Grace changes Everything - Ephesians 3:1-7

For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles, 2 if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, 3 how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, 4 by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), 5 which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: 6 that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel, 7 of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power.

The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Eph 3:1–7.

• Grace changed Paul from a zealous persecutor of the church into Christ's prisoner and a steward commissioned to proclaim grace among the Gentiles.
• Grace is God's unearned favor and loving kindness; Paul explicitly contrasts it with works so that salvation leaves no room for boasting.
• The mystery once disclosed through promises and shadows is now revealed in Jesus: the suffering and victorious Messiah brings blessing to the nations.
• The heart of that revealed gospel is that people dead in sin are made alive with Christ and saved by grace through faith.
• Gentile believers who were strangers to the covenants are now fellow heirs, members of the same body, and sharers in God's promise through the gospel.
• God's knowledge of every sin does not exhaust his grace; Christ died for sinners, who receive salvation as beggars with empty hands rather than through self-righteousness.
• Grace changes present life as well as eternal standing, producing forgiveness, humility, restored relationships, freedom from enslaving patterns, love for neighbors, and a desire to share Christ.

• How did grace transform Paul from persecutor into a minister of Christ?
• Why does Paul insist that grace and works cannot be mixed as grounds of salvation?
• How did Genesis 3:15, the promise to Abraham, Psalm 110, and Isaiah 53 disclose the mystery in advance?
• What has now been revealed about the identity and work of the promised Messiah?
• How does Ephesians 2 explain the bad news that makes grace good news?
• What privileges do Gentile believers receive as fellow heirs and members of the same body?
• Why must both scandalous sin and respectable religious pride be answered by the same grace?
• What present relationships or habits should look different when grace governs the heart?

Grace

God's unearned favor and loving kindness toward sinners, given in Jesus Christ rather than earned by works.

Stewardship

A trust given by God to be administered for others, as Paul was entrusted to proclaim grace to the Gentiles.

Mystery of Christ

God's saving plan promised in earlier Scripture and now openly revealed and fulfilled in Jesus.

Fellow heirs

Gentile and Jewish believers sharing the same inheritance in Christ without second-class standing.

Same body

The one church in which former outsiders are united to Christ and to one another through the gospel.

Self-righteousness

Reliance on one's conduct, religious history, or moral comparison as a basis for acceptance before God.