Teaching Ephesians – The Gospel of Your Salvation (Part 15)

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Teaching Ephesians – The Gospel of Your Salvation (Part 15)

Courtesy of D. Osseman library

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Courtesy of D. Osseman library

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 3:8-9

To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 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.

When Paul arrived in Rome as a prisoner of the Roman government, he was permitted to live by himself with the soldier who guarded him. Three days after he arrived in Rome Paul called the leaders of the Jews together to tell them why he was in Rome in chains. The Jews said that no one in Judea had sent them letters about Paul and no one had spoken any evil of him. What they did want was to hear from Paul about “this sect,” meaning Christianity. They said it was “spoken against everywhere.” (Acts 28:17-22)

A day was appointed when the Jews in Rome would come to where Paul was living and hear what he had to say about Christianity. Paul explained and solemnly testified of the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus from both the Law of Moses and the prophets. Paul talked with them from morning until evening. Some were persuaded by the things Paul said, some were not. Then Paul quoted from Isaiah 6:9-10 and said – “Therefore let it be known to you that the salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will hear it!” The leaders of the Jews left Paul after he said that and disputed among themselves. (Acts 28:23-29)

Paul lived in his own rented house for two years and had the freedom to receive all who came to him – “preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no one forbidding him.” (Acts 28:30-31) It was during those two years that Paul wrote Ephesians and other letters to help Gentiles understand the mystery of God’s plan for them.

Ephesians 3:8-9 in Greek

To me, who am less than the least of all the saints … εμοι τω ελαχιστοτερω παντων των αγιων

To me – εμοι – this continues Paul’s thoughts from 3:1 – “For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles” and 3:7 – “of which I became a minister” .. Paul is sharing his personal insight into the mystery that God gave him .. Paul was the founder of the church in Ephesus, so many of the people reading the letter knew the apostle well ..

who am less than the least of all the saints – τω ελαχιστοτερω παντων των αγιων – ελαχιστοτερω means “very least, less than the least, the smallest, least important” – this is how Paul viewed himself and his readers would know that because of their personal relationship with him .. Paul spent about three years preaching and teaching in Ephesus .. the people there had plenty of time to observe the apostle’s faith and conduct .. they knew Paul to be both strong in faith and humble in character .. Paul had explained why he viewed himself as “the least of all the saints” in an earlier letter to the church at Corinth – “For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.” 1 Corinthians 15:9 .. This was not false humility on Paul’s part .. he was humbled that God would use him for such a marvelous purpose after persecuting followers of Jesus in the early days .. (also read Acts 9:1-2; 2 Corinthians 11:30-33) ..

this grace was given that I should preach among the Gentiles – εδοθη η χαρις αυτη εν τοις εθνεσιν ευαγγελισασθαι – Paul understood that what God had given him was special “grace” .. every Christian is saved by grace (charis), but the Lord is gracious in many other ways .. we’ll see some of those in the next chapter of Ephesians .. Paul knew that Jesus had been especially gracious toward him through saving grace and special calling grace .. in this case, apostolic grace to preach the Gospel to non-Jews .. Jesus had personally called Paul (Saul) to be the apostle who would take the Gospel of Grace to the Gentiles (Acts 9:15; 22: 22:21; 26:19-23) — “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. (Galatians 2:9) .. as God gives us gifts supportive of our special calling, we also receive special grace for the ministry ..

the unsearchable riches of Christ – τον ανεξιχνιαστον πλουτον του χριστου – the words “unsearchable riches” are anexichniaston ploutos .. the word anexichniaston means “not able to trace the steps of, impossible to track, cannot be explored” .. it’s the idea of something being “unfathomable, past finding out, beyond comprehension” .. what is “unsearchable” is the “riches of Christ” .. ploutos means “wealth, abundance, riches, much in number or quantity” .. the riches of Christ are impossible to track, unfathomable, beyond comprehension .. Paul wrote that Jesus had called him to preach among the Gentiles the “unsearchable riches of Christ” .. what does that mean? Here are some other Scriptures that may help as you study:

But as for me, I would seek God, And to God I would commit my cause— Who does great things, and unsearchable, Marvelous things without number. Job 5:8-9

Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; And His greatness is unsearchable. Psalm 145:3

Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. Isaiah 40:28

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! Romans 11:33

What Paul preached, what the Gentiles heard and believing Gentiles received, were spiritual riches beyond human investigation or finding out. Paul started his letter to the Ephesians pointing to those riches in Christ through the Gospel:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. Ephesians 1:3-6

The unsearchable riches of Christ in the context of Ephesians 3 concern 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, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel.”

You can look back at past studies as a reminder, but Paul’s point is that the special grace God had given him to preach to the Gentiles concerned the “unsearchable riches” of Christ concerning the special dispensation of the grace of God and the mystery that Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the Gospel. The fact that God would save Gentiles and make them fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the Gospel was absolutely rich and unsearchable. We know it, but we cannot fathom it. Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound!

and to make all see – και φωτισαι παντας – the word phōtisai means “to shine, to enlighten, to reveal, to make evident, to illuminate, to bring to light” .. Jesus sent Paul to the Gentiles to shine a bright light on their absolute need for His salvation ..

And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in Hiskindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:1-7

The Gentiles in Ephesus were in deep spiritual darkness (dead in trespasses and sins) until God’s grace shone upon them through the Gospel that Paul preached to them. The same was true of Jews. That’s why Paul wrote, “among whom also we all once conducted ourselves.” Jesus chose Paul to shine a bright light of spiritual hope through the Gospel of Christ. The light of the Gospel was to make all see: Gentiles and Jews.

what is the fellowship of the mystery – τις η κοινωνια του μυστηριου – What Paul wanted all to see concerned the “fellowship” (oikonomia) of the “mystery” (mustēriou) .. The word oikonomia means “household management, administration of household” .. it’s the oversight of someone else’s property .. this mystery concerned the Church, the Body of Christ, “which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets; that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel” .. this is what God had called Paul to oversee and manage ..

which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God … του αποκεκρυμμενου απο των αιωνων εν τω θεω .. the word apokekrummenou means “to hide away, conceal, keep secret” .. God knew from the beginning of the ages (really from eternity) what He was going to do in bringing Jew and Gentile together into one new man (Ephesians 2:15) .. it was God’s secret .. it reminds me of what Moses wrote in Deuteronomy 29:29 – “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” .. God has many secrets and reveals some to His people as He wills ..

who created all things through Jesus Christ … τω τα παντα κτισαντι δια ιησου χριστου .. some of the older Greek manuscripts omit the phrase “through Jesus Christ” (e.g. Alexandrian, Claromontane) as do the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Ethiopic versions. However you may view that, it’s not a statement that Jesus Christ did not create “all things” since He is God .. Paul wrote his letter to the Colossians in the same timeframe as his letter to the Ephesians and the apostle was clear that Jesus created all things — “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.” (Colossians 1:16) .. The Apostle John also made that clear in his Gospel account — “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” (John 1:1-3) ..

Words in the Bible are not a mistake. God inspired them to be written in a certain order. Paul’s order in Ephesians 3:8-9 was inspired for a reason. One of the joys of Bible study is to discover that reason.

Observe – Write what you see

To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 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 3:8-9

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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?

Apply – How can you apply these spiritual truths to your life?

Next Time

We will look at Ephesians 3:10 in the next part of our series, Teaching Ephesians.

Apostle PaulBible StudyJesus ChristMysteryTeaching Ephesians Teaching Ephesians – The Gospel of Your Salvation (Part 15)

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Teaching Ephesians – The Gospel of Your Salvation (Part 15)