When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the Gospel. Of this Gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace, which was given me by the working of His power. To me, though I am the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things.
Ephesians 3:4-9
Paul often talks about “the mystery of Christ” in his writings, and here he gives us the simplest meaning of this mystery: that Gentiles become fellow heirs (with the believing Jews) and members of the same body of Jesus Christ through the Gospel. The mystery is that the Gentiles are grafted into Israel (Romans 11:11-14). One may ask, “If the mystery of Christ is now revealed, how is it still a mystery?” A mystery is not the same as a secret. A secret is something hidden and unknown; a mystery is something revealed, or known, yet unfathomable. The mystery of the Holy Trinity, for example, is that God has revealed Himself as one Being and three distinct Persons, yet this is unfathomable to the human mind and every analogy we use to describe it always falls into some trinitarian heresy. It is the same with the mystery of Christ that Gentiles are now fellow heirs with the believing Jews. The mystery is revealed that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone (Ephesians 2:8-9), yet the cosmic workings of this are unfathomable and unsearchable.
Just as Isaiah prophesied, “‘It is too light a thing that you [Israel] should be My servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth'” (Isaiah 49:6). God was not content with Servant Israel gathering his own people; therefore, He has made him a beacon for the nations—the Gentiles—in the greater Servant Israel, Jesus Christ. This is the ministry of the Gospel that has been given to Paul and passed down to all pastors. Through the preaching of the Gospel, the pastor “[brings] to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things,” and the Gospel mystery is justification by faith through Jesus Christ our Lord. This ministry was given to Paul, even though he considered himself “the very least of all the saints.”
“How can this be?” we wonder. Paul’s letters make up nearly half of the entire New Testament! Much of our theology comes from him! He is merely imitating the humility of Christ, as all pastors should, who “humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8). All pastors should have this mindset. A brother pastor, Rev. Tyler Cronkright, once shared in his Suffering Servants podcast that before he was ordained, he felt he wasn’t worthy to undertake the ministry of the Gospel, of Word and Sacrament. The advice he received from older pastors was, “Never lose sight of that, because you will never be worthy.” It is true. Only Christ is worthy. It is His Gospel we preach, His Word and Sacraments we administer, and it is to Him that all glory belongs forever and ever.
The Lutheran Column 