Ephesians
3
Digression on the Admission of the
Gentiles
into
the
1 “For
this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,”
For this cause. The reference is not merely to the last
statement or illustration, but to
the whole
view of the purpose of God toward the Gentiles unfolded in ch.
2. The
apodosis
(main clause) does not come in till v.14, at the beginning of which this
conjunctive
clause is repeated. I Paul, the prisoner of Christ
Jesus for you Gentiles,
He
introduces himself in order to make known the feelings which were roused in his
soul
towards them by the consideration of the privileges just enlarged on —
especially
to acquaint
them with the prayers
he
offered for them (see vs. 14-19), and apparently
with the
indirect object of getting them to offer
similar prayers for themselves. To
justify
this introduction of himself, he delicately introduces the fact of his being a
prisoner on
their behalf. What had brought him to
to Caesar,
was his preaching the gospel to the Gentiles;
(fulfilling his call – Acts
26:13-18 –
CY – 2010) indeed, the immediate occasion of his arrest at
was the
suspicion that he had taken Trophimus, an Ephesian, one of themselves,
into the
temple (Ibid. ch. 21:29). By this allusion to the
condition into which his
regard for
them had brought him, he conciliates sympathetic consideration of what
is to
follow.
The Prisoner
of Jesus Christ (v. 1)
The apostle
often refers to his prison-life, and here presents himself to the
Churches as
“an ambassador in bonds” (ch. 6:20).
·
HE WAS A
MOST CELEBRATED PRISONER. Perhaps he was
regarded as of no great account by his Roman jailors, who
could have
known nothing of the secret of his greatness; but viewed
in the light of
Christian history, Paul is the most distinguished of men. He
did more than
any other apostle to shape the theology of Western
Christendom, which, in
its turn, has left the deepest
imprint on THE CIVIILIZATION OF THE
WORLD! The world
would not be today what it is if Paul of Tarsus had not
lived. His influence has long survived the empire of
captive. We sympathize with the prison-sorrows of the
great. Alas! that the
best of men, “of whom the world was not
worthy” (Hebrews 11:38), have
spent so many weary days and years in prison!
·
HE WAS NOT
A PRISONER FOR CRIME OR FOR THE BREACH
OF THE ROMAN
LAWS, BUT AS THE EFFECT OF THE
UNSLEEPING
HATRED OF THE JEWS. It was his ministry to the
Gentiles which brought down upon him the vindictive anger of
his
countrymen, and led them to accuse him before the Roman
magistrates.
The suspicion that he had taken Trophimus,
an Ephesian, into the temple at
(Acts 21:27-29) “He
was at once Christ’s prisoner, the Jews’ prisoner,
the Romans’ prisoner, the Gentiles’ prisoner: Christ’s
prisoner, as suffering
for His gospel; the Jews’ prisoner, as suffering by their
accusation;
the Romans’ prisoner, as suffering by their sentence; the
Gentiles’ prisoner,
as suffering for his labor’s unto their salvation.” His
imprisonment was thus
a higher honor than his rapture into the third Heavens. (II Corinthians
12:2-4)
·
HIS
IMPRISONMENT HAD ITS PROVIDENTIAL ADVANTAGES.
Just as John Huss had leisure during his imprisonment in
the fortress on the
countrymen ages after his martyrdom at
one year’s imprisonment in the Wartburg enabled him to give
the
Scriptures to
was enabled in the leisure of his Roman imprisonment to pen
those
beautiful Epistles of the captivity — to the Philippians, to
the Ephesians, to
the Colossians, to Philemon — which have so largely contributed to the
edification
and comfort of the Church. He still held the threads of a
hundred interests in his hands, and felt in his prison at
of thousands of Christian hearts in all parts of Asia and
·
PRISON-LIFE
IS ALMOST NECESSARILY SAD, BECAUSE OF
ITS
ISOLATION FROM HUMAN RELATIONS, ITS SOLITUDE, ITS
SUSPENSION
OF ACTIVE AND ACCUSTOMED LABOR, AND ITS
USUALLY
HARD CONDITIONS. It must have been a sore trial to the
apostle to submit to an enforced inactivity, while the world
was
everywhere, in so sad a sense, “ripe for the harvest.” It would seem as if, at
a certain point, the sympathy of Asiatic Christians failed
him (II Timothy 1:15);
and there was an unaccountable indifference to his wants
marking the relations
of the Roman Christians themselves, which argued that much
was not to be
expected from their affection. So his prison experience must
have had its
dark moments.
·
MARK THE
SPIRIT IN WHICH THE APOSTLE LIVED
THROUGH
THIS PRISON-EXPERIENCE. The solitude of such a life
often breeds a morbid spirit, which throws a darker coloring
into the
thoughts of the prisoner. Yet the Epistles of the captivity
breathe a
beautiful spirit of
Christian courage and resignation, not to speak of
absolute rejoicing. Compare the letters of the apostle with
those of
Seneca, and Ovid in their exile, and we see at a glance the different effects
of Christianity and paganism upon the happiness of man. As the prisoner of
Jesus Christ, he abounded in the consolations of his Divine
Master, while
he must have been greatly encouraged by the visits of
disciples like
Epaphroditus, Epaphras, and others, who carried to him the prayers and
benefactions of the Churches.
·
WE OUGHT
TO REMEMBER PRISONERS IN OUR PRAYERS,
AS “BOUND WITH THEM.” Most
prisoners in our day are in jail for
crime, but we ought to remember that they are men, that they
are our
brothers, that they must feel their separation from wife and
children and
home as keenly as we should. Perhaps, but for restraining
grace, we should
have been in their position. But we are
bound specially to remember in
our prayers those suffering
for the cause of Christ, and
especially those
occupied
with great service for the Lord.
The
Prisoner of Christ Jesus (v. 1)
Paul writes
from his Roman dungeon, with the galling constraints of his
confinement
constantly about him. There is a pathos in the situation that
must move
the sympathy of the reader; and yet there is a dignity and even a
glory in it
that make us feel the apostle’s occasional reference to his bonds
chiefly a
motive for giving the greater weight and solemnity to his
persuasive
exhortations.
·
THE
FAITHFUL SERVANT OF CHRIST MAY BECOME A
PRISONER
IN HIS CAUSE. Paul was called into the apostleship from
a worldly position of great influence and brilliant
prospects. He was the
most gifted and the most devoted man in the Christian
Church. No one
labored more assiduously, and no one met with more marked
success. Yet
it has all come to this, that the great, honored apostle
lies chained in a
Roman prison, his life at the mercy of the “mad boy” Nero.
The end might
have been expected in this form. “A disciple
is not above his master, nor a
servant above his lord.” (Matthew 10:24) If the Lord was crucified, shall
we be surprised that the servant is imprisoned? Still some
are perplexed and
disappointed, not at suffering these great hardships, but at
having to bear
any cross for Christ. Christianity
is the religion of the cross for the Christian
as truly as for Christ.
·
LIBERAL CHRISTIANITY
MAY ENDANGER THE
ITS
ADVOCATE. Paul was a prisoner “in behalf of
you Gentiles.” We
know, from the history in the Acts, that it was through the
enmity of Jews
that the apostle was accused before the Roman government,
and that this
enmity was roused by the jealousy they felt at his preaching
the gospel to
the Gentiles, and advocating the Gentile right to an
equality with the Jew.
Paul was the preacher of the more liberal Christianity of
his day and
therefore he was most grievously misunderstood and most
bitterly
opposed. They who feel called to preach more liberal views
than are
sanctioned by the prevailing opinions of the age may expect
opposition, but
may learn the duty of courage and fidelity to truth, and may
be cheered by
thinking of the lonely sufferers in the same cause in bygone
days, when the
larger views and the freer doctrines were more vigorously
opposed than
they can be now. The noble champions of liberal
Christianity, from Paul
to Maurice, have won substantial victories from which we
profit.
·
IT IS
BETTER TO BE A PRISONER FOR CHRIST AND
LIBERAL
TRUTH THAN TO BE AT
AND IN
UNCHARITABLE NARROWNESS, After all, the prisoner at
Christ
was with him in his bondage. His was the real blessedness of those
who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake. Paul was the
champion of
freedom as opposed to the restraints of Judaism, and this
real, spiritual
freedom could not be destroyed by bolts and bars.
“Stone walls do not a prison make,
Nor iron bars a cage.”
The immortal dreamer had large liberty in
the Beulah heights and almost as far as the gates of the
celestial city.
·
THE PRISONER
WHO SUFFERS FOR A GOOD CAUSE LAYS
GREAT
OBLIGATIONS UPON ALL WHO BENEFIT FROM IT.
Paul quietly appeals to his imprisonment as a ground for
prayer (v. 14)
and exhortation (ch. 4:1). The
sufferings of the great martyrs of liberty
in the past urge us, who have entered into the heritage won
by their
toil and death, to be faithful to so great
a trust, to walk worthy of it by
using our liberty as an
opportunity for the highest service of love, and to
preserve it from all
encroachments and hand it down to our children
unfettered by new restraints of theological dogma or of
official domination.
2 “If
ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me
to
you-ward:’ If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of
God. Here begins
the digression. The words, “if ye have
heard,” do not
denote an uncertainty, but are a
delicate
reminder. Doubtless they had heard of the matter when he was at
and, as he
remarks in v. 3, he had already written briefly on it. Grace is here used in a
more
restricted sense than in ch. 1:2 — in the sense of Divine favor, honor, privilege -
the same as
in v. 8, “To
me... is this favor given.” Which is given me to you-ward.
The grace
or favor meant is that whereby Paul was constituted the apostle of the
Gentiles. Deeply
though he felt his being sent away from preaching to his
countrymen (Acts 22:18), he took kindly to the new sphere allotted to
him, and
magnified his office (Romans
11:13)
3 “How
that by revelation He made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote
afore
in few words,” How that by revelation He made known unto me the
mystery. The
mystery, as is explained afterwards (v. 6), was not the gospel itself,
but its destination to the
Gentiles as much as
to the Jews; although, as appears
afterwards, this
fullness of blessing is really the great glory of the gospel.
Mystery, that which is known only to the initiated, does not denote here a thing
obscure in its own nature, but only something that had been
concealed from view.
It was only the initiated that now knew that God designed the gospel for Gentile
and Jew alike. Paul
had been initiated “by revelation” — not by his own
reflecting
power, not by his study of Scripture, not by communication from ether
men, but by a special communication from God (Galatians 1:12) As I wrote
before in few words. Where? In another Epistle? No; but in the
earlier part of
this
Epistle (see chps. 1:9; 2:18). If it be said the
allusions in these places to the
topic in
question are rather vague and general, the apostle virtually admits it —
he wrote of
it “in few
words;” but, as it is a great and
glorious truth, he returns to
it to
amplify it and place it in a brighter light.
4 “Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand
my knowledge in the mystery of
Christ).
- πρὸς ὃ - pros ho – toward which - with
reference to which, i.e. to what I
wrote
afore: to make that more intelligible I write on the subject more fully now,
so that you
shall see that your instructor is thoroughly informed in this matter of
the mystery
in Christ — this once concealed but now revealed purpose of His grace!
5
“Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now
revealed
unto His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;” Which in
other ages
was not made known unto
the sons of men. Though not a new purpose, the knowledge
of it is new.
Abraham, David, and the prophets, however much they knew of Christ
and the fullness of blessing in Him for all the families of
the earth, did not know
THE FULL
EXTENT OF GOD’S GRACE to the Gentries — did not know that the
middle
wall (v. 14) was to be wholly broken down, and all
inequality removed.
This
might seem
to throw some doubt on the reality of this doctrine; but it was on purpose
that
God kept it secret, and those by whom He has now revealed it are worthy of all
regard. As it is now revealed
unto His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit.
It is
not revealed to Paul only, although he has got the privilege of
announcing it to
the
Gentiles, but to the whole body of “holy apostles and prophets.” The designation,
“holy apostles,” is rare; it is used here to magnify the
office, to show that those whom
the
Head of the Church had set apart for Himself were fit instruments
to receive so
important a
revelation. “Prophets” here are
undoubtedly New Testament prophets
(see ch. 2:20), the contrast being with “sons of men in other
generations.” Reference
may be made to the
experience and decree of the Council of Jerusalem, guided by the
Holy Spirit (see Acts
15:28).
6
“That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and
of the same body, and partakers
of His
promise in Christ by the gospel:” That the
Gentiles should be fellowheirs.
Heirs with the Jews of the same
inheritance (see ch. 1:11). And of the same body
(this figure is repeated and applied in ch.
4:4, 16, 25) and partakers of His promise
in Christ by the gospel - the promise to Abraham, “In thee and in thy seed shall all
the families of the earth
be blessed.” (Genesis 12:3)
They do not get this blessing
indirectly through the Jews, or by becoming Jews, but directly, as Gentiles; and
they become fellow-heirs,
fellow-members, and fellow-partakers “in Christ
Jesus,”
enjoying all privileges in
Him, in a state of union and fellowship with Him. To this
state they are invited and admitted through the gospel; by receiving the glad
tidings
they enter on these blessings (compare Romans 10:15,18). This
statement of religious
equality between
Jews and Gentiles is strong,
clear, complete; the more remarkable
that Paul himself had had so strong Jewish prejudices; only
one of dearest insight and
highest courage could proclaim the truth so emphatically; it
is little wonder if many
believing Jews, less enlightened and less courageous, shrank
from his statements
as too strong. (How this
would play along racial lines today would give us an
accurate assessment of our
spiritual condition BEFORE GOD! CY – 2019)
Dispensational
Privileges of the Gentiles (vs. 2-5)
The apostle
recurs to a subject already treated in few words in the first
chapter —
words which he requests them to read, that they may fully
understand
his meaning — respecting the new position of the Gentiles in
the
is, by an
arrangement organized in all its parts in relation to space and time;
for God works
by order in grace as well as in nature. Consider:
·
THE ORIGIN
OF THIS DISPENSATION. “The grace of God given to
me to you-ward.” It was an
act of Divine favor to select the apostle as the
person through whom “the mystery” of the
dispensation was to be, not
only revealed, but applied in its redeeming effects to the Ephesian
heathens. It was not the honor or the authority involved in
it that made it
precious in his eyes; it was the privilege of making known the unsearchable
riches of Christ. Thus, as a
good steward of the mysteries of God, it was
the delight of his life to dispense them in all their gracious manifoldness to
the family of God.
·
THE MYSTERY
THAT SHROUDED THE DISPENSATION’ FOR AGES.
ü
It is called “the mystery of Christ,” not because He is its
Author, but
because He is the
Center or Subject of it; for it included far more than the
truth that the Gentiles were fellow-citizens of
the saints. Christ is the
Mystery of godliness, as He is God manifest in
the flesh (I Timothy 3:16),
but He is emphatically so as “Christ the Hope of glory” for the Gentiles
(Colossians 1:27).
ü
It was hidden for ages from the sons of men, both Jew and Gentile. A
mystery is either something which has been
concealed, perhaps for ages,
and which probably would never have been
discovered unless the voice of
revelation had proclaimed it; or something
which, even when revealed,
transcends the power of the human faculties to
comprehend it. Now, the
Incarnation is a mystery in this double sense;
but the call of the Gentiles, as
part of “the
mystery of Christ,” is a mystery only in the first-named sense.
It was known to the Jews for ages that the
Gentiles would share in the
blessings of the Messiah’s kingdom — and the
Apostle Paul quotes Old
Testament predictions to prove the fact (Romans
9:25-33); but it was
not known that the Gentiles would be included
within the circle of religious
privilege by the complete sacrifice of the Hebrew theocracy and the
reconstitution of religion on a perfectly new basis, DESIGNED
EQUALLY FOR
ALL MANKIND, under which the old distinctions of
Jew and. Gentile would be done away. There
was to be no further room for
Jewish particularism. The dispensation which was to carry the world to
its
last destinies
was to be as universal as that embodied in the first
promise
made to our first parents.
ü
The revelation of the mystery. So far as it involved a mission to the
Gentiles, it was revealed first to the Apostle
Paul at his conversion; for
when Christ appeared to him on his journey to
appeared unto
thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a
witness...
delivering thee from the people, and. from the Gentiles, unto
whom now I
send thee, to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness
to light,
and from the power of Satan unto God” (Acts 26:16-18).
But
the fuller exhibition of Gentile privilege is
made in this glorious Epistle as
well as elsewhere. It was a revelation made by
the Lord Himself
(Galatians 1:12). But it was made especially to
“apostles and
prophets,” both of them belonging to the new dispensation the only class of
inspired men connected with it who received
special information from the
Holy Spirit, who searches the deep things of
God, respecting the new
development of the kingdom. The revelation was,
indeed, one of facts as
well as of truths. The calling of the Gentiles
was made manifest in the
Spirit’s falling upon Cornelius, and in the
widespread success of the gospel
among the Gentiles, so that the logic of facts
beautifully reinforced the
more formal revelations of “apostles and prophets.”
ü
The substance of the revelation. “That the
Gentiles are fellow-heirs, and
of the same
body, and partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel.”
These are the three points of Gentile privilege.
They were not to receive
the blessings of the Messiah’s kingdom by being
merged as proselytes into
the old theocracy, which was to abide in all its
narrow ritualism.
Ø
The Gentiles are fellow-heirs. Possession by inheritance involves the
ideas of right, certainty, and inalienableness. All that is involved in the
benefits of the covenant of grace is our
inheritance. Now, the Gentiles
are “heirs of
God and joint-heirs with Christ” as well as the
Jews,
just because they are “children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” They
cannot be heirs unless they are children; they
cannot be children unless
they have faith. And because they have faith,
they are Abraham’s seed.
“And if ye be
Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs
according to
the promise” (Galatians 3:29). The Gentile interest
in the inheritance may be recent, but it is entire
and beyond cavil.
Jews and Gentiles have an equal
share in all the
blessings of the
inheritance.
Ø
The Gentiles are of the same body. This marks a more intimate
relationship. They were
all Jews and Gentiles alike, baptized into
one body by
one Spirit, and thus coalesced into one Church-state,
with Christ
as the Head of both. But while they
were thus, as members
of one body, partakers of a common life, the
Gentile was not there by
the permission of the Jew, or the Jew by the
permission of the Gentile.
They were
both equally baptized into it BY THE
SPIRIT! The union
in one body obliterates all previous
distinctions of character or culture,
and all varieties in dispensational privilege;
for there is no schism in
the body. The Judaistic
section of the Church in the apostle’s day
fought strenuously against the doctrine of the
one body.
Ø
The Gentiles are fellow-partakers of the promise. This refers, not so
much to the promise of redemption made first to
Adam, repeated to
Abraham, and embodied in many Old Testament
predictions, as to the
promise of the Spirit, who enables us to realize
all the blessings
involved in this first promise. This was, indeed, the blessing of
Abraham which came upon the Gentiles (Galatians 3:14). It was
conspicuously realized when, in the words of the
Apostle Peter,
“the Holy
Ghost fell upon them as on us.” (Acts 11:15) There is
no promise of the new covenant that is not
equally sure to Gentile
and to Jew. All the three points of Gentile
privilege, setting forth
apparently the relation to Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost, and
represented in a sort of spiritual climax, are realized by union
with Christ, made known to us in the gospel. Salvation centers,
as its objective ground, IN CHRIST JESUS and the gospel is the
medium by which it is subjectively applied to
sinners of mankind.
7 “
Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God
given
unto me by the effectual working of His power.” Whereof I
was made a
minister. I did not
gradually grow up to the office, but became, at a given time and
place, a minister, διάκονος - dee-ak’-on-os – deacon; ministe;, a servant. According
to the gift of the grace
of God. The office of serving Christ was a gift, most undeserved
on Paul’s part, who had been a persecutor and injurious, (I
Timothy 1:13) but flowing
from the free grace of God, His sovereign, unmerited mercy.
“given unto me by the effectual working of
His power.” This
denotes the manner of
the gift;
the gift itself, apostleship
to the Gentiles, would have been little had it not
been accompanied
with Divine power. Spiritual office without spiritual power
is miserable; but in Paul’s
case there was the power as well as the office;
not merely
the power of working miracles, as some have held, but besides this,
the power of spiritual insight into the meaning of Scripture:
·
power of
exposition,
·
power of
demonstration,
·
power of
persuasion (compare I Thessalonians 1:5; Acts 14:1; I Corinthians 4:7).
Paul gratefully acknowledged that all the power of his ministry was God’s, not his own
(I Corinthians 3:6-7).
8 “Unto me, who am less than the least of all
saints, is this grace given, that I should
preach
among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of
Christ;” Unto me, who am
less than the least of
all saints,” Not only of apostles and prophets, but even of
all
believers — a profound expression of humility, founded not
only on his persecuting
career, but on his consciousness of sin, of inborn
rebellion against God’s Law, of
fountains
of unlawful desire in his flesh (Romans 7:18; I Timothy 1:13-15), making
him feel
himself to be, in heart and essence, the chief of sinners. The sense of sin is
not usually
in proportion to the acts of outward transgression, but to the insight into
the springs of evil in one’s heart, and the true nature of sin as direct antagonism to
the Holy God! Is this grace given. The third time in this chapter that he speaks of
his
office as a
fruit of grace, showing that, notwithstanding his being a prisoner on account
of it, and
all the perils it involved (II Corinthians 11:24-27), he was overwhelmed with
God’s unmerited goodness in conferring it on him. It was
substantially the post of a
foreign
missionary, with hardly one human comfort! That I should preach among the
Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; εὐγγελίσασθαι - euggelisasthai –
to
evangelize, to
proclaim good tidings; to bring the well-message. The force of the
εὐ is not
given in “preach,” but the
idea is amply conveyed by the words that follow.
The
balance of authority for τοῖς
ἔθνεσι – tois ethnesi
- to the
Gentiles, and ἐν τοῖς
ἔθνεσι – en tois
ethnesi - among the Gentiles, is about equal; the meaning really the
same. Ἔθνος - ethnos - heathen, was
almost an offensive name; yet with that name
the apostle
associates the highest blessings of God. The
unsearchable
riches of Christ; two attractive words, riches and unsearchable, conveying the idea of
the things
that are most precious being infinitely abundant. Usually
precious things are
rare; their
very rarity increases their price; but here that which is most precious is also
boundless — riches
of compassion and love, of merit, of sanctifying, comforting, and
transforming
power, all without limit, and capable of satisfying every want, craving,
and yearning of the heart, NOW and EVERMORE! (And to think, besides that,
GOD IS ABUNDANT IN TRUTH! Exodus
34:6 – CY – 2019) The thought of
His
having such
riches to offer to all made him regard his office as most glorious, raised
him far
above the point of view from which the world would despise it, and filled
him with
adoring gratitude to God for having conferred it on him. Concerning riches,
worldly
riches, there has historically been CEASELESS DISAPPOINTMENTS
of most who
follow after them. The riches of God are those
that “moth and rust
doth not corrupt and thieves do not break through and steal” (Matthew 6:20)
God’s “unsearchable riches” make
provision for the full satisfaction and infinite
enjoyment
of every soul FOR EVER AND
EVER! “They shall hunger
no more, neither thirst any
more; ... for the Lamb in the midst of the throne
shall
feed
them;” (Revelation 7:16-17) - “He that hath the Son hath life;” (I John 5:12).
“He that overcometh shall inherit all
things, and I will be His God, and he shall be
my son.” - (Revelation 21:7)
The Unsearchable
Riches of Christ (v. 8)
“Riches” an attractive word. Human
heart leaps towards them. Ceaseless
disappointments
of most who follow after them. Here the riches that moth
and rust do
not corrupt, nor thieves break through to steal.
1. There are
in Christ unsearchable riches of compassion.
by great wickedness,
troublesomeness, loathsomeness.
Not so Christ’s!
c.
Pity for thief on cross, Saul, Corinthians, and other gross sinners.
2. Unsearchable riches of merit.
(Hebrews 7:25)
(1) Augustine,
(2) Bunyan,
(3) Lord
Rochester,
(4) John
Newton, and such like.
3. Unsearchable riches of sanctifying grace. Great
change needed to make
men meet
for kingdom of heaven. This includes grace to:
a. enlighten,
b. guide,
c. strengthen,
and
d. to restore
from declension.
4. Unsearchable riches of comforting grace. There is
no sorrow to which we
are liable
for which the gospel has not a comfort; no wound for which there is
no balm. The Third Person, “the Comforter,” is sent by Christ.
5. Unsearchable riches of glorifying grace. Can make
provision for the full
satisfaction
and infinite enjoyment of every soul forever and ever.
a. “They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; ... for the
Lamb
in the midst of the
throne shall feed
them;” (Revelation 7:16-17)
b. “He that hath the Son hath life;” (I John
5:12)
c. “He that overcometh shall inherit all
things, and I will be his God,
and he shall be my son.” (Revelation 21:7)
The Unsearchable Riches of Christ (v. 8)
Some
riches are unsearchable because they are inaccessible, like
jewels
guarded by
jealous sentinels, and pearls in sea-caves, and the gold-mines of
remote
stars.
Some
riches are unsearchable because they are secret, like
treasure
hid in a field, and ancient records in undeciphered
hieroglyphics; in
this sense
an illiterate man finds the wealth of a library, and an unscientific
man the
stores of a museum, unsearchable.
No doubt
there are wonderful graces in Christ that are as yet above and beyond our
grasp, and
deep mysteries that we cannot fathom, and a spiritual worth in all His
blessings that cannot be discovered by the unspiritual. But it is
not in these senses
that the
riches of Christ are called unsearchable. The doors
of His treasure-chamber
are flung
wide that the poorest may enter. There is no
veil of mystery to prevent
a little child from
seeing the beauty within. THE RICHES
OF CHRIST ARE
UNSEARCHABFLE simply
because they are so abundant and so
various
that no man can ever measure the extent, or count the number, or
distinguish
all the forms of them. For near upon twenty centuries this
great
treasury has been ransacked by friends and foes, by hungering
inquirers
and by keen-eyed critics, with the result that, like the infinite
wealth of
nature — which is felt to be more immeasurable in our own day,
after the
fruitful labors of the most indefatigable naturalists, than ever it
was when
not one-tenth of what we now know was discovered — these
riches of Christ amaze and fascinate and
overwhelm us with an evergrowing
sense of THEIR
MAGNIFICENT UNSEARCHABLENESS!
·
THE RICHES
OF THE CHARACTER OF CHRIST ARE
UNSEARCHABLE.
ü They have
been searched into by uncompromising
foes, at first
by bitter
Pharisees and scoffing Sadducees, later by clever
philosophical
opponents, such as Celsus and Porphyry,
down to the times of Voltaire’s
sparkling sarcasm and Strauss’s dry criticism. And the
verdict of mankind
is distinctly against the fault-finders, confessing with
Pilate, “I find no
fault in Him.” (John 19:4)
ü These
riches have also been searched into by adoring disciples, some
with the profundity of
unhesitatingly
declare that they never weary of worshipping fresh
wonders in
that life of unearthly loveliness. The more our eyes are
opened to discern spiritual worth, and the
more the character of Christ
is
studied, (I recommend a repeated numerous readings over time of:
Ephesians ch. 2 v. 20 – He Jesus
Christ Himself – Spurgeon Sermon –
#155a this website – CY – 2019), the more
are we astonished and
delighted by the vision
of infinite perfection.
·
THE RICHES
OF THE TRUTH OF CHRIST ARE UNSEARCHABLE.
Christ is the
Truth and the Light of the world. The ideas of Plato may be
measured — the truth of Christ never. Yet two classes of
people deny the
unsearchable nature of
the riches of this truth.
ü Those who say the world has outgrown
Christianity. Perhaps
they
mistake the dogmas of the creeds for the truth as it is in Jesus.
The
former are necessarily limited, and some of them may have to
break
up and give place to larger ideas. But the latter is:
Ø living,
Ø infinite, and
Ø eternal.
ü Those who are satisfied that they
know everything. They are
usually the
people who know least. A smooth and rounded scheme of
doctrine
comprehends their universe. Because they have shaped it into
logical
consistency, they assume that no truth can lie outside it.
They have yet to
learn that the Word made flesh, like
the Word in nature, IS INFINITE!
·
THE RICHES
OF THE LOVE OF CHRIST ARE UNSEARCHABLE.
Human love
commonly diminishes in intensity in proportion to the extent of
the area over which it is spread; family affection being
warmer than our
interest in the wider circle of friends, and this than
general philanthropy,
just as the river is deep where it is narrow, but becomes
shallow as its banks
open out in width. But the grace of Christ, in depth and
breadth like the sea,
has a vast comprehensiveness for all, together with a strong
intensity for each.
So that in the last
great assembly, when some come from distant isles and some
from hidden valleys, some from populous cities and some from
lonesome deserts,
to confess that the grace of Christ
has reached them in the fullness of its power,
none will be found so remote as
to have been beyond reach, so undeserving as
to have been past mercy, or so needy as not to have been able to find the supply
of every real want in His
great riches of love.
·
THE RICHES OF THE BLESSINGS GIVEN BY CHRIST ARE
UNSEARCHABLE. There is still an unhappy habit among some of
listening only to the evil report of the spies who tell of
the giants, and
turning a deaf ear to the spies who bring the grapes and
pomegranates,
(Numbers chps 13-14) No wonder that this habit leads to the
painting of
the blessings of Christianity with very dull shades. Rightly understood,
the
gospel:
ü offers a
pearl of great price,
ü reveals
hidden treasures, and
ü strips off
the rags and brings forth the best robe and the ring.
From the first grace of forgiveness to the last grace of
peace in death,
Christ is breathing
benedictions on the Christian’s life, so
that when he reflects, He is astonished at what he has
already received, and
yet learns to accept all this as only the earnest of the
blessings of light, and
strength, and purity, and peace, that are reserved for his future inheritance.
Less than
the Least of All Saints (v. 8)
·
HE WHO IS
MOST HIGHLY GIFTED WITH DIVINE GRACE
WILL
THINK MOST LOWLY OF HIMSELF. Paul, the most gifted
apostle, is most deeply conscious of his own unworthiness.
We must
distinguish between the endowment of grace and the
acquisition of merit.
To have much grace is only to be much favored. As a man
grows in grace
he grows in power of spiritual insight; and the result is
twofold — he has
more knowledge of his own true state and a better
understanding of the
claims of righteousness. Thus the standard is ever rising
above his head in
greater heights of holiness, while he is constantly seeing more clearly, freed
from all hypocrisy and self-deception, the miserable
weakness and
sinfulness of his own character.
·
HE WHO
THINKS MOST LOWLY OF HIMSELF WILL BE MOST
FITTED
FOR THE SERVICE OF CHRIST. It is not that unworthiness is
itself a fitness for service. Both to be
unworthy and to think one’s self
worthy are to be doubly
unfit. But as Socrates thought he might be
accounted wise only because he knew he was ignorant while
all other
Athenians were unconscious of their ignorance, the true
servant of Christ is
aware of the sinfulness which is common to him and to all
others, but
others are not so deeply conscious of it. This humble
consciousness of
unworthiness is helpful for service,
ü because it
makes us look for THE INDISPENSIBLE GRACE OF
GOD!
ü because it saves us
from preaching ourselves when WE SHOULD BE
PREACHING
CHRIST, and
ü because it compels us to give God all the glory of success.
9 “And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from
the
beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by
Jesus
Christ:” And to
make all men see what is the fellowship (dispensation)
of the mystery. Another
branch of his office, and another fruit of God’s grace in
conferring it. He was not only to benefit man, but also to
vindicate God. For
“fellowship of the mystery,” the Revised Version has
“dispensation of the mystery,”
founded on the preference of the reading οἰκονομια - oy-kon-om-ee’-ah – dispensation;
for which there is a
great preponderance of authority over κοινωνία - koy-nohn-ee’-ah –
fellowship. It was the apostle’s function to show how this mystery had been
dispensed
concealed for a long time and at last revealed. Which from the beginning of the world
(ages) hath been hid in God. The counsel itself was πρὸ τῶν αἰώνων – pro ton aionon
–
before
the foundation of the world; the concealment of it ἀπό τῶν αἰώνων – apo ton
aionon - from the beginning of the ages, when there were intelligent beings capable
of understanding it — whether angels or men. Whatever the angels may have known
of the Divine plans, this feature of them was not known till revealed to the New
Who
created all things. The reason for adding this particular
designation of God
is not obvious; probably it is to indicate the relation
of the matter in hand to
the mightiest works of God. This is no trifling
matter; it connects itself with GOD’S
GRANDEST
OPERATIONS; it has
supremely glorious bearings. It might be
supposed to have relations only to one race and to one
period of time; but it has
relations to “all things;” it is an integral element in God’s plan. The words,
“by Jesus
Christ”, are not found in a great preponderance of textual
authorities –
(and not in
the Greek New Testament which I have – CY – 2010)
The
Apostle’s High Privilege (vs. 8-9)
Very often does
he refer, with a sort of grateful humility, to the Divine favor in
attaching
him to the service of the gospel.
·
MARK THE
CONTRAST BETWEEN HIS CALL AND HIS SENSE
OF PERSONAL
NOTHINGNESS. “Less than the least of all
saints.” The
expression is exceedingly emphatic, being a comparative
formed upon a
superlative. He could never forget his share in the death
of Stephen, and
his fierce persecutions of the
though forgiven by God, could never be forgiven by himself.
But he was
likewise conscious of his own weakness and sinfulness, as we
know by the
very forcible phrase, “of sinners I
am chief” (I Timothy 1:15),
which he uses
as a presently believing man. Such language of self
abasement is a mark of a
true saint. The highest saints are usually the most
distinguished by their
humility. The term by which he describes himself implies
that there are
saints in Christ’s kingdom — little, less, least; not that
there is any difference
in their title, but a difference at once in their
realization of their own
unworthiness and in the degree of their conformity to Him
who was at once
“meek and lowly.” (Matthew
11:29). Now, while the consciousness of
his
own unworthiness stood out in marked contrast to the high
function to which
he was called in God’s grace, he does not shrink from
asserting his authority
as an ambassador of Christ in the strongest terms, but
always with the
conviction of one who ascribes all his success, not to his
own merits, but to
“the gift of the grace of
God.” His call to the apostleship involved his
conversion, and his conversion was “by the effectual working of God’s power.”
(v. 8)
·
CONSIDER
HIS MESSAGE TO THE GENTILES. “The
unsearchable riches of Christ.” We read of riches of grace and riches of
glory, but the
plenitude of all
Divine blessings is in him.
ü
The apostle does not
specify what is included in the riches of Christ.
He who was rich for our sakes became poor that “ye through his poverty
might
be made rich” (II Corinthians 8:9). We see the source of all
the
riches — it is in Himself. But Scripture shows
that, while in Him there was
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, with the real design of His
filling us
eventually with all the fullness of God, “the riches
of Christ” are
scattered
over the
whole path of a believer, from its starting-point in conversion till it
is lost in the glories of the eternal inheritance. HE IS:
Ø
rich in
love,
Ø
rich in
compassion,
Ø
rich in
mercy,
Ø
rich in
grace,
Ø
rich in
peace,
Ø
rich in
promise,
Ø
rich in
reward,
Ø
rich in all
the blessings of the new and better covenant,
as he must be because He is “made unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification,
redemption.” (I Corinthians 1:30)
ü
The riches of Christ are “unsearchable.” The word suggests the idea of
the difficulty of tracing footsteps. Who can
trace the footsteps of God?
Whatever of power is infinite power; whatever of
wisdom is infinite
wisdom; whatever of love is infinite love.
Ø
We cannot trace the extent of the “riches of Christ.” We may apply a
double standard of measurement, taking account
of the infinite altitude
of the sources whence His salvation has flowed,
and of the depths of
sin and misery to which salvation had to descend
in order to reach its
objects. Yet we have not
searched out the riches of
Christ. He put
forth upon our salvation all:
o
the invention of His omniscient wisdom,
o
applied to it the utmost energies of His omnipotent power, and
o
lavished upon it the exceeding riches of his infinite goodness
— neither mercy conflicting with justice, nor
love with righteousness,
nor compassion for the sinner with hatred of his
sins.
Ø
The riches of Christ are unsearchable
so far they are undiminished with
use or time. Who can trace the limits of their
application? Millions have
drunk of the “water
of the wells of salvation?” but these wells are still
unexhausted and inexhaustible. (Who has ever
drunk of the water of
life and ever thirsted? Jesus said, “But whosoever drinketh
of the
water that I
shall give him shall never thirst.” John 4:14 – CY – 2019)
The rivers of the earth may fail; there may be
dry wastes where now
there are running streams; but the riches of
Christ can never fail,
though thousands of needy souls have drawn from
them and twice
ten thousand more will yet come to draw. The fountain of supply
is full as it is free, and free as it is full.
ü
Consider his larger message to the whole
world of man. “And to make
all men see
the dispensation of the mystery, which from the beginning of
the world
hath been hid in God.” The apostle’s object was to
enlighten the
Jew as well as the Gentile upon the true nature
of the dispensation which
displaced so much that was dear to the Jewish
heart in order that the true
glory of the Lord might shine forth, not as a
mere minister of the
circumcision, but as the uniter
of Jew and Gentile, bond and free, male and
female, in his own body. The mystery was hid for
ages, but was now made
known by apostles and prophets. We see how
revelation was an historical
movement, subject to the usual laws of
historical development; for the
redemptive purpose, “hid
for ages,” was revealed by a gradual process of
growth, till in Christianity it became a
full-grown fact. It was part of the
discipline of man to go through all these stages
of imperfect knowledge till
“the perfect
day” dawned upon the world. But it was through all
the ages
“the mystery
of redemption,” going back to the ages that date from
creation — “creation
building the platform on which the strange mystery
of redemption
was disclosed.”
10 “To
the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places
might
be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God.” To the
intent –
indicative of the purpose of the remarkable
arrangement or dispensation according
to which the eternal Divine purpose, which had been
concealed from the beginning
of the ages, was now made known. That now unto the principalities and powers
in
the heavenly places - that a lesson might be given to the unfallen
angels. Their
interest in the scheme of man’s redemption is
referred to (I Peter 1:12). Even the
highest powers of heaven have yet much to learn respecting God. The dispensation
of God’s grace to man is one of their
lesson-books. The angels by their great age,
for they are thousands of years old, have
advantages that short-lived man does not
possess for comparing the wisdom of
God as manifested in widely
distant ages.
Angels have from the first moment of their being,
lived in the presence of God!
They have been contemporaries of man during all
the history of mankind,
for when the earth was framed “the morning stars sang together, and all the
sons of God shouted for joy.” (Job 38:7) – (Dr. Chalmers shows
(‘Astronomical
Discourses’)
how this meets the objection that so dread a sacrifice as the life of
God’s
Son could not have been made for one
poor planet; in its indirect bearings
we do not
know what other orders of beings have derived most vital lessons from
this manifestation of the attributes of God. (“For without controversy great is the
mystery of godliness: God
was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen
of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world,
received up into
glory.” I
Timothy 3:16 - I recommend Spurgeon
Sermon this website - #547a –
I
Timothy ch. 3 v. 16 – The Hexapla
of Mystery – Charles Haddon Spurgeon Sermon –
CY –
2019) However men may scorn the salvation of Christ and all that
belongs to it,
the highest intelligences regard it with PROFOUND INTEREST! Might be known
by the Church the manifold wisdom of God. Through the
Church, now constituted,
according
to the revealed mystery, of Jew and Gentile, all redeemed
by Christ’s
blood and renewed by His Spirit, there is
exhibited to the angels the manifold
wisdom of
God. The precise line of thought is this: God from eternity, had a
purpose to
put Jew and Gentile on precisely the same footing, but concealed
it for
many ages, until He revealed it in the
apostolic age, when He appointed
Paul His
minister to announce it. The
purpose of this whole arrangement was to
enlighten the principalities and powers of heaven in the manifold wisdom of
God.
How in His
manifold wisdom? In this way. During these
preparatory ages, when God’s
gracious
dealings were with the Jews only, all kinds of false religions were developing
among the
heathen,
and their diversified influence and effects were becoming apparent
in many
ways — the divergent tendencies of men, especially in religious matters, were
being
developed; but in the new turn given to things by the breaking down of the
middle wall
in Christ, the manifold wisdom of God was shown in transforming many
of these
most diverse elements, unifying them, building them up into a great spiritual
body, into a holy,
most beautiful, most symmetrical temple. When all things seem
to be
flying asunder into the most diverse and antagonistic elements, God gives a
new turn,
as it were, to providence, and lo! A GLORIOUS SYMMETRICAL AND
HARMONIOUS STRUCTURE BEGINS TO ARISE.
God is
called “the Lord of hosts,” as
marshalling the innumerable army of angels?
They
have a manifoldness far beyond our conception, and yet He can dispose of them
as
easily as an officer can do with a small section of an army. He calls them, as
He
calls
the stars, by their names; (Isaiah 40:26) - not one is overlooked, not one out
of
place. The manifold wisdom of God is also to be seen in the way in
which the
billions of men on the earth are DEALT WITH IN ONE
MOMENT! The problem
here has been
complicated by the entrance of sin.
·
Manifold are the phases of
sin, and
·
manifold are the methods by
which God seeks to dislodge men out of their sin.
But this manifold problem of the world of
mankind is mastered by Him more
easily
than the problem of a single household is mastered by us. But it is in the
Church
that there is to be seen conspicuously the manifold wisdom of God. (May we
“open our eyes and behold” – CY – 2010) As Christ is called the Wisdom of God,
(I
Corinthians 1:24) so we may expect to see in His Church a wisdom manifold as
Himself! What an element in the scheme of redemption,
that the Redeemer was a
Divine Being in human
nature!
·
How justice and mercy are reconciled in His
cross!
·
How sin is forgiven while God at the same
time manifests His detestation of it!
(I recommend The Wrath of God by Arthur Pink – # 3 - this web site – CY –
2010)
·
How manifold are the ways by which men are
brought into the Church!
What
the final adjustment of things is to be is very much a mystery to us, as it is
doubtless
to the angels. But we stand in this position that, in what has been
exhibited to us already of the manifold wisdom of God, we can look
hopefully
forward to the final reconciliation.
What
wisdom was requisite for the creation of the world and the ordering of all
things,
from
the movements of a star down to the life of a cell! (I highly recommend
“Fantastic Trip” on
the internet – just type in those words in your browser –
it
will give you great exposure of the wisdom of God in creating the worlds and
the
things that are in it – whether through the telescope or the microscope – CY –
2010) What
wisdom is involved in the government of the world, maintaining life
and gladness, developing the latent resources
of the universe, making all things
work together for good, ruling great kingdoms
and individual lives in justice
and mercy! But a higher wisdom is required for REDEMPTION! It
is more
difficult
to regenerate than to create, to regain
Not
only are the POWER and GOODNESS of God
needed for this work, but
also HIS WISDOM! Preaching
may be foolish, but the gospel preached is the
WISDOM OF GOD!
The HIGHES INTELLECTUALITY
has been exercised
in working out THE WORLD’S REDEMPTION!
We are called to minister instruction
to other worlds. The
service is mutual; angels are
ministering
spirits to men, (Hebrews 1:14) men are instructive witnesses of redemptive
wisdom
to angels. Thus the lowest can help the highest. An angel can learn lessons
from
a man,
as a man can find instruction in an insect. (Proverbs 6:6) - Our lives, then,
are
linked
to other worlds. What happens to us has bearings elsewhere. This thought may
help
us to face some mystery of life. As in
the case of Job, what is humanly
unintelligible
may be explained when it is seen that the beings of another sphere
are
being instructed through our experience.
If the highest intelligences
“desire
to look into” these things, and see the manifold wisdom of God in them,
(I
Peter 1:12) surely we men should treat the works of redemption with profound
reverence, and
regard the study of them as worthy of our HIGHEST THOUGHT!
The
Manifold Wisdom of God (v. 10)
·
THE
MANIFOLD WISDOM OF GOD IS PUT FORTH IN THE
REDEMPTION
OF THE WORLD. God is the
great Thinker. All our
philosophy is the attempt of man to spell out some of the
ideas of God.
ü What wisdom was requisite for the creation of
the world and the
ordering of all things, from the
movements of a star down to the
life of a cell!
ü What wisdom is involved in the government of
the world, maintaining
life and gladness, developing the latent
resources of the universe,
making all
things work together for good, ruling great kingdoms
and
individual lives in justice and mercy! BUT A
HIGHER WISDOM
IS
REQUIRED FOR REDEMPTION! It is more difficult to regenerate
than to create, to regain
ü Not only are the power and goodness of God
needed for this work,
BUT ALSO HIS WIISDOM! Preaching
may be foolish, but the gospel
preached is the wisdom of God. The
highest intellectuality has been
exercised in
working out THE WORLD’S REDEMPTION. (Compare
God’s work, planning, and results with the work of the
Congress of
the
Senate! What a
joke! What a mismatch in comparison, yet vain man
is as wild as an ass’s colt and
takes no heed or warning! CY
– 2019)
ü Paul sees
this especially in the breadth of the results — in the
inclusion of Gentile with Jew. High wisdom is broad, and
liberal charity
requires much intelligence. Comprehensiveness should not be
a matter of
vague sentiment. To be effective it must be fortified by
ripe wisdom.
ü This wisdom is manifold. God has
many interests to consider, many
conflicting forces to deal with, and many issues to provide
for. Therefore
Ø different
men may have different views, and yet all be in the right.
Ø Many
purposes may be aimed at in redemption beyond what we
can see, and thus
many processes which to us look meaningless
find their end. The
water is not taken over the mill-wheel simply
that it may find its nearest course to the river; nor is the
Christian
led over a broken path because that is the nearest way to
heaven.
·
THE
MANIFOLD WISDOM OF GOD IS MADE
KNOWN THROUGH
THE CHURCH TO THE
HIGHEST INTELLIGENCES. The
Church is the manifestation of a wisdom that was hidden
before
Christianity appeared. Truth is explained by illustration,
and the Church is a
concrete illustration of Divine wisdom. It is not in the
thinking and
teaching of Divine wisdom by Christians, but in their very existence as
such, that the wisdom of God is revealed. To be a
redeemed soul is to be a
proof of that wisdom, just as for one who had been incurably
sick to be a
healthy man was to be a living proof of the healing power of
Christ. This
revelation was made to other worlds and higher
intelligences.
ü God cares for other worlds than our
own; elsewhere processes of
education are being carried on with creatures in whom God
takes
interest.
ü We are called to minister instruction
to other worlds. The
service is
mutual; angels are ministering spirits to men, men are
instructive
witnesses of redemptive wisdom to angels. Thus the lowest
can help
the highest. An angel can learn lessons from a man, as a man
can find
instruction in an insect. Our lives, then, are linked to
other worlds.
What happens to us has bearings elsewhere. This thought may
help us
to face some mystery of life. As in the case of Job, what is humanly
unintelligible may be explained when it is seen that the
beings of
another sphere are being instructed through our experience.
ü
If the
highest intelligences “desire to look into” these things, and
see the manifold wisdom of God in them, surely we men should
treat
the works of redemption with profound reverence, and
regard the study of them as worthy
of our highest thought.
11 “According to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus
our Lord:”
The apostle
is ever anxious that we should connect these operations, of God with the
profundity,
deliberation, and awfulness of an eternal decree, and that we should thus
contrast them in our minds with many even of the most important works of
man
which are
often determined, on his part, by a passing event or other trivial cause.
The verb in
this clause is ἐποίησεν – epoiaesen - which He made; He makes, and
it has been
debated whether it denotes the original
formation of the purpose, or the
execution of it under Christ. We prefer the former. The object of the apostle
is to
indicate
that the purpose existed from
eternity; but, besides, the meaning of
closing
formula, “in Christ Jesus,” is
perfectly applicable to the eternal formation of
the
purpose; it is the constantly returning indication of the element in which the
whole scheme of grace had:
·
its beginning,
·
its progress, and
·
its end.
The Church the Means of Angelic
Enlightenment (vs. 10-11)
The Divine
purpose in the dispensation already described was to make
known to the angels the
manifold wisdom of God.
·
THE ANGELS
RECEIVE INSTRUCTION THROUGH THE CHURCH.
This implies:
ü That the
angels are not omniscient, for they have something still to learn.
ü That the angels are in communication with the
Church on earth as well
as in heaven. They rejoice over the conversion
of sinners; they minister to
those who shall be heirs of salvation (Hebrews
1:14); they stand in
immediate relation to the individual man
(Matthew 18:10; Luke
15:10; 16:22). The apostles regard themselves as
“spectacles
to angels”
as well as men, in the insults heaped upon them
by an ungrateful world
(I Corinthians 4:9). The Apostle Peter was
liberated from prison by an
angel.
Angels are present in the assembly of the saints (ibid. ch. 11:10).
They are associated with the redeemed in heaven
(Hebrews 12:22), so
as to derive much information concerning the
ü The angels
desire increased knowledge of the ways of God with man.
This might be inferred from the fact that they
come specially into the
foreground at great turning-points in the
history of the
such as the founding of the old and new
covenants, and the humiliation
and exaltation of Christ. But they are expressly
represented as desiring
“to look into” the great
realities of redemption (I Peter 1:12), and here
they are instructed in the manifold wisdom of
God by means of the
Church.
·
THE
INSTRUCTION CONVEYED BY THE CHURCH IS THE
GREATLY
DIVERSIFIED WISDOM OF GOD. It is a curious fact that
the interest of the angels is not in the power or the
goodness of God, but in
His wisdom, as if to imply that the work of redemption REPRESENTS
THE HIGHEST ORDER OF
INTELLIGENCE! It is also a high honor
to man that he should first receive the knowledge which the
angels are to
receive through man. But the angels, by their great age —
for they may be
thousands of years old — have advantages that short-lived
man does not
possess for comparing the wisdom of God as manifest in
widely distant ages.
But the wisdom here referred to centers in the Church — the
spiritual body
constituted in Christ, and its variety is manifest in:
ü the
original plan of salvation,
ü the
selection of a Redeemer,
ü the
incarnation,
ü the
atonement,
ü the
application of salvation to Gentile and Jew,
ü the spread
of the Greek language,
ü the triumph
of the Roman law, and
ü in all the
dispensations by which the Church has been led
onward to her final destiny.
Thus our earth, though a mere speck in space, becomes, in
the
eyes of angels, the brightest of stars; for it is the
platform of that Church
which mirrors forth “the manifold
wisdom of God.” (Check
out
Fantastic Trip- the power of Ten on You Tube
or your browser
– CY – 2019)
·
IT IS THE
CHURCH WHICH IS THE MEDIUM OF ANGELIC
INSTRUCTION. Not
specifically the preaching of apostles, nor human
preaching, but the Church as the exhibition in its long and
checkered
history of the wisdom of God.
·
THIS
EXHIBITION OF THE MANIFOLD .WISDOM WAS
INVOLVED
IN THE ORIGINAL PLAN OF SALVATION. “According
to the eternal purpose which
he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” The
scheme was fixed in the counsel of peace; it was executed in
all its parts in
and through Jesus Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures
of wisdom and
knowledge; and it found historical realization in the
progress and kingdom
of God, apart from all dispensational limitations.
12 “In
whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of Him.”
In whom we have boldness and access. Παῥῤησία - par-rhay-see’-ah; -
literally
means “boldness” or “freedom of
speech,” but is
used here in a more ample
sense for want of restraint, ease of
feeling, comfortable self-possession, in our access
to God. Contrast
with Adam hiding himself among the trees of the garden, and the lost
calling on
the mountains to fall on them, and the rocks to cover them. (Genesis 3:8;
Revelation
6:12-17) The “we” in this
verse includes both Jews and Gentiles.
The “access,” or introduction (see ch.
2:18), is like that of the high priest into
the holy of
holies — we have boldness to enter into the holiest of
all (Hebrews 10:19).
With confidence by the faith
of Him. The confidence of being welcomed and accepted
when we
go into God’s presence springs from our faith in Him. We believe in Him:
· as the Propitiation,
· as our Peace,
· as the Reconciler, and
we go before God with confidence. The clause, “through faith in Him,” influences
the whole
verse. And, as before, we have at the beginning of the verse,
“in whom” — an
expression denoting generally our union with Christ, and at the end,
“through the faith of Him” — a
specification of the instrument by which that union is
formed and
by which it operates.
The New Spirit of
Approach to God (v. 12)
As the
effect of the work of redemption, we stand in a new relation to
God, which
entitles us to a continuous access to Him, free,
unrestricted,
and
confiding.
·
WE HAVE
BOLDNESS AND ACCESS TO GOD. There is an open,
intrepid speaking which springs from a mind confident in
itself and strong
in the justice of the cause it espouses; but the freedom of
speech here
referred to is based upon a true
appreciation of our relation to Christ and
the security enjoyed by the believer in the midst of all his
tremors and
dubieties. Our God is indeed a consuming fire (Hebrews
12:19), yet the
believer can approach Him without servile fear, simply
because Christ
is the way
of access, and the heart has been sprinkled from
an evil
conscience through His blood. (ibid. ch. 10:22)
·
IT IS IN CHRIST WE HAVE THIS CHANGED DISPOSITION IN
PRAYER. He died
that we might have “boldness to enter into the
holiest.”
We see in His atonement, not a means of deliverance out of
the hands of
God, but the strongest of all reasons for
casting ourselves into the hands of
God as the very best Friend
we have in all the universe. Our security from
the wrath of God is in the bosom of God. It is Jesus who
gives us audience
with God, dispelling at the same time from the mind of the
worshipper
those suggestions which would restrict or narrow the riches
of God’s love.
·
IT IS BY
FAITH IN CHRIST WE REACH THIS NEW TEMPER
OF
BOLDNESS. It is by the faith of which Christ is both the Object and
the Author, discovering to us:
ü the dignity of His person,
ü the efficacy of His work,
ü the security of His love,
that we are enabled joyfully to approach God. It is thus we
have confidence
in our approaches to God. Christ’s sacrifice, as it has
given infinite satisfaction
to God, is fitted to inspire the soul of
the
believer with perfect confidence.
He sees that nothing more is needed to, ensure
his everlasting acceptance,
and is thus led to tread with boldness the entrance into the
sanctuary of
God’s presence. He has peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ.
He has confidence in regard to his
interest in God’s love, in regard to the
power and faithfulness of God to fulfill His promises, and in regard to the
continuousness of the supply of grace
necessary to his final salvation.
(What God promises, He is able to
perform. “Faithful is He that calleth
you
who also will do it.” Romans 4:21; I Thessalonians 5:24 – CY – 2019)
·
THE
EFFECTS OF THIS BOLDNESS AND ACCESS TO GOD
ARE TO MAKE US SUPERIOR TO ALL THE AFFLICTIONS OF
LIFE. The apostle
beseeches the Ephesians, on this ground, not to lose
heart on account of the afflictions that had come to himself
on their
account. The cynical philosopher represents most as easily
reconciled to
the misfortunes of their friends, but Christianity not only enjoins but
sustains a nobler temper. So close
was the relationship that existed
between the apostle and the saints at
upon them like almost the reality of a personal experience.
They were not
to be discouraged by his tribulations, which were, after
all, the price paid
for his uncompromising assertion of
their rights as Gentiles.
Christian
Boldness (v. 12)
·
BOLDNESS
IS A CHRISTIAN GRACE. The gospel destroys the
gloomy old religions of terror. It dispels even the natural
fear of guilty
souls in the presence of the holy God. It brings liberty and
courage. It is
essentially the manly faith of the
world’s adult age.
·
THIS
BOLDNESS IS MANIFEST IN OUR CONFIDENT ACCESS
TO GOD. The
Christian is not to approach God under the circumstances
which made the courageous entrance of Queen Esther into the
presence of
King Ahasuerus so nobly patriotic.
We see God as our Father WAITING
TO BE GRACIOUS! It is
unworthy to fear. Our prayer should not be the
cry of the captive for mercy, but the glad
request of the child. Note:
ü Christian
boldness is wasted unless we use it in coming nearer to God.
ü This
boldness is no excuse for irreverence.
·
CHRISTIAN
BOLDNESS IS EXPLAINED BY OUR
RELATION
TO CHRIST.
ü Christ dispels our ignorant terrors by revealing the fatherhood of God.
We have but to acquaint ourselves with Him to he at peace (“Acquaint
now thyself with Him, and be
at peace: thereby good shall come to
thee.” Job 22:21).
ü Christ gives to us the perfect love that casts out fear. (I John 4:18)
ü Christ reconciles us with God, and so
removes all ground of reasonable
alarm. For while we are unreconciled
and unforgiven, courage is madness,
and the wildest terror the reasonable condition of those
whose conscience
is roused and who realize their frightful peril. But THROUGH CHRIST
we are
forgiven and RECONCILED
TO GOD! It is
ungrateful, after
being thus blessed, to cherish the old fears.
·
CHRISTIAN
BOLDNESS IS ENJOYED THROUGH FAITH IN CHRIST.
ü
Faith is
necessary in order to bring
us into those relations with Christ
which make our boldness right and justifiable. Without faith
we are not
redeemed, and while unredeemed we have no ground for being
bold in
Christ.
ü Faith is necessary in order to enable us to realize our FREE and SAFE
condition
through Christ. Until we trust Christ we shall not dare to
approach God with a confidence that is grounded on our relations with
Christ. Thus spiritual cowardice is A MARK OF UNBELIEF! He
who trusts most strongly
will enjoy most freedom of access to God.
13 “Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my
tribulations for you, which is
your
glory.” Wherefore
I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you.
A very delicate and touching request, that they would
not be too much distressed
by what he was suffering for them (compare Epaphroditus, Philippians 2:26). Paul
knew that the sympathy was so strong that what was suffered
by him was endured
sympathetically by them. Two expressions denote that the
sufferings were great:
“My
tribulations for you” — a word
expressing intense and protracted suffering;
“that
ye faint not,” or that ye do not lose heart, as if the power of evil had
got the
upper hand. Which is your glory.
That is, the character or capacity of the apostle
of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, in which I suffer
tribulation, is one of such exalted
dignity as to reflect glory on you. Take that view of my sufferings;
I suffer because
I hold so glorious an office, and the glory of
that office is reflected on you.
God’s
Purpose as to the Gentiles (vs. 1-13)
This
passage a parenthesis after v. 1 — a reference to Paul’s personal history. It
contains
the
explanation of his whole career, the secret of his wonderful zeal. Why was he a
prisoner? Generally, for the Gentiles. Why for them?
Because the Divine purpose
regarding
them had been revealed to him, and through him to the world, and the
enmity of the Jews to that purpose had brought Paul into captivity. Looking at
the
passage as
a whole, it may show us how Paul found compensation for his captivity
in the
privileges connected with his office as apostle of the Gentiles. This
compensation
lay chiefly
in three things:
·
The precious insight he obtained into the glory
of the Divine purpose in
reference to the Gentiles, giving
him a high conception of the far-reaching
generosity of
God.
ü There is a
high intellectual pleasure in the discovery of any great truth.
ü There is a
profound emotional pleasure in discovering a truth of vast
benefit to mankind.
ü A still
higher pleasure in receiving such a truth direct from God. This
truth did not involve a
case of leveling down, but of leveling up.
Though the Jews, as a
nation, were no longer to occupy a higher
platform than the Gentiles,
yet all were to be invited to equal nearness
to
God, and if any should
reject the invitation, the blame and the loss
would be all their own.
·
The remarkably high qualifications given to him
for his office (see v. 7) —
great love,
faith, courage, perseverance, hope; great intellectual insight; great
spiritual power.
Others got frightened (Mark, Demas, etc.); Paul went
on. The
human spirit was
often depressed, but God comforted him. The thorn in the side
was annoying, but
“my grace is sufficient for thee.” (II Corinthians 12:9)
·
The great honor and privilege of being called to
so blessed a work.
The work had a glory on earth and a
glory in heaven.
ü On earth. He preached to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.
Paul proclaimed God’s
riches of grace, and showed them to be
unsearchable.
He not only proclaimed them, but in a sense imparted
them — brought them into
contact with the Ephesians, so that they
got the good of them,
through the blessing of the Holy Spirit.
ü In Heaven. The gospel
has aspects of blessing beyond this world. It
carries important
lessons to the principalities and powers. It shows the
manifold wisdom of God, shows how all classes and varieties of
mankind
are brought to God by the cross of Christ:
Ø assimilating
all characters,
Ø overcoming
all alienations,
Ø demolishing
all walls of separation, and
Ø building up
all together in Christ Jesus.
·
One Great
Conclusion. In every sense the success of the gospel is very
glorifying to God:
ü it
illustrates His perfections;
ü it
glorifies His Son;
ü it educates
the very angels;
and thus it carries forward the grand purpose of God in the
creation of the
worlds. “To Him be
glory forever. Amen.” (Romans 11:36)
The Death of the Tribal Spirit (vs. 1-13)
The
apostle, having stated the unity between Jews and Gentiles in the one
spiritual
temple, proceeds in this parenthesis to state the aspect of the
gospel
which is thus presented. It amounts, in fact, to the death of the tribal
feeling,
and to the encouragement of that broad cosmopolitanism which
has been
fostered by the Christian system. Paul, of course, rejoiced in his
Jewish
origin and in all the privileges which he had thus inherited. But since
his
conversion unto Christ, the narrowness had disappeared, and he took
his stand
before the world as the apostle and apologist of the Gentiles,
hoping for
the same elevation of character for them as for himself.
·
LET US
NOTICE HOW PAUL WAS PREPARED FOR THIS
CHAMPIONSHIP
OF THE GENTILES. (v. 8.) He had come to
entertain a deep humility of spirit. He deemed himself “less than the least of
all saints.” In Paul’s
experience it has been observed there is a progress.
ü First he
speaks of himself as “the least of the apostles,
that am not
meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the
(I Corinthians 15:9).
ü Secondly,
as in this passage before us, he regards himself
hardly
worthy of the
name of an apostle, but as less than the
least of all
saints. Having ranked all apostles above himself in the first instance,
he now ranks all the saints above him.
ü Then,
thirdly, he puts himself
below all other sinners, and declares,
“This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that
Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners; of whom I
am chief” (I Timothy
1:15).
Now, this expresses a complete
revolution in Pharisaic thought. Unquestionably
Paul had learned to judge
himself severely when he comes to conclusions such
as these. Now, Christianity secures this apparent moral
paradox of esteeming
each the other better than
himself (Philippians 2:3). “By humility,” as A.
Monod has said in his
‘Explication,’ “the Christian is led to judge himself
severely, while charity comes to his aid in making him judge
favorably of
another. Each one, besides, reading in his own heart and not
that of others,
perceives only in himself that
depth of sin which is the worst aspect of it,
although least visible, and he can always hope that with
others, whatever
the appearances may be, this depth, hidden from his eyes, is
better than
with him.” This personal humiliation, then, is the
preparation Paul receives
for his great role as elevator of the Gentiles.
It is when personally abased
that we are exalted in heart and hope, and become the
willing servants of
mankind.
·
PAUL’S
ESTIMATE OF HIS OFFICE. (v. 8.) It was a “grace”
given to him to be allowed by God to preach among the
Gentiles the
unsearchable riches of Christ.
His notion was that it was the crown and
summit of human privilege to be thus placed in charge of
such a
commission. He magnified his office. He saw nothing to be
compared with
it in the privileges of men. He would have endorsed the
words of a great
modern preacher when he declared to students for the
ministerial office,
“There is no career that can compare with it for a moment in
the rich and
satisfying relations into which it brings a man with his
fellow-men, in the
deep and interesting insight which it gives him into human
nature, and in
the chance of the best culture for his own character.... Let us
rejoice with
one another that in a world where there are a great many
good and happy
things for men to do, God has given
us the best and happiest, and made us
preachers of His truth.”
·
THE MORAL
ELEVATION WHICH THE GOSPEL PROPOSES
TO BESTOW
UPON THE GENTILES. (v. 6.) Up to out Lord’s time
the tribal idea prevailed. The Jews were a tribe, and their
policy was, as
their policy would still be, the supremacy of the tribe. But
Christ proposed
not to carry the Jewish tribe up to proud supremacy, but, on
the contrary,
to bring all other tribes up to
their level of privilege, AND TO WELD
ALL THE EARTH’S PEOPLES
INTO ONE! IT WAS HE who first
touched the key of cosmopolitan comprehensiveness and bade
the narrow
tribal spirit to cease. He talked of many coining from east
and west to sit
down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of
heaven (Matthew 8:11).
He talked of drawing “all men” unto
Himself once He was lifted on the cross
(John 12:32). He spoke of
worship, and of true worshippers worshipping
the Father anywhere
(John 4:21-24). All nations were to be discipled
by His servants
(Matthew 28:20). Into these broad and noble views for
mankind the
eleven did not very rapidly or fully enter. Doubtless Peter
had inaugurated
the
Gentile Pentecost in the house of Cornelius; but he relapsed into
narrowness a few years later at
Paul, the most powerful mind of the apostolic band, to catch
the
cosmopolitan spirit of his Master, and to champion the
Gentile against all
the prejudice of the Jewish world. It has been suggested
that he would not
have chosen the appointment had it been left to himself.
But, as far as we
can judge, he
showed no narrowness once he had humbled himself at
Christ’s
feet on the way to
a tribe, and became, in the widest and worthiest sense, a
citizen of the
world and a champion of the rights of universal man. There is surely
something
grand in this idea of lifting outcast communities into the highest
and
holiest associations. There is no casting of contempt on any tribe,
but
extending pity and. compassion unto all. The golden gate of
privilege is
opened wide for every one. The missionary enterprise is the
best and
noblest policy which men have set themselves in earnest to
carry through!
·
THE LESSON
THUS AFFORDED TO THE HEAVENLY WORLD.
(vs. 10-12.) The idea of Paul is that the angels on high
look down with
rapt interest and profit upon what is taking place in the
Church. The
movements of men outside the Church have, of course, their
interest; but it
is the bringing of the
different peoples of the earth into the glorious unity
of the
The Divine society which is gathering round Jesus is the
most instructive
exhibition of God’s purposes which the heavenly world can
contemplate.
As Jonathan Edwards put it in his sermon upon v. 10, the
angels are
benefited by the salvation of men,
ü by seeing therein a great and wonderful manifestation of the
glory of
God;
ü by Jesus Christ, as God-Man, becoming their Head. We may be sure
that the history of the world looks very differently to the
immortals from
what it does in the pages of mortal history. We see the
tramp of armies
and of battles upon the graphic page, and an account more or
less
intelligent of the different and concurrent causes; but with
what fuller
insight and appreciation must the heavenly world look down
upon the
vicissitudes of time! Amid the conflicting policies of
different states
and nations, the
missionary enterprise appears as the one consistent
and
uniting policy. The
elevation of the world’s peoples:
Ø into one consecrated whole,
Ø into one mighty family,
Ø into one organic whole,
IS SURELY
WORTHY OF A GOD! And this
is what the
Church exhibits; it was for this Paul suffered, it is for
this we in
our respective spheres must struggle too.
Paul’s Apostleship to the Gentiles:
An Introduction (vs. 1-13)
The apostle
has it in his mind to pray for the Ephesian
Christians. There is
a twofold
ground upon which he proceeds.
1. What has been said
about them. “For this cause.” He has described them
in three
ways as incorporated in the Church. His last statement pointed to
their being
built in. They were, therefore, objects for intercession, such as
their
heathen ancestors had not been.
2. His relation to them. He did not stand at an outside, but in the
closest
relation to
them, such as brought with it the obligation on his part to pray
for them.
prisoner of Christ Jesus. “I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus.” He was not
the only one of whom that could be said, but “Paul the
prisoner” was well
known to them. Indeed, it was an Ephesian
named Trophimus who
innocently brought him into trouble. He was the prisoner of
Caesar; but
who was Caesar but the hand of Christ in the
matter? He recognized the
fact that it was by Christ’s
will primarily that he was a prisoner. Christ
being above Caesar in power, and therefore able to order it
otherwise, it
was to human appearance strange that a worker like Paul should
at this
time have been so restricted in his energies. But he who has
eyes like unto
a flame of fire saw deeper into it than any other could. One good result
which
flowed from his imprisonment was that he was able to give himself
more to composition. See here how there rose before the mind of the
prisoner of Christ a glorious conception of His Church, by
which there will
be greatest benefit to the
end of time.
“In behalf of you Gentiles.” His
unbelieving countrymen (who in their
spiritual pride were for the exclusion of the Gentiles) had
been his bitterest
foes, and were, indeed, chargeable (more than the Roman
authorities) with
his imprisonment. He was suffering for his liberality
in
seeking to include
them, as was the will of Christ, within the pale of the
Church. He might
well, then, claim to write to them, as well as be expected
to offer prayers
on their behalf. But, having mentioned this ground of his
praying for them,
he goes aside from his prayer, and does not proceed with the
sentence
which he has commenced until the fourteenth verse, giving us
a parenthesis
which, for length and weight together, is not surpassed. Transition to the
subject of his apostleship. “If so be that ye have heard.” Gentiles, for
whom he was suffering, could scarcely have been ignorant,
whether they
had enjoyed his ministrations or not, of the fact of his
being apostle of the
Gentiles. And if the Ephesian
Christians had heard more particularly of the
matter of the revelation, as probably they had done, for Paul labored two
years among them, yet it would not be inconsistent with
usage to say, “If
so
be that ye have heard,” as referring to a well-known
fact, and as
referring to it in the way of calling them to self-scrutiny
as to the time
when they heard it and the person from whom they
heard it.
·
HIS
APOSTLESHIP WAS OF DIVINE ARRANGEMENT. “Of the
dispensation.” It was not
of his own ordering, but was the dispensation
of
God. It was
arranged that he should be a minister to preach unto the
Gentiles (vs. 7-8). This is in accordance with his manner of
viewing
things in the first chapter. He who has the administration of the eons has
also the
appointment of all who serve in His house, whether ordinary or
extraordinary.
·
FOR HIS
APOSTLESHIP HE WAS FAVORED WITH THE
KNOWLEDGE
OF A MYSTERY. “Of that grace of God which
was given
me to you-ward.” He had no
reason to look for such a thing, but with a
view to his acting as their apostle he was so favored.
ü It was a mystery which was
communicated to him by revelation. “How
that by revelation was made
known unto me the mystery.” He did not
receive it secondhand, nor was it a discovery of his own; but it was
immediately and supernaturally communicated to him. That was
guarantee for the knowledge being certain and thorough. The
fact
revealed to him at his conversion, that he was to bear
Christ’s Name
before the Gentiles, may only have given rise to
perplexities as to the
mode. We can think
of the revelation referred to here as coming to him,
not without preparation or reflection on his part, during
his retirement
in
him in his perplexities to know confidently and timeously the principles
on which God was to proceed with the Gentiles.
ü
It was a mystery of his knowledge of which he had already given them
evidence. “As I wrote afore in few words.” The reference is evidently to
this same Epistle, especially to the first chapter, in which
it is part of the
“mystery” of summing up all things in Christ, that
Gentiles are put
on an
equality with Jews in being made “heirs” on trusting in Christ.
It was the mystery of
Christ, viz. as the great Reconciler. He had written
in brief; but their
interest would make up for his brevity, and he claims
that, in what he had said,
he had given them the opportunity, when they
should “read,” of perceiving his understanding of the mystery. And
thus, through his communication
to them of what he had got immediately
from God, they would have the satisfaction of seeing
for themselves
what the
truth was.
ü
It was a time when others were favored with revelation of the
mystery as well as he. “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.” “Sons of men” has a
certain
association of incapacity. Being only sons
of men, they could not be
expected to know the mystery of themselves. And the former generations
of them had stood at a disadvantage. They had not been absolutely
excluded from the benefit of revelation. But still, in all that they had
been favored with, in promises connected with the
admission of the
Gentiles, it had remained very much of a mystery,
until the then
Christian period. And the Apostle Paul, with an evident
enthusiasm,
thinks of himself as in the company of apostles and prophets,
upon
whom in that ago the inflatus of the Spirit had come,
and who were
privileged to make communications of blessed import to the Gentiles.
ü What the contents of
the mystery were. “To wit, that the Gentiles are
fellow-heirs, and
fallow-members of the body, and fellow-partakers of
the promise in Christ Jesus
through the gospel.” There is a catching up
of a previous
thread here, for which we were prepared by his reference to
what he had
written before. “They were made a heritage.” They had
the
“earnest” of an “inheritance.” They were “God’s own
possession.”
There was something new (or
matter
for revelation) in their
thus being
fellowheirs. For this
was something beyond the extension of grace to
them. It indicated
their relation to ancient
among them) were
not the only successors of
believers were served
heirs as well. They were in the true theocratic line.
The prestige of
that people, the great things the Lord had done for them,
were theirs. And
theirs, too, were even the lessons of their apostasies.
Theirs
were their Scriptures. “Fellow-members of the body” is also
a catching up of a
previous thread. For he has before written of the
“one body” (ch. 2:16). This had not been clear to the former generations.
They had not contemplated such a close commingling of
Gentile and
Jewish elements. Was there to be no partition wall whatever?
Was their
identity as Jews completely to be lost? Yes, that was the form
that mercy
to the Gentiles was to
take. And there were they in the
some of them Jews and some of them Gentiles, but all members of the
body of Christ. “And fellow-partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus
through the gospel.”
“Fellow-partakers of the promise” is properly the
parallel phrase. But there is a reason for connecting the
remaining words
specially, if not exclusively, with this. For the promise
(that is, to former
generations) refers to the same blessings offered (since the
coming of
Christ) in the gospel. There is thus a catching up of a
previous thread
from the second chapter, where it is said that Christ came
and preached
the gospel (of peace) to Gentiles as well as to Jews (ibid. v. 17). And
there was much for apostles and prophets to reveal of the
mystery here.
For it was by so completely “filling up” the types, and presenting the
real all-sufficient
sacrifice for sin, that all former restrictions could
be done away. Men no longer needed to be circumcised or to
go up to
simply as believing on Christ.
·
HIS BEING A
MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL TO THE GENTILES
FILLED HIM
WITH A SENSE OF HIS OWN UNWORTHINESS.
“Whereof I was made a minister
according to the gift of that grace of God
which was given me according
to the working of His power. Unto me, who
am less than the least of all
saints, was this grace given, to preach unto the
Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.” Paul takes
the lowly title of
“minister”
(literally, “one who runs at the call of another,” but used generally
of a servant). He was a servant in a particular
order. Grace was given him to
preach unto the Gentiles. That was where he found his work,
where he was
appointed to follow the Master. And the
gift of this grace (thus defined) was
given him in a particular way — “according to
the working of His power.”
“The mention of the power of God is founded on the
circumstance that Paul
sees in his change of heart, from a foe to a friend of
Christ, an act of
omnipotence.” It is an exercise of power that calls for our
adoration. Grander
than the flash of the lightning, the roll of the thunder,
was the power which
turned Saul into Paul, the persecutor into the preacher. It
is power which
has been exercised after the same example, notably in the
case of John Bunyan.
It is power to which the Church can constantly look for the
raising up of men to
do His work. It is power to which the greatest sinners may
be pointed for
their conversion to God. In magnifying the Divine power,
Paul humbles
himself. But not thus does his feeling of humility (which none
need to
cultivate more than ministers) find adequate expression.
But in view of the
greatness of his calling he humbles himself still further. “Unto
me, who am
less
than the least of all saints.” There is
employed, to express his
meaning, what is both a comparative and a superlative. There
was no
exaggeration in this to the apostle who, though he could
warmly vindicate
his apostolic position when there was occasion, yet had a
feeling of his
own nothingness (II Corinthians 12:11). It belongs to a
shallower
Christian experience than his was, to make such comparisons.
To
one who
has felt his own utter vileness before
God, to think of instituting a
comparison in personal worth, in spiritual standing between
himself and his
fellow-Christians, is utterly abhorrent to him. He
repudiates the thought; he
is less than the least of all saints. There can
be no doubt that those who
have (without feigning) the deepest feeling of humility are
really the best
saints and the best champions of the faith. It is not the
case that a career of
wandering such as the apostle had (in his case it was
wandering in self-
righteousness for thirty years) is necessary to the deepest
feeling of
humility. For we have all enough of evil in our hearts to lead
to
humiliation. But it may be said that those who have had such
wanderings
and subsequent struggles are the most likely (in respect of
their
opportunity) to excel in a knowledge of
the corruption of their hearts. The
apostle supplies us with a rich expression here, “all saints.” Who are
they
that form this order? Certainly none of mankind who have not
the blood of
Christ sprinkled upon them. Certainly more than those who
have been
specially “sainted” of men. They
include many “hidden ones” on
earth.
“But sure from many a hidden dell,
From
many a rural nook unthought of, there
Rises for that proud world the saints’
prevailing prayer.”
They include the “elder saints” in heaven, both angels and
men. They have
all their circle of influence in the universe of God. We are
to look unto
“Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2); but we are
also to get strengthening, incitement, universally, from “the communion
of saints.”
·
THE SUBJECT
OF HIS PREACHING TO THE GENTILES WAS
THE
UNSEARCHABLE RICHES OF CHRIST. The blessings of the gospel
are compared by our Lord to gold: “I counsel thee to buy of me gold.”
(Revelation 3:18) And,
in agreement with that, is this description of those
blessings as “the unsearchable
riches of Christ.” There are none higher (as
there is nothing higher in metals than gold), and, if we
count them as men
count gold, they are inestimably precious. What are the blessings of the gospel?
There is first of all:
ü peace, not the peace of unfallen beings,
but the peace of
those who
have been sinners and are now reconciled — the sweet
sense of
sin forgiven, the blessed feeling that the guilt which was
resting on us is removed, and that there is now nothing
between us
and a holy God. And who can tell the preciousness of this
blessing?
The man who has this peace can feel richer than Croesus. It is a
peace
which
makes us INDEPENDENT OF THE WORLD - which the world
cannot give and which the world cannot take away. It is a
peace which
passeth all understanding (Philippians 4:7), which has
a mysterious,
unspeakable sweetness about it, so that he who has once felt
what it is
would never like to lose it.
ü
Another blessing is spiritual understanding. The man who knows is
on a different
footing from the man who does not know. Think of
one who has all the light of modern science, compared
with the
Chinaman who is only where his ancestors were two or three thousand
years ago. Think of one who has all the light which Christianity
has
shed on the highest matters, compared with the fetishist whose dim
object of reverence is some unconscious stone. How dark the
world would have been at this day but for THE DAYSPRING
FROM ON HIGH which hath
visited us! But, along with that
outward light which shines widely, there is
to all who seek and
embrace it an inward light of the Holy
Ghost. Blind Bartimaeuses,
we believe in Christ, and we receive our sight. And what riches it is
to have spiritual insight, to have
the veil taken off! GOD and TRUTH
to be under no delusion, to be delivered from every error,
and to see
things
clearly IN THE LIGHT of God!
ü A third
blessing, but a very comprehensive one, is holy feeling.
What a cage of unclean birds does sin make of our hearts! But
the gospel introduces a radical change of feeling. “For the law of
the Spirit of life in Christ
Jesus hath made me free from the
law of sin and death.” (Romans 8:2)
And is it not golden to have
fine feeling — feeling in which there is no sinful element, but only
the fine grain of holiness; to have devoutest reverence
and tenderest
love towards GOD, and to have due respect and tender love toward
our fellow-men? The man who feels aright all round has his wealth
in his soul, there a perpetual feast. These
blessings we may regard
as summed up in Christ. For as
Christ is said not only to have the bread
of life, but to be
Himself the Bread of life, so we may say He has
not only unsearchable riches to bestow, but HE IS HIMSELF THE
UNSEARCHABLE
RICHES! He is the
true Gold, He is precious
in every quality of His being as gold, and,
in having Him as the
Portion of our souls, we must
needs have unsearchable riches.
·
AN OBJECT AIMED
AT BY THE APOSTLE IN HIS PREACHING
TO THE
GENTILES. “And to make all men see what
is the dispensation
of the mystery.” He himself
understood the mystery, having got it by
revelation. And he had given them the means of perceiving
his
understanding of it, and therefore of understanding it for themselves. But
so precious a truth was not to be confined within so narrow
an area. He
had a certain unbounded ambition in preaching the gospel. It was to
make
all men see the gracious arrangement which had been
newly introduced,
and see it so as to be induced to take advantage
of it. On another occasion
his language was, “That all the
Gentiles might hear.” (II Timothy 4:17)
In both cases it is the language of enthusiasm. It was the
burning desire of
his heart, to make all men see, that made him go (not
without hardships)
from land to land. He was not free to settle down in any one
place. When he
had established a center of gospel light in
The world was a dark place, and he must establish as many
centers of light
at suitable points in it as God would enable him to
establish during his
appointed course.
·
A TWOFOLD
ULTERIOR OBJECT SERVED BY THE
PREACHING
OF THE GOSPEL TO THE GENTILES.
ü
More immediately men having demonstrated to them the Divine
sovereignty. “Which from all ages hath been hid in God who created all
things.” It is
because He has created all things that He has the disposal of
all things. There is nothing whatever which He cannot bend
to His will. It
was in the exercise of His sovereignty that, at the
beginning of the ages,
He did not reveal the whole breadth of His purpose. It lay
hid in Himself.
And for ages His ways were dark, in the great majority of men being left
to their own natural
ignorance and inability. During these ages He rested
in His own thoughts regarding men, in His own reasons of
procedure, in
His own ways of working. But there was mystery. The
largeness of His
purpose was sovereignly hid under
a cloud until, with the coming of
Christ and the preaching of
the gospel to all men, it clearly burst forth.
ü Angels seeing by the
Church the manifold wisdom of God. “To the
intent that now unto the
principalities and the powers in the heavenly
places might be made known through
the Church the manifold wisdom
of God, according to the
eternal purpose which He purposed in
Christ Jesus our Lord.” The Church
is the community of which, as is
said in the first chapter, Christ is the Head. The
interest in this
community is here represented
as extending to the angels. They are here
designated on the side of
their power and rank as the principalities and
the powers. In Psalm 103 it is said, “Ye His angels, that excel in
strength.” In what relation rank or dominion is ascribed
to them, we
have not the means of knowing, as we have not the survey of
the
heavenly world which they, it is here implied, have of the
earthly world.
But we are to understand the apostle, in the loftiness of
his thought,
seizing upon this as being to the honor of the Church, that
it attracts the
attention of the inhabitants of “the heavenly
places” — those who have
never known any other habitation, who, from the first moment
of their
being, have lived in the presence of God. They have
been contemporaries
of man during all his history. For when the earth was framed
“the
morning stars sang together,
and the sons of God shouted for joy.”
(Job 38:7) We are to
think of them as witnessing man’s innocence
and fall, and as being made acquainted with the introduction
of
grace in the promise. And the Law (which had a separating
side) was by
the “disposition of angels.” (Acts 7:53)
And angels very signally
heralded the Savior’s birth. But it was not for our sakes
alone that they
were thus connected with our history. It would seem that,
though in the
heavenly places, they had but a limited knowledge of
redemption. They
had not foreknowledge; they had to wait like us for the
development of
events. What was mystery to us (as to the including of the
Gentiles)
was mystery to them also, being hidden to both in God. They
were at
a loss to understand what the development of things under
the gospel
was to be. But they were taught by the events. Now through the
Church
was made known the manifold
wisdom of God. The Church was not to
be instructress, but rather material for instruction by God
in the subject
of His manifold wisdom. There was material to be found
elsewhere,
in which the angels delighted to study the manifold wisdom
of
God. It was when the worlds were brought forth into space
that they
shouted for joy. What a field was that opened up for their contemplation!
“O Lord, how manifold are thy
works! in wisdom hast thou made them
all.” (Psalm
104:24) The simple idea of a house is
that which has walls,
and door, and windows, and roof; but into what manifoldness,
what
richness of structure, may that be drawn out by the creative
mind of the
architect! An architect’s work is manifold in proportion to
the
multiplicity of the parts, and to the variety he can
introduce into these;
and his skill is seen in his combining these parts, in all
their multiplicity
and variety, into a unity. What
multiplicity of parts has God to deal with
in the material structure of
things! and what variety He introduces, so
that no leaf is exactly like
another! (nor any two snowflakes, nor any
fingerprints of humans, etc.
- CY - 2019) and how there are not only
adaptations which can be made a study of by themselves (as a column,
or bit of tracery on it, may be made a study of), but these are
comprehended in wider adaptations, and so all-comprehensive
is the
Divine thought that there is in the result no confusion
but the
highest simplicity! That is one sphere for the display of
MANIFOLD
WISDOM! We may expect greater
manifoldness as we
rise higher. What a manifoldness in the life of rational beings!
“And God,” says Leibnitz, “has the
qualities of a good Governor as
well as of a great Architect.” It may be supposed
that the angels will
first contemplate the manifold wisdom of God in
themselves, in their
high and varied endowments, in the way in which their
eternal well-
being has been secured to them without their having to pass
through
the experience of sin, and in the
part assigned to each and to all in the
great plan. Is he not called the Lord of hosts, as marshaling
the
innumerable army of angels? They have a manifoldness far
beyond our conception, and yet He can dispose of them as
easily as an
officer can do with a small section of an army. He calls them, as He calls
the stars, by their names (Psalm
147:4); not one is overlooked, not
one
out of place. (We hear of
people that are so neat that "not one hair is out
of place! God knows
the number of our hairs on our head."
Matthew
10:30; Luke 12:7; CY - 2019)
The manifold
wisdom of God is also to be
seen in the way in which the
billions of men on the earth are dealt with
at one moment. The problem here has been complicated by the
entrance
of sin. Manifold are the phases of
sin, and manifold are the
methods by which He seeks to
dislodge men out of their sin. But this
manifold problem of the world of mankind is mastered by Him more
easily than the problems of a single household is mastered by us. But
it is in the Church that there is to be seen conspicuously the manifold
wisdom of God. And, in the first place, it is to be seen in that general
point regarding the Church which the apostle has been considering, viz.
the including of the Gentiles after they had been so long excluded. It
may seem that the exclusion of any from the privileges of the Church
was a reflection on the Divine wisdom. Was it not
sacrificing
their interests that an effort was not made for their
salvation along with
that of others? But the problem was far more manifold than
that. If there
had been a comprehension of all nations all along, the
result would
probably have been the extinction of religion. We are not to
think that
Christ could have come, and His gospel be promulgated, at
any time.
If the gospel dispensation had been introduced at the time
of the
election of Abraham, we may suppose it would have been
thrown away.
He with whom a thousand years are as one day had to look to,
not the
greatest good of men then, but to the greatest good of men
to all time.
And so He ordained a long period of preparation, both
negative in
bringing out what men could not do, and positive in the way
of teaching
by type and providential dealing. And He did not bring
Christ into the
world until He saw how His truth could get a firm hold, and
be proclaimed
wide to the nations. And though the gospel has yet much to
do, it is in
such a position that it cannot now be lost. But this was
only part of a
wider purpose. “According to the eternal
purpose which He purposed
in Christ Jesus our Lord.” We have to
bring in the whole purpose of
God regarding the Church. This purpose He purposed in eternity.
It was a purpose running through the
ages. In Christ He saw the Church
in the completeness of its idea, in
the whole of its development. And,
with this clear before His mind, He could
patiently wait through the
ages for the fuller unfolding of His purpose. As Christ is called the
Wisdom of God, so we may expect to see in His Church a wisdom
manifold as Himself. What
an element in the scheme of redemption,
that the
Redeemer was a
Divine Being in human nature! How justice
and mercy are reconciled in His cross! How sin is forgiven while God
at the same time manifests Hhis
detestation of it! How manifold
are the
ways by which men are brought into the Church! What THE FINAL
ADJUSTMENT OF THINGS is to be is very much a mystery to us,
as it is doubtless to the angels. But we stand in this position
that, in
what has been exhibited to
us already of the manifold wisdom of God,
we can look hopefully forward to THE FINAL RECONCILIATION!
·
RETURN TO
PRIVILEGE OF CHRISTIAN POSITION. “In whom
we have boldness and access in
confidence through our faith in Him.”
Christ was the Object of their faith. Realizing by faith
what He was, the
provision made by Him, the great love He bore to them, they
had the spirit
of sons. In Galatians 3:26 it is said, “Ye are the children of God by faith
in Christ Jesus.” That is,
we have the position of children. Here the thought
is, we have the disposition of children.
ü The spirit of boldness. They had a free, joyous mood, as having an
interest in Christ. They were delivered from the fear of wrath.
They were
not of the number of those who, through fear of death, were
all their
lifetime subject to bondage.
(Hebrews 2:15)
ü In nearness
to God (in the God-Man) they had the spirit of confidence.
They had that confidence restored to them which Adam lost.
They had
the confidence to which Paul elsewhere gives lofty
expression: “For I
am persuaded, that neither
death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor things present, nor
things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor
depth, nor any other creature,
shall be able to separate us from the
love of God, which is in
Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans
8:38-39)
·
EXHORTATION
LOOKING BACK TO THE FIRST VERSE.
“Wherefore I ask that ye
faint not at my tribulations for you, which are
your glory.” He supposes
that they would be concerned for his tribulations,
as endured for them. How was the cause of Christ to be
carried forward,
when so principal an instrument was lying a prisoner in
would have them not to faint, bringing forward the consideration
that these
tribulations of his were their glory. If he had proved
unfaithful to their
interests, and withdrawn from persecutions, that would have
been a
discrediting of him as a discrediting of the Founder of the
Church, and they
might in that case have been tempted to despair of
Christianity. But, as he
had stood true to them in the face of persecutions, that
brought them
honor, and was fitted to have a confirming, elevating effect
on them as a
Church.
Aspects of the True
Gospel Ministry (vs. 1-13)
“For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you
Gentiles, if ye
have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given
me to
you-ward: how that by revelation He made known unto me the
mystery; (as
I wrote afore
in few words, whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my
knowledge
in the mystery of Christ) which in other ages was
not made
known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto His holy
apostles
and. prophets by the Spirit; that the Gentiles should be
fellow-heirs, and of
the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ by the
gospel:
whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace
of God
given unto me by the effectual working of His power. Unto me, who
am
less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I
should preach
among the Gentiles the unsearchable
riches of Christ; and to make all men
see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the
beginning of the
world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus
Christ: to the
intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly
places might
be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God, according to
the
eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord: in
whom we
have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.
Wherefore I
desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your
glory.”
Homiletically,
this whole passage, in which there are many digressions and
involved
utterances, may be regarded as exhibiting a
true gospel minister
in three aspects:
·
THE SUBJECT
OF VICARIOUS SUFFERING. Paul speaks of himself
as a “prisoner of Jesus Christ for
you Gentiles,” and in the thirteenth verse
he says, “my tribulations
for you.” As an apostle, Paul’s sufferings were
great; elsewhere he gives a brief catalogue of them (II
Corinthians 11:21-33);
but all his great sufferings as an apostle were vicarious — they were
for the
men he endeavored to help. “All for you
Gentiles.” We offer three remarks
concerning his vicarious sufferings,
as a true gospel minister.
ü
They were intense. What agony of mind is involved in the
expression,
“For I could
wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren,
my kinsmen
according to the flesh”! (Romans 9:3)
This means
such an agonizing desire for the salvation of
men as would prompt the
most terrible sacrifices to accomplish it. (The great thing about this is that
it was
unnecessary since Christ did the suffering for all mankind! CY –
2019) In
another place he represents his state of mind as a parturition
distress.
Ø
“I travail
in birth again.” (Galatians 4:19)
Ø
Again, “I
suffer trouble, as an evil-doer, even unto bonds.”
(II
Timothy 2:9)
Ø
And again he says, “I
endure all things for the elect’s sake,
that they may obtain the salvation that is
in Christ Jesus”
(ibid. v. 10).
Every true gospel minister knows something of this
intense spiritual
suffering for others. What solicitudes, disappointments, wrestlings of
soul has he! So intense was the desire even of Moses for the
good of
others, that he said, “If thou wilt forgive their sins — and if not,
blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written”
(Exodus 32:32).
ü
They were voluntary. Human society is so organized that a certain
amount of vicarious
suffering comes on all men, irrespective of their
choice, and even
contrary to their choice. The innocent suffer for the
guilty, children suffer on account of the sins
of their parents. The present
generation groans under the burdens of the past.
But the vicarious
sufferings of Paul, as a minister, were voluntary, he entered into them
freely. The love of Christ “constrained” him to
put himself in the place of
suffering men, and to feel with them and for
them. (II Corinthians 5:14)
Hence he says, “Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended,
and I burn
not?” (ibid. ch.11:29).
ü
They were Christ-like. Whilst there are points which mark the vicarious
sufferings of Christ, both in their nature and
amount, from the vicarious
sufferings of those of His ministers, yet there
are points of agreement which
are worthy of our notice. That such
correspondence exists is suggested by
the similarity of Scripture-language
by which both are set forth. Both are
represented as endured
for sinners and in order to effect their salvation.
Indeed, Paul speaks of his whole life as a
sacrifice (Philippians 2:17).
Two points of analogy are especially worthy of
remark.
Ø
Both partook of intense
grief on account of human sins. Christ’s grief
on account
of sin was intense, agonizing, and fathomless in amount.
“O
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, ......how often would I have gathered
thy children
together....and ye would not.” (Matthew
23:37) Paul
participated to some extent in this feeling. “Of whom I tell you even
weeping,
they are enemies of the cross of Christ.” (Philippians
3:18)
In truth, the vicarious sufferings of all genuine
ministers partake of
this. Even those of the Old Testament felt it.
Jeremiah says, “Oh that
my eyes were
fountains of waters” (Jeremiah 9:1) and the psalmist,
“I beheld
the way of transgressors, and was grieved.”
(Psalm 119:158)
Ø
Both partook of an intense
anxiety for man’s salvation. To restore man
to the knowledge, image, and fellowship of God was the one great
object of Christ. For
this He labored, for this he agonized, bled,
and died. This was Paul’s great aim. “For though I be free from all
men, yet
have I made myself a servant unto all, that I might gain
the more.
And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain
the Jews; to
them that are under the Law, as under the Law, that
I might gain
them that are under the Law; to them that are without
Law, as
without Law (being not without Law to God, but under the
Law to Christ), that I might gain them that are without Law.
To the weak
became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am
made all
things to all men, that I might by all means save some”
(I Corinthians 9:19-22). And in another place he
says, “I please all
men in all
things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of
many, that
they may be saved” (ibid. ch. 10:33). Now, my position
is that this intense, voluntary, Christ-like, vicarious suffering, not
only ever characterizes the history of every
genuine minister of Christ,
but is an essential qualification for the office.
Paul felt that his great
efficiency in the work depended upon his proximation to Christ in
the amount of His vicarious sufferings. What else did he mean
when
he said, “I Paul rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill
up that
which is
behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his
body’s sake,
which is the Church” (Colossians 1:24).
·
THE
RECIPIENT OF DIVINE
IDEAS. “By revelation he hath made
known to me the mystery,” etc. The gospel truths which Paul had to
proclaim
to the Gentiles were not derived from any human source. They
were not the deductions of his own reason or the intuitions of
his own soul,
but they were revealed to him by God. “I never received it of man,” said
he, “neither was I taught it, but
by the revelation of Jesus Christ”
(Galatians 1:12; see Acts 16.). We have an account of this
revelation
given by Paul himself. It is the glory of man that he can receive
ideas
from the great
God Himself. He has what
no other creature
under
heaven has — the capacity to take in the thoughts of THE INFINITE!
It is essential to a true
minister that he does this. He cannot offer any
spiritual help to humanity
unless he does so. His own ideas have no
power to help his race. The ideas to enlighten,
elevate, and bless souls
MUST COME FROM GOD! Hence
what Paul gave to the Gentiles, he
tells us, came by revelation. Three remarks are suggested by
the passage in
relation to the idea.
ü It had been long hidden. He calls it the mystery: “The mystery which in
other ages was not made
known.” It was a mystery not in the sense of
incomprehensibility, but in the sense of undiscoveredness. It had
been
unrevealed, and therefore unknown to past generations. The
whole
gospel was once a mystery; it was in the mind of God as an
idea
unrevealed to the universe.
ü It was very grand. The particular idea to which the apostle here
refers is
this, that the Gentiles were to partake of the salvation of
the gospel, and
to be united in one body with the Jews. “That the Gentiles should be
fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of His promise in
Christ by the gospel.” (v. 6) Grand idea this! That the poor Gentiles
should become:
Ø “heirs” of the same
inheritance as the Jews —
Ø members of the same great spiritual “body” as the Jews —
Ø partakers
of the same great “promise” as the
Jews.
The idea that Paul had from God was the uniting of all the races in the
world in one great
spiritual confederation.
ü It was exceedingly ancient. “From the beginning of the
world it hath
been hidden in God.” Such was
the idea that Paul tells us had been
revealed to him and to the holy apostles and prophets by the
Spirit.
Every true gospel minister is the recipient of Divine ideas.
·
THE
MESSENGER OF REDEMPTIVE MERCY. Paul speaks of
himself here as the “minister” of the
things that have been revealed to him.
“Whereof I was made a
minister,” etc. What he received he had to
communicate. The passage indicates several things concerning
a true
messenger of redemptive mercy.
ü The Divine designation to the office. “I was made a minister,
according
to the gift of the grace of
God given unto me by the effectual working of
His power.” The office
of
a true minister is a gift of grace — a gift of
grace, which comes to the soul by the effectual working of
God’s power.
Paul felt that he became a messenger of these truths, not by
his own ]
seeking or merit, but by the grace of God. Nor by his own
native
inclination, but by the effectual working of God’s power,
referring,
undoubtedly, to the Divine energy in his
conversion. Every man
must
experience
this Divine energy before he can become a true messenger
of redemptive mercy. God must work in
him
before He can work by him.
ü The humble spirit of the office. “Unto me, who am less than
the least of
all saints, is this grace
given.” The expression means, who am
incomparably the least of all the saints, who am not worthy
to be
reckoned amongst them. The memory of his past conduct and
the solemn
grandeur of the work to which he was called deeply impressed
him with
the sense of his own unworthiness. Humility is essential to
this great
work; it is when a man feels his weakness that he is truly
strong in the
ministry of truth. A deep sense of our own insufficiency is
essential to
make us sufficient for this of all offices the most grand
and momentous.
He who feels himself the “least of all saints” will become
the greatest
of all preachers.
ü The grand subject of the office. What is the great theme of the gospel
preacher? Scientific facts,
philosophic speculations, theological theories?
No; “the unsearchable
riches of Christ.” The word “unsearchable”
occurs in only one other place in the New Testament (Romans
11:33),
where it is rendered “past finding out.” Past
finding out, not so much
in the sense of mystery, as in the sense of inexhaustibleness. It is an
ocean whose depths are unfathomable, and whose breadth and
length
stretch into the infinite. These “unsearchable riches” of Christ, unlike
material riches, are:
Ø soul-satisfying,
Ø man-ennobling,
Ø ever-enduring.
ü The enlightening character of the office. “To make all men see what is
the fellowship of the
mystery.” The idea is to
enlighten all in respect to
God’s
redemptive mercy, the Gentiles as well as the Jews. The work of
a true
gospel minister is to make
men see Divine
things, to bring them
before
their eyes, and to induce them to look earnestly and steadily
upon them.
ü The angelic bearing of the office. “To the intent that now unto
the
principalities and powers in
heavenly places might be known by the
Church the manifold wisdom of
God.” Several thoughts are implied
in this passage.
Ø
That there are in the universe a gradation of
angelic intelligences.
“Principalities
and powers in heavenly places.”
Ø
That it is of great importance that they should
study the manifold
wisdom of
God.
Ø
That the Christian Church affords them a grand
opportunity for
studying this glorious subject. The Church is
the effect, the
manifestation, and the organ of God’s manifold or diversified wisdom.
Ø
That the use of the Church for this object was
according to the eternal
plan of God. “According to the eternal purpose which He purposed
in Christ
Jesus our Lord.”
ü The high privileges of the office. “In whom we have boldness and
access
with confidence by the faith
of Him.” “The accumulation of substantives
in this sentence,” says Hedge, “boldness, access, confidence, shows
that
there was no
word which could express what Paul felt in view of the
complete
reconciliation of men to God through the mediation of
Jesus
Christ.” The privileges of
a true gospel minister, as indicated
in vs. 12, 13, are:
Ø
Free and fearless access to the great God.
Ø
Divine support under the various trials of life. “Wherefore I desire
that ye faint not at my tribulations for
you, which is your glory”
Paul was now a
prisoner at
support which enabled him to exhort the saints
at
be disheartened on his account. Such in brief is
the view which this passage
presents of a true gospel minister. He is:
Ø
a man of vicarious
suffering,
Ø
a recipient of Divine ideas,
Ø
a messenger of redemptive mercy.
Where are the preachers that answer to this sketch? Let such men fill our
pulpits, and the conversion of
distant; and when all
the whole world will speedily be won to Christ.
Prayer for the Ephesians
Spiritual Enrichment (vs. 14-21)
14 “For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ,”
For this cause. Seeing that the Gentiles have now equal privileges with the
Jews;
seeing that
by faith in Christ Gentile Christians have been brought as near to God,
and have as
good a right to the good things of the covenant; — I take the
steps now
to be specified for enabling them actually to possess these good
things. On
the one hand, the apostle saw the believing Ephesians still
comparatively
poor and needy; on the other hand, he saw all spiritual
stores
provided for them: the question was how to get the one into contact
with the
other. For this cause, he says, I bow my knees unto the Father.
An emphatic
way of denoting prayer; but not incidental, occasional prayer,
inspired by
some passing feeling; the attitude “bow my knees” denotes
deliberate prayer (compare Daniel 6:10), making
a business of it,
approaching
God with reverence and holy fear, with all the solemnities
suitable to
the occasion of making a specific and important request. In the
Authorized
Version. it is “unto
the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The
Revised
Version, some of the oldest manuscripts, and most recent commentators
omit the
latter words, which are supposed to have been taken from ch.1:3. On
internal
grounds, the omission of the words seems to yield the best sense,
for in ch. 2:18 our having access to “the Father” is spoken
of,
and when
the apostle proceeded to show how he availed himself of that
privilege,
he is not likely to have used more than that expression. Further,
there is
such a close connection between πατέρα – patera
- Father and πατριὰ -
and patria
- family - that they are not likely to have been far
separated as
the apostle used them.
The
Universal Fatherhood of God (v. 14)
·
THE NATURE
OF THE FATHERHOOD OF GOD.
ü God is the Source of our being. He has not
only created us as He has
created the rocks. We are not
manufactured, but begotten by God. He
has