What is the Mystery?
Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. In reading this then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus Ephesians 3:3-6 (NIV)
Paul uses the word ‘mystery’ three times in 3:1-13: ‘the mystery made known to me by revelation (3:3) … you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ (3:4) … to make plain the administration of this mystery’ (3:9). Our English word doesn’t have the exact meaning as Paul’s Greek word. In English a mystery is something secret and obscure. Anything ‘mysterious’ is inexplicable. Paul’s word was used of something open, something no longer closely guarded. Originally, the word referred to a truth that only those ‘initiated’ knew and understood. In this sense it came to be used of the secret teachings of heathen, mystery religions, teachings which were restricted to initiates. But in Christianity there are no ‘mysteries’ reserved for the spiritually elite. Christian ‘mysteries’ are truths which, while beyond human discovery, have been revealed by God and so now belong to the whole church.
What is the revealed secret ‘which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets’ (3:5) and uniquely ‘made known to me by revelation’ (3:3)? He calls it ‘the mystery of Christ’ (3:4; cf. Colossians 4:3) meaning Christ is both its source and substance. Specifically, the mystery is ‘that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus’ (3:6). So the mystery concerns Christ and His one Jewish-Gentile people.
To define it more closely, Paul uses three terms. Each has a Greek prefix that means ‘together with.’ Together these three terms describe both what Gentile believers now have and their partnership with Jewish believers. Gentiles are ‘heirs together’ (3:6), ‘members together’ (3:6) and ‘sharers together’ (3:6). Gentile and Jewish Christians are now fellow heirs of the same blessing, fellow members of the same body and fellow partakers of the same promise. And this shared privilege is both ‘in Jesus Christ’ (3:6), because it is enjoyed equally by all believers, whether Jews or Gentiles, because they are in union with Christ, and ‘through the gospel’ (3:6) because the gospel proclamation makes it available to believers.
In summary, ‘the mystery of Christ’ is the complete union of Jews and Gentiles with each other through the union of both with Christ. This double union, with Christ and with each other, is the substance of the ‘mystery.’ God had revealed it to Paul but it also had been made known to God’s ‘holy apostles and prophets’ by the Holy Spirit (3:5) and through them ‘to the saints’ (Colossians 1:26).
This ‘mystery’ was ‘not made known to men in other generations ‘(3:5). How are we to understand this knowing that the Old Testament revealed something of God’s purposes for Gentiles – that all the families of the earth would be blessed through Abraham’s family (Genesis 12:1-3), that the Messiah would receive the nations as His inheritance (Psalm 2:8), that Israel was given as a light to the nations (Isaiah 42:6; 49:6) and that one day the nations would make pilgrimage to Jerusalem (Isaiah 2:2-4)? Jesus also spoke of the inclusion of the Gentiles and told His disciples to disciple the nations. But what neither the Old Testament nor Jesus revealed was the radical nature of God’s plan, that the theocracy of the Jewish nation under God’s rule would be terminated and replaced by a new international community, the church; that this church would be ‘the body of Christ,’ organically united to Him; and that Jews and Gentiles would be incorporated into Christ and His church on equal terms without distinction. It was this complete union of Jews and Gentiles into Christ which was radically new and which God revealed to Paul (cf. Galatians 1:12)
For this wonderful mystery, which I briefly described, was given to me by divine revelation. I’m sharing it now with you in detail, so that whenever you read it you will be able to understand my revelation and insight into the secret mystery of the Messiah.
There has never been a generation that has been given the detailed understanding of this glorious and divine mystery until now. He has kept it a secret until this generation. God is revealing it only now to his sacred apostles and prophets by the Holy Spirit. Here’s the secret he revealed to me: The gospel of grace has made you, non-Jewish believers, into coheirs of his promise of glory through your union with him. And you have now become members of his mystical body – one with the Anointed One, and one with each other Ephesians 3:3-6 (The Passion Translation)