Chapter 3                       

Ephesians: Chapters -1- -2- -3- -4- -5- -6-

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3:1 For this reason, I, Paul, bound to Christ Jesus for the sake of you who are of the ethnic families, 2 (if indeed you have heard of the stewardship and management of the grace of God having been given me towards you); 3 that, by the unveiling of revelation He made known to me the mystery (just as I have written before in brief, 4 by which you were able, in reading it, to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, the secret of Jesus), 5 which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men as it now has been revealed to His devoted apostles and prophets inside of Spirit, • 6 that the ethnic families are joint-heirs, sharing in the same inheritance, belonging to the same body, and are partakers together [c] of the promise inside of Christ Jesus through the gospel; 7 of which I became a servant according to the gift of the grace of God which was given to me, down to the finest details of His power energeoing inside of me. • 8 To me, the very least of all devoted ones, was given this grace, to preach to the ethnic families the unsearchable and without-end riches and abundance of Christ 9 and to cause all to see what is the stewardship of the mystery that has been kept secret, hidden from the ages inside of God, the One who created all. • 10 That mystery is that now, through the Church, the manifold wisdom of God might be known by the sources, influences, and authorities in the heavenly realms, 11 according to the set-forth purpose, that is, the Pro-Thesis of the ages, which He accomplished inside of Christ Jesus, our Lord, 12 inside of Whom we have all public boldness to speak, and an entrance [into the Father] in confidence, all the way through His faith. 13 Therefore, I urge you not to lose heart because of my present pressures of travail within and without, my travail for your sake, which is your glory and great value. 14 For this reason I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 out from Whom every family in the heavens and on earth is named and called [j]. • 16 I pray that He might give you, down to the finest details of the riches of His glory and great value with power, to be strengthened through His Spirit in the inner man, the inner self – [k]. Ruling Verse 2: • 17 I pray that Christ might dwell inside your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded inside of love, • 18 might be fully able to seize hold of, to comprehend together with all the devoted ones, what is the breadth and length and height and depth [the full extent of God], • 19 and to know even more the surpassing, beyond-all knowledge of the love of Christ, that you might be filled full with all the fullness of God [k]. • 20 Now to the One who is able above all to do hyper-abundantly more than we ask or think, according to the power energeoing inside of us, 21 to Him be the glory inside the Church and inside Christ Jesus, to all the generations into the greatest of the ages. Let it be so [in me as You speak] – it is so.

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Gospel Comments

Notes

• Definition: The Greek word typically translated “church” is ecclesia, that is, the assemblies of those who received Jesus as the New Covenant God has made with the House of Israel and with the House of Judah (see Hebrews 8:8). The mystery of Christ which Paul preached is that members of all ethnic families are now welcome into Israel, now children of Abraham, now joint-heirs with the Judeans who also received the New Covenant. Many Judeans rejected the Messiah for this reason, then and today. They preferred “superiority.” • Covenant & Kingdom: The first Jesus Secret is Christ inside of you, the Covenant (see Colossians 1:27). The second Jesus Secret is Christ revealed to all through His Church, the Kingdom, and that non-Judeans are included with Judeans in such a Church. This secret was hidden inside of God until He gave the stewardship over it to Paul; it is the central meaning of Paul’s Gospel. That same stewardship is given to us. • Ruling Verse 1: The Pro-Thesis is God’s set forth purpose. Set forth means placed out clearly for all to see. God set forth His purpose in three ways, first, demonstrated inside of Jesus, second, written in our hearts by the Spirit, and third, written in our Bibles as the Gospel. This purpose, then, goes out from God directly to the Church, many brethren just like Jesus, as the image of God, symmorphosed with the image of His Son. Definition: An image is defined as a visible representation of an invisible spirit. Jesus said, “He who sees Me sees the Father” – image. Paul then places that same definition on the Church, that through the Church, the wisdom of God might be known by all creation. By the word “manifold wisdom,” we know that Paul means all of God revealed. The Church is God’s image, the revelation of the Father. • Speak Christ: There is a direct connection between the Pro-Thesis of God, His set forth purpose, and speaking Christ our life with boldness. That Pro-Thesis is written in our hearts; we speak that which we are, just like Jesus. In this context, we speak with all boldness that God reveals Himself to all creation through our interactions together as the Church, that is, through our love for one another. • The Form for God through Jesus: God is invisible Spirit, All Here Now. God cannot be “seen” by anyone, for He has no boundary, no beginning or end. Pro-Thesis is another word for Covenant, and the Covenant is an expression of God’s desire to be known by all created things. God has chosen the Church, specifically our love for one another, to be His form, what God looks like, to all forever. • Definition: The inner man, the inner “self,” is the story of words, our souls, inside our consciousness of ourselves, that we exist. Our spirit and body together are our outward form to heaven-earth. Our story of self must be strengthened by the Spirit that we might know what is coming next. • Definition: God fills His House with all of His Fulness, with ALL that He is. Even as Jesus builds us together for God inside of Himself, so also, God sent Christ Jesus into us that we might know the Father. Christ lives inside of our hearts through faith, through knowing that He does, regardless. God is Love, and we are rooted and grounded inside that Love individually and together. Inside that Love, inside of Jesus, we have a task to do together, the task of comprehending the Father, His full extent of meaning and reach. This knowing of our beyond-all Love of Jesus for one another prepares us to be filled with all the fulness of God, as individuals and as His House together. • Speak Christ: There is no more important confession of faith than to say, over and over, “God, my Father, You fill me with all that You are.” It is for this purpose that Jesus lives in our hearts, that we might KNOW God-with-us. In the night watches, in the hard and lonely places, say, “God, my Father, You fill me with all that You are,” until you know that it is True, until you know that God shares all with you. • Kingdom: Jesus fills our togetherness with all energeoing power. That power accomplishes the fulfillment in our lives of every Word God speaks in the Gospel. This line certainly includes the little things we need, but much more, it accomplishes God’s purpose for the Church. • The Form for God through Jesus: This energeoing power appears again in Ephesians 4:16 as the sharing from every member of each local Church. It is the transition between being filled with God and our tender care for one another.

j. Inside of Christ, inside the gospel, there can no longer exist any distinction between former Judeans and any other former ethnicity. Every ethnic family on earth comes out from God and is called into Jesus, into being the seed of Abraham. We all are one new man inside of Him. k. Christ Jesus is our only story.