Grace Thoughts
Teaching Ephesians – The Gospel of Your Salvation (Part 13)
Courtesy of D. Osseman library
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We are sharing a special series about teaching the Book of Ephesians in small groups. If you haven’t read the Introduction to the series, we invite you to read it here.
Whether you are interested in studying Ephesians for the purpose of teaching it to small groups or for your own personal study, we believe you will find this series helpful.
Basic Premises for Studying Scripture
- God is worth knowing
- His Word is worth learning and obeying
- Because God is worth knowing and His Word is worth learning, we will follow a proven method of knowing Him and learning His Word.
- We will use the I – M – D – I method of Bible study:
- Inductive – Methodical – Direct – Independent
- Inductive study – “logical, objective, impartial reasoning” … examining specifics of Scripture before reaching conclusions
- Methodical study – “a way or path of transit” (Greek – methodos) … focused on taking the proper path to gaining knowledge about God
- Direct study – “relying on Scripture as the primary tool for learning”
- Independent study – “original thinking combined with Spirit insight”
- Observe (See and Record)
- Question (Ask and Answer)
- Interpret (Determine the Holy Spirit’s Intent)
- Apply (How God’s Truth applies to your life)
Bible Study – The Group Process
We invite you to model the process of observing, asking questions for interpretation, interpreting for meaning, and applying for discipleship for your small group. This process may be new to some of the people in your group, so going through it with them for awhile may help them feel comfortable with how to do it.
One of the biggest mistakes people make in reading the Bible is trying to interpret the meaning of individual verses before observing everything in the verses. Studying in context also helps keep us from making incorrect interpretations. That means starting the observation process at the beginning of each Bible book.
The challenge in studying alone or with the group is trying to determine the meaning of passages in the Bible before assuring that we’ve observed everything in the passages and asked every possible question. We carefully answer all of the questions before reaching a conclusion to the meaning.
Read the Scripture and go through each step with your group. You may be able to cover observation,questions, interpretation and application in one meeting, but don’t rush the process. It takes time to see everything in a text, ask good questions, get good answers to those good questions, interpret the meaning of the text and apply the meaning to life. If it takes two or three meetings to do that for each text, that’s fine! The goal is to rightly divide God’s Word, not finish by a certain date.
Observe – Write what you see
Ephesians 3:1-3
For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles— if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already …
In the last lesson we saw that we are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. Our citizenship is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone. The building is fitted together in Christ and grows into a holy temple of the Lord, “in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.” (Ephesians 2:22)
This is an extraordinary truth for Christians to grasp. This is no usual lifestyle, no ordinary worldview, no casual belief system. Christianity is without a doubt a one-of-a-kind spiritual experience in the universe of God.
This continues the theme Paul began explaining earlier in this letter. God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the Heavenly places in Christ. God chose us in Christ before the creation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. God predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself. God has made us accepted in Christ. We are redeemed through the Blood of Jesus. We have forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of God’s Grace which He made to abound toward us. God made known to us the mystery of His will. We obtained an inheritance in Christ and were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise who is the guarantee of our inheritance until our redemption, to the praise of His glory. (Ephesians 1:3-14)
We are not your usual religious people. We are sons and daughters of Almighty God!
Ephesians 3:1-3 in Greek
For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles… τουτου χαριν εγω παυλος ο δεσμιος του χριστου ιησου υπερ υμων των εθνων
For this reason … toutou charin, “of this for reason” … for this reason (for this cause) refers back to the previous sentence: “Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.” The reason Paul refers to is that Christians, Jews and Gentiles, are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. The “therefore” of 2:19 reminds us of the larger context of Jesus abolishing “in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace.” The “two” refers to Jews and Gentiles who Jesus created into one new man through His blood.
I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles … egō Paulos ho desmios tou Christou Iēsou huper humōn tōn ethnōn, “I Paul the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles” … Paul was under house arrest (prisoner) because he preached to Gentiles (e.g. Acts 22:21-22) about Jesus Christ (e.g. Acts 9:15-16; 23:6; 24:5-6; 26:32; 28:28-31) … Paul appear to be sharing his special interest and concern for the Gentiles .. Jesus had called Paul to be the apostle to the Gentiles (e.g. Romans 11:13; Galatians 2:8; 1 Timothy 2:7; 2 Timothy 1:11) .. notice also that Paul called himself “the” prisoner of Christ Jesus (definite article appearing before Christ) .. It was Jesus who made Paul a prisoner to Him (e.g. Acts 9:15-16; 26:12-23) …
if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you … ειγε ηκουσατε την οικονομιαν της χαριτος του θεου της δοθεισης μοι εις υμας
if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God … ei ēkousate tēn oikonomian tēs charitos tou theou, “if indeed you have heard of the administration of the grace of God” … the noun oikonomian is translated as “administration, household management, stewardship, fellowship, dispensation” … it comes from the verb oikonomeó which means “to be a steward of a household, to manage a household” … oikonomian can also refer to a period of time where someone manages a household … the word comes from oikos, “a house,” and nomos, “law” and combines to mean “the law of the house” … Jesus had given Paul the responsibility to manage the household the Lord was building (Jews and Gentiles becoming one new man who Jesus built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit) … here are some of Paul’s other uses of the word …
For if I do this willingly, I have a reward; but if against my will, I have been entrusted with a stewardship. 1 Corinthians 9:17
… that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him. Ephesians 1:10
… and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ. Ephesians 3:9
… of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God. Colossians 1:25
Paul gave this “dispensation” a special name, of the grace of God (tēs charitos tou theou) … Paul wrote about this special grace earlier in Ephesians (e.g. Ephesians 2:4-9) … Gentiles had been “aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise” … they had “no hope” and were “without God in the world” … It was because of God’s dispensation of Grace that Gentiles “who once were far off” had “been brought near by the blood of Christ” … that’s what makes the Dispensation of the Grace of God so special … because God determined before time began that He would eventually save Gentiles in the same way He saved Jews, Gentiles had an equal place in God’s family under Paul’s preaching … they were “no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God” …
which was given to me for you … tēs dotheisēs moi eis humas, “having been given to me toward you” … that’s why I said that Gentiles had an equal place in God’s family under Paul’s preaching … Jesus gave Paul a special ministry in what Paul called the Dispensation of the Grace of God … Paul mentioned this dispensation in chapter 1 — “that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times ” — and details it here in chapter 3 … notice that the dispensation of the Grace of God was “given” to Paul … the verb dotheisēs is an aorist passive participle … someone gave Paul the dispensation at a past time … we know that Jesus gave the dispensation of the Grace of God to Paul for the Gentiles … that’s what makes his meeting with the apostles in Jerusalem (e.g. Acts 15; Galatians 2) so important to understand … Jesus gave Paul this dispensation many years earlier (Acts 9), but the other apostles didn’t understand what it meant until they met with Paul in Jerusalem to talk about the Gospel he preached and the Gospel they preached … that’s why Paul wrote this in Galatians 2:7-9 — “But on the contrary, when they saw that the gospel for the uncircumcised had been committed to me, as the gospel for the circumcised was to Peter (for He who worked effectively in Peter for the apostleship to the circumcised also worked effectively in me toward the Gentiles), and when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that had been given to me, they gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.” … notice what Paul called the “gospels” — “the gospel for the uncircumcised had been committed to me, as the gospel for the circumcised was to Peter” … one is “for the uncircumcised” (Gentile) and one is “for the circumcised” (Jew) … the interesting thing we note in Ephesians is that the Gospel Paul preached concerned both Jews and Gentiles — Jesus made one new man out of the two …
There are people who believe Paul was a fraud and not a true apostle of Christ because of things he said and wrote about Gentiles, the Law and Grace. That’s what makes the study of Paul’s earlier letters and sermons important, along with his meeting with Peter, John and other apostles in Jerusalem.
how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already) … οτι κατα αποκαλυψιν εγνωρισεν μοι το μυστηριον καθως προεγραψα εν ολιγω
how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery … hoti kata apokalypsin egnōristhē moi to mustērion, “that by revelation he made known to me the mystery” … the word apokalypsin means “an uncovering, unveiling, revealing, revelation” … it’s the same word used in Revelation 1:1, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John.” … Paul used the word apokalypsin in previous letters to churches to address what special information he had received:
Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began but now made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures made known to all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, for obedience to the faith.
Romans 16:25-26
It is doubtless not profitable for me to boast. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord: I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a one was caught up to the third heaven. And I know such a man—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows— how he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter … And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure.
2 Corinthians 12:1-4, 7
But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Galatians 1:11-12
In Galatians 1, Paul claimed that the Gospel he preached was “not according to man” and that he had not “received it from man” and was not “taught it” … Paul claimed that the Gospel he preached came through “the revelation of Jesus Christ” … That’s the same thing Paul claimed in Ephesians … He said that “He made known to me” … the context demonstrates that Jesus Christ was the one who “revealed, uncovered, unveiled” something special to Paul … that special something was “the mystery” … mustērion means “a secret teaching” … Jesus gave Paul a secret teaching about the Lord’s Good News (Gospel) … in Romans Paul called it “my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ” …
as I have briefly written already… kathōs proegrapsa en oligō … it was something Paul had “briefly written already” in this letter … it concerned “the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him” (Ephesians 1:9-10) … this “mystery” was “of His will” … that’s the will of God … according to God’s good pleasure which He purposed in Himself (nothing outside of God pressured God to do this, it was His will and His will alone according to what pleased Him) … that God might “gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth” … Paul explained that further in chapter two when he addressed what Jesus had done on the Cross to make one new man out of Jew and Gentile, something the other apostles didn’t know (as evidenced by their debate and final decision at the Jerusalem Council) …
Observe – Write what you see
For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles— if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already …
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Question – Ask and answer questions based on observations
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Interpret – What is the Holy Spirit’s intent in these verses?
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Apply – How can you apply these spiritual truths to your life?
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Next Time
We will look at Ephesians 3:4-7 in the next part of our series, Teaching Ephesians.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Apostle PaulDispensation of GraceGentileJesus ChristJewTeaching Ephesians
Published by gracelifethoughts
Founder & Director of GraceLife Ministries View all posts by gracelifethoughts
