So, i'm not quite persuaded by your logic yet. I have a couple questions i Would need you to clear up first.
It seems to me that the "mystery in Christ" ,verse 4, is explained in the following verses. This whole passage is linked together with semicolons and no periods, leading me to believe it's all one thought and there is not 2 mysteries. So, after saying that, this passage reads to me like "the mystery of christ, not being made known until now, is the fact that gentiles would become fellow heirs...."
To go along with that: One of the biggest things our wrongly-dividing counterparts often overlook is the use of the word(s) "Now" and "But now" in Ephesians. Here in verse 5 we also see the word "now", which tells me that the mystery of Christ is just now being revealed. To who? the holy apostles and prophets. Obviously, this means more than just Paul. I see this verse as saying that the Spirit revealed THE ANSWER to the mystery to the apostles and prophets. This statement can also be written as it is in verse 5. In revealing the mystery to the group the Spirit helped them understand the meaning of the mystery; he didn't tell them that there was a mystery (only Paul was told OF the mystery by Jesus) but the meaning of the mystery was revealed to them just as it is revealed to us as we read Paul's letters. To use a metaphor-think of a magician and a magic show. The "mystery" is "the 2 ropes became 1 rope (now no difference beetween jew and gentile)" and the mystery is "revealed" when the audience realizes that there was a 3rd rope.
Even if this is wrong, is it not possible that the Spirit revealed the mystery, itself, unto other people, after it was revealed to Paul? Other apostles could have been made aware of this new mystery, but it just wasn't their responsibility to the the minister to the uncircumcision. It wasn't their "office" to write letters to other churches or to try and compete with Paul.
Now, your're right when you say that the was a mystery about Christ that the disciples didn't understand. Namely that he would have to die and rise again. But I believe that was a mystery ABOUT Christ; and The Mystery OF Christ was that his death and resurection meant forgiveness and life to all believers.
so, to sum it up, i believe that
1. the mystery of christ = gentiles and jews shall be fellow heirs and of the same body = The Mystery
2. The mystery, itself, was hid on God since the beginning
3. and when Paul says the mystery has been revealed to holy apostles and prophets, he is talking about the meaning of the mystery. |
