Eph 3:1-7 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles--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... , 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, of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power.
“Various passages throughout the Old Testament tell us that the love God has for His creation moved Him to include people from all nations in His plan of salvation. He placed Israel at the center of the Gentile nations as a light to those outside the covenant with Abraham (Gen. 10; 12:1–3; Isa. 42:6). Our Lord also promised a day when the kings of the other nations would bring their resources into His kingdom and render Him service (Isa. 60:10–14). This promise alluded implicitly to the fact that repentant Gentiles would be fellow citizens along with natural-born sons and daughters of Abraham.
The full inclusion of the Gentile nations as equal citizens in God’s kingdom was not explicit in the old covenant revelation, and so in today’s passage Paul speaks of Gentiles being ‘fellow heirs’ with Jews of the divine promises as a mystery now made known clearly (Eph. 3:6). For the apostle, mystery typically refers not to something unintelligible but rather to a truth that was dimly revealed in the Old Testament such that it was not grasped until the coming of the Spirit [in His fullness] in the new covenant. While in retrospect the Lord’s purpose to redeem even the Gentiles is evident in the prophets (Isa. 19:16–25; Zech. 14:16), even the prophets did not fully understand the ramifications of the salvation of the nations — Gentile believers would be on equal footing with Jewish believers in the kingdom of God. The early church father John Chrysostom writes, ‘The prophets therefore spoke but did not have complete knowledge at the time’ (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, NT vol. 8, p. 139).” (R. C. Sproul)
Jesus made manifest to Paul the inclusion of the Gentiles, as joint heirs with the Jews. And commissioned him as the apostle to the Gentiles. "For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles." “Paul is our example; he regarded himself, not as the prisoner of Nero but as the prisoner of Christ.” (Barclay)
How that by revelation He made known to me the mystery... “There are those who tell us that the Apostle Paul learned his gospel from the other apostles, who in turn had heard it from Jesus, and that, therefore, Paul's apostleship is somewhat less than theirs. But Paul says this is not true. He tells us very plainly in his letter to the Galatians that when he was converted on that Damascus road, ‘I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but it came through a revelation of Jesus Christ,’ (Gal 1:12). He didn't talk with the apostles; in fact, it was three years before he ever went back to Jerusalem after his conversion. And then he saw only James, the Lord's brother, and they didn't talk about doctrine. It wasn't until fourteen years later that he ever had an opportunity to sit down and compare notes with all the other apostles. And, he says, they added nothing to him” (Ray Steadman) in preparing for the work.
“The first thing he says about it is that it has been hidden in the past. That is, great men of God in the Old Testament did not understand this mystery. As Paul looks back upon these great men of the past -- Moses, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and others -- he says that though they understood much, though they looked into the future far beyond our own day and God showed them what the end of all things would be, nevertheless they did not understand this mystery… ‘as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophet’ … The Lord Jesus himself began to unfold the mystery. I refer you to Matthew 13, where you have it recorded that our Lord spoke these amazing words. In Verse 34, Matthew tells us this: All this Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed he said nothing to them without a parable. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet: ‘I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world.’ (Matt 13:34).” (Ray Steadman)
Eph 3:8-13 To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him. Therefore I ask that you do not lose heart at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.
"Now, you know elsewhere he'll speak of himself as the least of the apostles, but here he goes further: 'I'm the least of all saints!'… If you looked back at early Christian history in the first century and you had to rate who was the person who came closest to snuffing out Christianity, it wouldn't be Nero; it wouldn't be Domitian; it wouldn't be Trajan, it wouldn't be any of the great Roman emperors. It would be instead a man named Saul of Tarsus who almost strangled Christianity in its crib. And God has called him to proclaim the unsearchable riches of Christ, and he's saying 'Friends, you don't understand! I don't deserve to be saved, I don't deserve to be alive… He's given me the privilege of preaching the unsearchable riches of Christ!...'" (Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III)
"Paul tried to figure out the greatness of God's grace, and started tracking it out as one might track out the shore of a lake. But he soon discovered that it wasn't a lake at all, but an ocean, an immeasurable sea. God's riches are unsearchable; we will never know them completely… [and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, ]… We should carefully consider what this phrase means. It demonstrates that these are not only facts to know but also a life to live, united in Jesus with other believers, without any separation such as existed between Jew and Gentile.” (David Guzik)
[which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God; who created all things through Jesus Christ] "All things were made by him [Jesus], and without him was not anything made that was made; and therefore no wonder that he saves the Gentiles as well as the Jews; for he is the common Creator of them both: and we may conclude that he is able to perform the work of their redemption, seeing he was able to accomplish the great work of creation. It is true that both the first creation, when God made all things out of nothing, and the new creation, whereby sinners are made new creatures by converting grace, are of God by Jesus Christ." (Matthew Henry)
[to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord,] "The church thus appears to be God's pilot scheme for the reconciled universe of the future, the mystery of God's will to be administered in the fullness of the times when the things in heaven and the things on earth are brought together in Christ." (F. F. Bruce)
[in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him, which is your glory] “The fact of this unity is shown by the truth that we (Jew and Gentile collectively) have the identical boldness, access and confidence before God - because it has nothing to do with national or ethnic identity, only with faith in Him (Jesus)." (David Guzik)
[Therefore I ask that you do not lose heart at my tribulations for you,] Paul “the great persecutor of the church before his conversion, now is suddenly deeply concerned that other Christians who are not enduring the persecution that he is enduring himself might not be discouraged by the persecution that he is experiencing for them. This is surely a mark of grace in this man - from persecutor to the one who now, instead of persecuting Christians, wants to encourage them not to be discouraged by his persecution, which he is enduring for them." (Dr. J Ligon Duncan III)
"And my friends, I don't know what sufferings you're going to endure in the year to come, but do you realize that in God's glorious wisdom He may well give you a chance in your suffering to be a blessing to the people of God? To build up the people of God? I don't know what illnesses or betrayals or heartbreaks or setbacks or disappointments that you'll face in the year to come. But I do know this, Christian: when you face them you will have the opportunity to face those with a view to being a blessing to the church in those sufferings.” (Dr. J Ligon Duncan III)
“Methodism leads directly to a strong fraternization. Love is its life, and the mutual freedom and equality in Christ Jesus which characterizes all its social meetings and religious forms, tend to centralize the sympathy and feelings of the whole community. And it is from this in part that the power of Methodism as a system arises. Unity is power ; life is power. They sing truly :
‘Our fears, our hopes, our aims are one, —
Our comforts and our cares.
We share our mutual woes;
Our mutual burdens bear;
And often for each other flows
The sympathizing tear.’” (The Shield of the Young Methodist, Page 46)
Do not hide your doubts, nor your testimony of faith, with those in your Christian circles that you might support each other and that Christ might be glorified in all.
Eph 3:14-17 For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love.
[For this reason, I bow my knees] “Many parts of this prayer bear a strict resemblance to that offered up by Solomon, <2 Chr. 6:1>, etc., when dedicating the temple: He kneeled down upon his knees [on a bronze platform set it in the midst of the outer court, later known as the Court of the Gentiles] before all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven; <2 Chr. 6:13>. The apostle was now dedicating the Christian church, that then was and that ever should be, to God; and praying for those blessings which should ever rest on and distinguish it; and he kneels down after the example of Solomon, and invokes Him to whom the first temple was dedicated…” (Adam Clarke)
Solomon knelt and prayed at the dedication of the temple and made supplication for the people. It refers to a bending down and indicates a bowing or kneeling in submission. “By extension of this picture, to supplicate is to ask for humbly and earnestly…. Consider especially Ps 142:1, which states, ‘I cried unto the LORD with my voice; with my voice unto the LORD did I make my supplication.’ The word is also used with the idea of weeping in three (3) passages (Jer 3:21; 31:9; Hos 12:4)…. Supplication, therefore, is the attitude or spirit of prayer. We bend down to God and cry out to Him for an answer, submitting to His will.” (Eleven Essential Qualities of a Blessed Church, Paul Fritz)
Solomon’s prayer to the Yahweh for the people of God in their individual times of trouble is recorded in 2 Chronicle 6. It is summarized thus: when they pray toward this place [the Temple] and confess your name and turn from their sin because you have afflicted them, then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel. Teach them the right way to live, and send rain on the land you gave your people for an inheritance … Forgive, and deal with each man according to all he does, since you know his heart… so that they will fear you and walk in your ways all the time they live in the land you gave our fathers…. As for the foreigner who does not belong to your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm-- when he comes and prays toward this temple, then hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your own people Israel, and may know that this house I have built bears your Name…. Now, my God, may your eyes be open and your ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.
The knee is bowed to “to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named that He would grant you, according to the riches of HIS glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith…” “Joel 2:27-29 records the words of Jehovah God: ‘I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh.’ Peter applied this verse of Scripture to the baptism of the Holy Ghost on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4,16-18). Thus the Holy Ghost is the Spirit of the one Jehovah God of the Old Testament. Since there is only one Spirit, obviously the Spirit of Jehovah must be the Holy Spirit… The Bible calls the Holy Spirit the ‘Spirit of the LORD’ (Isa. 40:13), ‘the Spirit of God’ (Gen. 1:2), and ‘the Spirit of the Father’ (Matt 10:20). Since there is only one Spirit, all these phrases must refer to the same being. The Holy Spirit is none other than Jehovah God and none other than the Father.” (David Bernard) And none other than the Spirit of Jesus.
“Instead of asking, as Solomon did, that God might dwell in His temple, Paul asked that Jesus would live in these believers, even as Jesus promised in John 14:23: ‘If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him’ …. two ancient Greek words convey the idea ‘to live in.’ One has the idea of living in a place as a stranger, and the other has the idea of settling down in a place to make it your permanent home. Dwell uses the ancient Greek word for a permanent home. Jesus wants to settle down in your heart, not just visit as a stranger.” (David Guzik)
[that you, being rooted and grounded in love.] “‘rooted,’ like a living tree which lays hold upon the soil, twists itself round the rocks, and cannot be upturned: ‘grounded,’ like a building which has been settled, as a whole, and will never show any cracks or flaws in the future through failures in the foundation.” (C. H. Spurgeon)
[that we…. may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height-- to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge;] “The cross pointed in four ways… God’s love is wide enough to include every person. God’s love is long enough to last through all eternity. God’s love is deep enough to reach the worst sinner. God’s love is high enough to take us to heaven.” (David Guzik)
[that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.] We present our empty, broken self to God and let Jesus fill and keep filled. Andrew Murray says, “Just as water ever seeks and fills the lowest place, so the moment God finds you abased and empty, His glory and power flow in. The picture that has made things simple and clear to many of us is that of the human heart as a cup, which we hold out to Jesus, longing that He might fill it with the Water of Life. Jesus is pictured as bearing the golden water pot with the Water of Life. As He passes by He looks into our cup, and if it is empty, He fills it to overflowing with the Water of Life.”
Eph 3:20-21 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
“The only fitting response to this great God is to give Him glory - especially in the church, the company of His redeemed, and that He receive that glory throughout all ages, world without end - Amen!” (David Guzik)