In The Mystery Of Christ

by J.W. Archibald, Wembley, England | Category: The Eternal God Revealed | Sept 1994

We know that in the affairs of this world the timing of the release of information is ail-important. Success or failure, fame or obscurity in politics, business, entertainment or research have often been critically dependent on timely publicity. Sometimes, however, the interested parties have limited choke of timing because of factors outside their control.

When the eternal God reveals of Himself He has complete choice of content and timing and His choice is made with unerring precision. We can only bow in wonder and worship before the magnificence of His revelation in the mystery of Christ. This revelation was given in a special degree to Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, and we find its exposition in his inspired writings. We can almost feel how thrilled he was as we read his account of it. "By revelation was made known unto me the mystery ... Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, was this grace given, to preach unto the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ" (Eph. 3:3,8).

But first we should comment on the use of the word mystery. In English usage it normally denotes a situation about which knowledge is very limited or non-existent. The Greek word translated mystery in our Bibles is used by God to mean something that has been revealed which was previously hidden. God delights to make Himself known and He longs that people on earth will want to know Him. In the garden of Eden Satan sought to portray God as One who withholds knowledge and thus Eve was beguiled and turned away from the revelation that God had given. Terrible results for mankind followed from that early rejection of divine revelation.

What is the Mystery of Christ?

A direct answer to this question is found in Ephesians 3:6. "To wit, that the Gentiles are fellow-heirs, and fellow-members of the Body, and fellow-partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel". In this statement the Body refers to the Church, which is the Body of Christ. This Church is built by Christ Himself and "the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it" (Mat. 16:18). Upon placing faith in Christ, all believers from Pentecost onward are baptized in the Holy Spirit by the Lord Jesus into this Church (Mat. 3:11; 1 Cor. 12:12,13; Eph. 1:13; Acts 1:5). Christ is the Head of the Church, which is His Body, and all those in Christ are the members (Col. 1:18; 1 Cor. 12:27). It is described as a glorious Church when Christ will present it to Himself

after His return for His own (Eph. 5:27). It cannot be violated, nor is its building dependent on any human agency, but is all of God; built by the Son through the means of the Spirit according to the good pleasure of the Father (Col. 1:18,19).

It is delightful to notice that the intimate association of Christ and the Church is given the title "The Christ" so that in the original Greek 1 Corinthians 12:12 reads, "For as the Body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of the Body, being many, are one Body; so also is the Christ". Similarly, the expression in Ephesians 3:4 that is the subject of this article should he read as "the mystery of the Christ". Helped by the beautiful analogy of husband and wife in Ephesians 5, this takes us back to the divine statement about Adam and Eve in Genesis 5:2. "Male and female created He them; ... and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created". In their union the title Adam was given to them both. Wonder of wonders that so also it is with Christ and the Church, which is His Body!

But we must not miss the key element of the mystery of the Christ, that the Gentiles are fellow-heirs, fellow-members of the Body, and fellow--takers of the promise with Jews who are also in Christ Jesus. Gentiles were strangers from the covenants of the promise but Paul says, "ye that once were far off are made nigh in the blood of Christ" (Eph. 2:12,13). Between Jew and Gentile stood the barrier of "the law of commandments contained in ordinances", but this has been abolished by the Cross of Christ (Eph. 2:14-16). It is not just that the Gentile has been brought to where the Jew was in the things of God, but rather that both have been brought from where they were to be reconciled in one Body unto God through the Cross, for both were estranged from Him. The Jew, through the gospel, separated from Judaism, and the Gentile by the same means, brought out from the nations, are both through the Cross, and by the power of the Spirit, incorporated into the one Body with Christ as their glorious Head.

How and When was the Mystery of Christ Revealed?

Paul tells us that "the mystery from all ages hath been hid in God" (Eph. 3:9) and that "the mystery hath been kept in silence through times eternal" (Rom. 16:25). From the beginning it was concealed from angels and men. Aspects of it were present but hidden in the Old Testament, for Paul also tells us in Romans 16:26 that the mystery is now made known through the prophetical scriptures. For example, the narratives of Adam and Eve and of Isaac and Rebekah contain pictures of Christ and the Church which are only seen by later

revelation.

After the death and resurrection of Christ and the giving of the Spirit at Pentecost, the mystery was "revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets in

the Spirit" (Eph. 3:5) and in a special measure to Paul, as we have already noted. Of the New Testament writers, Paul alone is privileged of God to expound it. Through these holy men it was proclaimed in the Spirit to others so that the revelation could be "made known unto all the nations unto obedience of faith" (Rom. 16:26).

It was also to be "manifested to His saints, to whom God was pleased to 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. 1:26, 27). This scripture indicates the pleasure that God takes in revealing the mystery and also wonderfully assures us that Christ, through the Spirit, is in every member of His Body.

There is, however, yet another aspect of the revelation of the mystery which is referred to in Ephesians 3:911, "now unto the principalities and the powers in the heavenly places might be made known through the Church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord". God is the Creator of all things and He determined from all eternity that the multiple facets of His wisdom would be displayed to the angelic orders through the Church, which is the Body of Christ. The mightiest angels must surely contemplate in deep wonder this amazing union of Christ with redeemed sinners, and bow before the Creator whose mind conceived and determined such an outcome.

The Preeminence of Christ

It is impossible to overstate the majesty and glory of Christ in all of this. In Ephesians 1:19-23 Paul piles up distinction upon distinction in his inspired description of the greatness of Christ. First His position: seated at God's right hand in the heavenlies; then His power and authority: far above all rule, and authority and power, and dominion, and every name that is named in this world and the world to come; then His supremacy: all things in subjection under His feet; and finally, perhaps most preciously of all to God and to Christ: Head over all things to the Church, which is His Body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all.

The letter of Paul to the Colossians has sometimes been described as the epistle of the Preeminent Christ, and in chapter 1:14-19 the Son of God's love is set forth firstly as One who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, all things and persons, heavenly and earthly, created through Him and unto Him; then His complete precedence and omnipotent control: before all things and in Him all things hold together; and then as in Ephesians, the final and dearest aspect of His preeminence: Head of the Body, the Church, in which role He is seen as the firstborn from the dead. It seems that among all the myriad distinctions of honour and glory that are rightly His, Headship of the Church is the most cherished.

The Involvement of the Trinity

God the Father sent the Son to be

the Saviour of the world (1 John 4:14). He raised Christ from the dead and made Him to sit at His right hand in the heavenlies (Eph. 1:20). He has put all things in subjection under Christ's feet and given Him to be Head over all things to the Church (Eph. 1:22). He has with good pleasure determined that in Christ should all the fulness dwell (Col. 1:19). He has delivered those who believe out of the power of darkness and translated them into the kingdom of the Son of His love (Col. 1:13). And He gives to believers in Christ the Holy Spirit to permanently indwell them (John 14:16).

God the Son loves the Church and gave Himself up for it; that He might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the Word. He will present it to Himself a glorious Church, holy and without blemish. He is the Head of the Church and its Saviour (Eph. 5:23-27).

God the Spirit is the One in whom the mystery of the Christ was revealed if the' holy apostles and prophets of New Testament times (Eph. 3:5). In Him believers are baptized into the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:13). He indwells for ever all members of the Body of Christ for the purpose of ministering to them of Christ for their comfort, help, instruction and empowerment (John 16:13,14).

Doxology

As we consider the splendour of this wonderful revelation of the eternal and triune God, we can readily identify with the doxology ("glory word") of the apostle who appreciated so much about it "Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto Him be the glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus unto all generations for ever and ever. Amen" (Eph. 3:20,21).

J.W. Archibald, Wembley, England | Sept 1994
The Eternal God Revealed