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Sermon preached on Ephesians 3:1-13 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Worship Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 02/01/2026 in Petaluma, CA.
Sermon Manuscript
Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.
As we begin working through this new section in Ephesians, we see that Paul is continuing to develop what he was just talking about in the previous section, about the Gentile inclusion in the church. There are at least three dominant themes raised in this passage that all are related to the Gentile inclusion. There is a theme of a mystery being revealed – a mystery about the Gentile inclusion. There is a theme of God’s grace powerfully calling Paul into ministry – a ministry to the Gentiles. And there is a theme of Paul’s suffering, suffering that he is enduring for the sake of the Gentiles. We will work through those three themes over the next three sermons. Today, then, we’ll focus on this mystery. This is a wonderful mystery, and it includes you too, oh church of Christ.
We’ll approach this theme of mystery in three points. First, we’ll see that this was a mystery that was hidden but is now revealed. Second, we’ll consider what specifically this mystery is that Paul is describing. Third, we’ll see a result of revealing this mystery: that the manifold wisdom of God is being made known.
Let us begin with the first point, that this was a mystery that was previously hidden but is now revealed. When the Bible speaks about a mystery, this is usually the context, that something that was previously a mystery is now being revealed. It’s like if a friend comes to you and says, “Can I tell you a secret?”, that won’t be a secret to you much longer. So too, our passage shares something that had been a secret, a mystery, but not any longer.
Let us notice then how long this was a mystery for. Look first at verse 5. There, Paul says that the mystery had not been made known to previous generations. Instead, he says that “now” it has been revealed to the apostles and the prophets. In other words, these apostles and prophets who were contemporaries of Paul’s day, they were the first to receive the revelation of this mystery. Back in verse 3, Paul includes himself too as a recipient of the revealed mystery, which makes sense because Paul would be part of this group of apostles mentioned in verse 5.
So this mystery had not been revealed prior to Paul’s generation and time. The scope of this secret is further highlighted down in verse 9. There we learn that this mystery has been “hidden for ages in God”. Verse 10 then explains by basically saying how even the “rulers and authorities in the heavenly places” didn’t know about this “mystery hidden for ages in God”. Those heavenly rulers and authorities are referring to the angels, including both faithful angels and fallen angels such as Satan and his demons. So, this mystery was not just hidden from humans until the time of the New Testament. This mystery was even kept from all the spiritual, angelic beings. This does confirm what we see elsewhere in Scripture. It reminds us that the angels are not omniscient, like God. They don’t know everything, and here we learn that God hadn’t told them all of his plans. This is similar to 1 Peter where it says the Old Testament prophets didn’t fully know how their prophecies of Christ would unfold, which were things that even angels longed to understand.
But now, finally at long last, this mystery has been revealed. It was not only revealed to the apostles and the prophets, which would include Paul, but they have in turn been revealing it to the world. Paul mentions that at the end of verse 3, explaining that he has been writing to them just now of this very mystery. While he says he’s only been briefly writing about it, nonetheless, in verse 4, Paul acknowledges that these Ephesians should be able to perceive his insight into this revealed mystery. Then in verse 9, Paul says that they are seeking to bring this mystery “to light for everyone”. As the apostles and prophets proclaim this revealed mystery to the world, the result is the establishment and growth of the new covenant church of Jesus Christ. That then becomes the way the angelic powers ultimately learn about this mystery, as they see the result of the glorious formation of Christ’s church through the evangelism of the world. So, then, this mystery once hidden, has now been made known and is being made known, to both heaven and earth.
This then brings us to our second point to specifically answer the question of what is this mystery that we’ve been talking about today. I’ve sort of left you in suspense to this question, though it is here in verse 6 which we read. This mystery is defined there with three related points, all in relation to the Gentiles, i.e. the nations. By the way, let us appreciate that the word Gentiles is literally the word nations. We often think of the term Gentiles as meaning non-Jews, and that is fine. But literally, it is the Greek word for “nations”. So then, look at three ways this mystery is defined in terms of the Gentiles, the nations. One, the nations are fellow heirs. Two, the nations are members of the same body. Three, the nations are partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. This is talking about what Gentiles Christians have together with Jewish Christians. It’s saying that the nations are fellow heirs with the Jews, and part of the same body with the Jews, and share in the same saving promises that come in Christ and the gospel. Of course, non-Christians Jews and non-Christians of the nations, don’t share in this together. But Christians, whether Jew or Gentiles, all share in this together.
Now let me pause and clarify the important nuance here with regard to what this mystery is. If we are simply talking about how Gentiles would find salvation, that wasn’t a mystery hidden until the New Testament. Likewise, if we are talking about how God would somehow use the Jews to help Gentiles find salvation and a relationship with the true God, that also wasn’t a mystery hidden until the New Testament. What I mean is that the Old Testament is full of various prophecies and promises that foretold that salvation would come to the nations and it would come in some way through the seed of Abraham. From the start of Israel, Genesis 12:3, God promised Abraham, the patriarch of Israel, “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Yet, when you look at the passages that prophesy of how blessing and salvation might come to the nations, it was not yet clearly revealed what the ultimate relationship between saved Gentiles and ethnic Israel would be. As these prophecies foretold, from a distance, the salvation of the nations, interpreters had to wonder how that would unfold. Would the nations find salvation, but be in a subservient position to the nation of Israel? For example, Deuteronomy 20 allowed for Israel under the old covenant to make peace treaties with distant nations, if they were willing to become a subservient nation. Or would the nations find salvation as essentially distinct churches, that each nation might become a separate covenant community of God’s people, but in terms of their relationship with each other be separate but equal? That’s one plausible interpretation of Isaiah 19 that foretold how Egypt and Assyria would become saved along with Israel. And so, while the Old Testament promises were true and certain, the precise form of Gentile inclusion was not yet fully revealed.
You see, the revealed mystery answers this question. The revealed mystery is not simply that people from all the nations would find salvation. The revealed mystery is that they would be saved together with Jewish Christians in one united church. So then, go back to the definition of this mystery in verse 6. It says that Christians from every nation, including Israel, are fellow heirs. Together, every Christian is an adopted son of God, has access to the same God as our heavenly father, is a part of his divine household, and has a glorious inheritance bestowed upon us. This inheritance is something we will all enjoy together at the day of Christ’s return when we will inherit the whole of the new creation. Verse 6 says that Christians from every nation, including Israel, are of the same body. As God sees us, we are not ultimately individual churches but all a part of the one church. We are one body, with many members, and Christ is our head. The church is not ultimately a collection of different groups but one group. This is why we distinguish between earthly citizenship and heavenly citizenship. Whatever earthly groups we belong to, our salvation in Jesus unites us together into a single body of believers as a single church. Verse 6 says that Christians from every nation, including Israel, all partake of the same gospel promises of Jesus Christ. That means we all have the same savior with same way to have our sin forgiven through the cross. That means we all have the same Messiah and King, which reminds us that we are all part of the same holy nation, distinct from all the nations of this world. That means we all have the same hope of eternal life and the glory of the age to come. That means we all saved in the same way, through faith in Christ as he’s offered in the gospel.
So then, understanding what this mystery is and is not, helps us appreciate the specific and important point Paul is making here. There is one church of Jesus Christ. God did not save other nations to be separate but subservient churches to serve Israel. Nor did God save other nations to each be an established separate but equal church of God. No, there is one church, one body, with one established foundation, one Christ, one Spirit, one baptism, one faith, one hope, one God and Father of all. This is the mystery that’s been revealed, not simply that the nations find salvation, but that we are all saved together into one united church in Jesus Christ.
If you are getting excited and want to just start praising God, then that means you are ready for the third point for today. Let’s turn now to see how the revealing of this mystery has resulted in displaying the manifold wisdom of God. As that wisdom is put on display, it is meant to elicit our great praise to God!
This is what verse 10 says. Speaking of this mystery being revealed it says, “So that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known.” It goes on to especially speak of how the angelic powers will recognize God’s wisdom as they see the one saved church of Christ. Think about this from the perspective of Satan. He’s one of those fallen angels that is seeing God’s wisdom worked out in the church. But go back to the beginning, to the Garden of Eden. Surely, in some way, the devil failed to truly recognize God’s wisdom back then. He tried to thwart God’s creation by tempting our first parents unto death in the garden. He continued to sow rebellion among humanity, surely influencing evil people like Cain and many others who afflicted those who sought to worship God. Satan confronted God about Job, as he thought he knew better than God. The devil was even behind Judas Iscariot’s great sin, inciting him to betray Jesus to his death. Surely, Satan’s many futile efforts to oppose God reflect a failure on his part to truly understand the wisdom of God. Indeed, what Satan meant for evil, God even used for good, as part of plan for the ages. Revelation 12 shows Satan’s response now that he has seen this wisdom of God so wonderfully displayed in the church. It has left that evil dragon raging in fury. The wisdom of God indeed has that effect on the lost, but on God’s people it becomes reason for us to glory in God.
Indeed, while this passage especially gets us to think about how the angelic forces like the devil have come to see God’s wisdom in how he saves the nations, we can also think about how we humans have come to see and appreciate God’s wisdom. This is a theme Paul especially develops in Romans 9-11. There, Paul reflects further on the interesting dynamic between Jew and Gentile. He reflects on how God began his plan to save humanity through Israel, even to bring forth the Messiah. But God also has providentially ordained that so many in Israel would at first reject Jesus and the gospel so that God would in response send the gospel to all the nations. God then ordained that such would result in the gathering up of the elect among the nations unto salvation, even as many ethnic Israelites are cast off in their unbelief. But then Paul reflects on how God is using the salvation of the Gentiles to spark jealousy among unbelieving Israelites that all the elect among Israel would ultimately come to Jesus too. The end results is that all the elect among Israel and all the nations, will, in God’s good timing, come to Jesus and be gathered unto his church as the one people of God. After Paul talks about this for three chapters there in Romans, it leads him to that famous doxology: Romans 11:33, “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.”
That grand doxology particularly highlights the wisdom of God. Let us appreciate why Paul in Romans and here in Ephesians emphasizes the wisdom of God in this. This was all a part of God’s eternal plan of the ages, according to verse 11. Verse 11, “This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord.” This whole plan of God to redeem the nations in Jesus is just amazing. This is not the world’s wisdom. The wisdom of the world thinks the cross of Jesus is foolish, when really it showed the wisdom of how God is both merciful and just. Likewise, who would have thought all that God had done up to that point was serving to bring redemption to the nations? Even how God turned the evil of men and devils around for good? How God would even use one seemingly insignificant nation to bring salvation to all the world? How all this was so that God could make one united people of all tongues, tribes, and nations, to be his holy nation and his treasured possession, one that he will dwell in peace with for all eternity in the paradise of the age to come. Satan tried to stop this from the start, but God’s plan brought through all this something even more grand and glorious. All of this is the eternal plan of redemption and it magnifies the wisdom of God.
So then, let us appreciate that we were not an after thought to God’s plan. It would be inaccurate to think that we were God’s plan B after most of the Jews rejected him. No, that is not at all the situation. We have always been part of God’s eternal plan that he kept hidden for ages but has now wondrously revealed. All of this is supposed to bring us to praise God for his wisdom, not to mention his love, mercy, and grace.
Trinity Presbyterian Church, today Paul has explained that what he’s been talking in about in the previous passage is a wonderful revelation of this glorious mystery of God that he had planned from eternity. We join with all the saints as the united church of Christ to praise God. And yet while we hear this mystery revealed again today, I want us to appreciate how the church in its current state needs to grow to display what this revealed mystery says we already are. This passage doesn’t say that God is making his church to one day be a united church of Christ. No, he is saying that this is who we already are. Yet, we look around, and the church throughout the world has many divisions. We have denominational divisions. We have racial divisions. We have nationality divisions. We have cultural divisions. Some divisions are more understandable than others due to various practical factors. But regardless, God has made all Christians into one body, even though our visible expression of that is currently greatly marred. It is a reality despite that. But we still need to do some work to visibly manifest that in this world.
Indeed, this is something that Jesus specifically prayed for in John 17:21. He prayed for us saying, “May [they] all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” Jesus’ prayer acknowledged that it will complement our witness to the world if they see our unity in Christ. That complements what we’ve been talking about today. We’ve said that the united church of Christ reveals the wisdom of God’s eternal plan of redemption to the world. It can also, likewise, help us evangelize the world. God can use our visible unity in Christ as a way to encourage unbelievers to begin to believe in Jesus.
There is much work to be done. We must pursue unity while at the same time seeking purity and peace in the church. But may the Holy Spirit continue to grow us in the common hope of our calling and in the love for the saints and in the faith that looks together to Jesus. To God be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.
Amen.
Copyright © 2025 Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.
All Rights Reserved.
