A Verse
Ephesians 3:7-10
Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace, which was given me by the working of his power. To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.
A Comment
In verse 7, Paul revisits the gospel, that is, the mystery of Christ that resulted in the unification of the Jews and Gentiles into the One People of God. Paul is a minister of this gospel. What is this gospel? Well, we have already seen it to some degree in Ephesians 2. This gospel is the message that “it is by grace that you are saved through faith and this is not of yourself, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”
The gospel that Paul preached excludes all grounds for boasting because all of its benefits are based on grace, not your performance. The gospel spoken of in these verses does not require you to clean your life up before you receive the good news. It only beckons you to come just as you are and be accepted by God on the basis of what Jesus has already done for you. This is the gospel that Paul preached, and he preached it to those who thought that in order to be a part of the people of God that they would have to become like the Jews and keep the law in order to please God and remain in His favor. But Paul taught that God’s favor is not earned through obedience to the law. It is given powerfully and freely in Jesus Christ.
When Paul preached “the unsearchable riches of Christ” to the Gentiles, the result was that God’s plan to save the world was revealed. God would save the world by sending His only Son, Jesus Christ, to the earth to die in the place of sinners so that they might belong to Him as sons and daughters. And as sinners heard this good news, they would be baptized into the life of the church of Jesus Christ, where they would be taught to make disciples of others as well in obedience to the Great Commission.
As baptized believers began to assemble daily with other believers, they grew in their faith and knowledge of God. And as they grew in their knowledge of God’s grace, mercy, love, kindness, patience, justice, impartiality, and holiness, the Holy Spirit caused them to become more like Jesus. Paul talks about this in Romans 8, where he writes that believers have been predestined to be conformed to the image of the Son of God. This means that God intends for every believer to grow in their likeness to Jesus.
And why does God want believers in the church to become more like Jesus? We find the answer in verse 10 – “So that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.”
A Prayer
Would you join me in prayer?
A Blessing
May Christ dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Through the Church