Where We Are and What We Do (Ephesians 3:7-11)
Sometimes we wonder what life is all about. Perhaps we feel small and helpless in it all. Maybe we feel marginalised and unimportant in comparison with others. When we respond like that, we have forgotten the glory of the church of Christ and have failed to remind ourselves of the amazing actions revealed through the grace of God. Paul explains in these verses some of the outlook that believers should have, beginning with himself as a special servant of Christ.
The role
Paul mentions that he became a servant of God through receiving divine grace which came to him in a powerful manner. He means that the Holy Spirit equipped him for this specific role and gave to him sufficient power to serve God in every situation. So although he was in prison at that moment of writing his letter he still received grace and his difficult circumstances did not prevent him from fulfilling his calling.
At the same time, the knowledge of his divine calling compelled Paul to be humble. No doubt, he could give reasons for thinking that he was the least of all saints. His previous opposition to the gospel, the weakness of his manner when declaring the message and his inner sense of sinfulness as described in Romans 7 would have led him to have a low view of himself. Yet he also knew that such aspects did not prevent God from working through him.
This meant for Paul that life was full of significance. And we can see that was the case here. Although confined to a prison he is contributing to the growth of God’s kingdom (as Philippians tells us) and to the development of God’s inspired book, the Bible.
The task
Paul mentions that his calling was to bring the gospel to the Gentiles and to explain to those he contacted what the previously hidden mystery was. The word ‘unsearchable’ means impossible to fully search rather than incapable of being searched. There is so much in the gospel, and each aspect is worth a great deal (in fact, no one can calculate their value).
The gospel is all about what Jesus has achieved. It must therefore say who he is, what he has done and what he is doing and will yet do. Each of those areas is very rich.
Who is he? He is the eternal God, he is the second person of the Trinity, he is the creator and upholder of all things, he is the Mediator between God and man, he has a human nature and he is the Messiah promised in the Old Testament.
What has he done? We call this his humiliation which involved him coming to earth, living a perfect life and dying an atoning death. In other words, he is the Saviour who provided a perfect salvation for sinners, his life as their righteousness and his death as the payment of the penalty.
What is he doing? At the moment, Jesus is exalted very high in heaven. The exaltation began with his resurrection from the dead and was followed by his ascension to heaven. Having been exalted in heaven, he was given the Holy Spirit in a special manner by the Father in order to form the worldwide kingdom by bringing sinners into his church. In heaven, he functions on their behalf as the prophet (teacher), priest (sympathiser and helper) and king (ruler and defender) of his people, who now number in the millions, with more being added every day.
What will he yet do? Jesus will certainly raise all humans from the dead, judge the world, glorify his people and bring the new heavens and new earth into existence, and then be with them forever.
It is not difficult to see how each of those riches contain a great deal of content and wealth. In order to help understand them, the Bible often uses promises to explain them as well giving descriptions in other ways such as by using illustrations and contrasts. Paul indicates that it is possible for everyone who hears his message to understand what God had planned in eternity, kept hidden for centuries, but now revealed by him in the gospel.
The outcome
Paul refers to God as the creator here. He may have mentioned this divine activity to indicate that the creation is the location in which God will work out his eternal plan. It is important to note that the plan is his one plan – his plan is not an adjustment to a previous one. He only ever has had one plan, and he is working out each stage at the times he chose to do so. We do not understand why God chose to do this, but that is because we are small in comparison to him.
Humans are not the only creatures interested in God’s plan. In addition to converted people, the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places are also discovering truths about God through the church. The truths that they learn are all part of his wisdom, here described as manifold or multi-faceted. There are some details about God that are only revealed in salvation.
For example, his ability to become a man without ceasing to be God is revealed in the plan of salvation. The divine attribute of mercy is only seen when shown to penitent human sinners because no one else receives mercy (mercy is only observed by the heavenly host because it cannot be experienced by them). The divine grace of adoption is only given to pardoned sinners (no one else are members of his family).
Without this plan, no one would have known that God was like that. Of course, without this plan, there would have been no-one to know anything if God had not decided to give them existence. Truths about God have to be revealed, and not even angels know things about God unless he tells them.
There is some disagreement as to whether Paul has in mind good or evil angelic powers here. I see no reason why he cannot have both in mind. While good angels will rejoice over what they discover and bad angels will resent what they see, both kinds of angels discover the truth about God’s previously hidden plan.
Where we are at this stage
Paul focuses in on his original readers and highlights for them where they are at that moment in God’s eternal purpose. Clearly, they are no longer Gentiles outside the experience of grace. They are now united to Jesus through faith and this connection has brought great blessings to them.
When he mentions boldness and access with confidence we often think he is referring to occasions when we turn aside from other matters and pray to God for a certain period. No doubt, we can pray in such a manner. Yet it is a mistake to limit the boldness and access to those moments. Paul here is describing a change of spiritual location. Before, we were on the outside, now we are on the inside.
This is where God’s people live spiritually. They are members of God’s city, members of his family, under his authority, living in his presence, united to Jesus, wherever they are physically. Their physical location no longer defines them. It makes no difference whether they are in a royal palace or a Roman prison; it makes no difference whether they are in Rome or Ephesus or London or wherever. What matters is that they are on the inside.
How did they get inside? It was through the gospel. When they believed in Jesus, he brought them into the Father’s presence. Paul is alluding to a practice of where an important individual with suitable authority introduced an individual to the ruler in order to get his help. No one has higher authority than Jesus and we are brought into God’s presence by him, never to leave it again.
Lessons
Grace enables us to he humble and confident about what God has done. We can see that was the case with Paul. He knew that God had called him to serve in a particular way, and that he served primarily in the presence of God and that other aspects of a situation were secondary.
Grace enables us to judge situations differently. Paul informed the Ephesians that he and they were classrooms in which angelic beings learned about the eternal purpose of God. What is happening to us today? Angels learned something from how we lived, experiencing God’s mercy and blessing.
Grace enables us to wait on God’s providence because it is part of his plan. Obviously, Paul would have liked to be released from his period of confinement. But he also knew that decision was ultimately in the hands of Jesus, and not in Caesar’s. We might want changes in ours, but providence is also the outworking of his plan in which he is working all things for the good of his people.