Introduction: After he shared in Ephesians 3:1 his glorious vision of the cross of Christ and what it accomplished for the Jews and the Gentiles alike, Paul wants to assure his brothers and sisters in Ephesus that he prays that they may always ponder, understand, and be guided and transformed by that vision of the Cross and by the glory, the power, and love of God that the Cross reveals. However, just as Paul begins telling the Ephesians that he was praying for them, he, “the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles” (Eph. 3:1, NASB), decided to dwell a bit more on his ministry for the Gentiles. His ministry consisted in understanding the glorious “mystery” of God to include them, the Gentiles, in His plan of salvation and in His church. This mystery, the apostle insists, was not an afterthought in God’s plan. Rather, it was God’s “eternal purpose” (Eph. 3:11) and now, in the age of Christ, God proceeded to fully reveal this purpose to the world, fulfilling it through Christ, and now through him, Christ’s apostle.
Lesson Themes: This week’s lesson highlights three major themes:
Paul’s prayer and ideal for the church was to view the church as the new humanity, including the Gentiles.
The inclusion of the Gentiles was God’s great mystery and surprise to humanity. Paul was the humble steward of this mystery.
Because of the inclusion of the Gentiles, and thus of all humanity in the plan of salvation, the church became the display of God’s wisdom, love, power, and glory, both on earth and throughout the universe.
Part II: Commentary
The Mystery of God and the Foundation of the Apostles and the Prophets
The discussion on the Jews and the Gentiles, united in Christ’s body, raises the issue of the relationship between the church and Israel. Christians have developed different models of the Israel-church relation. One traditional position is that Israel was God’s covenant nation, but that after Israel as a nation rejected Jesus as the Messiah, Israel as a nation was rejected and was replaced by the church. Therefore, after Christ, Israel does not fulfill any role in God’s economy of salvation. Other theologians took a “literalistic interpretation” of Scripture and developed the dispensational theory: that Israel and the church represent two different peoples of God. These peoples have different calls, different covenants, different paths to salvation, and different purposes in the economy of salvation.
Even a cursory reading of Paul and of the New Testament reveals that both these theories are problematic and that the dispensationalist approach to the Israel-church relation is especially contrary to what the apostle envisioned. Several major points of Paul’s view on the Israel-church relation could be made here. First, Paul viewed an essential continuity between Israel and the church. This relationship is to be understood in the context of the overarching biblical interpretative principle of promise-fulfillment: Christ and the New Testament people of God are the fulfillment of God’s promises in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, God saved Israel and called it to proclaim God’s covenants and promises of grace in the world. Through Israel, God’s call to receive His promises of grace and to join His covenants were to reach all the families and nations of the earth. Israel’s was not a mission of imperial development in which Israel was to conquer and annex all the nations of the earth. Rather, the nations were expected to join God’s covenant and promises, as opposed to joining a national or an imperial entity. The Old Testament, therefore, was looking forward to a supranational structure of God’s people, in which people of all nations would be part of the same covenant with God (Gen. 12:1–3, 1 Kings 8:41–43, Isa. 56:3–7, Isa. 60:3). This supranational structure was fulfilled in the New Testament people of God composed of both Jews and Gentiles.
Second, and consequently, Israel and the church are not two peoples of God that coexist in parallel, each of them with their covenants, paths to salvation, and missions. Rather, Christ explained that His mission was to “bring” His “other sheep that are not in this fold” so that “they will become one flock, with one shepherd” (John 10:16, NASB). Nor is the church simply the replacement of Israel as a nation, in the sense that Israel was the nation of God until Christ, and now, after Christ rejected Israel as a nation, the church is the new people of God. Rather, for Paul, the church is not a different people of God but the fulfillment of the amazing promise of God in the Old Testament: He calls all humanity to His grace. That is why, in Romans 9, Paul views the church as comprised of both Jews and Gentiles (Rom. 9:23–26).
True, only a remnant of Israel joined the community gathered around Jesus (Rom. 9:27–29), but it is precisely this remnant that shows that God did not reject Israel’s taking part in the church (Rom. 11:1). It is this remnant that ensures the continuity and unity between Israel and the church. For this reason, in Romans 11:16–18, Paul compares the church with the olive tree: some branches are the children of Israel, and other branches are the Gentiles, but all the branches ultimately are fed by the same root; that is, God’s covenant with Abraham. God always had one plan of salvation, one Seed who was Christ, one promise, one covenant, and one people.
This same idea of the one plan of God, the continuity between Israel and the church, and therefore the essentiality of the unity of the church resurfaces again in Ephesians 2 and 3. Paul explains to the Ephesians that the church is comprised both of “circumcised” and “uncircumcised” (Eph. 2:11). The apostle does not say that the Jews and the church are two separate peoples or that the church replaced the Jews as God’s people. Far from excluding the Jews from the church, Paul follows Jesus’ theology and affirms that salvation comes from the Jews (John 4:22). For this reason, Paul emphasizes that, while the Gentiles were “far away,” the Jews were “near” (Eph. 2:17, NASB). Elsewhere, Paul described this “nearness” in terms of having received God’s promises or covenants, God’s prophecies, the Messiah, and God’s mission to share them all with the world (Rom. 9:4, 5). Thus, it is the Gentiles who were brought near to God and built on the same foundation of the Hebrew prophets, as opposed to building on the foundation of their old myths or philosophies.
Third, even when speaking of the foundation of the church, Paul uses the same idea of the continuity of Israel and the church, this time in terms of revelation. The church is built on divine revelation. But God does not have two discontinuous revelations, the Old and the New Testaments. He did not reveal something in the Old Testament only to abandon His plan and reveal a totally new project. His plan is one, and His revelation is one and continuous. That is why Paul emphasizes that the church is built on both the apostles and the prophets (Eph. 2:20; see also John’s description of the New Jerusalem wherein the apostles’ names are inscribed on the foundation of the city, and the names of the patriarchs are inscribed on the gates; yet the apostles and the patriarchs are integrated in the same New Jerusalem, God’s dwelling place, Rev. 21:10–14). The reason for listing the apostles first is perhaps that the apostles are “greater” than the prophets in the same sense that John the Baptist was greater than all the prophets. This “greatness” is to be understood in the same sense of promise-fulfillment: while the prophets prophesied the coming of the Messiah, the apostles announced His real historical advent in the world. The Messiah whom the apostles proclaimed as having come into the world was the same Messiah seen by the prophets in their visions. The apostles and the prophets were united in their testimony, which is the foundation of the church.
However, while Paul recognizes that the apostles and the prophets received God’s call to play this foundational role in the church, they recognized and proclaimed that the Cornerstone of the church was Jesus of Nazareth, as the Christ prophesied by the Old Testament Scriptures (Eph. 2:20), the content and essence of their testimony. As an apostle, Paul followed Jesus’ interpretative principle of “all the scriptures” (Luke 24:27) pointing to Him, His advent, and His ministry (see Luke 24:25–27). It is because Jesus is the Cornerstone that the building is built perfectly “in Him” (Eph. 2:20–22) as a “holy temple” (Eph. 2:21) for God to dwell in (Eph. 2:22).
Fourth, Paul’s view of the Israel-church relation also reveals his understanding of the identity and character of God. The God of Israel is not their national God; He is the God of the whole earth. While His earthly residence may be in Jerusalem, His jurisdiction is not limited to Judea and the surrounding areas. Rather, the God of the Christians has His throne in the heavenly places or sanctuary and has authority over any power on earth and in heaven (Matt. 6:10, Matt. 28:18, Eph. 1:21) because He is the Creator and the Redeemer of the entire world. That is why God calls the whole world to return to Him, receive His grace, and live in His kingdom.
Part III: Life Application
People love mysteries and secrets. Ask your students to consider these questions: Have you ever lived your Christian life as if you were the guardian of a great, glorious mystery, a mystery that changed your life forever and, as you understand it, will change the world forever in the most positive way? If so, explain. Have you ever shared the gospel as if it were a great, beautiful mystery? Discuss.
In Ephesians 3:10, Paul affirms that the church is the means through which God reveals His wisdom “to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places” (ESV). Ask your students the following questions: In your understanding, is the church a revelation of God’s plan of salvation to the entire universe? How so? How is the unity in the church in Christ, unity between the Gentiles and the Jews, unity in families and in society an essential part of the saving revelation of the grace and power of God? Discuss the answers with your class.
In Colossians 1:27, a parallel text to Ephesians 3, Paul emphasizes that the mystery God revealed to the “saints” in the church is “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (NASB). Invite your students to share how they might explain this expression to a non-Christian. What does the apostle mean by “Christ in you”? How does this expression relate to “the hope of glory”? On the other hand, how does this “mystery” affect your daily life? Lead your class in a discussion of the answers to these questions.
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Key Text: Ephesians 3:20, 21
Study Focus: Ephesians 3; Job 11:5–9; Ezek. 43:13–16; Amos 7:7, 8; Rev. 11:1, 2.
Introduction: After he shared in Ephesians 3:1 his glorious vision of the cross of Christ and what it accomplished for the Jews and the Gentiles alike, Paul wants to assure his brothers and sisters in Ephesus that he prays that they may always ponder, understand, and be guided and transformed by that vision of the Cross and by the glory, the power, and love of God that the Cross reveals. However, just as Paul begins telling the Ephesians that he was praying for them, he, “the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles” (Eph. 3:1, NASB), decided to dwell a bit more on his ministry for the Gentiles. His ministry consisted in understanding the glorious “mystery” of God to include them, the Gentiles, in His plan of salvation and in His church. This mystery, the apostle insists, was not an afterthought in God’s plan. Rather, it was God’s “eternal purpose” (Eph. 3:11) and now, in the age of Christ, God proceeded to fully reveal this purpose to the world, fulfilling it through Christ, and now through him, Christ’s apostle.
Lesson Themes: This week’s lesson highlights three major themes:
Paul’s prayer and ideal for the church was to view the church as the new humanity, including the Gentiles.
The inclusion of the Gentiles was God’s great mystery and surprise to humanity. Paul was the humble steward of this mystery.
Because of the inclusion of the Gentiles, and thus of all humanity in the plan of salvation, the church became the display of God’s wisdom, love, power, and glory, both on earth and throughout the universe.
Part II: Commentary
The Mystery of God and the Foundation of the Apostles and the Prophets
The discussion on the Jews and the Gentiles, united in Christ’s body, raises the issue of the relationship between the church and Israel. Christians have developed different models of the Israel-church relation. One traditional position is that Israel was God’s covenant nation, but that after Israel as a nation rejected Jesus as the Messiah, Israel as a nation was rejected and was replaced by the church. Therefore, after Christ, Israel does not fulfill any role in God’s economy of salvation. Other theologians took a “literalistic interpretation” of Scripture and developed the dispensational theory: that Israel and the church represent two different peoples of God. These peoples have different calls, different covenants, different paths to salvation, and different purposes in the economy of salvation.
Even a cursory reading of Paul and of the New Testament reveals that both these theories are problematic and that the dispensationalist approach to the Israel-church relation is especially contrary to what the apostle envisioned. Several major points of Paul’s view on the Israel-church relation could be made here. First, Paul viewed an essential continuity between Israel and the church. This relationship is to be understood in the context of the overarching biblical interpretative principle of promise-fulfillment: Christ and the New Testament people of God are the fulfillment of God’s promises in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, God saved Israel and called it to proclaim God’s covenants and promises of grace in the world. Through Israel, God’s call to receive His promises of grace and to join His covenants were to reach all the families and nations of the earth. Israel’s was not a mission of imperial development in which Israel was to conquer and annex all the nations of the earth. Rather, the nations were expected to join God’s covenant and promises, as opposed to joining a national or an imperial entity. The Old Testament, therefore, was looking forward to a supranational structure of God’s people, in which people of all nations would be part of the same covenant with God (Gen. 12:1–3, 1 Kings 8:41–43, Isa. 56:3–7, Isa. 60:3). This supranational structure was fulfilled in the New Testament people of God composed of both Jews and Gentiles.
Second, and consequently, Israel and the church are not two peoples of God that coexist in parallel, each of them with their covenants, paths to salvation, and missions. Rather, Christ explained that His mission was to “bring” His “other sheep that are not in this fold” so that “they will become one flock, with one shepherd” (John 10:16, NASB). Nor is the church simply the replacement of Israel as a nation, in the sense that Israel was the nation of God until Christ, and now, after Christ rejected Israel as a nation, the church is the new people of God. Rather, for Paul, the church is not a different people of God but the fulfillment of the amazing promise of God in the Old Testament: He calls all humanity to His grace. That is why, in Romans 9, Paul views the church as comprised of both Jews and Gentiles (Rom. 9:23–26).
True, only a remnant of Israel joined the community gathered around Jesus (Rom. 9:27–29), but it is precisely this remnant that shows that God did not reject Israel’s taking part in the church (Rom. 11:1). It is this remnant that ensures the continuity and unity between Israel and the church. For this reason, in Romans 11:16–18, Paul compares the church with the olive tree: some branches are the children of Israel, and other branches are the Gentiles, but all the branches ultimately are fed by the same root; that is, God’s covenant with Abraham. God always had one plan of salvation, one Seed who was Christ, one promise, one covenant, and one people.
This same idea of the one plan of God, the continuity between Israel and the church, and therefore the essentiality of the unity of the church resurfaces again in Ephesians 2 and 3. Paul explains to the Ephesians that the church is comprised both of “circumcised” and “uncircumcised” (Eph. 2:11). The apostle does not say that the Jews and the church are two separate peoples or that the church replaced the Jews as God’s people. Far from excluding the Jews from the church, Paul follows Jesus’ theology and affirms that salvation comes from the Jews (John 4:22). For this reason, Paul emphasizes that, while the Gentiles were “far away,” the Jews were “near” (Eph. 2:17, NASB). Elsewhere, Paul described this “nearness” in terms of having received God’s promises or covenants, God’s prophecies, the Messiah, and God’s mission to share them all with the world (Rom. 9:4, 5). Thus, it is the Gentiles who were brought near to God and built on the same foundation of the Hebrew prophets, as opposed to building on the foundation of their old myths or philosophies.
Third, even when speaking of the foundation of the church, Paul uses the same idea of the continuity of Israel and the church, this time in terms of revelation. The church is built on divine revelation. But God does not have two discontinuous revelations, the Old and the New Testaments. He did not reveal something in the Old Testament only to abandon His plan and reveal a totally new project. His plan is one, and His revelation is one and continuous. That is why Paul emphasizes that the church is built on both the apostles and the prophets (Eph. 2:20; see also John’s description of the New Jerusalem wherein the apostles’ names are inscribed on the foundation of the city, and the names of the patriarchs are inscribed on the gates; yet the apostles and the patriarchs are integrated in the same New Jerusalem, God’s dwelling place, Rev. 21:10–14). The reason for listing the apostles first is perhaps that the apostles are “greater” than the prophets in the same sense that John the Baptist was greater than all the prophets. This “greatness” is to be understood in the same sense of promise-fulfillment: while the prophets prophesied the coming of the Messiah, the apostles announced His real historical advent in the world. The Messiah whom the apostles proclaimed as having come into the world was the same Messiah seen by the prophets in their visions. The apostles and the prophets were united in their testimony, which is the foundation of the church.
However, while Paul recognizes that the apostles and the prophets received God’s call to play this foundational role in the church, they recognized and proclaimed that the Cornerstone of the church was Jesus of Nazareth, as the Christ prophesied by the Old Testament Scriptures (Eph. 2:20), the content and essence of their testimony. As an apostle, Paul followed Jesus’ interpretative principle of “all the scriptures” (Luke 24:27) pointing to Him, His advent, and His ministry (see Luke 24:25–27). It is because Jesus is the Cornerstone that the building is built perfectly “in Him” (Eph. 2:20–22) as a “holy temple” (Eph. 2:21) for God to dwell in (Eph. 2:22).
Fourth, Paul’s view of the Israel-church relation also reveals his understanding of the identity and character of God. The God of Israel is not their national God; He is the God of the whole earth. While His earthly residence may be in Jerusalem, His jurisdiction is not limited to Judea and the surrounding areas. Rather, the God of the Christians has His throne in the heavenly places or sanctuary and has authority over any power on earth and in heaven (Matt. 6:10, Matt. 28:18, Eph. 1:21) because He is the Creator and the Redeemer of the entire world. That is why God calls the whole world to return to Him, receive His grace, and live in His kingdom.
Part III: Life Application
People love mysteries and secrets. Ask your students to consider these questions: Have you ever lived your Christian life as if you were the guardian of a great, glorious mystery, a mystery that changed your life forever and, as you understand it, will change the world forever in the most positive way? If so, explain. Have you ever shared the gospel as if it were a great, beautiful mystery? Discuss.
In Ephesians 3:10, Paul affirms that the church is the means through which God reveals His wisdom “to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places” (ESV). Ask your students the following questions: In your understanding, is the church a revelation of God’s plan of salvation to the entire universe? How so? How is the unity in the church in Christ, unity between the Gentiles and the Jews, unity in families and in society an essential part of the saving revelation of the grace and power of God? Discuss the answers with your class.
In Colossians 1:27, a parallel text to Ephesians 3, Paul emphasizes that the mystery God revealed to the “saints” in the church is “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (NASB). Invite your students to share how they might explain this expression to a non-Christian. What does the apostle mean by “Christ in you”? How does this expression relate to “the hope of glory”? On the other hand, how does this “mystery” affect your daily life? Lead your class in a discussion of the answers to these questions.