HOW IT IS WITH THE CHURCH
AND MINISTERS ACCORDING
TO PAUL’S REVELATION
HOW IT IS WITH THE CHURCH
AND MINISTERS ACCORDING
TO PAUL’S REVELATION
JAN LILLEBY
I start with using a few Bible translations, to show how these have laid it out. The NASB, the NKJV and the ESV.
Eph. 3:8-10, NASB,
8 To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ,
9 and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things;
10 so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.
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Verse 9 and 10 in NKJV,
9 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;
10 to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places,
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Verse 9 and 10 in ESV,
“9 and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things,”
10 so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.”
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I would like to bring in a clip from Athol Walter’s written series on the Ephesians, published in the web site www.spiritualblessings.org .
I have had several enjoyable email exchanges with this Acts-28 believer, and I must admit that much of his writings are quite informative and Biblically sound.
So, as to how we should understand Eph. 3:8-10, Walter brings in the following, to which I must agree: (from page 111 in his writing),
A Dispensation given to Paul
Verse 2 speaks of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given to me to you ward.
Then in verse 8 he says ‘unto me…is this grace given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of
Christ, and to make all see what is the dispensation of the Mystery…
I hope you noticed that my quote of verse 9 is a little different from what the AV has. It says the ‘fellowship’ of the Mystery.
***However, the RV and later translations have changed it to ‘dispensation’.
The reason for the difference is that the Greek words for fellowship and dispensation are rather alike, and it is quite easy for a scribe to misread it and write the wrong word.
I think that if you read right through verse 9, you will see which word makes the most sense.
‘And to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God.’
***‘And to make all see what is the dispensation of the mystery which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God.’
I have no doubt that Paul wrote dispensation, but you will have to make up your own mind.
End of clip from Athol Walter’s writing. (The emphasize is made by editor.)
I have below clipped in from Strong’s Greek Lexicon Eph. 3:9 – which proves clearly that Walter’s assumption on this passage is correct,
It is Strong’s word, numbered 3622, which is the ‘magic key’ – since this is what Paul actually wrote. He wrote ‘oikonomia’, which is Greek for administration or stewardship or household…pointing to a change of how God deals with mankind. In other words: a NEW oikonomia was revealed to Paul, which is replacing the previous one…in its entirety! It is that ‘oikonomia’ Christ wants us to let ALL HUMANKIND SEE – in that we preach it and teach it. As we do this, the Grace Gospel of Paul comes to light as well as the fact that we are now saved by faith alone, no works; the Law of Moses and all ordinances are abolished entirely. Jews and Gentiles are made into ‘one new man’ by Christ’s death on the cross, provided one believes on Him. This abolishment was kept hidden from all believers during Acts, but was revealed to Paul post-Acts, as he got this while suffering imprisonment in Rome 63-67 CE. The reason Christ kept this vast truth hidden during Acts, was that He tested Israel whether they would all repent, as a nation. They did NOT repent, thus they fell away from God as a nation, and was destroyed in 70 CE by Rome.
When Jesus Christ sent out His twelve apostles to preach the Kingdom-Gospel to Israel, the previous oikonomia, He instructed them regarding this ministry. This order from Jesus made the twelve say and do accordingly. Almost in same manner as orders from a General to his army, such instructions were important so that they could win the battles at hand. In Christendom one refers to Christ’s orders as ‘The Great Commission’. And, Mark 16:20 attesting that, indeed, the twelve actually followed the commission, to the very detail. They fulfilled the orders given by their ‘General’ (Christ). If this order of preaching and teaching to Israel was fulfilled when Mark wrote his historic Gospel (scholars hold to 83 CE) – then this order/mission is NOT valid in our times. It was ended and completed! They only preached it to Israel, and never went out of the land going abroad to Gentiles (like Paul did later on, see Acts 9:15).
But when we, in Post-Acts time, find Paul’s instructive two Church epistles, Ephesians and Colossians, - we cannot find anything like the ‘Great Commission’. No particular marching-orders, telling what exactly to do etcetera, etcetera.
Paul did not come up with an equivalent to the ‘Great Commission’, like Jesus told His twelve apostles.
But this is where we have to read again Eph. 3:8-10 – especially verse 9 quoted above. And I will point to Walter’s understanding here, and also Strong’s Lexicon, that Paul wrote “…and to make ALL see what is the dispensation of the Mystery…”.
Our marching-order remains just this. We are to MAKE ALL (the world) SEE that Mystery dispensation, the one with the free Grace Gospel of Paul for us, and no Law of Moses with its ordinances to observe. Neither is there any mention of the New Covenant!
Paul did not, in his two Church epistles, promise anything special – such as speaking in tongues, casting out demons, taking up serpents without being harmed, laying hands on the sick and have them miraculously healed, baptizing the converts in water, having them ‘baptized’ also in the Holy Spirit….and all these remarkable wonders and sensations following the twelve apostles, as well as Paul, in their time. And we get NO teaching on the Second Advent, not to mention the evil and wicked charlatan Anti-Christ, - and just to get this right: there is no word of any so-called ‘Rapture of the Saints’, as we find in 1 Thes. 4:13-18. We have none of that! That was things belonging to the previous dispensation, that of offering the Kingdom of God on earth to Israel, if first the nation would repent and believe on Jesus as Messiah. See Peter’s second speech, Acts 3. Jesus would have come again as soon as Israel had repented. Instead, they fell away from God as a nation, as told in Acts 28:25-28. They said No thanks! To Jesus, as Paul had his meeting with Sanhedrin in Rome, spring 60 CE. Thus the offer to Israel of the Kingdom on earth was suspended, and God revealed to Paul the Mystery and established the dispensation which we still have. The Grace Gospel of the free salvation, by faith alone, and NO works.
Neither have we any formal 5-fold ministers, as in 1 Cor 12: Apostles, prophets, teachers, evangelists and pastors (elders).
NOTICE: Pastors/elders are not found in 1 Cor. 12. But in Acts Paul practiced the pastor/elders leadership to the congregations he had established. Titus was instructed to see to it, - that elders (or overseers, which is same as bishops) are leaders of the congregations. This travel to Crete is not documented in Acts by Luke, however. But there is no doubt that this was taking place in the same time as Acts reports from. Titus is an Acts-writing, just like the two writings of Paul sent to Timothy.
Titus. 1:5-9, NASB,
“5 For this reason I left you in Crete, that you would set in order what remains and appoint elders in every city as I directed you,
6 namely, if any man is above reproach, the husband of one wife, having children who believe, not accused of dissipation or rebellion.
7 For the overseer must be above reproach as God's steward, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not addicted to wine, not pugnacious, not fond of sordid gain,
8 but hospitable, loving what is good, sensible, just, devout, self-controlled,
9 holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict.”
All five minister categories were – during Acts only - under the same power and ‘anointing’ with the Holy Spirit as were the apostles. They had instant and even personal contact with the Lord, at all times. They were instructed by the Holy Spirit in many instances of where to go, what to say and what to do, and so forth. God’s mighty angels accompanied and helped them in several cases reported in Acts. All kinds of ministers in our time, are working on a voluntarily basis, and the initiative is with the believers and not God. God has NOT in particular spoken personally to anyone. We have the written Word of God, the Bible, as our authority and must try to rightly divide it so we can teach believers a correct understanding/interpretation of scripture. We have absolute NO authority to say ‘Thus Says the Lord’…as if He has spoken to anyone of us. Paul’s Gospel, as found in Ephesians and Colossians, is the final word regarding this dispensation, and no other teachings in Scripture can overrule or eventually modify Paul’s revelation of the Mystery, Eph. 3:1-10.
In order to be a part of the ministry the Body of Christ has, that of making ALL SEE what is the dispensation of the Mystery, I started my web site back in 2004, when I was convinced that the correct Biblical framework for understanding and preaching the Grace Gospel, is the so-called Acts-28 beliefs. First established by E. W. Bullinger, and his follower Charles Welch back in the day. Then carried on further up to our time, by many fine Bible expositors, being Acts-28 believers.
We can eventually operate by teaching the Bible to the world, via a web site. This is my way of operating. There are quite a number of Acts-28 web sites to read on the internet.
Others may go on as ‘evangelists’ and carry on with organized meetings and so forth. But there are no formal ‘ordained ministers’ – who has been ordained by God and Christ. We have no inspired ministers among us, like in the days of the apostles.
But together, as the Body of Christ, we have been given ALL spiritual blessings in heaven in and with Christ, and He is the Head of His body. Our hope of salvation is connected with the epiouranos (Greek) heaven – the Super Heaven if you like. We are not to be inhabitants of the future Kingdom of God on earth, like the New Israel will be after the Second Advent. We are going to heaven, the place where Christ now resides at the right hand of God His Father. Our hope is heavenly, not earthly, Col. 3:1-4.
And yet, we are to tell the world of the dispensation of the Mystery, or in other words: the dispensation of the grace of God, the free Grace-Salvation by faith alone, and no works.
Eph. 2:8, 8, 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
