Ephesians 3:2-6 “if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel.”
Last Sunday, Pastor Herk of the Little Church in the Pines continued in his sermon series in the Epistle to the Ephesians. He stated that life is a mystery that is reveal to us by God a little at a time, when we are ready for it and need it. The Greek word for “mystery” is “mystērion”, meaning (1) generally mysteries, religious secrets, confided only to the initiated and not to ordinary mortals; (2) a hidden or secret thing, not obvious to the understanding; (3) of God: the secret counsels which govern God in dealing with the righteous, which are hidden from ungodly and wicked men but plain to the godly. Specifically, things that were revealed partially in the past, but are now being revealed more fully.
Genesis 12:3 Now the Lord had said to Abram: “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Not just God’s “chosen people”, but all the families for the earth. It was always the intention and plan to bless everyone through the offspring of Abram. Until Christ came, died upon the Cross and rose from the grave, the means by which this promise of God was going to be fulfilled was a mystery. In this passage, the Apostle Paul uses three compound words that all begin with the same Greek prefix, which means “together with”. The first one is “fellow heirs”, which is the Greek word “sygklēronomos”, meaning one who obtains something assigned to himself with others, a joint participant; a co-heir, participant in common: fellow (joint)-heir, heir together, heir with.
The second one is being members together “of the same body. The Greek word used here is “syssōmos”, meaning of a joint body (figuratively). a fellow-member of the Christian community: of the same body of Believers to the same church – Christ’s church body. The body of Christ only functions as God intended, when every member fulfills its role within the body. The third is that we are partakers of His promise in Christ. The Greek word used here is “symmetochos”, meaning partaking together with one, a joint partaker. Earlier, in Ephesians 2:12, Paul said, “that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.” Now, because of the finshed work of Jesus Christ on the Cross, all are joint partakers of His promise (all the families of the earth shall be blessed) in Christ through the gospel.
Pastor Herk then shared four observations about this passage that we can use in our journey through life. But, let's find out what they are in the next post.
In Christ. Brian
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