The Apostle Paul
writes: "How that by revelation he (the ascended Christ) made known
unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, Whereby,
when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)
Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it
is now revealed unto his holy apostles (Paul, Barnabas, Silas,
etc., not the twelve) and prophets
(preachers) by the
spirit; That the
Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body (of Christ), and partakers of his promise in
Christ by the gospel" (Eph.3:3-6).
While the
world was due for the judgment of God, the Lord Jesus Christ in His mercy and grace reached down from heaven to
save "the chief of sinners" - Saul
Paulus of Tarsus – Paul. By saving, and enlisting Paul as
the Apostle to the Gentiles (Rom 11:13), with this new gospel of the pure grace
of God, God "shewed forth all
longsuffering" to this hopeless world.
Unlike
Jesus’ twelve Apostles and their message of the gospel of the kingdom for Israel alone, Paul was made a minister of “the church, which is His body,” to be
the dispenser of God's grace message for today’s “dispensation of the grace of God” (Eph
3:2).
The Apostle
Paul wrote this.
"24who now rejoice in my
(Paul’s) sufferings for you,
and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh
for his body's
sake, which is the church:
25Whereof I am made a minister,
according to the dispensation of God which is given to me
for you, to fulfil (Gk. pleroo, to complete) the word of God;
26Even (that is,) the mystery which hath
been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made
manifest to his saints:
27To whom God would make known what is the
riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is
Christ in you, the hope of glory" (col.1:24-27).
Paul declares
that those things concerning the church were held a "secret" aforetime, "not made known" (Eph.3:5),
"...hid in God..." (3:9)
and, "hid from ages and from
generations, but now is made manifest to his
saints" (Col.1:26).
Therefore he
is saying that "this mystery
(secret plan of God)" is not found in the Old Testament scriptures. You
may search the Old Testament and you will find that its absence is conspicuous.
And furthermore, in Galatians, Paul tells us again exactly how he got received
message:
"But I certify you, brethren, that
the gospel which was preached of me is not after man.
12For I neither received it of man, neither was I
taught it, but (rather) by the revelation of (from) Jesus Christ" (Gal.1:11-12).
Paul “received” his gospel from the Lord
Jesus Christ. No man taught Paul the gospel that he preached. He "received" it "by the revelation of Jesus Christ."
Paul “received” this "knowledge" from the
glorified Lord, himself. Paul boldly proclaims that he did not preach Jesus Christ
according to a prophetic gospel passed on by men, as seen in Matthew, Mark,
Luke, & John. Paul was specially "chosen" of God; through Paul "this
mystery among the gentiles" was to be revealed to the world.
The message
that he preached in his fourteen epistles concerning the revelation of Jesus
Christ was according to the unveiling
of the mystery, as summarized most succinctly in Paul’s words here.
Romans 16:25-26
(Darby) Now to him that is able
to establish you, according to my glad tidings and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according
to [the] revelation of [the] mystery, as to which silence has been kept in [the] times
of the ages, 26 but [which] has now been made manifest,
and by prophetic scriptures, according to commandment of the eternal God, made known for obedience of
faith to all the nations—
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