Excitement is palpable in Ephesians chapter 3 

The apostle goes off topic, caught up with the excitement of the unsearchable riches of Christ

"for this cause" (3:1) is not continued until verse 14 

For this cause:

On the basis of 2:11-22, the tremendous blessings and benefits of being a Christian 

1. Peace with God 
2. Privilege of prayer 
3. Place in His church 
4. Presence of God 

Almost like a trip to tower of London where there is many a jewel on display 

We noted previously the setting of Ephesians chapter 3 is that of the Tower of London! A place once a:

• Prison

And now a :

• Treasure House

At the centre, a display behind thick glass impenetrable, the regal crown of the United Kingdom, adorned atop by the Koh-I-Nor diamond

Here in Ephesians chapter 3 we find a very similar place! 

For Paul this place is both a:

• Prison (Ephesians 3:1)

And a:

• Treasure Store (Ephesians 3:8) of the unsearchable riches of Christ 

Ephesians chapter 3 does differ from the Tower of London:

• Ephesians 3 is both a prison cell and a treasure store similtaneously. We have the prison and the riches simultaneously! 
• Don't need easy jet to reach it! 

It is as Paul peers through the bars of the prison cell that in his suffering, in his pain and in his problems and in:

• Prison

He sees 

• Purpose

Through the prison bars he sees purpose! 

Men had their PLAN but God has His PURPOSE!

This section (Ephesians 3:1 – 11) 

• Begins with Prison (3:1)
• Ends with Purpose (3:11)  - God’s purpose in Christ of which Paul, his life and ministry are now an integral part! 

Suffering can be bearable if we perceive purpose:

• A man who has a reason why to live can deal with almost any how 
• Leonid Rogozov – self appendectomy 1961 – the suffering had purpose and was worth it! 
• When we see the purpose in the pain and problems perhaps we can be encouraged to percevere 

From this prison cell Paul will expound to us the unsearchable riches of Christ! 

He acknowledges that

• Christ is Sovereign over his imprisonment (3:1) – he could have complained about the Roman authorities, the Jewish accusers, Satanic forces (Ephesians 6) but above and beyond them all he recognises the sovereign hand of God. “the prisoner of Christ Jesus” (3:1) note the Greek word order, first “Christ” in His Messianic authority (Psalm 2), with kingly and sovereign power:

• Anointed Priest (Psalm 110)
• Anointed King (Psalm 110; Psalm 2) 
• Anointed Prophet 
• All together in Christ 

• Not simply a prisoner of Rome, nor even of the forces of Satan but of Christ, and then “Jesus”. God makes even the "wrath of man" to praise Him. Instead of the prison obstructing his ministry the prison has facilitated it! 
• The Saviour is present with Paul in his imprisonment, so this prison experience is full of an appreciation of Christ. As a "prisoner of Jesus Christ" almost as if Christ, jailor like, holds Paul in that place, solitary confinement was not possible for Paul, it was always with Christ! Like his experience in 2 Timothy “Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.” 2 Timothy 4:17. This is an expeirence not unlike that of Mark 6:31 "come yourselfs apart and rest a while" Sometimes maybe for te busy servant, runing about, pouring Himself out, burning the candle at both ends, sometimes the only thing that will sort it out is "the jail". Here in the prison cell Paul is caught up with the person of Christ! 

Christ is:

• Sovereign over the imprisonment
• Saviour in the imprisonment - present and pervasive 

Paul is a “prisoner for you Gentiles” (3:1)

Is this an investment worth making? 

Investing in God’s work is worthwhile. 

In God’s purpose, God’s people are worthwhile. 

CT Studd – gave up a fortune and a career in cricket 

Jim Elliot:

• ‘He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose’
• ‘He is no fool who parts with that which he cannot keep, when he is sure to be recompensed with that which he cannot lose.’

Paul was investing his life in something worthwhile 

‘Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more, it is a tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury signifying nothing’ 

Macbeth Act 5 Scene 5 

Maybe not too far from the truth, for many a:

• Wasted life 
• Frittered life 
• Futile life

Squandered on utter triviality 

It seems the more trivial the pursuit today, the greater the reward and accolade:

• People pretending to be someone else in a story of make believe 
• Story tellers 
• Fantasists 
• Glory of fleeting sporting achievements 
• Many sacrifice their time and talents in trivial pursuits

By contrast Paul has invested His life and not squandered it (3:1), invested for Glory and not squandered for time.

Paul has invested it in something of lasting value, the work of God. 

Paul has taken Christ at His word

• ‘purchase of me gold tried in the fire’
• ‘lay up for yourself treasure in heaven’ 

The Christian life is not a life wasted but a life invested!

This prison becomes a:

• Pulpit
• Printing Press 
• School
• Sanctuary 

This prison becomes a place where:

• Christ is experienced 
• Christ is expounded 

A place not only of:

• Incarceration 
• Consecration 

To expound Christ I must first needs experience Christ 

Not simply as CS Lewis put it: 

• Fall in love with God 
• Fall in love with telling about God 
• Fall in love with the telling 

From this imprisonment comes a presentation of the:

1. Innocense - creation to fall, no law for no need of law
2. Conscience - fall to the law. Some would also see: 

1. Age of government - "if man shall she blood by man shall his blood be shed". Unconvinced that this represents a significantly distinctive dispensation. Government certainly developes through Genesis and beyond: Babel and Pharoah etc but from the days of Cain, retribution was a reality with the mark of Cain.
2. Promise to Abraham - definitely not a distinct dispensation, it does not involve the means of Divine administration of this world, selective, although very important but particular to Abraham. If we recognise this as a dispensation I would think you would need another for Melchizedek as well. 

On the basis of Romans chapter 5 I would see warrant in a single dispensation from conscience to law. 

1. Law
2. Grace
3. Tribulation - withdrawal of the Holy Spirit and the church – the Divine response to the rejection of Christ
4. Millenial reign of Christ
5. Eternal state 

• Not only what God is doing but the why, dispensations have a purpose, for the Glory of His Son. Not only are they distinctive means of Divine Administration but administration with an end in view.
• The dispensation of law is our school master leading us to Christ. In the law we have wonderful pictures and patterns of Christ in the sacrifices, offerings and tabernacle. 
• The dispensation of Grace is all of Christ 
• The Glory of God revealed in the eternal state with all focused on Christ! The foundations are the apostles of the lamb, the throne is of the lamb and the lamb is the light thereof! 
• The broad panorama of the unsearchable riches of Christ.
• The 14 mysteries

1. Mysteries of the Kingdom
2. Mystery of Israel regrafted (Romans 11) 
3. Mystery of the Gospel to all nations (Romans 16) 
4. Mystery of the Cross (1 Corinthians 2) 
5. Mystery of the Rapture (1 Corinthians 15) 
6. Mystery of His Will (Ephesians 1) 
7. Mystery of Christ (Ephesians 3) 
8. Mystery of the Church as the Bride of Christ (Ephesians 6) 
9. Mystery of Christ in us (Colossians 1) 
10. Mystery of Iniquity (2 Thessalonians 2) 
11. Great Mystery of Godliness (1 Timothy 3:16) 
12. Mystery of 7 stars and churches (Revelation 2) 
13. Mystery of God (Revelation 7) 
14. Mystery of Babylon the Great (Revelation 17) 

• The 2 great mysteries: 1 Timothy 3:16; Ephesians 5
• The 1 mystery of a great thing: Revelation 17 - note the disctinction here, not a great mystery sa is Christ and His people but now in dealing with iniquity and evil - the mystery of great thing! A different category all together! 

What are these mysteries? 

A 'definition' is often given:

• Truth once concealed and now revealed.

This is more accurately a feature of some of the mysteries of Christ rather than a definition. 

It is a paraphrase of Ephesians 3:5 and is thus a feature of the mystery of Christ. 

3 reasons why 'truth once concealed and now revelead is not a definition of the mysteries. 

1. Non specific, too generic - if this is our definition 

it would include almost all OT prophecy, given to some degree in obscurity eg "a virgin shall conceive and bring forth a son"! What did that means.

It would include the types and prophecies of the OT eg Genesis 22.

1. Inaccurate - not all mysteries are now revealed - 2 Thessalonians chp2 - mystery of iniquity, 1 Timothy 3:16 and the mystery of Babylon the great!
2. Cryptic - it seems an odd way to define a mystery by describing them as not mysteries! Paul, John and the Lord describe them consistently as mysteries, and still in the present tense eg 1 Timothy 3:16. It is a bit of a mystery to me to define a mystery as not a mystery. That is a mystery! 

Does a definition of the mysteries really matter? 

You should have been a hair dresser, you're so good with split hairs. 

A definition / understanding is worth pondering, if we get that wrong we may miss what the mysteries are actually about.

What are the mysteries. 

Consider the 3 core mysteries:

2 Great Mysteries 

1 Mystery of a Great thing 

1. Great is the mystery of Godliness 

1. Great mystery of Christ and His Church 

• Redemption of a people
• Reconciliation
• Relationship with God forever 

1. Mystery of Babylon the Great 

• Removal of all that opposes Christ, rejects Christ and Rebels against Christ.

If I were to ask you to summarise the message of the bible for me? God's plan as revealed within the pages of this book. How would you do?

• An hours ministry 
• A systematic theology 

How about in 3 points? 

I don't think you could do much worse that those 3 points! Even if it is my message and I'm quite pleased with it!

God's purpose for this universe from creation to redemption and beyond.

From eternity to eternity! 

These mysteries are not simply truths once concealed and now revealed, these mysteries are the answer of God to the question why? how? who?

The mysteries are God's plan for the universe.

This is the 'hidden' knowledge of the Christian faith, the true mysteries!

Maye God had purpose in the prison cell?

It was in the prison that:

• Joseph became a prophet 
• Daniel a type of Christ 
• Silas established the church at Philippi
• Paul unfolded the unsearchable riches of Christ 
• Onesimus was transformed from sinner and slave to saint. 

Makes you think that maybe God has a purpose in the prison cell at times?

Maybe in my:

• Loneliness
• Isolation
• Separation
• Despair
• Illness
• Restriction 

In my ‘prison’ type experience, maybe God will have purpose here too! 

Like Joseph in Genesis, there was purpose in his problems. 

Like Moses in Deuteronomy 8:2ff 

“for this cause” (Ephesians 3:1) 

1. Peace with God 
2. Privilege of Prayer 
3. Place in the Church 
4. Presence of God 

Paul doesn’t finish this sentence until 3:14 “for this cause I bow my knees” 

Paul sees the Power of God – the sovereign hand of Christ in his experience “of Christ Jesus”. Paul lives in the reality of a teaching he will give us later on in Ephesians 6:12; “we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers against the rulers of the darkness of this world...” Rome was but a pawn in a far bigger game. Neither Rome, Jewish 

1. more clearly that the “excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us” (2 Co 4:7). Here is the church growing and blossoming despite the fact that Paul has been taken out of the equation!

1. “So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places; And many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.” (Phil 1:13-14). There were those who sat on the fence! How do we get them off the fence? Set the fence on fire! No longer able to sit upon the fence.  

1. “All the saints salute you, -- chiefly they that are of Caesar’s household” (Phil 4:22) Even with Paul’s imprisonment, the gospel goes out and souls are being saved! 

1. Is it not interesting that today we read Pauls prison epistles! Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon and 2 Timothy! World population in AD 70 – about 250 million. Up until today about 7 billion bibles printed. The YOU bible version claims to have been installed on approximately 725 million devices! If Paul had never been in prison the maximum reach of his preaching ministry from Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon and 2 Timothy would have been a few thousand! 

1. Perceives the Purpose of his prison cell and problems! We don’t always have that luxury of course, being able to see what our trial is all about! Acknowledging the sovereignty of God of course over our trials gives us the assurance that “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28). In faith we have the assurance of purpose! 

1. Paul shows us a fresh PERSPECTIVE on the service of God (v8). Paul develops and grows in the PEACE and PATIENCE of God! Perhaps if we were an apostle like Paul, with such gift, knowledge, opportunity we would expect unlimited success and blessing, yet we notice Paul’s approach to his ministry (3:8) – God owes him nothing! All that he has he has been given, this ministry is all of God’s grace, with humility he has the perspective that God owes him nothing! 

Verse 2:

“Dispensation” : “οἰκονομία” : administration

Paul recognises in this verse ‘dispensations’

The ‘dispensation of the Grace of God’ stands in contrast to something else mentioned earlier; a distinctive way in which God revealed Himself and His plans and purposes in days gone by; “the law” (Ephesians 2:15) which excluded Jew and Gentile from fellowship with Him. 

Dispensations are ways by which God operates or administers this world. God remains the same and unchanged but the means by which He operates, or what He does does not remain the same! 

• God does not perpetually flood the world 
• God does not continually demand animal sacrifices
• God does not constantly plague Egypt
• God does not continue to send His Son into the world 

At different times God operates by distinctive means.

The word dispensation does not appear that often in the NT, although significantly it does appear 7 X in the NT; Luke 16:2; Luke 16:3; Luke 16:4; 1 Corinthians 9:17; Ephesians 1:10; Ephesians 3:2; Colossians 1:25.

There are different ways of seeing these dispensations in scripture. 

I can identify at least 7 (maybe 8) distinct dispensations, administered by God in distinctive ways:

1. Age of Innocence (Creation to the fall)
2. Age of Conscience / government from fall to the law, some see government as a distinct dispensation from Noah to the Law with the command to punish murder by death, although I do note that some form of government was already in force pre fall as indicated by the mark on Cain. 
3. Age of Law from Exodus 20 to Christ 
4. Age of Grace from the advent of Christ 
5. Day of Tribulation 
6. Millenial Reign 
7. Eternal state 

Verse 3 – The Mystery

Paul references here the Mystery of Christ (3:4) which is a reference to Jews and Gentiles together in one body (3:6)

Why Christ? 

Christ or Messiah is the anointed one:

• Psalm 2:2 – The anointed King 
• Psalm 110 – parallels Psalm 2 – the word Christ not mentioned but refers to the Priest and King 
• Daniel 9:24 – 26 

As Messiah Christ incorporates the roles of all of those previously anointed:

• Prophet
• Priest
• King 

The believer is being brought into the blessings and benefit of this anointed one, prophet, priest, King and sacrifice for our sins (Daniel 9) we have not been excluded! 

A mystery:

• Truth once concealed and now revealed? 

This is certainly true of the church and this mystery of Christ (3:4-5) but:

• Not necessarily a great ‘definition’ of mystery per se!

Perhaps better to understand the idea of mystery within the setting of the time of the NT writings when many of the religions of that day had a core set of ideas or revelations kept for the initiated. These were ideas that were at the core or heart of the religious system but unknown to the uninitiated. 

These mysteries then form the back bone, the structure to God’s plan for the universe in Christ. They are in effect the answer as to the reason why / how / what God is doing with this universe. 

We could identify perhaps 14 distinct mysteries. 

1. Mystery of the Kingdom (Mark 4) 
2. Mystery of Israel (Romans 11)
3. Mystery of the Gospel to all nations (Romans 16:25) 
4. Mystery of the Cross (1 Corinthians 1 + 2) 
5. Mystery of the Rapture (1 Corinthians 15) 
6. Mystery of Christ in you (Colossians 1:27)
7. Mystery of His will (Ephesians chp 1) 
8. Mystery of Christ (Ephesians chp 3) 
9. Mystery of the Bride (Ephesians chp 5) 
10. Mystery of Iniquity (2 Thessalonians 2:7) 
11. Mystery of Godliness (1 Timothy 3:16)
12. Mystery of the 7 Churches (Revelation chp 1)
13. Mystery of God in judgment (Revelation 10:7) 
14. Mystery of Babylon the Great (Revelation 17:5)

The 3 greats form the backbone of theses mysteries:

1. Great mystery of Godliness (1 Timothy 3:16) 

The Revelation, Resurrection, Ascension, Exaltation and Glorification of Christ 

1. Great mystery of Christ and His people (Ephesians 5)

The Redemption and reconciliation and relationship of Christ with His people 

1. The mystery of Babylon the Great (Revelation 17)

The Removal, Rejection and Retribution of all that rebels against Christ. 

If I were to ask you to give me a summary of the bible, could you do much better? 

Not a bad summary of the bible!

A summary of the bible in 3 points!

I doubt you could do any better! 

Here is Gods plan for the universe.

Here is the message of the bible 

What is God doing?

Why is God doing it? 

How is God doing it? 

V8  “the unsearchable riches of Christ” 

Paul is tasked with this great challenge of preaching the unsearchable riches of Christ to the Gentiles. 

Notice his perspective on himself as he unfolds these riches! 

“unto me who am less than the least of all saints” (3:8) 

God owes Paul nothing! 

God does not owe him:

• An easy life
• A smooth passage
• Blessings
• Prosperity
• Popularity 

All Paul has, he has by the grace of God!

He is indebted to God, and not God to him! 

Prison is acceptable when grace is undeserved (v8) 

Perhaps there is a link between Paul’s appreciation of who he is (3:8) and Paul’s appreciation of who Christ is? 

• A small view of self
• A big view of Christ

Do we not need to be empty to then be filled? 

• Paul – when I am weak then I am strong 
• Elijah knew God’s power and presence in the famine, drought and persecution by Jezebel
• Moses encountered God as a fugitive in the backside of the desert 
• Let him that lacks wisdom ask of God who gives liberally and upbraideth not (James 1:5) 

Was it not:

• The blind man who saw the light of the world (John 9)
• The dead man who knew the resurrection power of Jesus (John 11)
• The hungry crowd who could testify to Christ as the living bread (John 6)
• A thirsty woman who drank of the living water (John 4) 
• Empty water pots that were filled to the brim by Christ with wine. (John 2) 
• An anxious and fearful upper room of disciples who enjoyed that peace of Christ which goes beyond all understanding! 

What is Paul sharing of Christ? 

What are these riches?

Are they things which Christ possesses?

• Cattle on the 1000 hills (Psalm 50:10)
• All that the Father hath are mine (John 16:25) 
• The whole world belongs to Him (John 1) 
• All things made by Him (Col 1:16)

I have never heard Paul ‘preach’ but we do have his epistles to read. They do not seem to be filled with the riches Christ possesses or creates but rather the riches of His:

• Character 
• Attributes 
• Person 
• Work 

ie riches of:

• Who Christ is 
• What Christ has done 

Riches are commodities we would attach value to either because of their:

1. Uniqueness

• Outstanding beauty 
• Scarcity 
• Complexity 

1. Relative worth - money 

1. Absolute worth 

• Heb 11:26 – Moses found greater riches in the reproach of Christ than the treasures in Egypt 

There is absolute worth in Christ! 

Illust: Jews heading to Auschwitz willing to give away all of their material possessions for a drink of water! 

“all that a man hath will he give for his life” (Job 2:4) 

Jesus is:

• In our hunger He is the Bread of life
• In my thirst He is the Living water 
• In my death He is the resurrection and the life 
• In my wandering He is the good Shepherd 
• In my sin He is the Saviour 
• In my weakness He is my helper 
• In my sorrow He is the comforter 
• In my emptiness He is the fullness that filleth all in all 
• In my path He is the Way 
• In my despair He is our Hope 
• In my fear He is our peace 
• The true vine sustaining His people 
• Possesses the words of Eternal Life
• Resurrection and the life
• Creator
• Judge 
• Upholds all things by His power 
• Holds the keys of hell and of death (Rev 1:18) 
• He is our peace 
• He is our redeemer 
• Our substitute 
• He is our hope 
• The door into heaven 
• Our Great High Priest 
• Our Good Shepherd 
• Our Great Shepherd 
• He is our comforter 
• King of Kings
• Lord of Lords 
• Bright and morning star 
• In my need of a lamb He is Jehovah Jireh (Genesis 22)
• For those who need healing heading out of Egypt He is Jehovah Rapha 
• For Gideon who saw the angel of the Lord and was afraid to die He is Jehovah Shalom 
• For David facing Goliath He is the Lord of Hosts (1 Samuel 17:45) Jehovah Sabaoth
• For those who need salvation He is Jehovah Tsidkenu 
• Hebrews 1 – titles of Jehovah 
• Revelation 17 – title of Jehovah 

Everything I need for time and for eternity is found in Him!

Fascinatingly it is Moses who teaches me the true value of these unsearchable riches in Christ! 

“By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter;
²⁵ Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;
²⁶ Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward.” (Hebrews 11:24-26)

Moses had in Egypt:

• Place
• Position
• Privilege
• Power
• Pleasure
• Possessions 

Here is an encouraging thought; if all I feel that I have of Christ is His reproach: 

• His tears and sorrow
• His rejection and alienation
• His pain and suffering 
• The hatred of men
• The contradiction of sinners
• The mocking and jeering
• Betrayal and unfaithfulness
• If the only grasp I feel of His things is His Cross
• If the only taste of Christ is the taste of His tears 
• When you feel you follow with a cross rather than for a crown
• The only fragrance of Christ you perceive is the anointing for His burial
• The only emotion the tears of His suffering 
• Heaven and it’s precious jewels seem a long way away
• The wiping away of all tears beyond your reach 
• The streets of gold are somewhere else 
• River of living water refresh another people in another city in another place 

If out of all of His riches I lay hold only of His reproach then compared to all that I could ever have in this world, this far out weighs in value and worth the world in its:

• Place
• Position
• Privilege
• Power 
• Pleasure 
• Possessions 

From the prison cell Paul presents the unserachable riches of Christ, the dispensations of God's grave and the great mysteries of God's plan and purpose for this fallen world. The Divine plan for this universe centres on the revelation of Jesus Christ, the Great Mystery of Godliness, the redemption of a people for Himself and the removal of all that rebels against Him. In Christ we find a Saviour unlike any other, full of unsearchable riches! He is the bread of life, the light of the world, the way the truth and the life, the door into heaven, the Shepherd of the sheep, our great High Priest, a Saviour of Sinners and our comforter. 

What a great Saviour! 

Dr J Stewart Gillespie 

Excitement is palpable in Ephesians chapter 3 

The apostle goes off topic, caught up with the excitement of the unsearchable riches of Christ

"for this cause" (3:1) is not continued until verse 14 

For this cause:

On the basis of 2:11-22, the tremendous blessings and benefits of being a Christian 

1. Peace with God 
2. Privilege of prayer 
3. Place in His church 
4. Presence of God 

Almost like a trip to tower of London where there is many a jewel on display 

We noted previously the setting of Ephesians chapter 3 is that of the Tower of London! A place once a:

• Prison

And now a :

• Treasure House

At the centre, a display behind thick glass impenetrable, the regal crown of the United Kingdom, adorned atop by the Koh-I-Nor diamond

Here in Ephesians chapter 3 we find a very similar place! 

For Paul this place is both a:

• Prison (Ephesians 3:1)

And a:

• Treasure Store (Ephesians 3:8) of the unsearchable riches of Christ 

Ephesians chapter 3 does differ from the Tower of London:

• Ephesians 3 is both a prison cell and a treasure store similtaneously. We have the prison and the riches simultaneously! 
• Don't need easy jet to reach it! 

It is as Paul peers through the bars of the prison cell that in his suffering, in his pain and in his problems and in:

• Prison

He sees 

• Purpose

Through the prison bars he sees purpose! 

Men had their PLAN but God has His PURPOSE!

This section (Ephesians 3:1 – 11) 

• Begins with Prison (3:1)
• Ends with Purpose (3:11)  - God’s purpose in Christ of which Paul, his life and ministry are now an integral part! 

Suffering can be bearable if we perceive purpose:

• A man who has a reason why to live can deal with almost any how 
• Leonid Rogozov – self appendectomy 1961 – the suffering had purpose and was worth it! 
• When we see the purpose in the pain and problems perhaps we can be encouraged to percevere 

From this prison cell Paul will expound to us the unsearchable riches of Christ! 

He acknowledges that

• Christ is Sovereign over his imprisonment (3:1) – he could have complained about the Roman authorities, the Jewish accusers, Satanic forces (Ephesians 6) but above and beyond them all he recognises the sovereign hand of God. “the prisoner of Christ Jesus” (3:1) note the Greek word order, first “Christ” in His Messianic authority (Psalm 2), with kingly and sovereign power:

• Anointed Priest (Psalm 110)
• Anointed King (Psalm 110; Psalm 2) 
• Anointed Prophet 
• All together in Christ 

• Not simply a prisoner of Rome, nor even of the forces of Satan but of Christ, and then “Jesus”. God makes even the "wrath of man" to praise Him. Instead of the prison obstructing his ministry the prison has facilitated it! 
• The Saviour is present with Paul in his imprisonment, so this prison experience is full of an appreciation of Christ. As a "prisoner of Jesus Christ" almost as if Christ, jailor like, holds Paul in that place, solitary confinement was not possible for Paul, it was always with Christ! Like his experience in 2 Timothy “Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.” 2 Timothy 4:17. This is an expeirence not unlike that of Mark 6:31 "come yourselfs apart and rest a while" Sometimes maybe for te busy servant, runing about, pouring Himself out, burning the candle at both ends, sometimes the only thing that will sort it out is "the jail". Here in the prison cell Paul is caught up with the person of Christ! 

Christ is:

• Sovereign over the imprisonment
• Saviour in the imprisonment - present and pervasive 

Paul is a “prisoner for you Gentiles” (3:1)

Is this an investment worth making? 

Investing in God’s work is worthwhile. 

In God’s purpose, God’s people are worthwhile. 

CT Studd – gave up a fortune and a career in cricket 

Jim Elliot:

• ‘He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose’
• ‘He is no fool who parts with that which he cannot keep, when he is sure to be recompensed with that which he cannot lose.’

Paul was investing his life in something worthwhile 

‘Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more, it is a tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury signifying nothing’ 

Macbeth Act 5 Scene 5 

Maybe not too far from the truth, for many a:

• Wasted life 
• Frittered life 
• Futile life

Squandered on utter triviality 

It seems the more trivial the pursuit today, the greater the reward and accolade:

• People pretending to be someone else in a story of make believe 
• Story tellers 
• Fantasists 
• Glory of fleeting sporting achievements 
• Many sacrifice their time and talents in trivial pursuits

By contrast Paul has invested His life and not squandered it (3:1), invested for Glory and not squandered for time.

Paul has invested it in something of lasting value, the work of God. 

Paul has taken Christ at His word

• ‘purchase of me gold tried in the fire’
• ‘lay up for yourself treasure in heaven’ 

The Christian life is not a life wasted but a life invested!

This prison becomes a:

• Pulpit
• Printing Press 
• School
• Sanctuary 

This prison becomes a place where:

• Christ is experienced 
• Christ is expounded 

A place not only of:

• Incarceration 
• Consecration 

To expound Christ I must first needs experience Christ 

Not simply as CS Lewis put it: 

• Fall in love with God 
• Fall in love with telling about God 
• Fall in love with the telling 

From this imprisonment comes a presentation of the:

1. Innocense - creation to fall, no law for no need of law
2. Conscience - fall to the law. Some would also see: 

1. Age of government - "if man shall she blood by man shall his blood be shed". Unconvinced that this represents a significantly distinctive dispensation. Government certainly developes through Genesis and beyond: Babel and Pharoah etc but from the days of Cain, retribution was a reality with the mark of Cain.
2. Promise to Abraham - definitely not a distinct dispensation, it does not involve the means of Divine administration of this world, selective, although very important but particular to Abraham. If we recognise this as a dispensation I would think you would need another for Melchizedek as well. 

On the basis of Romans chapter 5 I would see warrant in a single dispensation from conscience to law. 

1. Law
2. Grace
3. Tribulation - withdrawal of the Holy Spirit and the church – the Divine response to the rejection of Christ
4. Millenial reign of Christ
5. Eternal state 

• Not only what God is doing but the why, dispensations have a purpose, for the Glory of His Son. Not only are they distinctive means of Divine Administration but administration with an end in view.
• The dispensation of law is our school master leading us to Christ. In the law we have wonderful pictures and patterns of Christ in the sacrifices, offerings and tabernacle. 
• The dispensation of Grace is all of Christ 
• The Glory of God revealed in the eternal state with all focused on Christ! The foundations are the apostles of the lamb, the throne is of the lamb and the lamb is the light thereof! 
• The broad panorama of the unsearchable riches of Christ.
• The 14 mysteries

1. Mysteries of the Kingdom
2. Mystery of Israel regrafted (Romans 11) 
3. Mystery of the Gospel to all nations (Romans 16) 
4. Mystery of the Cross (1 Corinthians 2) 
5. Mystery of the Rapture (1 Corinthians 15) 
6. Mystery of His Will (Ephesians 1) 
7. Mystery of Christ (Ephesians 3) 
8. Mystery of the Church as the Bride of Christ (Ephesians 6) 
9. Mystery of Christ in us (Colossians 1) 
10. Mystery of Iniquity (2 Thessalonians 2) 
11. Great Mystery of Godliness (1 Timothy 3:16) 
12. Mystery of 7 stars and churches (Revelation 2) 
13. Mystery of God (Revelation 7) 
14. Mystery of Babylon the Great (Revelation 17) 

• The 2 great mysteries: 1 Timothy 3:16; Ephesians 5
• The 1 mystery of a great thing: Revelation 17 - note the disctinction here, not a great mystery sa is Christ and His people but now in dealing with iniquity and evil - the mystery of great thing! A different category all together! 

What are these mysteries? 

A 'definition' is often given:

• Truth once concealed and now revealed.

This is more accurately a feature of some of the mysteries of Christ rather than a definition. 

It is a paraphrase of Ephesians 3:5 and is thus a feature of the mystery of Christ. 

3 reasons why 'truth once concealed and now revelead is not a definition of the mysteries. 

1. Non specific, too generic - if this is our definition 

it would include almost all OT prophecy, given to some degree in obscurity eg "a virgin shall conceive and bring forth a son"! What did that means.

It would include the types and prophecies of the OT eg Genesis 22.

1. Inaccurate - not all mysteries are now revealed - 2 Thessalonians chp2 - mystery of iniquity, 1 Timothy 3:16 and the mystery of Babylon the great!
2. Cryptic - it seems an odd way to define a mystery by describing them as not mysteries! Paul, John and the Lord describe them consistently as mysteries, and still in the present tense eg 1 Timothy 3:16. It is a bit of a mystery to me to define a mystery as not a mystery. That is a mystery! 

Does a definition of the mysteries really matter? 

You should have been a hair dresser, you're so good with split hairs. 

A definition / understanding is worth pondering, if we get that wrong we may miss what the mysteries are actually about.

What are the mysteries. 

Consider the 3 core mysteries:

2 Great Mysteries 

1 Mystery of a Great thing 

1. Great is the mystery of Godliness 

1. Great mystery of Christ and His Church 

• Redemption of a people
• Reconciliation
• Relationship with God forever 

1. Mystery of Babylon the Great 

• Removal of all that opposes Christ, rejects Christ and Rebels against Christ.

If I were to ask you to summarise the message of the bible for me? God's plan as revealed within the pages of this book. How would you do?

• An hours ministry 
• A systematic theology 

How about in 3 points? 

I don't think you could do much worse that those 3 points! Even if it is my message and I'm quite pleased with it!

God's purpose for this universe from creation to redemption and beyond.

From eternity to eternity! 

These mysteries are not simply truths once concealed and now revealed, these mysteries are the answer of God to the question why? how? who?

The mysteries are God's plan for the universe.

This is the 'hidden' knowledge of the Christian faith, the true mysteries!

Maye God had purpose in the prison cell?

It was in the prison that:

• Joseph became a prophet 
• Daniel a type of Christ 
• Silas established the church at Philippi
• Paul unfolded the unsearchable riches of Christ 
• Onesimus was transformed from sinner and slave to saint. 

Makes you think that maybe God has a purpose in the prison cell at times?

Maybe in my:

• Loneliness
• Isolation
• Separation
• Despair
• Illness
• Restriction 

In my ‘prison’ type experience, maybe God will have purpose here too! 

Like Joseph in Genesis, there was purpose in his problems. 

Like Moses in Deuteronomy 8:2ff 

“for this cause” (Ephesians 3:1) 

1. Peace with God 
2. Privilege of Prayer 
3. Place in the Church 
4. Presence of God 

Paul doesn’t finish this sentence until 3:14 “for this cause I bow my knees” 

Paul sees the Power of God – the sovereign hand of Christ in his experience “of Christ Jesus”. Paul lives in the reality of a teaching he will give us later on in Ephesians 6:12; “we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers against the rulers of the darkness of this world...” Rome was but a pawn in a far bigger game. Neither Rome, Jewish 

1. more clearly that the “excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us” (2 Co 4:7). Here is the church growing and blossoming despite the fact that Paul has been taken out of the equation!

1. “So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places; And many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.” (Phil 1:13-14). There were those who sat on the fence! How do we get them off the fence? Set the fence on fire! No longer able to sit upon the fence.  

1. “All the saints salute you, -- chiefly they that are of Caesar’s household” (Phil 4:22) Even with Paul’s imprisonment, the gospel goes out and souls are being saved! 

1. Is it not interesting that today we read Pauls prison epistles! Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon and 2 Timothy! World population in AD 70 – about 250 million. Up until today about 7 billion bibles printed. The YOU bible version claims to have been installed on approximately 725 million devices! If Paul had never been in prison the maximum reach of his preaching ministry from Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon and 2 Timothy would have been a few thousand! 

1. Perceives the Purpose of his prison cell and problems! We don’t always have that luxury of course, being able to see what our trial is all about! Acknowledging the sovereignty of God of course over our trials gives us the assurance that “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28). In faith we have the assurance of purpose! 

1. Paul shows us a fresh PERSPECTIVE on the service of God (v8). Paul develops and grows in the PEACE and PATIENCE of God! Perhaps if we were an apostle like Paul, with such gift, knowledge, opportunity we would expect unlimited success and blessing, yet we notice Paul’s approach to his ministry (3:8) – God owes him nothing! All that he has he has been given, this ministry is all of God’s grace, with humility he has the perspective that God owes him nothing! 

Verse 2:

“Dispensation” : “οἰκονομία” : administration

Paul recognises in this verse ‘dispensations’

The ‘dispensation of the Grace of God’ stands in contrast to something else mentioned earlier; a distinctive way in which God revealed Himself and His plans and purposes in days gone by; “the law” (Ephesians 2:15) which excluded Jew and Gentile from fellowship with Him. 

Dispensations are ways by which God operates or administers this world. God remains the same and unchanged but the means by which He operates, or what He does does not remain the same! 

• God does not perpetually flood the world 
• God does not continually demand animal sacrifices
• God does not constantly plague Egypt
• God does not continue to send His Son into the world 

At different times God operates by distinctive means.

The word dispensation does not appear that often in the NT, although significantly it does appear 7 X in the NT; Luke 16:2; Luke 16:3; Luke 16:4; 1 Corinthians 9:17; Ephesians 1:10; Ephesians 3:2; Colossians 1:25.

There are different ways of seeing these dispensations in scripture. 

I can identify at least 7 (maybe 8) distinct dispensations, administered by God in distinctive ways:

1. Age of Innocence (Creation to the fall)
2. Age of Conscience / government from fall to the law, some see government as a distinct dispensation from Noah to the Law with the command to punish murder by death, although I do note that some form of government was already in force pre fall as indicated by the mark on Cain. 
3. Age of Law from Exodus 20 to Christ 
4. Age of Grace from the advent of Christ 
5. Day of Tribulation 
6. Millenial Reign 
7. Eternal state 

Verse 3 – The Mystery

Paul references here the Mystery of Christ (3:4) which is a reference to Jews and Gentiles together in one body (3:6)

Why Christ? 

Christ or Messiah is the anointed one:

• Psalm 2:2 – The anointed King 
• Psalm 110 – parallels Psalm 2 – the word Christ not mentioned but refers to the Priest and King 
• Daniel 9:24 – 26 

As Messiah Christ incorporates the roles of all of those previously anointed:

• Prophet
• Priest
• King 

The believer is being brought into the blessings and benefit of this anointed one, prophet, priest, King and sacrifice for our sins (Daniel 9) we have not been excluded! 

A mystery:

• Truth once concealed and now revealed? 

This is certainly true of the church and this mystery of Christ (3:4-5) but:

• Not necessarily a great ‘definition’ of mystery per se!

Perhaps better to understand the idea of mystery within the setting of the time of the NT writings when many of the religions of that day had a core set of ideas or revelations kept for the initiated. These were ideas that were at the core or heart of the religious system but unknown to the uninitiated. 

These mysteries then form the back bone, the structure to God’s plan for the universe in Christ. They are in effect the answer as to the reason why / how / what God is doing with this universe. 

We could identify perhaps 14 distinct mysteries. 

1. Mystery of the Kingdom (Mark 4) 
2. Mystery of Israel (Romans 11)
3. Mystery of the Gospel to all nations (Romans 16:25) 
4. Mystery of the Cross (1 Corinthians 1 + 2) 
5. Mystery of the Rapture (1 Corinthians 15) 
6. Mystery of Christ in you (Colossians 1:27)
7. Mystery of His will (Ephesians chp 1) 
8. Mystery of Christ (Ephesians chp 3) 
9. Mystery of the Bride (Ephesians chp 5) 
10. Mystery of Iniquity (2 Thessalonians 2:7) 
11. Mystery of Godliness (1 Timothy 3:16)
12. Mystery of the 7 Churches (Revelation chp 1)
13. Mystery of God in judgment (Revelation 10:7) 
14. Mystery of Babylon the Great (Revelation 17:5)

The 3 greats form the backbone of theses mysteries:

1. Great mystery of Godliness (1 Timothy 3:16) 

The Revelation, Resurrection, Ascension, Exaltation and Glorification of Christ 

1. Great mystery of Christ and His people (Ephesians 5)

The Redemption and reconciliation and relationship of Christ with His people 

1. The mystery of Babylon the Great (Revelation 17)

The Removal, Rejection and Retribution of all that rebels against Christ. 

If I were to ask you to give me a summary of the bible, could you do much better? 

Not a bad summary of the bible!

A summary of the bible in 3 points!

I doubt you could do any better! 

Here is Gods plan for the universe.

Here is the message of the bible 

What is God doing?

Why is God doing it? 

How is God doing it? 

V8  “the unsearchable riches of Christ” 

Paul is tasked with this great challenge of preaching the unsearchable riches of Christ to the Gentiles. 

Notice his perspective on himself as he unfolds these riches! 

“unto me who am less than the least of all saints” (3:8) 

God owes Paul nothing! 

God does not owe him:

• An easy life
• A smooth passage
• Blessings
• Prosperity
• Popularity 

All Paul has, he has by the grace of God!

He is indebted to God, and not God to him! 

Prison is acceptable when grace is undeserved (v8) 

Perhaps there is a link between Paul’s appreciation of who he is (3:8) and Paul’s appreciation of who Christ is? 

• A small view of self
• A big view of Christ

Do we not need to be empty to then be filled? 

• Paul – when I am weak then I am strong 
• Elijah knew God’s power and presence in the famine, drought and persecution by Jezebel
• Moses encountered God as a fugitive in the backside of the desert 
• Let him that lacks wisdom ask of God who gives liberally and upbraideth not (James 1:5) 

Was it not:

• The blind man who saw the light of the world (John 9)
• The dead man who knew the resurrection power of Jesus (John 11)
• The hungry crowd who could testify to Christ as the living bread (John 6)
• A thirsty woman who drank of the living water (John 4) 
• Empty water pots that were filled to the brim by Christ with wine. (John 2) 
• An anxious and fearful upper room of disciples who enjoyed that peace of Christ which goes beyond all understanding! 

What is Paul sharing of Christ? 

What are these riches?

Are they things which Christ possesses?

• Cattle on the 1000 hills (Psalm 50:10)
• All that the Father hath are mine (John 16:25) 
• The whole world belongs to Him (John 1) 
• All things made by Him (Col 1:16)

I have never heard Paul ‘preach’ but we do have his epistles to read. They do not seem to be filled with the riches Christ possesses or creates but rather the riches of His:

• Character 
• Attributes 
• Person 
• Work 

ie riches of:

• Who Christ is 
• What Christ has done 

Riches are commodities we would attach value to either because of their:

1. Uniqueness

• Outstanding beauty 
• Scarcity 
• Complexity 

1. Relative worth - money 
2. Absolute worth 

• Heb 11:26 – Moses found greater riches in the reproach of Christ than the treasures in Egypt 

There is absolute worth in Christ! 

Illust: Jews heading to Auschwitz willing to give away all of their material possessions for a drink of water! 

“all that a man hath will he give for his life” (Job 2:4) 

Jesus is:

• In our hunger He is the Bread of life
• In my thirst He is the Living water 
• In my death He is the resurrection and the life 
• In my wandering He is the good Shepherd 
• In my sin He is the Saviour 
• In my weakness He is my helper 
• In my sorrow He is the comforter 
• In my emptiness He is the fullness that filleth all in all 
• In my path He is the Way 
• In my despair He is our Hope 
• In my fear He is our peace 
• The true vine sustaining His people 
• Possesses the words of Eternal Life
• Resurrection and the life
• Creator
• Judge 
• Upholds all things by His power 
• Holds the keys of hell and of death (Rev 1:18) 
• He is our peace 
• He is our redeemer 
• Our substitute 
• He is our hope 
• The door into heaven 
• Our Great High Priest 
• Our Good Shepherd 
• Our Great Shepherd 
• He is our comforter 
• King of Kings
• Lord of Lords 
• Bright and morning star 
• In my need of a lamb He is Jehovah Jireh (Genesis 22)
• For those who need healing heading out of Egypt He is Jehovah Rapha 
• For Gideon who saw the angel of the Lord and was afraid to die He is Jehovah Shalom 
• For David facing Goliath He is the Lord of Hosts (1 Samuel 17:45) Jehovah Sabaoth
• For those who need salvation He is Jehovah Tsidkenu 
• Hebrews 1 – titles of Jehovah 
• Revelation 17 – title of Jehovah 

Everything I need for time and for eternity is found in Him!

Fascinatingly it is Moses who teaches me the true value of these unsearchable riches in Christ! 

“By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter;
²⁵ Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;
²⁶ Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward.” (Hebrews 11:24-26)

Moses had in Egypt:

• Place
• Position
• Privilege
• Power
• Pleasure
• Possessions 

Here is an encouraging thought; if all I feel that I have of Christ is His reproach: 

• His tears and sorrow
• His rejection and alienation
• His pain and suffering 
• The hatred of men
• The contradiction of sinners
• The mocking and jeering
• Betrayal and unfaithfulness
• If the only grasp I feel of His things is His Cross
• If the only taste of Christ is the taste of His tears 
• When you feel you follow with a cross rather than for a crown
• The only fragrance of Christ you perceive is the anointing for His burial
• The only emotion the tears of His suffering 
• Heaven and it’s precious jewels seem a long way away
• The wiping away of all tears beyond your reach 
• The streets of gold are somewhere else 
• River of living water refresh another people in another city in another place 

If out of all of His riches I lay hold only of His reproach then compared to all that I could ever have in this world, this far out weighs in value and worth the world in its:

• Place
• Position
• Privilege
• Power 
• Pleasure 
• Possessions 

Paul, imprisoned in Ephesians chapter 3 recognises the sovereign power of Christ over that prison and discovers the Saviour in that prison! This section of Ephesians chapter 3 begins with prison and ends with purpose! There is purpose in the prison! Purpose for Joseph, Daniel, Onesimus, Silas and Paul. From that prison pours the unsearchable riches of Christ, an appreciation of the dispensations of God's Grace and of the mysteries of the New Testament, 14 in number, 2 great mysteries and 1 mystery of a great thing. 

Dr J Stewart Gillespie 

graceinchrist.org

Viktor Frankl: ‘If life has meaning and suffering is part of life then suffering has meaning’

It was that perspective of seeing life even at its most difficult as possessing meaning that helped see Frankl through Auschwitz and in his clinical judgment made the difference between surviving suffering or succumbing to suffering. 

Ever before Auschwitz or Frankl’s book Paul demonstrates the same thing. 

“Everything can be taken form a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”

It is as Paul peers through the bars of the prison cell that in his suffering, in his pain and in his problems and in:

• Prison

He sees 

• Purpose

Through the prison bars he sees purpose! 

Like Joseph in Genesis, there was purpose in his problems. 

Like Moses in Deuteronomy8:2ff 

“for this cause” (Ephesians 3:1) 

1. Peace with God 
2. Privilege of Prayer 
3. Place in the Church 
4. Presence of God 

Paul doesn’t finish this sentence until 3:14 “for this cause I bow my knees” 

Paul perceives:

1. A fresh perspective on his problems! Illust: Would you like someone to stick a knife in your belly? A rhetorical question! If I were to explain the assailant was a surgeon, the knife, a surgical blade, the setting a surgical theatre, the procedure an operation to save your life, would this be something you may be interested in? Illust: Leonid Rogozov, Antarctic Expedition 1960-1961, took out his own appendix, the suffering and pain was worth the risk and the outcome! 

1. Power of God – the sovereign hand of Christ in the experience “of Jesus Christ”. Paul lives in the reality of a teaching he will give us later on in Ephesians 6:12; “we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers against the rulers of the darkness of this world...” Rome was but a pawn in a far bigger game. Neither Rome, Jewish opposition nor even Satan had the upper hand, Christ was sovereign in all things, working out His plan and purpose.

1. Paul sees the Proof of the Power of God! Here is Paul’s lifelong work in a sense, evangelising the gentiles and establishing the Christian church and building up Christians. He has seen tremendous success in so doing! Consider the story of the Acts of the Apostles. But was all of this Paul? All of this Paul’s persuasive preaching? Paul’s great biblical arguments? Was it a personality cult? Is / was Christianity all just one man's ideas? Is most of the NT not all down to one man Paul? We still here that today. Illust: old teacher, 27 books in NT – how many written by Paul? It’s just one man’s ideas then? Now that Paul is taken out of the equation we can see more clearly that the “excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us” (2 Co 4:7). Here is the church growing and blossoming despite the fact that Paul has been taken out of the equation!

1. “So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places; And many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.” (Phil 1:13-14) 

1. “All the saints salute you, -- chiefly they that are of Caesar’s household” (Phil 4:22) Even with Paul’s imprisonment, the gospel goes out and souls are being saved! 

1. Is it not interesting that today we read Pauls prison epistles! Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon and 2 Timothy! World population in AD 70 – about 250 million. Up until today about 7 billion bibles printed. The YOU bible version claims to have been installed on approximately 725 million devices! If Paul had never been in prison the maximum reach of his preaching ministry from Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon and 2 Timothy would have been a few thousand! 

1. Perceives the Purpose of his prison cell and problems! We don’t always have that luxury of course, being able to see what our trial is all about! Acknowledging the sovereignty of God of course over our trials gives us the assurance that “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28). In faith we have the assurance of purpose! 

1. Paul shows us a fresh PERSPECTIVE on the service of God (v8). Paul develops and grows in the PEACE and PATIENCE of God! Perhaps if we were an apostle like Paul, with such gift, knowledge, opportunity we would expect unlimited success and blessing, yet we notice Paul’s approach to his ministry (3:8) – God owes him nothing! All that he has he has been given, this ministry is all of God’s grace, with humility he has the perspective that God owes him nothing! 

Verse 2:

“Dispensation” : “οἰκονομία” : administration

Paul recognises in this verse ‘dispensations’

The ‘dispensation of the Grace of God’ stands in contrast to something else mentioned earlier; a distinctive way in which God revealed Himself and His plans and purposes in days gone by; “the law” (Ephesians 2:15) which excluded Jew and Gentile from fellowship with Him. 

Dispensations are ways by which God operates or administers this world. God remains the same and unchanged but the means by which He operates, or what He does does not remain the same! 

• God does not perpetually flood the world 
• God does not continually demand animal sacrifices
• God does not constantly plague Egypt
• God does not continue to send His Son into the world 

At different times God operates by distinctive means.

The word dispensation does not appear that often in the NT, although significantly it does appear 7 X in the NT; Luke 16:2; Luke 16:3; Luke 16:4; 1 Corinthians 9:17; Ephesians 1:10; Ephesians 3:2; Colossians 1:25.

There are different ways of seeing these dispensations in scripture. 

I can identify at least 7 (maybe 8) distinct dispensations, administered by God in distinctive ways:

1. Age of Innocence (Creation to the fall)
2. Age of Conscience / government from fall to the law, some see government as a distinct dispensation from Noah to the Law with the command to punish murder by death, although I do note that some form of government was already in force pre fall as indicated by the mark on Cain. 
3. Age of Law from Exodus 20 to Christ 
4. Age of Grace from the advent of Christ 
5. Day of Tribulation 
6. Millenial Reign 
7. Eternal state 

One of the earliest ways of organising the dispensations goes back to Poiret who listed 7 dispensations and linked them / paralleled them with the phases of human growth and maturity.

Verse 3 – The Mystery

Paul references here the Mystery of Christ (3:4) which is a reference to Jews and Gentiles together in one body (3:6)

Why Christ? 

Christ or Messiah is the anointed one:

• Psalm 2:2 – The anointed King 
• Psalm 110 – parallels Psalm 2 – the word Christ not mentioned but refers to the Priest and King 
• Daniel 9:24 – 26 

As Messiah Christ incorporates the roles of all of those previously anointed:

• Prophet
• Priest
• King 

The believer is being brought into the blessings and benefit of this anointed one, prophet, priest, King and sacrifice for our sins (Daniel 9) we have not been excluded! 

A mystery:

• Truth once concealed and now revealed? 

This is certainly true of the church and this mystery of Christ (3:4-5) but:

• Not necessarily a great ‘definition’ of mystery per se!

Perhaps better to understand the idea of mystery within the setting of the time of the NT writings when many of the religions of that day had a core set of ideas or revelations kept for the initiated. These were ideas that were at the core or heart of the religious system but unknown to the uninitiated. 

These mysteries then form the back bone, the structure to God’s plan for the universe in Christ. They are in effect the answer as to the reason why / how / what God is doing with this universe. 

We could identify perhaps 14 distinct mysteries. 

1. Mystery of the Kingdom (Mark 4) 
2. Mystery of Israel (Romans 11)
3. Mystery of the Gospel to all nations (Romans 16:25)
4. Mystery of the Cross (1 Corinthians 1 + 2) 
5. Mystery of the Rapture (1 Corinthians 15) 
6. Mystery of Christ in you (Colossians 1:27)
7. Mystery of His will (Ephesians chp 1) 
8. Mystery of Christ (Ephesians chp 3) 
9. Mystery of the Bride (Ephesians chp 5) 
10. Mystery of Iniquity (2 Thessalonians 2:7) 
11. Mystery of Godliness (1 Timothy 3:16)
12. Mystery of the 7 Churches (Revelation chp 1)
13. Mystery of God in judgment (Revelation 10:7) 
14. Mystery of Babylon the Great (Revelation 17:5)

V8  “the unsearchable riches of Christ” 

Paul is tasked with this great challenge of preaching the unsearchable riches of Christ to the Gentiles. 

What is Paul sharing of Christ? 

Riches are commodities we would attach value to either because of their:

1. Uniqueness

• Outstanding beauty 
• Scarcity 
• Complexity 

1. Relative worth  - money 
2. Absolute worth 

• Heb 11:26 – Moses found greater riches in the reproach of Christ than the treasures in Egypt 

There is absolute worth in Christ! 

Illust: Jews heading to Auschwitz willing to give away all of their material possessions for a drink of water! 

“all that a man hath will he give for his life” (Job 2:4) 

Jesus is:

• Bread of life
• Living water 
• Possesses the words of Eternal Life
• Resurrection and the life
• Creator
• Judge 
• Upholds all things by His power 
• Holds the keys of hell and of death (Rev 1:18) 
• He is our peace 
• He is our redeemer 
• Our substitute 
• He is our hope 
• The door into heaven 
• Our Great High Priest 
• Our Good Shepherd 
• Our Great Shepherd 
• He is our comforter 

Everything I need for time and for eternity is found in Him!

Ephesians chapter 3 describes Paul's imprisonment but not simply from the human perspective! Paul sees the plan and purpose of God in his prison cell! He is the prisoner of Jesus Christ. Through the prison and the pain God's church is being build, souls saved from Caesar's household, Christians emboldened in the Gospel and 5 prison epistels written, subsequently shared to over 9 billion souls! Paul chose how we would see and respond in these difficult circumstances. Paul's joy lay in playing his part in the dispensation of the Grace of God, one of 7 dispensations in the Bible : the dispensations of innocence, conscience, law, grace, tribulation, millenial reign and eternal state. God has His plan for Paul, for the whole world and for you.
Dr J Stewart Gillespie
Graceinchrist.org 

Structure & Setting: 

There are 6 chapter in letter to the Ephesians: 

Chapters 1 to 3 are Doctrinal 

Chapters 4 to 6 are Practical 

There appears to be a clear division in the letter to the Ephesians, marked clearly by the closing doxology at the end of chapter 3. 

3:14-21 – is a transitional section where we move from Doctrine to Practice, from theory and thence into life 

We shall endeavour to expound this prayer within the limitations of our understanding & experience. 

All 3 persons of the Godhead are involved individually (3:14, 16, 17) and also  collectively (3:19) 

We are not speaking about salvation, but rather we are speaking about consecration, that is practical sanctification. 

Ever before we can, “walk” (4:1) we must first learn to crawl. 

Before the believer can “Walk” (4:1) for God, he must “Bow the knee” to God (3:14). “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up” (James4:10) 

Paul is looking for Great Results in the life of the believer: 

“to comprehend,” (v18) the Love of Christ 

‘to have an experiential knowledge’ (v19) of Love of Christ 

“be filled with all the fullness of God,” (20) 

Don’t despair, Great Results are expected but Great Resources are available: 

The Spirit of God (v16) 

“the riches of His Glory” (v16) 

A God who “is able” (v20) 

A “Power that worketh in us” (v20) 

3:14-21: The Deeper Work of Christ: 

“For this cause…” (3:14), In view of God’s work collectively in building His Church (chp2; 3:6), Paul prays for a work individually. 

The Church collectively will only be as spiritual as believers individually. 

Note at the outset: 

The Principle of Relationship: “Father” (3:14) – this is a  “Family” relationship. Paul’s prayer is for a deeper relationship with Christ & God. 

The Atmosphere of Love: This is the character and substance of the family relationship. Draw near to our Father not in fear to God. Cf. vs17 & 19. 

Note 7 Key Requests (8 Verbs in Total): 

“to be strengthened.” (v16) 

God’s Spirit comes & strengthens the believer in the, “inner man.” 

Note the purpose, note the conjunction, “that” (v17) – ‘in order that’ 

The Spirit does a preparatory work in the believer’s heart 

Remember how the Spirit performed a preparatory work when you were not saved, convicted you of, “sin and of righteousness and of judgement,” (Jo16:8). 

“The opening of the heart’s innermost door to the personal presence of Christ…& so the full appreciation of His salvation.” HCG Moule (p129) 

“That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith” (v17) 

Paul is praying that God would do individually in the Christian what He has done collectively in the church.  

You know that Christ is already “in” the believer, “how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates.” (2Co13:5) 

Paul is not praying that Christ would be, “in” them but rather that He would “dwell in,” them. 

Even that might not satisfy you, knowing Romans 8:9 goes further that the “Spirit of God” “dwells in” the believer as does the “Spirit of Christ.” 

Here is Paul apparently praying for something which has already happened? So what is Paul praying for? 

2 words used for “dwell” in those 2 verses: Rom8:9 & Eph3:17. 

Not just Christ present in the heart but Christ at home in the heart. 

The word for dwell in Ephesians 3:17 is more intensive, not just to be there but to stay there, settled and at home there, 

Not just Christ Present in our Heart – That is already our PRIVELAGE 

but Christ at Home in our Heart – That is our PROSPECT. 

It is possible to be at the point PERSONALLY where Laodicea was COLLECTIVELY (Rev3:20). Doors in our life and activity can at times be effectively closed to Christ. There can be areas of the believers life, in which Christ’s Lordship is denied, where Christ isn’t even at the negotiating table, e.g. choice of partner – unequal yolk, job, house etc. 

Notice it’s, “by faith,” (3:17), not pursuing some esoteric/physical experience, that wouldn’t be, “by faith.” A deep work of the Spirit of God in our life. 

 “being rooted and grounded in love” (v17) 

“Rooted” – Biological term      

“Grounded,” – Architectural term 

In both cases the ‘soil’ is the same – “love”         

We’ve been, ‘strengthened,’ & ‘indwelt’ by Christ & with His indwelling comes, “love.” 

The characteristic feature of the heart in which Christ dwells – “Love” 

Why “Love”? Surely Christ brings with Him a whole host of graces & virtues? 

Love as a Divine characteristic is fundamental and can’t be simplified it any further. 

There are some graces you can simplify. 

Take ‘Grace’ – Reduced back to ‘Love’ eg John3:16. 

“Love” is an Irreducible Spiritual Principle. It lies at the root of a whole variety of spiritual graces & virtues: 1Corinthians 13:5ff. 

Galatians 5:22 – A single “fruit of the Spirit,” all sharing the same character of that first fruit of “love” 

So basic/irreducible is this Spiritual Principle that it can only be traced back to the character of God Himself: “God is love.” (1 John 4:8) 

 “be able to comprehend” (v18) &  “to know” (v19) 

Consider these 2 together, joined together by, “and” 

“Comprehend,”– to apprehend, to attain 

“to know,” 

Notice the contrast between the experience mentioned in v18 & v19: 

v18 – For a Collective appreciation– “all saints” 

v19 – For an Individual appreciation – “ye” 

v18 – For our mind – The Love of Christ appreciated 

v19 – For our heart – “passeth knowledge” – The Love of Christ experienced 

v18 – Objective – dimensions 

v19 – Subjective – ‘Better felt than telt’ 

Recall the contrast with the unregenerate man of Eph4:18: 

“understanding,” is in darkness – nothing for his mind       

“heart” is blind – nothing for his heart   

The believer has an enlightened “mind” & a full “heart”   

v18 – Is not this what we have just done in chp 2? Considered the Objective/Demonstrated love of Christ to us all in God’s plan of salvation. Considered the: 

“Breadth” – 2:14-16 – Encompassing Jew & Gentile 

“Length” – 2:7 – Extending on into Eternity 

“Depth” – 2:1-2 – To which His love reached down to us 

“Height” – 2:5-6 – To which His love raised us 

Here is something for all believers to meditate upon collectively. The love of Christ towards us. The love of Christ demonstrated at Calvary & beyond. 

“to know” (v19) 

The love of Christ experienced in the life of the individual believer, yet always surpassing the merely intellectual. 

Christ is ‘dwelling in the heart’ (v17) 

With Him comes the irreducible spiritual principle of, “Love.” 

The believer’s character is changed. This ushers in the revolution of Love in Believer’s Heart 

The presence of live is evidenced by its outpouring to others: “If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.” (1Jo4:12) 

From that love grows all of those graces of 1 Corinthians 13, accompanied by the fruit of Galatians 5:22. See what’s happening, something of the very character of God is being seen in the life of the believer. Christ is being formed in them (Gal4:19), We are approaching “unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Eph4:13). 

“be filled with all the fullness of God” (v19) 

We are being: “Filled with all the fullness of God.” 

“But even though the love of Christ surpasses human knowledge yet you shall know it if you have Christ dwelling in you.” (Theophylact) 

I don’t measure up – It’s too difficult – I’m not able 

Human Inability is combined with Divine Ability: “He is able.” (3:20)

Notes from a message preached on Ephesians chapter 3 in our systematic series of bible studies in Paul's letter to the Ephesians, audio recordings free to download as mp3 files or listen online to the bible teaching preached in the Bridgend Gospel Hall New Cumnock.

Yours by Grace in Christ 

Dr J Stewart Gillespie

Paul the Prisoner (v1-2) 
Paul the Prophet (v3-6) – forthtelling the mind of God 
Paul the Preacher (v7-13) – what he has received he now speaks 
Paul the Priest (v14-21) – undertakes a priestly activity 

 Not just about Paul, applicable to us: 

A Suffering Saint (v1-2) Lessons for us in our suffering 
A Privileged Saint (v3-6) Privileges believer brought into 
A Serving Saint (v7-13) The service of Christian life. 
A Praying saint (v14-21) The apostle’s burden for evangelism & for others has as a consequence v14, “For this cause.” 

The sanctuary is the preparation place for service 

Prayer is the prerequisite for preaching 

Paul the Prisoner: A Suffering Saint (v1-2) 

Situation – imprisoned, unjustly accuse, restricted movements. 

Had been given the task of evangelising the Gentile world, but now immobilised & incarcerated imprisoned. 

Depressed? Disheartened? Discouraged? Defeated? 

Through his suffering we can see a remarkable prisoner who can see: 

               The Purpose in a Prison Cell 

If there’s purpose in a prison cell, there’s purpose in a believers suffering 

Seen it at Philippi (Acts16) – Philippian Jailor & household saved. 

v13 continues the thought. 

Paul thought of his role as apostle to the Gentiles (v1). He could see his sufferings for their greater glory (v13) & for the building of the church, “For you Gentiles.” (v1)   

Thought developed in Phil Chapter 1, tells us exactly how this happened: 

His sufferings brought him into a whole new mission field (1:13). 

By the end of the Philippian epistle he is able to send greetings from, “They that are of Caesar’s household,” (Philippians 4:22). 

Was this experience in prison described in the Philippian epistle, one of the occasions when Satan overstepped himself? 

Apostle Paul was then brought in chains to Rome. 

By this means he was placed at the very centre of the Empire and thus able to exert an influence in perhaps even in Caesar’s household. 

God moves, and a fledgling Church is established. 

Right in the very midst is the apostle himself. 

Proverbs 16:7, “When a man’s ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.” 

Paul can see the hand of God in it all. 

His sufferings encouraged others to go out to a whole new mission field (Phil1:14). 

His sufferings brought Glory to Christ by the way he conducted himself during those sufferings (Phil1:20). 

 A purpose in Paul’s sufferings, a purpose in ours. (Rom8:28) 

 Don’t always know the purpose in them - Job 

Paul the Prophet:  A Privileged Saint (v3-6) 

 “Wrote afore in few words,” (v3) – refer back to chp2, when he wrote of Jew & Gentile in 1 body. 

v5 – A Brief Definition of Mysteries in General. 

 Not esoteric knowledge. Truth previously hidden & now revealed. 

 Not something only for the select few. 

 Not like the Masons. 

v6 – A Brief Definition of this Mystery in Particular. 

 Dealt with in Eph2:11-22. 

 Note 3 words with the Greek prefix of “sun,” (v6), cf 2:5,6. Three great  ‘Together’ words 

“Fellow heirs,” & 
“Same body,” & 
“Partakers of His promise.” 

 “Same body,”- only here in the New Testament. This is the earliest occurrence of this word in Greek literature. This word is not known in secular Gk. Could this be a new word for a new revelation? 

 Almost as though Paul is saying the Greek language is inadequate to describe this new revelation. 

 Perhaps we could best translate the word as “concorporate” – Jew & Gentile on equal terms. Not so much the idea of the Gentile being brought into Israel. 

“The Gentiles have not been added to an already existing entity; they are fully equal, joint members, totally necessary for the life of the body.” (Lincoln p181) 

 v6 – The Content of the Mystery 

 v4 – The Communication of the Mystery 

 The mystery is ‘revealed unto’ the apostle (v3) but it is to be ‘understood’ by the believer (v4). 

 The Privilege of the NT believer to understand & enjoy these truths previously hidden. (1Pet1:12) 

 Paul expects us to enjoy them: “when ye read,” (v4) not, “if ye read” 

Paul the Preacher : A Serving Saint (v7-13) 

 Principle of scripture: what God pours in is to be poured out (Jo7:38).  

 Note the humility with which the service of Paul is marked. 

“minister,” or “servant” this is not a clergyman of course, no such division between laity and clerisy was known in the days of the New Testament church. 1 Timothy 3 envisages many teachers or overseers and many deacons in 1 assembly. No 1man ministry ministry, not one man over 1 church or even one man over many churches! This would deny the truth of 1Corinthians 12. 

According to the “Gift” (v7) 
“the Grace of God.” (v7) 

 What his service is all about (v8): 

 The Missionary: “Unto me who am less than the least…” – A correct view of self. Paul takes a SUPERLATIVE & turns it into a COMPARATIVE – “leaster,” – another new word (cf. v6) 

 The Mission: “I should preach” – A fervour for our mission, single minded, undistracted & focused. 

 The Mission Field: “among the gentiles” – Clearly identified. If the unsaved are the mission field, why preach the gospel to converted we may wonder? 

 The Message: “Unsearchable riches of Christ.” – An appreciation of what we have. 

 “Unsearchable,” (v8) – Unfathomable, inexhaustible 

 “A wealth the limit of which no man can ever find,” (Wm Barclay). 

 “Suggests the picture of a reservoir so deep that soundings cannot reach the bottom of it. No limit can therefore be put to its resources.” (Lincoln) 

 Perhaps true to say the “unsearched riches of Christ,” for many. 

 Have a little glimpse into the “Unsearchable riches,” in Ephesians: 

Christ Personally: 

Christ as Prophet (2:17) 
Christ as Priest (2:11) 
Christ as King (5:5) 

Christ & His Relationship to the Church: 

Christ as Head of the Body (1:22) 
Christ as Chief Corner Stone of the Temple (2:20) 
Christ as Bridegroom to the Church (Chp5) 

Christ Presented As: 

Lord of Life: 2:5 
Lord of Love:  3:17ff 
Lord of Light: 5:14ff 

Christ Is The: 

Sphere of our Blessings (1:3) – All due to our relationship with Christ. 
Purpose of our Sanctification  (1:4) 
Origin of our Salvation (1:7; 5:23) 
Focus & End of the Dispensation (1:10; 3:9) – “Whatever’s the world coming to?” 
Object of our Adoration (1:12) – Now & forever. 
Means of Reconciliation (Chp2:11-22) 
Route of Communication (2:18; 3:12) 
Means of Creation (3:9) 
Bestower of our Gifts (4:7ff) 
Example of Dedication (5:2) 
Source of Illumination (5:14) 
Standard of Affection (5:25) 

This is what we have to offer men & women. Christ & nothing else. Especially not entertainment/Social Club 

 As Jew & Gentiles are saved by the preaching of the gospel, & incorporated into, “one body,” (v6), so the “administration” (not “fellowship,”) of the mystery is         ‘seen’ (v9). 

 Are these the longest verses in Bible??? (v9-11). They span in time from ‘creation’ onto ‘now’ and ultimately to ‘eternity’! 

 “the principalities and powers,” look on, (v10). From their appreciation of spiritual truth, perhaps not just evil angelic forces as per 6:12. (cf. Matt16:23) 

 When world was created, angelic powers present. 

 In garden of Eden Satan interested (Gen3:1ff) 

 Cherubim observed the fall & implemented the judgment (Gen3:24) 

 Perhaps in days of Noah angelic forces were interested in man (Gen6:4) 

 Angels involved with Abraham, Lot & destruction of Sodom (Gen18&19) 

 Michael in days of Daniel (Dan12:1) 

 Angels observe the birth (Lk1:11,19, 26; 2:9), temptation (Matt4:11) & sufferings (Lk22:43), & death (Jo20) of Christ. 

 Angelic forces saw man fall, creation crumble, world corrupted, Christ crucified. Was God’s work to come to nought? 

 But now “by the church” they see the, “manifold wisdom of God,” 

 “Manifold” – “much-variegated,” or “multi-coloured” 

 They see the working out of God’s “eternal purpose,” in Christ (v11), cf. 1:10. Thought of God’s purposes for believers in chp1 – at a practical level, but here is God’s one, “Eternal Purpose.” 

Paul the Priest : A Praying saint (v14-21)

Notes from a message preached on Ephesians chapter 3 in our systematic series of bible studies in Paul's letter to the Ephesians, audio recordings free to download as mp3 files or listen online to the bible teaching preached in the Bridgend Gospel Hall New Cumnock. 

Yours by Grace in Christ  

Dr J Stewart Gillespie