Ephesians 3:1-6 (NIV)
For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles–
Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, 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, which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.
Paul is ready to move forward into a prayer for the Ephesian Christians, who were predominantly gentiles. But as he dictated to his scribe, his mind was suddenly drawn back to the source of his authority to write the things that he has just written.
Before he is drawn aside onto that different track, Paul notes that he is a prisoner of Jesus for the sake of the gentiles. At this point in his life, Paul had been in custody for more than two years and was currently under house arrest in Rome. He had been accused of desecrating the temple in Jerusalem because of his evangelistic activities on behalf of the gentiles (Acts 21:27-36). To save himself from a Jewish assassination plot, he had been forced to appeal his case to Caesar’s court in Rome (Acts 25:10-12).
As someone who was standing up for the gentiles in the Church, this former Pharisee had unquestionable credentials. He had been bringing the gospel to the gentiles of the empire for more than two decades, and he loved them as his own people.
But reaching out to the gentiles hadn’t been Paul’s idea in the first place. It had come to him in a revelation from the risen Jesus Himself (Acts 9:15-16). And Paul had been faithful to that divine revelation from the moment the call had come at last to go to them to share the gospel (Acts 13:2-3).
Paul calls this revelation a “mystery”, which means that it is a truth that does not come from human reason, but that it has been revealed by God and is only comprehensible by the power of the Holy Spirit. The revelation is this: with the successful mission of Jesus, the door into the kingdom of God was now open, not just to the Jews, but to the gentiles as well.
This means that everyone who receives Jesus as Savior and Lord by faith become a member of God’s chosen people, someone who can participate fully in God’s mission, and who can fully receive all of His blessings. This was a drastic change from the way that the Jewish people saw and understood things, so it was a hard sell for them. But now, through the ministry of Paul and others, gentiles all over the world were rejoicing in the salvation that come to them.
Father, even though it was a change from the way that the Jewish people saw things, it had always been Your plan from the very beginning to bless all nations through the descendants of Abraham (Genesis 22:17-18), that the Jewish people would become a light to the gentiles (Isaiah 49:6), so that everyone, both Jews and gentiles, could be brought to salvation and into a living relationship with You. Through Jesus, You made that all a possibility, and through Paul and other faithful witnesses, You made it a reality. Praise Your glorious name for Your faithfulness in all things. Amen.