets.
This particular mystery of the body of Christ is that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective workings of his power.(6-9).
I could stop and preach a whole message here. Each of us are a minister of God according to the gift of the grace of God given to us. I praise God for the gift of grace in each one of your lives because your gift of grace makes me a better person. The harvest will be brought in through this same gift of grace given to His servants. I for one do not want to miss God and I want to be able and willing to say Yes, Lord.
3: 9-12: To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ, to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him.
Paul had to have grace and boldness to preach this message. This is the central feature of God’s master plan, the church, was a top-secret locked in God’s heart. It was kept from the entire spirit-world! Jesus said He was going to build His church, but who dreamed it was going to be a living house occupied by the Living God! One which He would occupy for eternity. The Greek indicates that God’s church is like a theatre where His wisdom is being acted out to educate the spirit-world as to the size of His heart and genius.
BOLDNESS—Strong’s #3954 – “freedom in speaking, unreservedness in speech, openly, frankly, i.e. without concealment; without ambiguity or circumlocution; without the use of figures and comparisons; free and fearless confidence; cheerful courage, assurance;”
Acts 4:29: Now Lord behold their threatening and grant unto your servants, that with all boldness they may speak your word.
Hebrews 10:19: Having therefore brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus.
1 John 4:17: Herein is our love made perfect that we may have boldness in the Day of Judgment because as he is, so are we in this world.
Paul speaks of God’s “hidden wisdom”, a wisdom kept from the rulers of this age (Satan’s gang); for if they had understood it, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory.”
I believe there is more “hidden wisdom” kept from Satan that has to do with the fulfillment of the fullness of God being manifest in His Church. Those who have become puffed up and full of themselves rather than the fullness of God are going to miss these unsearchable riches according to His power that works in us.
It is in Christ and that by virtue of our faith in Him, that we not only have free access to God, but can feel perfectly at ease in His presence.
3:13-19: Wherefore I desire that you faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory. For this cause I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man. That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height. And to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that you might be filled with the fullness of God.”
Paul states in Verse 17b, “I pray that from this amazing love match in which you have rooted your new life and founded your new character, you and all the saints jointly may attain to the even larger experience of comprehending the breadth and length and depth and height---“.
These dimensions look back over the eons to when He first loved us, another to the endless future, still another to the depths He reached to rescue us, with the last pointing to the heights to which His love has raised us---full partners in His Glory! But mere dimensions are not enough to express the inexpressible. So, he stops, stating that more than mere intelligence is needed.
19a” and to know by experience and exploration the love of Christ, which is something that can never be known by mere intellectual acquaintance.
There is no way to explain love. Great writers have tried. One must fall in love for oneself and actually experience love. “For love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave; the coals thereof are coals of fire, which has a most vehement flame. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it; if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be condemned.” (Song 8:6-7).
To love and be loved is the greatest gift life can give us. This Gift of Unsearchable Love is available to every human on the face of the earth through Jesus Christ. I do not have an adequate command of language to express this love. I, like you, am still on the journey of exploring and experiencing the love of Christ.
So it is with experiencing Jesus, one must meet Him, fall in love and “marry” Him. After that comes years of exploring the oceans of His gentleness, mercy, kindness, and generosity. Jesus is so wonderful; it takes time to discover what a truly marvelous Person He is.
As we become more and more aware of the astounding love Jesus has for us, Paul then adds in 19b “That you might be filled with all the fullness of God.”
The fullness of God!!!
The Greek Word #4138 (Pieroma) from 4137 (Pieroo):
A filling of filling up:
1. A fullness of being full.
2. Something put in to fill up.
3. A fullness complete number.
4. The expression “the fullness of the earth” means all the good things with which the earth is filled or plentifully stored.
5. The fullness of time denotes the completion of a particular period of time before ordained and appointed.
6. Completion. The church is called the Pleroma of Christ who fills all in all. It indicates that Christ has filled it with all kinds of gifts and dwells in it and walks in it.
7. A fullness of the Godhead in Christ in Col. 1:19; 2:9 means that in the body of Christ as it was constituted, God was in His fullness and not simply in His manifestation. Jesus was fully God and fully man with a body.
#4137 Pieroo: “To fill, as a net with fish, as a house with a perfumed smell (Jn. 12:3); to fill up, as a valley (Lk. 3:5) or measure; to complete; finish; end; to fulfill; accomplish; perform; to preach or explain fully; to accomplish or perform what was foretold or prefigured in the O.T.; to fully satisfy.
When Jesus said that He came not to destroy the law or the prophets but to fulfill, He meant that He came not only to fulfill the types and prophecies by His actions and sufferings, but also to perform perfect obedience to the law of God in His own person and full to enforce and explain it by His doctrine. Thus, He has fully satisfied the requirements of the law”.
“That you might be filled with all the fullness of God.”
What a prayer request Paul made for us. It is a promise with a condition attached. We can experience this fullness of God if we know the love of Christ. The Greek means to be full as God is full! Through the Holy Spirit Christians learn they are joined in spiritual wedlock to the Creator! Beyond that they find He is “desperately” in love living only to see that we are completely satisfied! Talk of self-realization! Why we are involved with the Godhead Himself---growing and reaching for the very likeness of the Most High! We know who we are, how we came to be and our eternal destiny. That’s enough to make any man let go of this world and cling only to Jesus! This world has nothing to match the experiences of the Christian who experiences a rapture of soul
3:20: “Now to Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.”
He who exerts His power within us is not only able to do things like this, but so much more and in such measure that it goes beyond anything we can picture in our minds or dream of asking Him!
Consider that the One who is the lover of our soul is also the amazing Genius behind the physical creation that has scientists and investigators gasping. Think what He can prepare for those whom He adores! It is no wonder that, “eye has not seen nor ear heard…” the things that are in store for us”. The God of the snowflake, of which no two are alike in a bucketful, a mountain range or the glaciers of the ages---never runs out of ideas. It is into fellowship with a Person like that that we have been invited to spend eternity, participating as marriage-partners and equals! Yes, He has the power to fill us with Himself and raise us to full adulthood…and then some.
If the sea were filled with empty containers, the containers would be filled with the fullness of the sea. That God should have such an incredible purpose for man calls for a doxology indeed. In it Paul stresses again the limitless power at work in the saints to achieve this goal, which is infinitely more than man could ask for himself or even imagine. There will then be endless glory for God through the Church, inasmuch as it will be a vehicle for the display of all the glories of Christ.
3:21: To Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen
Oh, what glory is due Him! And may He receive it all through His church in Christ Jesus---forever and ever! Amen
3: 15-21The whole family of heaven and earth is named after Jesus Christ. that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that you being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that you might be filled with all the fullness of god. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.
Paul prays that the power which has altered their whole status before God might now work increasingly in them until God’s full intention is realized.
In deepest reverence Paul offers this particular prayer to the Father from whom all fatherhood descended. The Church is a family with One Father. The word instructs us to pray to the Father, in the Name of the Son, in and through the Holy Spirit.
Pastor Carolyn Sissom
Eastgate Ministries Church, 1115 West Hidden Lakes Lane, Richmond, TX.
Scripture from K.J.V and N.K.J.V..; Text from C.S. Lovett’s Lights on Ephesians and F.F. Bruce Bible Commentary, George E. Harpur. Comments and Conclusions are my own and not meant to reflect the views of those from whom I have gleaned. We video our Sunday morning service and audio all other services. www.eastgateministries.com