seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Ephesians 3:1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—
2 Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, 3 that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. 4 In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 which was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. 6 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.
7 I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power. 8 Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ, 9 and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. 10 His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, 11 according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. 12 In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. 13 I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.
14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family[a] in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
a. Ephesians 3:15 The Greek for family (patria) is derived from the Greek for father (pater)
The commentary this morning is from the enduringword.com site.
I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles: During his Roman imprisonment Paul was under house arrest. In the day he was free to move around the house with the supervision of soldiers, but every night he was chained to a soldier to make sure he did not escape before his trial before Caesar. Yet he saw himself as the prisoner of Jesus Christ. He knew that Jesus was the Lord of his life, not the Roman government, so if he was a prisoner, he was Jesus’ prisoner.
For you Gentiles: The entire reason he was under arrest and awaiting trial was because of his missionary efforts on behalf of the Gentiles.
He made known to me the mystery: Paul did not hesitate to claim that the mystery he will reveal was given to him by revelation. But it was not given to only him by revelation. It was also given specifically to Peter by revelation (Acts 11:1-18), and it is consistent with prophecy in the Old Testament (such as Isaiah 49:6) and the specific words of Jesus (Acts 1:8).
However, it seems that God used Paul to declare specifically how Jews and Gentiles would be joined together in one body of Christ. This was something hinted at through others, but only specifically detailed through Paul’s revelation. Paul trusted that his readers would understand what God revealed to him.
To the principalities and powers in the heavenly places: This means that angelic beings are interested and instructed by the lives of Christians. This is why the conduct of the church is so important: because angelic and demonic beings are looking on, and God’s intent is to teach them through us. Several passages refer to this:
Through faith in Him: The fact of this unity is shown by the truth that we (Jew and Gentile collectively) have the identical boldness, access, and confidence before God – because it has nothing to do with national or ethnic identity, only with faith in Him (Jesus).
The word for boldness has the idea of “freedom of speech.” We have the freedom to express ourselves before God, without fear or shame. “The Greek word ‘parresia’ translated by ‘boldness’ means really ‘free speech’ – that is, the speaking of all. It is the blessed privilege of prayer.” (Gaebelein)
Divisions in the church have not always been between Jew and Gentile. The Reformers spoke out against the division between “clergy” and “laity” and the teaching of the priesthood of all believers insisted that all had the same access to God.
To the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ: Paul directed his prayer to the Father, who is presented as the “planner” among the members of the Trinity. In the Bible, prayer is usually directed to the Father, through the Son, by the empowering and direction of the Holy Spirit.
From whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named: In remembering that all God’s family is called after His name, Paul showed that his mind was rather taken with this idea of the essential unity of the Body of Christ. God is Father of both Jew and Gentile.
May be able to comprehend with all the saints: Paul asked that they might be able to understand together in community every dimension of the love of Jesus. Paul wanted them to know it by experience and not just in words.
This is from the easy English site.
So Paul is in prison. He gives his Gentile readers a reason for this. He is there because of them. Moreover, it is for their benefit. Now he is able to tell them the good news. This is the gospel about Jesus Christ. Paul has been teaching about the Gentiles. He has taught that they too are God’s chosen people (chapter 2). Both share in the promises. God gave these to Abraham. Paul has been teaching that the Gentiles and the Jews are members of the same group. By the gospel, they have the same promise in the Messiah Jesus. The Jewish leaders believed that God had chosen Israel alone to be his people. So the Jewish leaders objected to what Paul taught. It was dangerous to their religion. Yes, the Roman ruler had put Paul in prison. But what really put Paul there was what he taught.
God wants to make known his ‘immense wisdom’. He has many different kinds of wisdom, which he wants men and women to learn. There are spiritual authorities and rulers who are surrounding us. They are the good angels and bad angels that we cannot see. God wants them to know about it too. He makes this wisdom known ‘by the church’. There is no other way that everybody can know it.
God has given Paul the special task to be the apostle to the Gentiles. God has made known the secret of his plan to Paul himself. He has also made it known to the other apostles and prophets (verse 5). We have seen the complete plan of God. First, he shows his plan to Paul. Then he sends Paul (and other people) to preach the gospel in the entire world. This is by the spoken message. It is the task of the growing church. There are angels in the air round us. We cannot see them. They watch the church as it grows. So they see the immense wisdom of God too.
It's really not hard to imagine.... being a descendant of Jacob [whom God renamed Israel] and feeling "chosen" since forever.... and then to find out that everyone is chosen.... both the Jews [those descendants of Jacob] and the Gentiles [those descendants of Esau]. Boy what a blow to the ego!!!!! I can imagine that was a bitter pill for those Jewish men to swallow. All this time they had been nitpicking every single project of the day to make sure it was done according to the rules so God wouldn't get mad at them and throw hot meteors at their head. Now all of a sudden... they were supposed to welcome those hairy cousins [Esau was a very hairy guy] and consider them their equal. No wonder they were so upset with Paul. How dare he!
Paul says he has to preach that they are all family. He says Jesus showed up in a vision or a dream and told Paul to go preach to the Gentiles and tell them all about how Jesus went to the Cross for them. Those Gentiles never offered one sacrifice to God. Those Gentiles burned meat to any fake god they came across. Those Gentiles didn't memorize the scripture.... they weren't required to be specific about what they ate, how they prepared it, and what they served it with and on top of that who they served it too. Those Gentiles could pull a leg off a pig and eat it raw if they wanted to. "How is that fair or even believable"... the descendants of Jacob [Israel] would have asked.
This all reminds me of the "deathbed confessions" so many good Christians have a problem with. Jesus set this up. In the original plan... only a couple of prophets got eternal life. Everyone else was a perishable. That's what happened when Eve talked Adam into trying out that new fruit. Eve talked Adam into being perishable.
When Jesus came to earth.... He brought the antidote to the perishing issue. He had to be beaten, hung on a cross, murdered.... laid in a borrowed tomb and then ascend to Heaven. Since He didn't deserve to have to go through any of that... since He was God's Son and had never committed one sin.....He gets to say who gets adopted into the Family and who doesn't. Jesus is our Big Brother... and He gets to say who is gifted with Salvation.
That means.... a man can go all his life thumbing his nose at God... doing what ever he pleases.... but in the last breath... if he chooses Salvation and confesses that he was a horrible sinner but now he wants to follow Jesus.... Jesus can say "ok... come on". That really makes some people really angry..... like it must have made those Jews angry. Those deathbed confessions of FAITH are a real thorn in the side of the preacher.... what good is preaching all those sermons every single Sunday, standing there all those Sundays, alone up there during the Call..... when all a sinner has to do is say "ok... I give up... and can't do this any more... Jesus Help Me!" and they get the same ticket to Heaven as that hard working preacher. "That is not fair"... the preacher could whine.
As Christians, we are the adopted children of the One True Living God. Our Big Brother is Jesus the Messiah. God's got our back.
There's just one tiny little warning I would give to anyone who has not really given their life to Jesus. Don't wait until the last second... because it might be a minute early. Don't wait until the last minute... the changes in life are worth savoring. Don't wait until the last minute... the door might shut before you get there.
Jesus tells us who is welcome. Jesus also guards the door and if someone who has been faking it all this time shows up at the front of the line... Jesus will have no problem telling them to "take a hike". Jesus is my Big Brother. He sets the rules now. God's got my back. I don't have to worry because now both the Jews and the Gentiles are all one big family.... Rebecca's great great great great whatever grandbabies are all equal agian.
