Ephesians 3:1-7
1 “For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles— 2 if indeed you have heard of the administration of God’s grace which was given to me for you; 3 that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before briefly. 4 By referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 which in other generations was not made known to mankind, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit; 6 to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel, 7 of which I was made a minister, according to the gift of God’s grace which was given to me according to the working of His power.”
Given to me for you: Jews were given the Gospel by people like James, John, and Peter. But Paul was God’s minister of the Gospel to the Gentiles. Paul had often been accused of being an inferior apostle (2 Corinthians 11:5) so here he validates his ministry by stressing that it was given to him by God.
Mystery: In the Old Testament the mystery of Gentile inclusion was alluded to in verses like Hosea 2:23. But the Old Testament saints never saw the fulfillment of this. The mystery is that God has included the Gentiles into His plan of salvation. These Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body of Christ. So, God has brought Jew and Gentile together into one new person. This is the mystery of God. The mystery was given to the apostles, like Paul, and also prophets. Here prophecy is not speaking of guessing the future but rather proclamation of truth. In the context, the prophets are proclaiming the inclusion of the Gentiles.
