Ephesians 3:7-11

Eph 3:7

Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power.

 

Paul states that he was made a minister of the covenant of grace.  The term “minister” is the word for servant in the Greek.  The ministry of servanthood is a definite gift of the grace of God because it doesn’t take much humility to be a ruler.  Anyone can rule but it is a gift to be able to follow instead of lead and how many Christians want to lead today.  Many want to be teachers when they have not yet become students.  This is why you must be very careful who you listen to on the Internet, especially on PalTalk and Facebook.  Those who are nothing in their churches will try to be something on social media and many who teach a heretical gospel will also be present.

 

{26} But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;  {27} And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:  {28} Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.  (Matthew 20:26-28)

 

Matthew 20:26-28 teaches us that the Lord Jesus came to minister and give His life for the elect.  This is the responsibility of the believer. And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved.  (2 Corinthians 12:15)  2 Corinthians 12:15 teaches us that the apostle Paul gave his life for the brethren to the point of personal exhaustion and personal expense. Some Christians think we are here to just go to church or write checks to a ministry and then lay back believing they have fulfilled their responsibility in ministry.

 

Effectual Working of his power is the power through which the Apostle Paul had operated through his entire life.  The Holy Spirit empowered him to do great miracles.  {11} And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul:  {12} So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.  (Acts 19:11-12)  Paul not only was empowered to do great miracles but the same indwelling power of the Holy Spirit gave him the strength to preach and proclaim the gospel all over Greece and in the Roman Empire.  The power of God has no limit as earthly power has in any form and can empower someone to bring the gospel to the most difficult places and situations.  One just has to look at the great missionary movement of the 19^th century or look at the five missionaries killed in Ecuador at the hands of the Auca Indians in 1956.  If they were not empowered by the Holy Spirit then they would not have been able to accomplish what they did and after their home going their wives went in and evangelized the Aucas.

 

Eph 3:8

Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;

 

Preach - announce the good news

Unsearchable - Incomprehensible or cannot be explored

 

The Apostle Paul had considered himself the least of all the Apostles not because he lacked knowledge or understanding of the law and grace but it was because of his past with the church.  He was a great persecutor of the church and had desired to extinguish every vestige of Christianity from Israel.  For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.  (1 Corinthians 15:9)  None of the other Apostles had done anything like Paul did before their salvation.  Yet even though he persecuted the church God bestowed upon him the gift of grace for salvation.  Even though Paul was a Jew, yet he became the Apostle to the Gentiles. {47} For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth.  {48} And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.  (Acts 13:47-48)  Those who were chosen from among the Gentiles for salvation had rejoiced in the message which was much more acceptable to them than the Jews who loathed the true gospel.  Paul calls the riches of Christ “unsearchable” because the finite mind in us can never plumb the true depths of the knowledge and understanding of Christ.  Our minds are darkened by sin and that prevents us from knowing fully the eternal aspects of Christ.

 

Eph 3:9

And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:

 

See - Bring to light or reveal

 

The question is will Paul or any Christian make “all” men see the mystery which is in Christ.  First of all it must be pointed out that the “all” in this case is speaking of the Elect of God.  The true believer has the Holy Spirit dwelling in them and yet we will never fully understand the fellowship of the mystery and this is because we still live in a body which lusts after sin and that wars against the spirit.  The unbeliever cannot know the things of Christ, even the most surface things because they are spiritually dead.  Spiritual understanding begins when a person becomes saved.

 

And when they had found him, they said unto him, All men seek for thee.  (Mark 1:37)

 

Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.  (Romans 5:18)

 

For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.  (Romans 11:32)

 

We have taken a few verses and we have easily seen that God uses the word "all" in two ways: First, to show completeness of what is in view (when all is all); secondly, to show a completeness within the context of entirety. (when all is not all)  The “all” in these three verses are showing that it is only the Elect of God who are the ones who seek the Lord. 

 

God has withheld the mystery for thousands of years until the time of the Lord Jesus Christ since Christ was the mystery.  But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,  (Galatians 4:4)  Then at the time appointed, Jesus came from Heaven and entered the world through the birth channel of Mary.  Even in Isaiah 53 where it speaks about the coming Messiah, those scriptures were still a mystery when they were written about 750 B.C.  The mystery became known once Christ came on the scene and started expounding the Hebrew Scriptures to the people and then more fully by the Apostles when the Holy Spirit came upon them at Pentecost.

 

God created all things by Jesus Christ (this part of the verse is left out of the modern versions)  For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:  (Colossians 1:16)  We read all the way back in Genesis that Christ was involved in the creation. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.  (Genesis 1:26)  Not only did God create the physical universe but He also created the Church by Christ Jesus.

 

Eph 3:10

To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,

 

Intent - Make known, reveal, declare

Manifold - (used only once in NT)  - It really means the multi-colored or faceted wisdom of God

 

Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.  (1 Peter 1:12)  Even the angels did not know what the mystery in Christ was but now because of the Holy Spirit revealing the mystery, even those in the heavenly places can now see the “manifold” wisdom of God.

 

The manifold wisdom of God declares that God’s wisdom is not just one action.  God’s wisdom comes in a variety of methods which is revealed differently in each situation.  For example: The Crossing of the Red Sea by Israel or the Crucifixion of Christ.  It is this wisdom that the world cannot understand and the meanings can only be imputed to believer’s by the Holy Spirit.  Also this multi-faceted wisdom is contained in all the true doctrines of the Bible such as election or predestination.  This manifold wisdom of God is also for the church to study and to behold as they study and begin to understand what God had done and why he did it.  Although not every detail is given, yet we can come to general understanding of many subjects concerning the wisdom of God.  For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.  (1 Corinthians 1:18)  1 Corinthians 1:18 is probably one of the greatest examples of the wisdom of God which is thought by the world to be foolishness.

 

Eph 3:11

According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:

 

The eternal purpose of God from eternity was the formation of the eternal church of Christ.  This was withheld from the knowledge of all the angels until the time that God gave Paul the commission to write these things down and to proclaim them to the world and for all eternity.  The eternal purpose was also that Christ would be the head of the church by means of paying for their salvation with his own body on Calvary. 

 

The eternal purpose which was revealed was the eternal nature of the gospel which was found in the Lord Jesus Christ.  The Great doctrines of the faith such as election makes it impossible to thwart the will of God.  The eternal purpose also contained other aspects.

 

Salvation - For the LORD of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back? (Isaiah 14:27)

 

The complete destruction of Satan’s kingdom - And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.  (Revelation 20:10)

 

Destruction of the works of Satan - He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.  1 John 3:8  

 

What are the works of Satan?

A. To attack the word of God - Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?  (Genesis 3:1)

 

B.  To blind the unbeliever - In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.  (2 Corinthians 4:4)

 

C. To confuse both the believer and unbeliever - For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.  (1 Corinthians 14:33)

 

D. To attempt to deceive the brethren – {13} For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.  {14} And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.  {15} Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.  (2 Corinthians 11:13-15)

Back