If indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given me for you, (3) how by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, (4) by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), (5) which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it now has been revealed by the Spirit to his holy apostles and prophets: (6) that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel,

The letter to the Ephesians was written by the apostle Paul while imprisoned in Rome for preaching the gospel. In our verses today we read of the new and far reaching teaching of oneness of the Jew and Gentiles in Christ – that most found difficult to comprehend or accept. For 2000 years from the age of Abraham to the time of Christ God’s blessings were mostly restricted to the Jews. The Gentiles were excluded from the nation of Israel and were strangers to God’s covenant of promise. They were without God in this world and without hope. The Old Testament often spoke of God’s blessings on Gentiles but it was always through the Jews. But now through the cross Christ has reconciled the Jews and the Gentiles to God.

No one ever comes to Christ on their own intelligence, will power or good works – salvation is always of the Lord. The mystery of our verses refers to God’s revelation of disclosure of something previously hidden; information not attained by human reason or wisdom, by human logic, intuition or study but only by the Spirit of God. The truth that Jews and Gentiles were to be blessed in the same way on the basis of faith in Christ and pure grace was also made known to the apostles but revelation of the one body came first to Paul that he might communicate it to others. The truth more plainly revealed than ever before was a union of Gentiles with Jews as joint partakers of the promise of redemption in Christ by means of the gospel.

The Gentiles are redeemed not through the Jews as the old theocracy held. But that theocracy was to be abolished and a new form was introduced for all mankind under which distinctions between Jews and Gentiles was done away. Quoting my favorite, c.s.Lewis: “If we are not Christians we shall dismiss this with the old gibe, ‘How odd of God to choose the Jews.’ This is impossible for us who believe that God chose that race for the vehicle of His own Incarnation, and who are indebted to Israel beyond all possible repayment.”