The Christmas Mystery

Posted by markpinson on Dec 8, 2010 in Daily Bread | 2 comments

I have a hard time wrapping my head around the first chapter of Ephesians. O.k., the reality is I have hard time reading Paul. All the “according to the purpose of His will” stuff in the first few chapters interjected with words like “blessed” and “mystery” jumble my thinking. It is all very warm and fuzzy and theologically “flowery”. It makes me think of Paul as a warm and fuzzy rabbi, Roman guy who liked to knit tents (it’s still knitting), but could spew these intense letters loaded with doctrine and every kind of orthodox theology you can name. I guess I am intimidated by him. Maybe that is good. Maybe I need some reverence for Paul in order to be led into reverence and awe for the Savior he proclaimed; a Savior who overshadows the apostle. I think that is the desire of Paul’s heart and as a result that is what he proclaims (Acts 20:24). He would have us pay no attention to the man in chains, in prison, as he is still the least of the apostles (Ephesians 3:8). But, if I rush past the writing I may miss the message. I need to be in tune with the Word and that takes effort. If I am not willing to wrestle and engage the text I may miss the extraordinary presence of Christ revealed in his writing. If I excuse my study because I get wrapped around the axle of Paul’s language I admit that I would prefer Dallas Willard, John Piper, Francis Chan, Gordon MacDonald and Eugene Peterson to Jesus Christ. It is in the middle of this difficulty, in the complete confession that I do not understand, that the gospel is revealed. The presence of Jesus takes its place in my thinking and breaks my hard heart and reveals the mystery to my shallow mind.

I think the gentile Christians in Ephesus experienced this mystery, although their use of the word mystery is different from our use today. We view a mystery as something difficult to figure out our understand. For the Greeks, a mystery was something impossible to figure out. In the Bible, mystery refers to hidden things that are revealed by God. In my mystery, I am trying to understand Paul’s writings. The mystery for the Ephesian believers was attempting to understand how they could be included with Jewish believers in the family of God. The division between the believing Jew and the believing Gentile was no small thing. In the book of Acts we have a record of some of the issues the early church faced because of this distinction. As a result, the solution for this division was not left for the early church fathers to figure out. It was God who declared and purposed by His Grace that as a result of the Cross and the reality of the living Lord Jesus that they would be one (while they had to work through the practical implications of being united by the Gospel of Grace into the person of Christ through the power of His Spirit [..God provided supernatural ability to do this: Acts 9:26, 10:9 -48]).

Paul is providing a foundation for their beliefs as he clearly emphasizes that the Gospel begins with God’s will. He wanted to present His Son, Jesus Christ, as the Gospel of Grace that would unite the Gentiles into the family of the faithful. Jesus is the big reveal. God, out of His attributes, places Christ as the solution to the division between God and men and the division between men. Through the power of His grace the faithful Jew and Gentile are united together and united with God in Christ. Christ completes this work at the right time according to God’s master plan.

One of the great things about our union with Jesus is not only does it draw us close to each other (the Church) to accomplish His will, it also takes the line of division away that was once between us and God and between us and others and places it where it has always been, between Christ and Satan (Eph 6:12). Since we are unified with Christ our battle is not with each other. It is not with our spouse, or another church member, friend or family member. It is now between those of us who are in Him and the “powers of this present darkness.” The better news is that while we may engage the enemy in this present life (with all of its struggle and suffering), we can experience union with Christ and each other through the power of Gospel of Grace and in that grace we can know that He is He greater (1 John 4) and that He has overcome the world (John 16:33)!