In the New Testament, the Greek word musterion means something that is beyond natural knowledge ... something that has been opened to us by divine revelation through the Holy Spirit. In Colossians 1:26 Paul expounds on this idea: "The mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints." Something that had previously been undreamed of is now wide open and revealed to the saints -- an open secret.
In Ephesians 3, which is in my mind one of the most mind-boggling chapters in all of Scripture, Paul is captivated by the mystery of Christ and the Church. He leads off by stating "this mystery is that through the gospel, the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise of Christ Jesus." The open secret, which heretofore had been entirely misunderstood, is that Jews and Gentiles are "heirs together," "members together," [a concept so foreign that F.F. Bruce states Paul had to coin a new word, sussoma, to describe it, as no existing word could adequately describe the mystery of Gentiles being on the same footing with Jews], and "sharers together" -- fellow partakers.
This mystery came about from their new double union with Christ and with each other. John extolled this phenomenon in 1 John 1:3 -- "We proclaim to you what have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son, Jesus Christ." The closer they were to God, the closer they were to each other. Certainly no Jew or Gentile had ever to that point conceived of such a mystery in his or her wildest dreams! And for Paul, this remained an abiding wonder and joy throughout his life.
To whom, and to what end, did Paul focus his message? Ephesians 3:1-13 reveals three directions. First, it was Christ to the Gentiles -- "to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ" [v. 8b]. To Paul theologically, Christ was everything. "But we preach Christ crucified," he told the Corinthians, "a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength" [1 Cor. 1:23-25]. Specifically, he preached "the unsearchable riches of Christ" -- literally, "the riches that cannot be tracked."
Paul's second focus was to inform the world of the Church -- "to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things" [v. 9]. Paul was to enlighten all humanity regarding this miracle of Jews and Gentiles becoming a new humanity or as R. Kent Hughes calls it "a new race ... a third race." Approximately thirty years ago Johanne Lukasse of the Belgian Evangelical Mission came to the realization that evangelism in Belgium was going nowhere. The country had become impervious to the gospel for a long list of reasons which included many centuries of traditional Catholicism, the rise of multiple cults and just a growing agnosticism among many others. Driven to Scripture, he came up with a new plan. First, he gathered together a heterogeneous group of believers: Belgians, Dutch, Americans -- whoever would come. Second, he had them rent a house and live together for seven months. Naturally, friction soon developed which, in turn, sent them to prayer, and happily, to victory and love. Following this, they began to see amazing fruit. Outsiders called them "the people who love each other," for they were living out the words and promises of Jesus: "A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must also love one another. All men will know you are my disciples if you love one another" [John 13:34, 35].
It is as we live out the mystery of this new humanity that we will win the world for Christ. It is to brothers and sisters that the world is drawn. I see this so clearly in the lives of my children. Ariel has such a tight sisterhood with a group of six or seven other freshman girls that she met at Campus Crusade their first week on campus last August that it truly is a marvel to behold. These girls provide such a constant source of encouragement and support to each other that it lifts up even my heart as I watch it happen up close as well as via these social networks. Ashley and Alli have each had similar experiences, Ashley with a group of six girls that she grew up with and remains close to, and both Ashley and Alli through Campus Outreach [a local-church based college ministry] at UNF. I also see this in the vibrant fellowship group ministry in my local church, Four Oaks Community Church, where four years ago we fully committed to a small group model of Bible study, Christian fellowship and ongoing accountability relationships ... basically New Testament community. It is through relationships such as these that we realize that dynamic evangelism will take place as we preach and live out two things: Christ and the Church. Paul calls us to the power of the two in concert.
The third purpose for Paul's opening the mystery comes as a total surprise to me and I am sure many: to inform the angels! "His [God's] intent was that now, through the Church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence" [vv. 10-12]. Hughes notes that "here it will help us to imagine a cosmic drama. The theater is history. The stage is the world. The actors are the Church. The writer is God, who directs and produces the drama. And the audience? Cosmic beings -- 'the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms.'" Mackay describes the history of the Christian Church as "the graduate school for angels." And John Stott adds, "It is through the old creation [the universe/cosmos] that God reveals his glory to humans; it is through the new creation [the church] that he reveals his wisdom to angels."
The inescapable conclusion is that the angels watch us because we are part of the mystery! Peter described in 1 Peter 1:10-12 how the prophets searched intently to understand the prophecies regarding Christ which have now been revealed in the gospel, adding at the end of v. 12, "Even angels long to look into these things" [literally, the angels stoop to look]. This passage creates a word picture of angels bent over and intently observing the teachings and actions of God's people. The inference in these two passages of Scripture is that God has not revealed his complete plan for history and the reconciliation of the universe to the angels, so they observe us to learn about it. Angels, we know, are messengers of God. But they also watch over his people. They have seen the greatness and wisdom of creation. They have navigated the immense distances of space. They have watched God's people from the beginning -- Abraham and Moses, the blood-drenched offerings and clouds of smoke in the Tabernacle and the Temple, and on and on. They have seen the advent of Christ -- the incarnation, crucifixion, death and resurrection of their blessed Lord. Yet there remains much to learn. They wonder just how will it consummate?
And as they watch the Church, God reveals his "manifold wisdom" [literally, many-colored wisdom, a rare poetical adjective used in the Septuagint to describe Joseph's coat of many colors -- Genesis 37:3, 23, 32]. The many-colored fellowship of the Church, that variegated new humanity of Jews and Gentiles -- multiracial and multicultural -- shows the many-shaded wisdom of God. Through studying the Church, the angelic host observes the reconciling work of Christ, which is the model for the reconciliation of creation when everything on Heaven and earth will be brought together in him [see also Col. 1:17-22].
All this demands a view of the Church so high that it defies belief really! The Church, a product of God's reconciling work, will, in fact, be an agent in the ultimate cosmic reconciliation! This mystery keeps even the angels watching. Our text calls us to recognize and revere the immense centrality of the Church. John Stott has suggested that this includes three grand facts. First, the Church is central to history. The open secret is that the Church, the new humanity, a multiracial, multinational new race, will rule in the universe along with Christ and the angels, and that amidst the swirling tides of militant Islam, a spreading Marxism, and the ever-present virulent materialism, only the Church will survive history.
Second, the Church is central to the Gospel. Ephesians teaches that the complete gospel involves both the preaching of Christ and the mystery of the Church. Christ died and rose from the dead not only to save us, but also to create a single new humanity which will be His eternal bride. This means that the local manifestation of the Church, the church that we attend, is very important. It is the new humanity watched by both the world and by angels. When it preaches Christ and lives as the Church, souls are inevitably drawn to Christ the Head.
Third, the Church is central to Christian living. The text ends with Paul alluding to his suffering: "I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which were for your glory" [v. 13]. Paul was willing to pay any price to see the Church go forward. As an apostle, he saw his sufferings as the Church's glory. The bottom line is, despite its imperfections, attendance and participation in the local church is not optional in Paul's mind. Paul's gospel was and is Christ and the Church.
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