2 Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.
* The mysteries are important for us to study because they lay the basic foundation of the christian faith
* The reason why many christians are not rooted and grounded In the word of God is because pastors and preachers do not teach this great subject of the mysteries of the word of God
* It is our duty to faithfully preach these mysteries in the word of God, so that these doctrines can strenghten and build them up so that they will never be shaken of their faith and always be ready to give an answer to everyone who would ask them for a reason for the hope that is inside of them
* It is important that we study these mysteries
2 If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward:
3 How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words,
4 Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)
5 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;
6 That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:
7 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.
8 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;
9 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:
* this coming together of the Jews and Gentiles is a great mystery
4 Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)
5 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;
6 That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:
* God revealed to Paul about a body that started with God at the cross because He is the foundation. In that body, there were just Jews getting saved, but then the Jews as a nation rejected Jesus and God took it to Paul to the Gentiles and God revealed to Paul that I have a body and guess who is in it? Not just Jews but also Gentiles. That's why they were called fellow-heirs
* This is a mystery because it it almost impossible to imagine that in one body there could be a group of believers who are both Jews and Gentiles
22 And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.
23 But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us.
24 But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
25 Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me.
26 But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs.
27 And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table.
28 Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.
* Blood of Christ was shed on the cross. The body of Christ begin on the cross
12 That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:
a. To Break Down The Middle Wall Of Partition Between Us Jews And Gentiles
* twain means two
* There were 2 group and He made them into one new man
22 In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
19 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;
20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.
Colossians 1:24 Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church:
Ephesians 1:22-23 And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
23 Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.
16 From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.
12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
a. The Word Church Means A Called Out Assembly: Raised Us Up Together, Made Us Sit Together In Heavenly Places (Eternal Security)
* In God's eye, since the first person that God saved to the last person that got saved during the church age, they are already sitted in heaven with Him
* That means we may be alive on earth, but when we trust Jesus Christ as our saviour, a part of us is already sitted in heaven
* Church means a called out assembly => Body Of Christ = Saved People
* The church and body of Christ consist of saved people
* Before Jesus Christ came, there was a time period of the law and they were saved by keeping the law. We are no longer under the law but under grace and we are now living in the time period of the church age where are are saved by faith alone in the death, buriel and resurrection of Christ (its His blood atonement that saves)
* The church is the saved people. That means the the unsaved are the lost Jews and lost Gentile
* the context is about a relationship between a husband and a wife
* Paul is using the anology of the union between husband and wife and their relationship as a type of the church
23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.
24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.
25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.
29 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:
30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.
31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.
32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
33 Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.
* Christ is the head of the church is like a type of husband is the head of the wife
* Woman to submit to the husbands in everything like the type of the church. The church also submits to Christ in everything
31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.
32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
* This is a spiritual union that Paul is talking about and Paul uses the relationship between husband and wife to explain the relationship between Christ and the church
* Its somewhat like baptism. Baptism doesn’t save us. Water baptism is expressing what has taken place inside of us to other believers. A good way of putting it is water baptism is an outward expression of an inward experience.
* Marriage ceremony is somewhat like that. We are showing people what is about to happen between the man and the woman. We both are about to become one flesh.
* Marriage according to the bible is flesh joining flesh. Its two people becoming one. Marriage begins with a physical union between a man and the woman
* When we are members of His church, we are part of His body
* When we are saved, we become part of the body of Christ
* In a marriage relationship with Christ, we become one with Him and we become part of His body. So, its one in Christ
* That means someday, we are going to marry Him
8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
9 And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.
* Espoused = already married
* Chaste virigin = virgin
* There are times that Paul speaks about the church as already being married to Jesus christ but there are other times he speaks as the church as a virgin.
* Because from what we understand, when a man and a woman come together and their marriage is consummated through physical union, It is then, we become one flesh
* We are espoused to Jesus, yet we are a chaste virgin and the marriage of the Lamb is yet future sometime towards the end of the tribulation?
* So that’s why it could all get very confusing sometimes
* We just believe the scriptures as they are. We have to believe what the bible says first before we even try to understand anything else
* If the bible says we have been espoused to Christ, we believe it
* If the bible says we are a chaste virgin, we believe it
* If the bible says the marriage of Lamb is yet future, we believe it
* And then God helps us understand anything else that we may not understand right now
* We are bible believers and we believe what the bible says as it says it, where it says it. That’s the first rule to study the bible if we are a bible believer
a. Creation Of Man And Woman
28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
* Christ is the head of the church and Christ sacrificed for the church
* The husband is to sacrifice for the wife
12 But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.
13 For Adam was first formed, then Eve.
14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.
* Adam ate the fruit because of love towards his wife and fell together
* The marriage relationship is what God sets it up to be. He wants both to love each other and the woman is to submit to the husband.
* This applies the same as the church and God as their head where the church is to submit to God
* If a woman divorces the husband, in type iits like a church divorcing themselves from Christ or if a man wants to divorce the wife, in type its like Christ divorcing the church. Divorce destroys the type of Christ and the church.
a. God Said He Will Never Leave Us Nor Forsake Us
* In God's mind, there is no divorce
* When we are part of the church, we are saved forever (eternal security)
* what is the church mentality? we are to serve Him, we will not go astray or adulterate or fall away
16 For the LORD, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away ...
7 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife;
8 And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh.
9 What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
* God hates divorce because when a divorce takes place, it breaks the type of Christ and the church
* When we are saved, we are eternaly secured, we are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise until the day of redemption. We can't loose salvation
* Like Christ and the church, there is no divorce. Its eternal security.
* But the members of the body of Christ only came in Acts 2 when the believers were baptized by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ
2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
5 And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.
13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
14 For the body is not one member, but many.
* Initially the body of Christ consited only of Jews until Acts 8 where we find the Ethiopian eunuch (a proselyte) being saved and then in the chapters after that we see salvation is open to the Gentiles. They believed and trusted Jesus as their saviour and they received the Holy Spirit and were baptized by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ
* Baptize means to immerse. So the Holy Spirit Baptism is taking the person who trusted Jesus as their saviour and immerses them into the body of Christ. This is the baptism of the Holy Spirit unlike what the charismatics think that Holy Spirit baptism is jumping and screaming and shouting and speaking in tongues and slaying in tongues.
* The whole operation of God of the doctrine related to this mystery the body of Christ was then revealed to Paul by Jesus Christ much later. But that does not mean that these things were not happening before Paul was saved in Act 9.
a. It’s By Believing And Trusting Christ For Our Salvation By The Gospel
Colossians 2:6, 9-10, 17, 19 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:
9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
10 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:
17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.
19 And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God.
27 Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.
2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
(ii) For Our Sins
(iii) Was Buried
(iv) Rose Again
(v) According To The Scriptures
* The gospel is Jesus’s death, buriel and resurrection (Its about the blood atonement of Christ for our sins that saves us)
* The gospel is the pillar of the Christian faith and the way of salvation and eternal life.
* The gospel is WHAT JESUS CHRIST DID FOR HUMANKIND TO SOLVE THEIR SIN PROBLEM SO THAT THEY CAN HAVE ETERNAL LIFE TO BE WITH GOD IN HEAVEN
* The keyword is "HOW CHRIST DIED"
* Jesus died in a bloody manner on a bloody cross and He shed His blood so that His blood is able to wash away all our sins. He became the blood sacrifice for our sins
* Our gospel is all about "WHAT GOD DID FOR US"
* Our gospel is "THE DID GOSPEL"
* The apostate gospel is "THE DO GOSPEL" : One needs to do something to get saved
* A person is only saved by BELIEVING in the finished work of Jesus Christ, when He shed His Precious Blood for our sins.
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.
28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
* Propitiation means the act of appeasing wrath
* Noticed the verse: “faith in his blood”: the object of faith is God’s blood (Jesus’ blood)
* Salvation is by faith in the blood atonement of Jesus Christ.
* To be justified, or saved, a person's faith must be wholly in the shed blood of Jesus Christ. This declares God the Just one. When a sinner is saved, he cannot boast about himself or his works. He'll only brag upon Jesus who saved him from his sins!
* Sadly, in our modern age of apostasy, there are very few who claim to be Christians that ever preach about the blood of Jesus, and the need to trust in it for salvation. But the simple Bible truth is, ONE CANNOT EVEN BE A CHRISTIAN UNLESS ONE IS TRUSTING ONLY IN THE SHED BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST!
* The wrath of God abides on sinners, those who aren't saved
* Hell is the wrath of God. Hell is a place where God pours out His wrath on a sinner for all eternity. That's why we need to be saved, because God is angry with sinners and God hates sin. We have to come to Him, Jesus who paid for our sins
* Jesus Christ suffered the wrath of God for the sins of the whole world. God the Father poured out his wrath on Jesus Christ when He took upon Himself the sins of the whole world. Jesus Christ died in our place for our sins.
* Our sins are paid for. Why do we need to still go to hell and pay for it? All that needs to take place is trust the blood, then that forgiveness is ours through the atonement of Christ. So we don't have to go to hell. We have eternal redemption through the one sacrifice of Jesus Christ
* Some people teach that the church is a building
* The church is spiritual organisation. A local church is local organisation for believers to gather
* Hyper Dispensationalist believe that the body of Christ begins only after Acts 9, 18 or 28
Galatians 1:13 For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it:
Galatians 1:23 But they had heard only, That he which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed.
* Hyper Dispensationalist also believe that water baptism is not for the church and only the Pauline espistles are for the church
15 Lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own name.
16 And I baptized also the household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other.
31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
32 And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.
33 And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.
* There are dispensationalist and hyper dispensationalist, calvinist and hyper calvinist (armenians)
* what defines a bible believer? The immovable faith in the perfection and preservation of all the words of God in one book and the best candidate is found in the KJV 1611
* We believe that the entire bible is for us to learn but not everything applies to us.There is doctrine to be found in the entire bible but we have to make sure that it conforms to the teachings of Paul because Paul tells us he is our apostle and the gospel of the grace of God and the revelation of the mystery of the body of Christ was given to Paul
Eg. Only in the church age is eternal security promised to the person who is in Christ.
* Many people go to the book of James and Hebrews or Matthew 24 and try to apply those doctrines about losing salvation to the christian in the church age. We cannot do that because they do not agree and conform to the teachings of Paul and those books and verses state that they are for the Jews.
* How can we force things applicable for Jews which will happen in another dispensation to the church age?
* Hyper Dispensationalist believe that Paul is the first person in the body of Christ
* They say because the body of Christ was revealed to Paul, so the 1st person in the body of Christ must be Paul
* No where in this passage mentioned the word “body”
* Look at the context
* This is not about the Paul being the 1st in the body of Christ
Acts 8:3 As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison.
Acts 15:4 And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church, and of the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that God had done with them.
1 Corinthians 15:9 For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
Galatians 1:13 For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it:
Philipians 3:6 Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
Galatians 1:22 And was unknown by face unto the churches of Judaea which were in Christ:
Romans 16:7 Salute Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen, and my fellowprisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me.
* Some teach that Paul was the one who laid the foundation of the church
* the very next verse says the foundation is Jesus Christ
* Paul organized a local church where believers can meet in one place
* When he said that he laid the foundation in Corinth, he meant he laid the foundation of a local church in that area
* The people who got saved got into the body of Christ
* The foundation of the body of Christ was Jesus Christ. That's why its called the body of Christ and not called the body of Paul
19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
* Jesus is the foundation, stone, the rock of the church
28 And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.
29 Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles?
* This means the first to get into the body of Christ are the apostles (Peter, James, John... )