For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles— if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets.

Ephesians 3:1-5 NKJV

3:1 “For this reason…” In other words, Paul is in essence saying, “because we have been raised up in Christ and joined together, let’s talk about what this really means.”

I am not sure we fully appreciate the drama of Paul’s words at times. Throughout his epistles, Paul makes some very dramatic and seemingly outlandish statements. “The prisoner of Christ for you Gentiles” is one of these statements. The word prisoner simply means: someone who is bound or imprisoned. There is no sense of hyperbole here, and it points to two basic truths about Paul’s life.

The first is very simple. Paul was often literally imprisoned because he preached the gospel to the Gentiles.

The second isn’t as straightforward but it is easy to understand. Why does Paul insert the statement at this point in the letter? This is what makes his statement more dramatic. Here is the answer: Paul is being held captive by the anointing given to Him. This same anointing is the one Jesus gave to the disciples in Matthew 16, when Jesus said “whatever you bind (imprison) on earth will be bound (imprisoned) in heaven. This means that Paul, and quite likely many others, have labored in prayerful intercession regarding Paul concerning these truths by which Paul has become bound to proclaim to the Gentiles. Paul has labored in prayer to the extent that he has been “arrested” by Jesus’ anointing to proclaim this Gospel to the Gentiles. A simple reading of the book of Acts attests to this, as the final word of Scripture regarding Paul’s life testifies of him being imprisoned in Rome, writing letters and ministering to those whom he has access.

3:2 The main phrase in this verse is “dispensation of the grace”. Paul has been given, and is now imparting to the Ephesians, the dispensation of God’s gracious actions and blessings. Dispensation in this sense refers to administering, managing, or stewarding. In essence, Paul is a steward of a very specific truth in regards to God’s grace, and Paul is inviting us to share this stewardship with him.

3:3 The revelation (unveiling/revealing) was made known to Paul. This is important, because Paul did not minister with Jesus as the other apostles did. Paul’s understanding came by revelation directly from God. But how did God reveal things to Him? We can only hypothesize the specific details, however Paul’s frequent allusions to the Old Testament should give us the most obvious answer.

Paul was reading the Old Testament while praying and fellowshipping with the Holy Spirit. The revelation came because Paul could read the Old Testament with the “blinders and scales” taken off of his eyes because he is now in Christ.

This is an important point, because we should be able to come to the same conclusions as Paul when we read the Old Testament verses quoted and alluded to in Ephesians. Paul is explaining it all to us in almost redundant detail, so we should be able to examine Paul’s teaching in light of the Old Testament and come to the same conclusions as Paul by the same Spirit who revealed these truths to him.

Paul made known to us the “mystery”. A mystery in Scripture is simply a truth which is hidden and unsearchable. It cannot be found, searched out, or understood. It requires God to reveal it to us in some way. In this particular instance, God revealed a mystery to Paul, and Paul is explaining it to us. Because we have had it explained to us, we should be able to now read the Bible and see this revelation plainly throughout the book. That which was once an unsearchable mystery, is now something we can search out freely. We now have access and have no excuse to be ignorant concerning this mystery.

3:4 Paul states that he has already written briefly about this, which directs us back to what he had already written. This is Paul’s constant reminder that he hasn’t changed his point or focus. If anything, Paul has been circling around the point again and again and has not yet actually made it to the point.

Paul does begin to make the point again right here, however. He is speaking about the “mystery of Christ”. Who again, is Christ? We’ve established already that Christ is much more than a spiritual savior (even though spiritual salvation is a very significant truth on it’s own). Christ, that is Jesus of Nazareth, is a human, Jewish King who will rule from earthly Jerusalem. So what is the mystery of this man? Why is it so important to Paul that he discuss this with the Ephesians so that they can understand?

3:5 In other ages this was not known to humans that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ. This is an important to note because the Jews had a vivid and thorough understanding of the general promise of Christ. What mystery concerning Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, was unknown to those who were diligently waiting and watching for Him? What mystery was revealed by the Spirit, first by the Spirit to the apostles and prophets?

We will look at that next week.