Dispensation of the hidden secret

 

Dispensation of the hidden secret

 

(Ephesians 3:8-11) Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:

When Jesus came into this world, his words were not about the world, but about the kingdom of God. However, most church people think of a lot of things as worldly things. 『For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,』 The word 『For this cause』 is connected with the work of Jesus Christ because Paul caused God to preach the gospel to the Gentiles.

In the days of the early church, Gentiles heard the gospel, but they did not understand it and did not want to hear it. So, God chose Paul and used him to evangelize the Gentiles. Paul was explaining at length in chapters 1-2 to the Gentiles that they were God's chosen people. Gentiles were originally strangers to God, but since Jesus Christ fulfilled the law that distinguishes Jews from Gentiles, that difference has now disappeared. The Apostle Paul suffered in order to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. He was imprisoned, beaten, and ridiculed. Ephesians 6:20 says, “For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.”

『If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward:』The people of the Ephesian church believed that God had given a dispensation of grace for them. The dispensation of grace is a secret hidden from the creation of the world. Grace is the grace that God gives through the atonement of Jesus Christ to save those who are in Christ. Dispensation means “to manage”. From God's point of view, this means the predestination and plan of salvation. That is why we ask the Ephesians to understand it well through the letter to Ephesus. 『Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)』

The evangelism of the Gentiles is strictly the story of the salvation of all people under the world. This is what God promised Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3. 『Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

Also, through the prophets, God spoke several times that Gentiles would be saved. In Isaiah 49:6, “And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.”

At the time of the Early Church, the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples so that salvation could go to the Gentiles, but after that, the salvation of the Gentiles is achieved through the evangelism of the saints.“Being joint heirs and joint partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus.”It says that all people under the heavens will hear the gospel and be saved. This is the dispensation of the secret before the foundation of the world (dispensation of grace).

Gentiles (seeing the spread of the gospel) will understand God's plan of salvation before the foundation of the world, because God's plan of salvation applies to all human beings. All human beings in this world are trapped in darkness. In the kingdom of God, the spirits in Christ followed Satan's delusion, the false delusion that they could become like God, so God imprisoned them in the material world. Thus, every human being is a sinner against a spirit-dead God. But God decided to send his Son into the world to save the dead spirit. Only those who enter into Christ will be saved. To enter into Christ is to die on the cross with Jesus because of the greed hidden within man. Soon he will bear his own cross.

 

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