PAUL’S SPECIAL REVELATION:
“THAT BY REVELATION THERE WAS MADE
KNOWN TO ME THE MYSTERY”
PAUL’S SPECIAL REVELATION:
“THAT BY REVELATION THERE WAS MADE
KNOWN TO ME THE MYSTERY”
JAN LILLEBY
We must be aware of the Biblical fact, - that the ‘Mystery’ mentioned in Eph. 3:3 was an entirely NEW FRESH REVELATION which Christ had brought to Paul.
His reference to this ‘Mystery’ was not a manner of telling his believers that he was made aware that Christ really was the Messiah of God, the prophesied and promised King…to be seated on the throne of David in Zion. That had nothing to do with any mystery…it had already been revealed to Israel through the prophets and their Scriptures. No, Paul was writing of a fresh new revelation not given him in times past, but was made known to him by the visitation of Christ shortly before he wrote Ephesians.
Paul was taken by surprise when he was on his way to Damascus to arrest followers of Jesus there. And Jesus spoke to him in a powerful vision. Acts 9:1-16, NASB,
1 Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest,
2 and asked for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
3 As he was traveling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him;
4 and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?"
5 And he said, "Who are You, Lord?" And He said, "I am Jesus whom you are persecuting,
6 but get up and enter the city, and it will be told you what * you must do."
7 The men who traveled with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one.
8 Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; and leading him by the hand, they brought him into Damascus.
9 And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank.
10 Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and the Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias." And he said, "Here I am, Lord."
11 And the Lord said to him, "Get up and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying,
12 and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, so that he might regain his sight."
13 But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he did to Your saints at Jerusalem;
14 and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name."
15 But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel;
16 for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name's sake."
(Editor’s emphasize).
One might call that incident for a ‘Revelation’ – but this was not what Paul wrote in Eph. 3:3.
I emphasized verse 15 above, since here we find the specific calling and future ministry of Paul. He was to preach to Gentiles, kings and the sons of Israel. Not Gentiles only, as some might think.
His following ministry is told mainly from Acts 13 to 28.
In this period of time, Paul had not gotten that revelation of the Mystery. His ministry was to tell Jews and proselytes, and also kings (see Acts 23-26 chapters regarding governor Augustus Felix, governor Porcius Festus, and king Herod Agrippa II; and of course his meeting with Emperor Nero in Rome.) Festus was in office at Caesarea from 59 to 62 CE.
In that period of time, Paul preached the so-called ‘Kingdom Gospel’ – that which God had promised their forefathers (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) referred by Luke in Acts 13:30-38, NASB, - Paul’s speech telling Jews in the synagogue at Pisidian Antioch about Jesus as Messiah,
30 "But God raised Him from the dead;
31 and for many days He appeared to those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, the very ones who are now His witnesses to the people.
32 "And we preach to you the good news of the promise made to the fathers,
33 that God has fulfilled this promise to our children in that He raised up Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm, 'YOU ARE MY SON; TODAY I HAVE BEGOTTEN YOU.'
34 "As for the fact that He raised Him up from the dead, no longer to return to decay, He has spoken in this way: 'I WILL GIVE YOU THE HOLY and SURE blessings OF DAVID.'
35 "Therefore He also says in another Psalm, 'YOU WILL NOT ALLOW YOUR HOLY ONE TO UNDERGO DECAY.'
36 "For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep, and was laid among his fathers and underwent decay;
37 but He whom God raised did not undergo decay.
38 "Therefore let it be known to you, brethren *, that through Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you,
39 and through Him everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the Law of Moses.” (Editor’s emphasize).
Notice how Paul’s references are NOT to any revealed ‘Mystery’, but to prophetic Scriptures.
The emphasized verse shows how the believers in Christ throughout Acts, Jews and proselytes (Gentiles) were forgiven their sins through faith in Jesus Christ. Sins, which the Law of Moses could not free them from.
Thus we also learn that Paul offered the Kingdom Gospel salvation to Israel’s believers mainly, but Gentiles were allowed into the assembly as proselytes – if they would observe the ordinances given in Acts 15 according to the Apostolic Conference at Jerusalem. It was around 45-46 CE when Paul was in Pisidia, and when God revealed His Mystery, told in Eph. 3:3 he was in Rome 63-64 CE.
The revelation of the ‘Mystery’ was yet to come, in which God revealed to Paul that also Gentiles had been given entrance freely (no longer just proselytes) and as heirs of Christ, Who had made both Gentiles and Jews into ‘One new Man’ by abolishing the Law of Moses (Eph. 2:14, 15).
When Paul started up his ministry (Acts 13:1-4) and for the rest of Acts history, he was preaching and teaching of Jesus Christ as the promised Messiah King to come back from heaven to rule from out of Zion, Jerusalem. The so-called millennial kingdom, Dan. 2:44. See also Rev. 20:4.
Same preaching actually as the twelve apostles, only, Paul was the one Jesus sent out into the dispersion in the Roman Empire and the provinces. But Peter and the eleven were sent only to Israel within its borders. Gal. 2:7, 8.
Paul was sent to the nations (Greek, ethnos) which were the Gentiles in Acts 9:15. But in those nations (provinces) there were a lot of dispersed Jews and their synagogues. Notice that when Paul arrived a place, he always went into the synagogue. On the Sabbath.
But in many synagogues there were Gentile proselytes. Paul did not in particular go out onto the market places addressing Gentiles. No, he saw these in the synagogues everywhere. And when Jews did not want to listen to Paul, he turned to the Gentiles there, and they often took to the faith in Christ – thus making the Jews angry and jealous. The free Grace Gospel was not yet revealed to anyone. And the Law of Moses was still the foundation for teaching, added the good news that God had sent them His Messiah, Jesus, according to the promises given their forefathers.
Therefore we cannot read the free Grace Gospel of Paul from Ephesians and Colossians into the previous Scriptures in The New Testament. Only the two latter epistles have the revelation of the Mystery, with the Law of Moses abolished.
Acts has nothing on the church dispensation and the free Grace Gospel by faith alone. The Church cannot be found in any of the four gospels, Acts, and epistles written in same timeline as Acts. The Gospel of Paul, given to us by revelation, comes on the scene post-Acts, namely Ephesians and Colossians.
It’s not the Church we read of in Acts 2 and Pentecost. That was Israel and their Messianic believers with their leaders, Peter and the eleven, as God let the Holy Spirit fall upon them with signs and speaking in tongues. Peter was pointing to the prophecy of Joel. Prophecy is not the same as Mystery.
The entire time with the dispensation of the Church, the ‘One new Man’ is based upon what Christ revealed to Paul as told in Eph. 3:1-9 and Col. 1:25, 26. The Mystery, the free Grace of God given to us Gentiles (and individual Jews as well) – like as in Col. 3:10, 11, NASB,
«10 and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him-
11 a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.”
But in Acts period there was a distinction between Jews and Gentiles. It was ‘Jews first, then Greek’ – Rom. 1:16.
The Kingdom Gospel was to be offered to Israel first, and if Gentiles wanted to go along, they were allowed only as proselytes. See Rom. 10-11 regarding this.
That Kingdom Gospel preached to Israel in Acts, was cancelled at the fall of Israel in Acts 28:25-28. It all ended there, including the sign-gifts and miracles and tongues, everything.
Instead Christ revealed the dispensation of the Church with its free Grace Gospel by faith alone, no works. Paul sums it up in Eph. 2:8, 9, NASB,
«8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
Gracepano.com
