Ephesians 3:1–6 (ESV) — 1 For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus
on behalf of you Gentiles— 2 assuming that you have heard
of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you, 3 how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written
briefly. 4 When you read this, you can perceive my insight into
the mystery of Christ, 5 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. 6 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.
NOTE: Gnosticism is
the cultic belief that they are secrets hidden by God that only the select may
know, and that you must join the inner circle to understand the deep truths.
How does that fit with the "mysteries" and "secrets" expressed
in the NT? For one, God's mysteries, when revealed, are made known to everyone.
Prior, they are only know by God, but once revealed are fully revealed. Having
said that, there may be other mysteries or secrets besides the eight or so that
are revealed in the NT, but if there are, they would only be known by God. If
someone says that they have insight into a mystery, they are saying that have a
hunch or an idea, but no special revelation from God. In fact, Paul makes very
clear that the mysteries have been made know by God to his Holy Apostles and
prophets by the Spirit. Since there are no more Apostles, in the big
"A" sense, there can be no more mysteries to be revealed. In this
case, the mystery is that the church is a body of Jews and Gentiles, the same
body, who all partake in the promise of Christ Jesus: eternal life, adoption as
sons, and inheritance of the riches of God.
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