Ephesians3:1-6
A professor we love very much had the habit of holding his index finger upright while he was digressing from the main (examinable) theme of his lecture. We loved this for two reasons: his digressions were always fascinating _and_ we could rest our hands from frantic note-taking.
In vs.1 Paul is about to pray for the Ephesians, but as he mentions the fact that he is in prison as he writes to them - he is caught up with the thought that there is a tension. The tension is that he has spoken to them about freedom in Christ and yet he is in prison. He is concerned that they may read "failure" into his circumstances, and so he digresses...
The digression has to do with "mystery":
- The mystery of God's grace given to us to give to others (v.2-3)
- The mystery of Christ (v.4-5)
- The mystery that Gentiles can be part of the body of Christ (v.6)
The best way to describe Paul's use of the word "mystery" is to describe it as something that is "beyond our grasp" - something that leaves him "gobsmacked."
* Paul is gobsmacked that the God's grace would be "administered"* through him.
* He is gobsmacked at the Incarnation - that God's son would take on our humanity and be revealed to us.
* He is gobsmacked that those who were far are now near to God.
All three of the above-mentioned scenarios are highly unlikely and yet they are true! Only God can do this!!!
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* The word "administration" in Greek is the word from which we get "economy" - Paul is saying that he is gobsmacked that the economy (the orderly execution of a plan) of God includes little-old-him to reach the gentiles.
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Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/
