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: that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel, of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power. To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him. verses 1-12
When we read the Bible, we need to consider why we are doing this and why these things are written in the Bible. You will find it a great help if you read the Bible aware of the fundamental issues.
The Bible begins with the words, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). This is a matter that lies within the scope of our imagination. There are many movies and much talk in this world about the creation of the heavens and the earth. There is also a hymn that includes the lines, “The spacious firmament on high, with all the blue ethereal sky, and spangled heavens, a shining frame, their great Original proclaim”. The melody of this hymn is taken from Haydn’s oratorio, The Creation. On the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican in Rome, you will find a depiction of an old bearded man reaching out his hand, and a young man reaching out his hand to meet it. This is said to be God and Adam.
When we come across accounts in the Bible that correspond in this way to what we have see in the culture to which we have been exposed, it captures our interest more. We tend to lose interest, however, when the passages we read in the Bible are far removed from the things we have seen and learned in the course of our lives.
It is interesting to study Genesis from chapter 1 to chapter 11. There we read how the heavens and the earth were formed, how mankind began, how sin entered into the world, and how the history of mankind began to unfold. There we also find the story of Noah, which is so often expressed in movies.
Yet, from Genesis chapter 12 where Abraham appears, we begin to lose interest in the Bible. It will be different for Jewish people or people who have some connection with the Jews, but for us, even the names of the people seem remote and the accounts seem to be about a foreign land and people who are far away from us. The stories we find there seem to have no connection at all with our lives and the things we have learned.
It is still interesting to read the book of Genesis, since we have heard many of the stories in the course of our lives. The stories of people like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph are interesting. Then there is the book of Exodus, which follows on from Genesis, and this also may hold our interest since several movies have been made based on this content as well.
As we read on through Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, and Ruth, the more we read, the more the content seems to have nothing to do with us. Then as we read First and Second Kings and First and Second Chronicles, it is like reading the epic Chinese novel entitled The Three Kingdoms. The names of the various kings are difficult to pronounce and the narrative becomes boring. It is inevitable that we should see it in this way through our human eyes. Thus we tend to judge the Bible as we please.
Yet Ephesians chapter 3 and John chapter 1 tell us about the secret that God originally intended to reveal to mankind, and if we consider this first as we turn to the Bible, it will be a help for us to better understand. You may ask the fundamental question as to why we as Gentiles have to study the history of the Jews since we are not Jewish.
The letter to the Ephesians provides the answers to all these questions. It tells us why we need to read the Bible, why the Bible was recorded, why this world exists, why many people seek to believe in God, and more. All this is to be found in the letter to the Ephesians.
By which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ. Ephesians 3:4
Now let’s see what it says next.
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 3:5
At the time when the apostles were recording the words of the New Testament, they were writing as people who had been eyewitnesses to the accomplishing of God’s purpose that He had revealed in the Old Testament. In other words, as the New Testament, based on the Old Testament, was being completed, it was as though the Old and New Testaments were completely interconnected.
Let’s think about this. How are the Old and New Testaments related? We often ask, “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?” Yet, Adam was able to procreate from the time he was created, and God said to him, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth” (Genesis 1:28). We can consider the Old and New Testaments with this in mind. In this way, we are able to see Jesus as He appears in the Bible and the work that He carried out.
In that case, did the history of Israel come first, or did God’s plan for the church come first? The church came first. Even if you examine every verse in the Bible, you will find that the church clearly came first; it is only that it appeared later in the course of history. There needs to be an egg in order for a chick to hatch, but we need to consider that the chicken was formed first.
The apostle Paul expressed this here as a mystery, and he said this had not been made known to the sons of men in other ages, but was revealed by the Holy Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets.
The Israelites recorded the plan that was in the heart of God who managed the history of Israel over a very long period of time. The Israelites lived their lives endeavouring to keep the law, but they had no idea that this was all a part of the grand preparations for the partner in love God was planning for His Son. We have been born and are living within this program that God determined.
Despite all this, people tend to speak carelessly about God. The Bible says, “every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment” (Matthew 12:36) and, “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain” (Exodus 20:7). Nevertheless, there are people who continually punctuate their sentences with, “Jesus Christ!” and, “Oh my God!” They treat the name of God with less respect than they do the name of their pet dog.
God had a plan that He originally intended to accomplish, and He carried out the creation with this aim. The hymn referred to above includes the line, “The unwearied sun from day to day does his Creator’s power display.” It is for the sake of this plan of God that man exists in this world.
God has, of course, had different methods of dealing with the Israelites who lived before the age of the church, and with the Israelites and the peoples of this world. Yet that is not something that we have to be concerned about. For us who are living in the age of the church, the important matter is whether we as individuals have ever had the problem of our sin solved in front of God as the Bible says, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Ephesians 1:7). It is not that you have to have a particular verse; when it comes to the gospel, you do not have to force your heart to accept some set formula.
But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared. Titus 3:4
First we need to understand that when He “appeared,” is a reference to the whole history of events culminating in Jesus coming to this world to accomplish God’s will, as the Bible says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). Then when a person discovers Jesus Christ in the midst of this history and is born again through the words of the Bible, he is born as a child of God.
There are absolutely no set formulas when it comes to the gospel. It just happens naturally as when a child is born to a married couple. It happens naturally. God plants His word in our hearts when we come to know through the Bible what is in the heart of God, and our cries to God coincide with what is in His heart. We refer to this as the Holy Spirit, and eternal life. It is no good coming up with a formula for salvation, and if someone fits in with that formula, you address them as brother or sister. The only true salvation takes place within the conscience.
Have you ever experienced the words of the Bible entering your conscience, in other words, God entering your heart? As the Bible says, “after faith has come” (Galatians 3:25). Those who have not had such an experience will no
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