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THE MYSTERY

By Cornelius R. Stam

In Eph. 3:1-3 "the dispensation of the grace of God" is
specifically called "the mystery" (i.e., secret). It is thus des-
ignated for two reasons:

1.  It had been "kept secret since the world began, but
now," through Paul, had been "made manifest" (Rom. 16:
25). "In other ages" it was "not made known" (Eph. 3:5).
Rather, "from the beginning of the world" it had been "hid
in God" (Ver. 9), "hid from ages and from generations, but
now... made manifest to His saints" (Col. 1:26).

2.  It was at the same time the explanation, the key, to all
God’s good news, including that which had been proclaimed
in ages past. It explained how it was that Abel could be
declared righteous by bringing an animal sacrifice, "God
testifying of his gifts" (Heb. 11:4), how Noah could become
"an heir of... righteousness" by building an ark (Heb. 11:7),
how anyone could be saved under the dispensation of the
Law, and how it is that we can be saved today by grace
through faith alone.

Thus we have in Pauls epistles, not only the gospel [good
news] of "the secret" (Eph. 3:1-3), but at the same time,
"the secret of the gospel" (Eph. 6:19,20).
       
This great secret, revealed to and through Paul, has
rightly been called the capstone of divine revelation, for it
concerns Gods eternal purpose in Christ.

Through Paul, the chief of sinners saved by grace, God
has now made this glorious secret known to us (Eph. 1:9)
that we, in turn, might make it known to others (Eph. 3:9).

<:)))><

Brother Love -

Please tell me your thoughts about this:

THE MYSTERY OF THE GOSPEL
By D. Thomas Lancaster

Chapter 1

Ephesians

He is an old and worn looking Jew chained to an armed guard. For two years, he has been chained under house arrest while waiting for his trial before Nero. If nothing else, it has given him some time to think. He has had time to mull over the events of his ministry. He has had time to weigh the significance of his amazing journeys and the amazing message of the Gospel he has been proclaiming.

Many of Paul's musings find their best expression in his prison epistles written to the Ephesians and to the Colossians. In those two letters, the Apostle gives us a sense of his own perspective  on the Gospel and the consequence of his ministry to the natiuons. He sums up his life's calling and attempts to illuminate for us the deepest mystery of the Gospel.

In Ephesians 6 Paul writes, "Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the Gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains." What then is the mystery of the Gospel? Why, exactly, is Paul in chains?

Arrest in Jerusalem
One would naturally assume that the "mystery of the Gospel" for which Paul is in chains is the message of Messiah's death and resurrection. After all, that is the good news which Paul proclaimed. One would assume, but one would be wrong.

Paul had been part of the pilgrimage to the festival of Pentecost (Shavuot) in Jerusalem. While in the Temple preparing for the festival he was arrested. His arrest did not come as the result of his preaching the death and resurrection of Yeshua (Jesus).

Remember that at the time Paul was arrested, James the brother of the Master (Jesus) was also in Jerusalem preaching the same Gospel, as were thousands of believing Jews, all of them "zealous for the Torah.” It would appear that none of them were being arrested, dragged before the Sarthedrin, marched out to Caesarea or sent to Rome.

When the mob of pilgrims was incited against Paul in the Temple it was not because he was preaching the Gospel. It was
not even as a result of his being a believer. At the time of Paul’s arrest, the believers were a tolerated, albeit frowned upon, sect of Jerusalem Judaism. So why was Paul attacked by an angry mob in the Temple? The charge leveled against him was that he had brought Gentiles into the Temple. The Acts narrative records the charge against him: “He has brought Greeks into the temple area and defiled this Holy Place.” fn Luke immediately clarifies for us that the charge is untrue. In verse 29 he writes, "They had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with Paul and assumed
that Paul had brought him into the Temple area.”
    Not that Gentiles weren’t allowed into the Temple’s outer courts. The largest of all the Temple’s courts was the great Court of the Gentiles. Men and women from all nations were allowed
to ascend to the top of the Temple Mount and congregate in the Court of the Gentiles. There they could worship the God of Israel in His Holy House, a house of prayer for all nations. They could not, however, proceed from the Court of the Gentiles and enter into the Temple proper. A dividing wall stood between the Gentile worshipper and the inner courts of the Temple. Jews were allowed to go in as far as the altar of burnt offering. Gentiles could only look on from a distance.
    Josephus wntes about the dividing wall of partition, "There was a partition made of stone all around, whose height was three
cubits; its construction was very elegant; upon it stood pillars, at equal distances from one another, declaring the law of purity, some in Greek, and some in Roman letters, that ‘no foreigner should go within that sanctuary’” fn In another place, he says it was "a stone wall for a partition, with an inscription, which forbade any foreigner to go in under pain of death." fn
    In Acts 21, Paul was bringing sacrifices for purification and the completion of a vow. In order to do so, he had to enter the Temple up to the very Court of Israel. As he was passing from the
Court of the Gentiles and into the Courts of Israel, he was seen
by several Jews from Asia-Minor. They had earlier seen Paul with
Trophimus the Ephesian.
    The Jews from Asia-Minor knew Paul. They knew that he was flooding the synagogues all over Asia-Minor with Gentiles, because those were their synagogues. They knew something of his theology regarding Gentiles, if not the details of it. They knew at least enough to be certain that they did not like him. Naturally, they assumed that Paul was bringing Gentiles with him into the Temple area even as he had brought so many Gentiles into their own synagogues. They assumed that Paul was now here in Jerusalem bringing his beloved Gentiles past the dividing wall - into the very Court of Israel!
    The ensuing riot was serious enough to elicit a response from the Roman garrison. If not for the quick rescue by soldiers from Fortress Antonia, Paul might not have survived. The commander of the garrison sent troops into the middle of the crowd to pluck Paul out from the fray. They bound him with two chains and tried to ascertain from the crowd exactly what it was that Paul had done, and why it was that everyone wanted to beat the stuffing out of him. The crowd was so heated that the soldiers had to lift Paul up onto their shoulders and carry him back to the fortress. What a scene! Bound with two heavy chains and carried out by soldiers.
    When they reached the steps of the fortress, Paul received permission to address the crowd. Hands still bound with heavy chains, he motioned for silence. At last, when his would-be lynchers were quiet, he began to tell his story.
    He told them he was a Jew, a Pharisee discipled under Gamaliel. The Gamaliel. fn He told them his testimony, how he was a persecutor of the believing Jews, how he was on his way to Damascus, how he was blinded and encountered Messiah as a voice from heaven, how he had to be led by the hand to Damascus.
    The crowd made no objections to any of these comments. There were no shouts of ”Blasphemy!” or jeers at the mention of a voice from heavens belonging to Yeshua. Even the issue ofYeshua’s messianic office was met with respectful attention. None of those seemingly controversial claims proved to be the hot button that had raised the mob’s ire.
    Paul continued his story. He told about how his vision was restored through Chananiah's (Ananias’) prayer. He told about immersion into Yeshua and his return to Jerusalem. He told about praying in the Temple and seeing a vision of Yeshua in the Temple speaking with him. To all of this the crowd still had no objection.
    Not until Paul recounted Yeshua saying to him, “Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles,” did the crowd object. This was the hot button.
    No sooner does he mention that he was sent to the Gentiles than we read, “The crowd listened to Paul until he said this, Then they raised their voices and shouted, ‘Rid the earth of him! He’s not fit to live!'” Obviously, Paul’s mission to the Gentiles was the issue that triggered the riot. It was not the Gospel of the death, resurrection and messianic office of Yeshua for which Paul was nearly beaten to death and arrested. Rather, it was the message of the inclusion of Gentiles that brought the wrath of Jerusalem onto his head.
    The Gentile inclusion in Israel, through the Messiah of Israel, was the real offense of the Gospel to Jewish ears. Paul understood this well. In Galatians 5:11 he made that plain enough by pointing out that if circumcision was a prerequisite to salvation, then "the offense of the cross has been abolished.” What is the offense of the cross? It is none other than the Gentile inclusion.
    It was for the “offense of the Gospel” (that is, the offensive idea of Gentile inclusion) that Paul had been arrested, tried before the Sanhedrin, marched to Caesarea and subsequently shipped to Rome. Thus when Paul writes that he is an ambassador in chains for the mystery of the Gospel, we are given an important clue to that mystery. Paul was not in chains for preaching Messiah; he was in chains for preaching Gentile inclusion through Messiah’. The mystery of the Gospel, for which Paul was in chains, was the Gentile inclusion. fn

*** Part One ***

*** Part Two ***

Brothers, Sons of Abraham, and God-Fearing Gentiles
Paul’s mission to the Gentiles began to raise trouble for him even before he referred to himself as the Apostle to the Nations. As
early as Acts 13, we learn that Paul’s inclusive attitude toward Gentiles is going to cause problems. Acts 13 tells the story of Paul
and Barnabas attending a synagogue service in the province of Galatia. It was in the city of Pisidian-Antioch. After the reading from the Torah and the Prophets, Paul, the visiting Rabbi from Jerusalem, is invited to present a teaching. Paul stands up and delivers a stirring defense of the Messianic faith in Yeshua. His sermon is well received. The book of Acts tells us, “The people invited them to speak further about these things on the next Sabbath. When the congregation was dismissed, many of the Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who talked with them and urged them to continue in the grace of God.” fn Not what we would expect. Here is a synagogue full of Jewish people warmly accepting the message of the Gospel and even inviting the speaker to return the next Sabbath and speak more on the topic.
    However, there were others in attendance as well. As Paul
began his address he said, “Brothers, Sons of Abraham, and you
God-fearing Gentiles, it is to us that this message of salvation
has been sent.” fn The threefold address refers to the three types
of people one might find in any diaspora synagogue of the first
century. These three classes of people have been extensively
described in other resources. For now, a brief summary of the
three classes will suffice.
  1. “Brothers” are Jews: In the context of the Pisidian-Antioch
synagogue, Paul’s brothers are his fellow Jews. He means to
refer to those who are ethnically Jewish, born Jewish as physical
descendents of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. In the first century,
“Jew” did not specifically mean someone from the tribe of Judah,
but was used as a broad designation to refer to any natural born
Israelite. Thus, Paul referred to himself as Jewish, though he was in
actuality a Benjamite. The Jews, Paul’s brothers, are the Israelites.
   2. “Sons of Abraham” are Proselytes: The second type of
congregant Paul found in the Pisidian-Antioch synagogue was
the proselyte. They were those Gentiles who had for one reason or
another decided to make a formal conversion to Judaism under
the auspices of the rabbinically prescribed ritual. According to
the rabbinic traditions, they were no longer regarded as Gentiles.
Through the rituals of circumcision and immersion (and sacrifice
when possible) they had been reborn as “Sons of Abraham.” This
Conversion process, as we shall see, was not a biblical procedure as much as a rabbinic contrivance.fn
   3. “God-fearing Gentiles” are Non-Jews: The third type of congregant Paul addressed that day in the Pisidian-Antioch synagogue was the God-fearing Gentile. The term “God-fearing Gentiles” seems to have been used to describe non-Jews who for some reason or another were attracted to Judaism. They worshipped in the synagogue with Jews and proselytes, but chose not to undergo the ritual of conversion. They weren’t exactly pagans anymore, but they were certainly not Jews. While they may have been tolerated in the synagogue, and even appreciated for their financial contributions to the community (as with the centurions in Luke 7 and Acts 10), they were not regarded as Jews. They did not enjoy the rights, privileges and responsibilities of Judaism. fn
    As Paul presented the Good News of the Gospel to the Pisidian-Antioch synagogue, he included all three types of people in his address. He declared, “Brothers, children of Abraham, and you God-fearing Gentiles, it is to us that this message of salvation has been sent.” fn His message was well received by the Jews and converts of the synagogue and they invited hin to speak again the subsequent Sabbath. As it turned out, however, the God-fearing Gentiles received the message even more enthusiastically. After all, Paul had included them in the Good News. Salvation had been sent to them as well as to the Jews and converts. Through Paul’s Gospel, the God-fearing Gentiles could now be regarded as Sons of Abraham, and as Brother Israelites. Word spread rapidly. By the time the next Sabbath arrived, “almost the whole city gathered to hear the word ofthe LORD.” fn

***Part Three***

Offense of the Cross
Almost the whole city gathered? Is that hyperbole? The point is that the synagogue was packed out, standing room only with Gentiles. Not converts. Real Gentiles: goyim, ethnos, non-Jews... uncircumcised fellows... “Philistines.”
From the Evangelical Christian point of view, this would be
a happy problem indeed. From the Jewish perspective, however,
a Gentile majority in the synagogue was a serious threat to
the integrity of the community’s identity. Jewish identity was precarious enough in the face of Hellenist society. The
mainstream culture was always chipping away at the particulars
of Jewish monotheism and Torah observance. A Gentile
presence almost certainly would accelerate the tendency
toward assimilation. Besides, it was annoying. Jews were,
after all, the chosen people. It was their synagogue. Crowding
practically every Gentile in the city into the synagogue created
both a practical nuisance (Hey, that guy’s sitting in my seat!) and
a theological conundrum (If everyone is God’s Chosen people,
then being chosen loses its significance).
Luke tells us, “When the Jews saw the crowds, they were
filled with jealousy and talked abusively against what Paul was
saying.” fn They were filled with jealousy. They were not jealous
because they had never been able to raise such large crowds.
(The synagogues were not about the business of trying to
bring in big numbers. They were not “evangelical” as we would
understand the term.) They were not jealous that Paul and
Barnabas had such appeal or that their message seemed to be so
popular. They were jealous that the message of the Gospel was
compromising the particularity of their theology. The message
of the Gospel was throwing the doors of Judaism wide open to the Gentile world. The religion that had previously been a
members-only club was suddenly declared open to the public,
no table reservations necessary. Paul and Barnabas shrugged off
the Jewish objections and continued to teach and minister to the
new Gentile believers. But eventually, pressure from the Jewish
community forced them out of Pisidian-Antioch.
    It is significant that the message of the Gospel itself raised no
objections from the Galatian Jewish community. On the contrary,
they listened eagerly and wanted to hear more. The message of Messiah’s death, burial and resurrection, and the justification and salvation available through Him, sounded good to their ears.
They found no offense in the cross. Those were the days before
Christian polemics had galvanized Jewish resistance to the
Gospel. There was really nothing “un-Jewish” or objectionable about the message of salvation in Yeshua.
Not until they saw the Gentiles crowding into the synagogue
did they raise their objections. Not until they realized how this
Good News compromised their exclusivity did they reject Paul’s message. To the Jewish community of Galatia, the offense of the cross was the inclusion of the Gentiles.
    It was a pattern Paul would live to see repeated over and over in city after city. In Thessalonica, the same pattern emerged. Popular success at the synagogue was followed by the conversion of “a large number of God-fearing Greeks and not a few prominent women. But the Jews were jealous... ‘ Everywhere Paul went Gentiles flocked to the synagogue to hear him speak. All over Asia-Minor Paul found Gentiles eager to hear the message of the Gospel and Jews eager to be rid of that same message, not because of theological objections aboutYeshua, but because they objected to the inclusion of Gentiles in their faith, religion and synagogue.
    It was Jews from these congregations in Asia-Minor who spotted Paul in the Temple in Jerusalem. They were the ones who accused him of bringing Gentiles past the “dividing-wall” and into the Court of Israel, even as he had brought them into their synagogues. They were the ones who instigated the riot and testified against him at his trials. They were the ones responsible for Paul’s chains.

The Mystery of Messiah
As Paul wrote the epistle to the Ephesians, the shackles were still
on his wrists. He told the Ephesians that it was “the mystery of
the Gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains.” fn He was
a prisoner for the sake of the mystery of the Gospel. But what
was the mystery of the Gospel to Paul? Why was he in chains? We saw from the story of his arrest in Acts 21 that the mystery of the
Gospel which held Paul fast in chains was not the mystery of the
death and resurrection of Messiah (though that is very mysterious
indeed); it was the mystery of the Gentile inclusion in Israel. To Paul, the inclusion of the Gentiles into the House of lsrael was the mysterious part ofthe Gospel.
    He reminds the Ephesian Gentiles that he is a prisoner for their sake:


    The mystery made known to Paul by revelation was that the Gospel was for Gentiles too. The revelation by which the mystery was made known to him took place in the Temple, many years before, when the Master appeared to Paul in a vision and said to him, “Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.” fn Because of that mystery made known to him by revelation, Paul tells us, he is a prisoner for the sake of the Gentiles. Because of that revelation, he was in chains in Rome. He speaks further:


    What is Paul’s big mystery of Messiah? It is that the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel. The Gentiles are together with the Jews as members of one body. The Gentiles share, together with the Jews, the promise in Messiah. That’s the big mystery. The Gentile inclusion is the mystery of Messiah.
    Such an unanticipated turn of events, from the ethnocentric perspective of Israel, is a mystery indeed! Moreover, it is this mystery, this powerful truth, which inspired Paul’s apostleship. It drove him on when all other drives failed. It was the fire that burned in his belly and forced him repeatedly into harm’s way. He explains:

    Clearly, this is deep stuff. Paul is talking about a mystery that has been kept hidden in God for ages. It is a mystery that Paul believes he has somehow been entrusted with. It is a secret concealed for all the ages of creation. “The Gentiles are heirs together with Israel.” It is the mystery of Messiah.

Amen brothers--  We also need to know that this mystery of the Gentiles being grafted in to Gods plan... or the promise of the Holy Ghost, to all that would believe, was not just for Paul...God revealed it to him and the other holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit as well. Some call it the Pauline Revelation... but even Paul himself says who it was revealed too. No prohecy is of any private interpretation, Or revelations...thiers nothing hid that shall not be revealed...


Eph 3:2  If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward:
Eph 3:3  How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words,
Eph 3:4  Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)
Eph 3:5  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;
Eph 3:6  That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:

God Bless you all


 

Lets not read into scripture what is not there!

Eph 3:5  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;