What is the Fellowship of the Mystery?
If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to youward: How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel: 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. 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. Eph. 3:2-9
I placed two phrases in the above passage in italics because, to address the latter which is the topic of this essay, it is necessary to first identify the former. Therefore, let us proceed with doing this.
The Mystery
The phrase, “the mystery”. appears in only four places in Scripture, all in the epistles of the apostle Paul: Romans 16:25, Eph. 3:3 and 9, and Colossians 1:26. It is clearly identified in the passages in Ephesians as “the dispensation of the grace of God” ( and “the dispensation of God” in the Colossians passage), which is the parenthetical that expositors of the “grace” message like to show sandwiched between the Old Testament (which is usually shown to extend through Acts 8) and the New Testament (which begins with the letter to the Hebrews1), as follows:
Genesis through Acts 8 ( grace disp-Rom. through Philemon) Hebrews through Revelation
This particular dispensing of grace2 by God, through the Apostle Paul, is one that makes, as it says, “the Gentiles....fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel.” The doctrine, promises and instructions for “the obedience of faith”(Romans 16:26) that pertain to it are all found in the letters written by its revelator, the apostle Paul, who, in the above referenced passages, said it was “hid…from ages and from generations…in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men….kept secret since the world began….hid in God, but know is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets….made known to all nations.” (compare Matthew 13:35; Acts 3:24)
Expositors of the grace message routinely make the claim that the mystery, substantiated by the above scriptures, can not be found in the prophetic scriptures. I would agree with that assessment if "can not" is changed to "could not." It was, indeed, "unsearchable", but because of Paul's revelation that is certainly no longer the case. I am not claiming here, as some do, that the mystery is revealed in the old testament prophecies in “cloaked” passages, or in some sort of esoteric language. Nor do I believe that Paul, when he taught in the synagogues during his Acts ministry, was trying to convince the Jews that certain passages in the prophecies were actually speaking of him and his mystery. This, to me, borders on “spiritualizing” the passages, as spiritual Israelites and “Jewtiles” do in their attempt to blend the New Testament and the grace dispensation into one and the same. Some expositors claim the mystery is in the OT prophecies, e.g., Isaiah chapter 49. But how can this be so, when Isaiah plainly says he is addressing Israel? The prophecy of Isaiah is about Jacob (as are all the other prophetic scriptures), not a Gentile dispensation, or the Gentile “church” which is part of this dispensation. Isaiah 49:6 establishes this:
1 Some expositors include the letter to the Hebrews in the grace message. I choose, for a number of reasons, not to include this as part of Paul's letters/revelation. (For further study on this, please reference “Who was the author of the letter to the Hebrews” in the articles section on this site)
2 Obviously, grace was dispensed to others in scripture, e.g., Gen. 6:8: “Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD”
"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."
This is in perfect sync with Isaiah 60:
3 And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.
10 And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee: for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favour have I had mercy on thee.
11 Therefore thy gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought.
The “light” in these passages is in reference to Israel under the New Covenant, not the body of Christ3 , which is a part of the mystery. Israel, which Isaiah describes as being in “gross darkness”, will become a light to the Gentiles in the kingdom.
Moreover Paul was not brought on board “to raise up Jacob” or “to restore the preserved of Israel.” Paul was raised up to reveal a dispensation given to Gentiles who were not included in Israel’s covenants, who are, according to the mystery, made “fellowheirs” and full-fledged “sons”, not servants as Gentiles will be in the kingdom.
So, if the mystery is not hidden in esoteric language, where is it hidden in the prophecies? Between and behind the lines. We see it first, most prominently, in Isaiah 9.
6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: (the mystery) and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.
8 The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it hath lighted upon Israel.
Among other places where we can now see it, it is between the fulfilled prophecy of Daniel 9:26 and the unfulfilled prophecy of verse 27; between the fulfilled declaration of Israel as “loammi”, in Hosea 1:9, and the yet to be fulfilled prophecy of verses 10and 11; hiding behind the lines of Isaiah 60:2; and Hosea 3:4, et. Al.
3 The spiritual entity into which all those who have believed the gospel of Christ (1 Cor. 15:1-4 are placed through a spiritual baptism (1 Cor. 12:13). This entity is referred to 34 times by Paul in his epistles as “the church”.
The Fellowship of the Mystery
The “fellowship of the mystery”, while it is integral to the mystery, is not the mystery itself. To say otherwise is to corrupt the English language. A thing cannot be "of" a thing, and also be that thing. Nor is it the church, the body of Christ. The body of Christ is a spiritual, invisible organism into which believers of the gospel of Christ (Rom. 1:16) are "saved", through a spiritual baptism (1 Cor. 12:13). It is not a "fellowship." A fellowship is something that is visible and demonstrable. The fellowship of the mystery is the visible, demonstrable association of members of the body of Christ, created by the abolishing of the religious practices pertaining to Israel, which were adhered to by the church during Paul's Acts ministry. These practices not only included those things listed by Paul in 1 Cor. 11 (which would include the “Lord‘s supper“, which is addressed in this chapter), but also include all the other practices associated with Israel, e.g., water baptism, physical circumcision, the sign gifts, etc.
Drawing this distinction between “the mystery” and “the fellowship of the mystery” does not, as some mid-acts dispensationalists like to contend, create two “bodies.” Both Acts believers and post-Acts believers were saved into the body of Christ by the gospel of Christ. But they could not enter into fellowship with each other because the former, the “we”, were practicing “the ordinances“, and the latter, the “ye” weren’t. The declaration by Paul of the abolition of the ordinances in Eph. 2 and Col. 2, did not create any new spiritual entity, but rather made way for these two groups to become one physical fellowship(association, community) in Christ, viz., “the fellowship of the mystery.”4
While Paul was going to “the Jew first”(Rom. 1:16) and attempting to woo his “kinsman according to the flesh” (Rom. 9:3) , the ordinances and practices particular to Israel were in order in the church. But when he ceased his ministry to them with the declaration in Acts 28:25-28, and the corresponding declaration of the abolition of their ordinal practices in the church in Ephesians and Colossians, the new word was that the churches were to cease practicing them.
I believe the primary reason there exists so many divisions in present Christendom is the failure (or refusal?) of Catholicism and Protestantism (and all their derivations) to recognize the truths of Ephesians 2 and 3 and Colossians 1 and 2, concerning the ordinances and "what is the fellowship of the mystery." Despite the fact that Paul commanded, around AD 60, that his gospel (i.e., his 13 epistles, rightly divided) was to now be the doctrinal blueprint for church practice, and that he clearly ordered the church to cease and desist from the practice of all those ordinances that were in order during the Acts period, Christendom has, by and large, ignored this commandment, and as a result is now fragmented into thousands of divisions.5, Considering Paul's commandment in 1 Corinthians 1:10, "that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you..", how can anyone believe that this fragmentation of the body of Christ is in the divine will of God?
Mike Schroeder
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4 One can be in the body of Christ and not be a participant in the fellowship of the mystery, because the fellowship of the mystery is entered into by coming “unto the knowledge of the truth”(1 Timothy 2:4), i.e., by acknowledging and embracing the distinct nature of Paul's revelation, over and against that gospel which was delivered to Israel by the Lord and his 12 disciples.
5 Estimates run as high as 30,000 denominations who claim Christ as the Savior of mankind.
All Scripture references are taken from the King James Bible. Please feel free to distribute this article, or any other articles on this site, as you see fit. For information concerning times and places of Bible studies for AGBSF and other grace ministries in Texas, go to: www.TexasGraceChurches.com
Post Script
Are you saved? Jesus Christ—“who knew no sin”—and his sacrificial death on the Cross, has made the way for “everyone that believeth…to be reconciled to God. History has shown that whatever peace man has achieved in the world can only be temporary. The Bible says that individual men and women can know, beyond a doubt, that they are saved and bound for heaven, and therefore have absolute and permanent peace, regardless of what is going on in the world, by trusting Jesus Christ and his death on the cross for their eternal salvation. “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved…Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” Have you done this? If not, why not now?