EPHESIANS 3:1-7
NO DISCRIMINATION AND NO EXCUSES
SUSIE: Paul begins chapter 3 of Ephesians (remember in the original letter, there were no chapter and verse divisions) with a continuation of the theme of unity between Jews and Gentiles who have entered a relationship with Jesus. The following notes help us to understand his perspective:
For Paul there are two kinds of people: Jews and Gentiles, or to put it another way, insiders and outsiders. The Prince of Peace is establishing peace where division and hostility once ruled unchallenged. In the Jerusalem temple, a stone wall separated Jewish from non-Jewish worshipers. According to Paul, the cross is God’s instrument to dismantle the wall, end the segregation, and make the two into one. God wants one people of God. That has been His plan all along. Today walls continue to exist, erected strategically to separate people by race, religion, class, culture, and sex. Those who erect these walls, protect them, and maintain them will find that they are enemies of the gospel that brings all together into one worshiping family.
The Voice notes at the beginning of Ephesians chapter 3
Ephesians 3:1(BSB) For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles…
SUSIE: Paul never referred to himself as a prisoner of the Jews or of the Romans but as a prisoner of the Lord. God used Paul mightily while he was in prison. In fact, Ephesians was penned from prison. The account of how he came to be imprisoned in Rome is found in Acts chapters 21-25. When he appealed to Caesar, he was transferred to Rome to await trial. Since the reason he was arrested in the first place was that he was preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, he considered that the Lord had orchestrated his imprisonment and would use it for His (God’s) glory, and He certainly did. Also, the Jews had falsely accused him of bringing Gentiles into the temple area because of his being known for preaching to the Gentiles, so in that sense, his concern for the Gentiles and the Lord’s commission that he preach to them had landed him in prison.
SUSAN: God ordained Paul’s imprisonment, perhaps in part to allow him to write the letters that would become a major part of our New Testament. God knew He would use them to spread the gospel to the ends of the earth. The spread of Paul’s teachings, like ever expanding ripples on the water, helped to disseminate the gospel of Jesus Christ throughout Asia Minor, Europe, and beyond as they are still expanding today.
Ephesians 3:2 Surely you have heard about the stewardshipG3622 of God’s grace that was given to me for you,
G3622 οἰκονομία oikonomía, oy-kon-om-ee’-ah; from G3623; administration (of a household or estate); specially, a (religious) “economy”:—dispensation, stewardship.
Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible
. . . the management of a household or of household affairs; specifically, the management, oversight, administration, of others’ property; the office of a manager or overseer, stewardship”: Luke 16:2-4, hence, the word is transferred by Paul in a theocratic sense to the office (duty) entrusted to him by God (the lord and master) of proclaiming to men the blessings of the gospel, 1 Corinthians 9:17 . . .
Thayer’s Greek Lexicon quoted at https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G3622&t=KJV
SUSAN: By “dispensation” (KJV) Paul is referring to his work, the stewardship (BSB) or administration of the gospel to the Gentiles. God’s grace extended to all people groups, not exclusively to the Jews. Paul preached the message of inclusion of the Gentiles as ordained by God through the work of Jesus on the Cross. Not only did Paul preach this; but John, the beloved disciple, included all kinds of people —Jew & Gentile, slave & free, male & female (Galatians 3:28)—when John wrote, “For God so loved the WORLD” in John 3:16.
For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16 (BSB)
For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Galatians 3:27-28 (BSB)
Ephesians 3:3-4 . . . that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ,
. . . and that it was by a revelation that this secret plan was made known to me. I have already written about it briefly, and if you read what I have written, you will grasp how I understand this secret plan concerning the Messiah.
Ephesians 3:3-4 (CJB)
SUSIE: Paul had alluded to this mystery of the Gentiles being co-heirs with the Jewish believers in Ephesians 1:9-10. Now he is expounding upon this. The message of this mystery is the main reason the Jews wanted to put him on trial, he appealed to Caesar, and was at this time a prisoner in Rome. The following is part of his testimony before King Agrippa:
But God has helped me to this very day; so I stand here and testify to small and great alike. I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen— that the Messiah would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, would bring the message of light to his own people and to the Gentiles.”
Acts 26:22-23 (NIV)
SUSAN: The “mystery” or “secret plan” in part, is the formation of the church, Jesus’ bride, Christians. We are new people in the sense of each of us being individually reborn through our relationship with Jesus; but we are also new people as a group, people who are neither Jew nor Greek. God’s forever family has no cultural, racial, or economic divisions—we are one, united in the body of Christ.
SUSIE: The “mystery” Paul is explaining was partially revealed to Abraham when God told him that through his descendants “all nations” would be blessed. The Jews had failed to understand that they were to be the conduit of God’s grace to other people and had become like an exclusive club denying entrance to anyone who was not a Jew. God revealed to Paul that Jesus was the fulfillment of the promise and purpose given to His people.
Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and through him all the nations of the earth will be blessed.
Genesis 18:18 (BSB)
I will surely bless you, and I will multiply your descendants like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will possess the gates of their enemies. And through your offspring all nations of the earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.
Genesis 22:18 (BSB)
SUSAN: Pay attention, folks, this means EVERY nation would be included in the blessings of knowing God.
SUSIE: Through His earthly parents, Jesus is the descendant of Abraham who brought about the blessing of all kinds of people through God’s grace. In Him, we have brothers and sisters in every area of the globe and from all walks of life. I have worshipped with believers in England, Holland, Belgium, Wales, France, and Russia. Our mutual love for Jesus and adoption into God’s family overcame language and cultural barriers to unite us in “familyship.”
Ephesians 3:5-6 . . . which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealedG601 by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus.
. . . he says: “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
Isaiah 49:6 (ESV)
SUSIE: The covenant God made with Abraham included the fact that all nations would be blessed through him; and the prophecy of Isaiah above speaks of salvation reaching to the ends of the earth, but the Jews did not understand this to mean that Gentiles would share in their inheritance as the chosen people of God.
I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed . . .
Genesis 26:4 (NIV)
SUSAN: God had “revealed” to Paul—taken off the cover that had previously hidden this truth—that Gentile believers would not only be blessed but would be adopted into His forever family as sons and daughters of God and brothers and sisters together with the Jewish believers. There will be no prejudice at all in Heaven!
G601 ἀποκαλύπτω apokalýptō, ap-ok-al-oop’-to; from G575 and G2572; to take off the cover, i.e. disclose:—reveal.
Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible
For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
1 Corinthians 12:12-13
SUSIE: All believers have the river of the Holy Spirit flowing through them (John 7:38). Therefore, we all look forward to our inheritance with Jesus in Heaven.
John 7:38 Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said: ‘Streams of living water will flow from within him.’
John 7:38
Ephesians 3:7 I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace, given me through the working of His power.
SUSAN: We are all called to be witnesses to the world and to minister to one another.
SUSIE: The Lord Jesus himself, addressed the apostles in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-19) telling them to witness and to make disciples of “all nations,” and this applies to us as believers as well.
Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,…
Matthew 28:18-19 (BSB)
SUSAN: However, a vocational minister does not choose ministry as a profession for themselves. They are set apart by the Lord for this purpose. I struggled with the validity of own “calling” for several years; but the Lord persisted until I surrendered. Even after I surrendered to be God’s megaphone, I questioned the Lord at times and reminded Him of all the reasons I did not feel qualified—cerebral palsy, being a woman, limited use of my hands, insecure about public speaking, etc. Moses and Gideon protested as well, so I guess I was in good company if not right company.
SUSIE: Ultimately, it is not our own worth that causes God to place us in ministry but what He empowers us to do despite our weaknesses and imperfections. I do not know who first said this, but I have heard it quoted many times: “God does not call the equipped. He equips the called.” It was God’s grace and power working through Paul that made him a minister and a witness to the Gentiles as well as the Jews.
APPLICATIONS:
1. God’s gracious gift of salvation is available for all kinds of people, not just one race or class.
2. We are not to be prejudiced toward others as the Lord Jesus died for all kinds of people.
3. When God calls you to a specific task, He will empower you to carry it out.
4. We must not discount God’s ability to use us to spread the good news due to factors such as our own race, economic status, “disabilities,” or lack of formal education. NO EXCUSES!
ASSIGNMENT: Write a list of things you might use as excuses to not follow through on what God has plainly told you to do. Take a red pen and cross out each one while praying for the Lord to overcome that excuse in your life. He may or may not remove the barriers but will show you how to proceed through or over them to achieve the purpose(s) He has given you. There are some things we are all “called” to: obedience, witnessing, living godly lives. Even if you are not called in the sense of a vocation, you are given a purpose. Seek the Lord’s desire for you and ask Him to “make your paths straight” to be able to follow Him.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight
Proverbs 3:5-6 (NASB)