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Through the Bible with Les Feldick
LESSON 1 * PART 4 * BOOK 37
Ephesians 3:1-7
Now back to Ephesians chapter 3, and we’ll jump in at verse 6. Ephesians 3:6
"That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promises in Christ by the gospel."
Because it was something that was totally kept secret in the mind of God, that there would be a period of time where God would go to the pagan Gentile world without the Nation of Israel. Remember, God never changes, but His programs do. If you can find a place where Jesus in His earthly ministry ever referred to the Body of Christ I want you to show it to me. If you ever find Peter in the early chapters of Acts refer to this Body of Christ, show it to me, because I haven’t been able to find it.
But on the other hand, Paul is constantly referring to "The Body of Christ." The Body of Christ will not fit in the Tribulation, which is Jewish. So let’s read verse 6 again.
Ephesians 3:6
"That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers, of his (God’s) promise in Christ by the gospel:"
The Gospel of the Grace of God, that He’s going to save hell bound sinners if they’ll just simply believe with all their heart that Christ died for them. When we taught I Corinthians we brought in these verses in Ephesians. "For as the body (this human body) is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body: (so Paul is talking about the human body with all of it’s members, our hands, feet, eyes, all of these members make up our physical body.) so also is Christ." (or the Body of Christ, the Church!) Paul says that every believer, whether he’s a giant in the faith, or is weak and still carnal, all have been baptized into the One Body of Christ. Now look how Paul defines it.
I Corinthians 12:13
The work of the Holy Spirit places every believer into the Body of Christ. The Holy Spirit places that believer of the Gospel into the Body of Christ the moment he believes. All right now, the same thing happens with the Body of Christ. When the last soul is saved and the Body is complete, then the Lord is going to call the whole Body of Christ, the Church, out and up to glory in what we call the Rapture. It’s a vacuum that has to be filled with the power of God.
So the moment we believe the Holy Spirit baptizes us, or places us, into the Body of Christ regardless of our status in life And remember no one has greater access to the Spirit than anyone else. Now verse 14.
I Corinthians 12:14
"For the body (whether you’re speaking of the human body or the Body of Christ,) is not one member, but many."
And we’re all members of that same Body of Christ. Now just to show you how much emphasis the apostle Paul puts on this term "The Body of Christ" let me show you by hitting just a few of them. I Corinthians 12:26-27
If a fellow believer is hurting, then we all hurt. Now the next verse.) 27. Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular."
Ephesians 1:22-23
Which is his body (I read it that way purposely, because at the end of verse 22 there’s just a comma so you continue to read. Ephesians 2:16a
"And that he might reconcile both (back up in verse 14 the both is Jew and Gentile) unto God in one body by the cross,..."
That’s why Paul says, "We preach crucified, and risen again." It’s that death, burial and resurrection of Paul’s Gospel that makes the appearance and consummation of the Body of Christ possible. Ephesians 4:12
"For the perfecting (or the maturing ) of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:"
Now let’s go to Colossians chapter 2 for a moment, and drop down to verse 16 and 17, but before we read those two verses, I can’t miss verse 14 since we’re so close to it, because I just simply love that verse.
Colossians 2:14-15
Now verse 16. Colossians 2:16-17
I mean the Body of Christ is real. Now let’s come back to Ephesians chapter 3, and verse 7.
Ephesians 3:7a
"Whereof (to be the apostle of the Gentiles) I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God..."
Why didn’t God just zap them? Had Hitler recognized his shortcomings, God would have saved him. How does Paul put it in Romans chapter 5?
"...But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: Now looking at verse 7 again in Ephesians chapter 3.
Ephesians 3:7a
Now completing verse 7 we find the following.
Ephesians 3:7b
The power was of God. It was God’s power that turned the Roman empire inside out, Paul was just the instrument. But again had Paul not been willing to suffer for the sake of the Gospel, could God have used him?
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