V. 7 "Whereof I Was Made a Minister, According To The Gift Of The
Grace of God Given Unto Me By The Effectual Working Of His Power."
"Whereof I Was Made A Minister…" in this final Statement, Paul Refers to
His Immediate Remarks Wherein the "Mystery of Christ," Is the Main Topic
of discussion, (Vss, 1 - 6). And He Says, "He Christ Made Know Unto Me
the mystery" (Vs. 3) And It Is For The purpose of making this mystery
known, "I Was Made a Minister"
Note: Paul Did Not Elect or Choose within Himself to become A
Minister of Christ, He Says, I was made A Minister." He Consider His
Induction Into The Ministry To Be Divinely wrought, For At The Time Of
His Appointment To The Office He Was Just Hours Removed From the Office
Of, Chief Destroyer Of The Work Of Christ When The Lord Made Known The
Call Of Paul To The Ministry, The Disciples Of Christ Said, "… is not
this he That destroyed Them which Called on this name In Jerusalem...?"
(Acts 9:21) The News Of His call Reaches Jerusalem, And The Apostles,
"...That He Which Persecuted us In Time Past. Now Preacheth The Faith
Which Once He Destroyed" (Gal.1:23).
"..According To the Gift of the Grace of God Given Unto me By the
Effectual Working of His Power." Paul Considered His Ministry To Be A
Gift From God, A Gift Of His Grace. Paul, Knowing That His Heart Once
Overflowed with Enmity toward Jesus, And Out of His Infinite Devotion To
Judaism he Laid Waste The Churches of Christ, He Knew Nothing Less Than
The Sovereign God Of Heaven Could Have Changed him So Radically, And
Cause To Love The Things He Once Hated And Destroyed.
In Light of All His Manifest Hatred Against All That Mentioned The Name,
Jesus, He Knew That Sovereign Grace Had Intervened In His Behalf, For He
Was In His Total Constitution made up of that Which Is The Exact
Opposite of Merit And worthiness, Paul Knew his Salvation Was A Gift of
God’s grace, and Not to Any quality In Himself.
He was Before His Divine Call to the Ministry The ultimate fanatic For
Judaism, After His Call, Judaism Considers Him to be Mad. But Paul Says,
"…We Are Fools for Christ’s Sake," (1st Cor, 4:10).
The grace of God Would All Be In Vain If It were Not Under Girded With
Limitless Power, Many Has Been The Times I Have Had Sincere And Strong
Desire To Help Others Who Were In
Great Difficulty, Especially Is This True In Times Of Sickness; But
Being Deficient In Power, Turn And Walk Away,
But Not So With Our God, In the Salvation of Paul. And his Call to
the Ministry God’s Sovereign Grace Is Put On Display. God’s Grace Has
Never failed Of Its End, For Where sin abounds God’s Grace Doth much
more Abound.
"Whereof I was made a minister…" None Will Argue Against The Contention
That Paul Was Called To Be The Apostle To The Gentiles, That he Was
Called To Preach The Grace of God As The Exclusive means of Salvation
From Sin. None Will Argue Against The Fact, that Gentiles, By Faith In
Christ Was Fellowcitizens With The Saints, And Of The Household Of God.
Now, Bear In mind, that there Is No Contrversy in the Ranks of
Protestantism (Including mediocre Baptist.) Regarding the mystery
Referred To by Paul in Eph. 3:1 - 6. Protestant Ecclesiology Places
Every Regenerate Person In The Church, And They Have No Problem At All
Ascertaining What The Mystery Is. It Is With them, That The Mystery
Revealed Is, That Gentiles are Now Save by the Sacrifice Of Christ, And
Made Co-heirs With the Jews. This Is the Answer Most Palatable to
Natural Reasoning, But It Is not the mystery Revealed. It Is not What
Paul Refers To When. He Says, To The Ephesian Saints, "There Is one Body
(4:4), Nor Is It what He Meant When He Said Speaking of The Mystery,
"This Is A great Mystery, But I Speak Concerning Christ And The Church"
(5:32).
It is true; Gentiles Are Saved by the Shed blood Of Christ and Are Equal
with Jews before God, But This Truth Is as Ancient as the Old Testament,
And Cannot Therefore Be The Mystery or Secret Revealed To Paul.
God Told Abraham, In Gen. I2:3 "...In Thee shall all Families of The
Earth He Blessed." How Was It That, In Abraham, All families Of the
Earth Would Be Blessed? This Promise to Abraham points Toward The
Messiah, Jesus Christ. The Ground of Its Fulfillment Was In The birth of
Christ (Matt. 1:25), And It Shall Be ultimately Realized in The
Millennium.
Isa. 11:10 "And In That Day (Millennium) There shall be a root of Jesse
(Christ, The Son of David, Who Was the Son of Jesse), which shall stand
for an ensign of the People; to it shall The Gentiles seek: And His Rest
Shall be glorious."
Malachi Prophecies the Setting Aside of Israel, And Then quotes God
saying ‘"For from the Rising the Sun even unto the going down of the
same my name shall Be Great among the Gentiles…" (Mal.1:10 – 11).
Isa. 42:6 "I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold
thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the
people, for a light of the Gentiles;
Isa, 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."
The old Prophet knew That Isaiah Prophesied of Christ; for we hear
him say, while He Holds the Infant Messiah in His arms, "For mine eyes
have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all
people; a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people
Israel. (Lk. 2:30 - 32). Thus, we see That Many in Israel during the
Time of Christ’s Incarnation believed that Gentiles would be saved And
This Was before The conversion of Paul. Therefore It could Not Have Been
The mystery that Gentiles would Be: Saved As Well A Jews Which Paul made
reference To In The Scriptures Under Consideration In This lesson.
The Gentiles Inherit Jointly With the Jews the Redemptive Blessings,
They Are (Jews Gentiles) "Fellowcitizens" In the Kingdom of God. They
Share Equally the Blessings of membership In the Family of God, But
These Truths Are revealed Over And Over in the O.T. And Therefore,
Cannot Be The "Mystery Which Was Kept Secret Since The World began"
(Rom. 16:25).
Jews And Gentiles Are Not Co-partakers In All The Promises of Christ,
There Will Always Be An Israelite Nation. And Israel will Once Again Be
Regathered From The Four Corners Of The Earth (many scholars believe The
First Fruits Of This Regathering of Israel is The Present Nation of
Israel), And Permantly Established, never to be Rooted Up Any More, In
The Land Given To Them In The Abrahamic Covenant. And There Are Promises
Made to Israel Which They Shall Realize in the Millennium Which Cannot
by Honest Interpretation be Made To Apply To The Church. The Church And
The Nation of Israel Are Eternally Distinct. There Are Promises Given To
Jews which Gentiles Have No Part In, And There Are Promises given to the
Gentiles which Jews Can Have No Part In. Israel Will Not Be The Only
Nation In The Millennium, There Will Be Many Gentile Nations (Ps. 22:8, Isa. 2:2, Zec. 2:11, 8:22, Etc., Etc).
Then There Is A Third Party In Which race distinction is obliterated in
which there is neither Jew nor Gentle. This Third Body of people Is made
Up of Both Jews And Gentiles, And Promises Are Given To this Particular
body That Neither Israel, Nor The Gentile Nations Can partake Of, I
Speak of the Body Of People As A Third Party, not that, That Is The
order of Divine Preference, On The Contrary, This third party is The
body, Bride, And Church of Christ, and is first in the order of Divine
preference.
C.I. Scofield Has An Interesting Note On This Theme In his bible He
Says, That The Gentiles Were To Be Saved Was No mystery (Rom.9:24 – 33;
10:19—21). The Mystery "Hid In God Was The Divine Purpose To make Of Jew
and Gentiles A Wholly New Thing --The Church, Which is His (Christ’s)
Body… the Revelation of this mystery, Which Was foretold But Not
Explained By Christ (Matt. 16:18) Was Committed To Paul…"
In The Context of Scofield’s Note, He Refers To The Church being Formed
By Tile So-Called Baptism Of The Spirit. And It Is To be Understood That
Scofield Was A Great Propagator Of The Heresy of Universal Invisible
Church Doctrine. Yet, He Is Correct When He Says, "That The Gentiles
Were To Be saved Was No Mystery," And That The Mystery Referred To Is
The formation Of The Church.