Eph 6:19–24 — Paul, Apostle of the Mystery

As Paul comes to the close of his epistle to the Ephesian Christians, he exhorts the church to engage in the spiritual warfare with the whole armor of Christ. An essential component of that warfare is petitionary prayer. We are to be continually offering up petitions and requests to God, praying for all the saints. In addition to praying for the saints, Paul specifically requests prayer for himself as one who is in chains for the sake of the gospel.

Before we look at vv. 19-20, we need to go back to v. 18 itself. There is a translation issue that needs to be clarified. It centers on the meaning of “and with this in view” in the middle of verse 18. The major translations all make it sound as if Paul is saying: “With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, that is, with the goal of devoting yourself to prayer, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints.”

But there is another way to read the sentence. A good case can be made from the Greek to take “with this in view” as a forward looking reference to what Paul says in verse 19, where he requests prayer specifically for himself in his task of preaching the gospel. Here’s my paraphrase:

“As you put on the armor of Christ, do so with all prayer and petition, praying at all times in the Spirit. And do so with this in view, keeping spiritually alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints and for me, so that I would be given the right words to speak when I open my mouth, in order to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I serve as an ambassador in chains, so that through the gospel I may have the courage to speak as I ought to speak.”

This interpretation has the advantage of tying all of vv. 18-20 together, and of showing how vv. 18-20 relate to the armor of Christ. We are to put on the armor of Christ, the final item of which is not a defensive protection but an offensive weapon, namely, the sword of the Spirit. The sword of the Spirit is the preaching of the gospel. Not political activism, not the Mosaic Law, but the gospel is the instrument by which the Spirit advances the kingdom of Christ. This concluding reference to the sword of the Spirit provides a perfect opportunity for Paul to now request prayer for this task of proclaiming gospel. Therefore, he says, as you take up the whole armor of Christ, do so with all prayer and petition at all times in the Spirit, and so all this with a specific goal in view, namely, that all the saints would be witnesses for the gospel of Christ, but especially Paul, that Paul would proclaim the gospel as he ought to proclaim it, with all boldness making known the mystery of the gospel.

Now the question arises: how do we apply to our lives Paul’s request to pray for him? Paul is no longer with us. He has finished his course, he has run the race, and has entered into the reward of his labors. Is there any sense in which we can “pray for Paul” today? Yes, there is. In order to show you what that entails, we have to go back to Galatians 1 and 2 and consider Paul’s unique calling as an apostle to the Gentiles.

Paul was given a unique ministry distinct from the other apostles. This is not to say that Paul regarded himself as out of accord with the other apostles, as if he needed to correct what they had to say. Paul makes clear that he served and labored in the same gospel in co-operation and solidarity with the rest of the apostles. As we read in Galatians, Paul “submitted” his gospel to the original disciples in Jerusalem, and received their approval. James and Peter and John gave Paul the right hand of fellowship.

Yet notice that in spite of Paul’s solidarity with the original apostles, he is also quick to maintain his independence from them. He says that he did not learn the gospel from them, but was given it by direct revelation from Jesus himself.

Read Galatians 1:11-12.

And when he finally did approach the Jerusalem leadership and receive their approval, he says, “they contributed nothing to me,” or as the NIV puts it, “they added nothing to my message” (Gal. 2:6). There is a certain tension here. On the one hand, Paul’s gospel is no different from that of the original Jerusalem apostles. And they recognized it and gave him the right hand of fellowship. But on the other hand, Paul was given directly by Christ himself a unique role in the church, with a unique message. And what was that message?

Read Galatians 2:7-9.

Paul’s unique ministry is connected to his role as the one through whom the gospel came to the Gentiles. In Romans Paul calls himself “the apostle of the Gentiles” (that’s Romans 11, verse 13). Later in Romans, he says that he is “a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles.”

As the apostle to the Gentiles, Paul had a special grace given him by God. Paul’s special grace was the spiritual gift of being entrusted with a particular theological ministry as a teacher of the church.

Romans 16:25-27 - “according to my gospel” Ephesians 3:1-11.

Paul’s theological gift was not just a general intellectual or teaching gift, but a theological insight that focused on a particular problem, and that problem was this: What is God’s eternal purpose? What is God doing, as he orchestrates the flow of redemptive history, from Abraham to the giving of the Law, culminating in these last days in the death and resurrection of Jesus the Messiah? And how does that purpose relate to the inclusion of the Gentiles within the body of Christ?

When Paul refers to “the mystery” or “the mystery of the gospel” or “the mystery of God’s will” these are the questions that Paul has in view. This term occurs 25 times in Paul’s writings in reference to the gospel, to Christ, or the issue of the Jew-Gentile question. When the Jew-Gentile question is in view, it is not viewed as an isolated problem, but in terms of the way the inclusion of the Gentiles fits into the big picture of God’s overarching purpose in the unfolding progress of redemptive history which in these last days has reached its zenith, its climax, its fulfillment in Christ.

The mystery, then, is what we today refer to as covenant theology. God’s covenant with Adam, which was broken. The covenant after the fall in which God promised that the Seed of the woman would come. The covenants with Abraham and David, which further refined and defined that Seed and the promises made concerning the Seed. And the Mosaic covenant or the Law which was a parenthesis in the plan of God until the Seed should come. This is what Paul is dealing with when he speaks of the mystery. It is the overarching purpose or plan of God in the historical, progressive, covenantal unfolding of God’s redemptive purpose which from the beginning had the incarnation in view. But prior to the incarnation, what God was actually doing by means of these various covenants was quite unclear and difficult to grasp. Now, after the incarnation, after the cross and the resurrection, we, with the help of the authoritative explanation and commentary of the apostles, are able to discern what God was up to all that time. God’s purpose is no longer a secret. The secret has been made manifest.

But even that does not exhaust the implications of “the mystery of the gospel.” Given the fact that the Gentiles were formerly excluded by God’s own intention and design, as revealed in the Mosaic Law, what light does their inclusion shed on the place and role of the Mosaic Law in the historical unfolding of God’s grand economy of salvation? The mystery in Paul is closely tied in with the whole Jew-Gentile question, and hence with the whole question of the Mosaic Law. And this can be seen when we consider that Paul is particularly concerned to request that the Ephesian Christians pray for him that he may be able to proclaim the mystery of the gospel with all boldness.

Why does Paul need boldness to preach the gospel? Because there are many who are opposed to his message. He is currently in prison, awaiting trial before the emperor, because of the Jews’ venomous spite against his message that Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to all who believe. That message undermined their whole attempt to put forth their own righteousness. It made their righteousness nothing but dung in God’s eyes. Their zeal for Law-based righteousness was based on a faulty understanding of the temporary purpose and function of the Law in redemptive history.

Paul’s unique ministry has run its course. The glorious epistles containing his insights into the mystery have been added to the canon of the New Testament Scriptures, which is now closed. Therefore, what does it mean to pray for Paul today? It means praying for those are building upon Paul’s foundation. Paul says that God appointed him to be a wise master-builder of the church, laying the foundation of Pauline Christianity. Those preachers and ministers of the gospel who follow after Paul must take heed how they build upon that foundation.

Read 1 Corinthians 3:10-15.

The various building materials, some of which will burn up in the day of judgment, and some of which will last, refers to the various ministries of the teachers and preachers who come after the apostles. If their teaching is sound, if it conforms to the apostolic foundation, it will survive the test. The fires of judgment will not consume it. But if their teaching is contrary to the apostolic teaching, if it is not rooted and grounded in the foundation that the apostles laid, then it will burn up. The preacher himself may be saved, but only as one who escapes through the flames.

Notice that the ultimate test of a man’s ministry is how well it conforms to the teaching of the apostles as set forth in the writings of the New Testament. There are many preachers who appeal to the Old Testament in a manner that is inconsistent with Paul’s gospel, with Paul’s insight into the mystery of God’s unfolding covenant purposes in Christ. Dispensationalism is one contemporary example of non-apostolic teaching that will burn up in the day of judgment. Dispensationalists interpret the OT literally rather than apostolically. They do so in order to promote the false gospel of Zionism.

Another contemporary example of contra-apostolic teaching, and one that is much closer to home, is theonomy. Theonomy is the teaching that the Mosaic Law continues to be binding in the new covenant age in exhaustive detail. According to this false teaching, the Law of Moses not only serves as the blueprint for righteousness in society but as the primary means of sanctification for the believer.

Rousas J. Rushdoony, the father of theonomy, wrote: “Salvation is by the grace of God through faith, and sanctification is by law … True faith means law-obedience, and obedience spells power and blessing” (Foreword to Bahnsen’s Theonomy in Christian Ethics). Greg Bahnsen takes Rushdoony’s statement a step further and writes that “the knowledge of God and salvation depend on keeping His commandments” (Theonomy in Christian Ethics, p. 179). “The means of grace which are calculated to build us up in the faith are ineffective without obedience to the law. In short, the law is indispensable in sanctification” (p. 181).

How differently Paul speaks! Galatians 3:1-3.

It doesn’t matter how popular these false doctrines may be. Paul affirms that they will burn up in the fires of judgment. Those who teach such errors may be saved, but their doctrine will not. All that they labored for in their ministry, to the degree that it was infected with and motivated by these false doctrines, will turn to ashes. The only fruit of their ministry that will last is that which is rooted and grounded in Christ as he is presented to us by the apostles in the scriptures of the New Testament.

There is a sense in which Paul’s role as an apostle is historically unique and unrepeatable. Paul’s inspired epistles are part of the New Testament, and no further revelation is to be expected today. But there is also a sense in which Paul’s apostleship is something that continues to exercise an authoritative role today precisely by virtue of its canonical, foundational role. For the canon is not only the list of inspired books, but the rule, the standard of apostolic doctrine. All preachers of the gospel are either building on the apostolic foundation or on a false foundation. Many are building on the apostolic foundation, in that their gospel is essentially apostolic, but their workmanship is faulty and mixed with wood, hay, and stubble.

Praying for Paul means praying for the ministers of the gospel, that their ministry would conform to the foundation of Pauline Christianity. Pray for those of us in the OPC today who are beginning to be convicted about the growing legalism of the Reformed church. It is not limited to those who profess to be theonomists. Many teachers want to place the new covenant church back under the weak and beggarly elements of the Mosaic Law.

This means that those of us who are called to the ministry need your prayers to speak out against legalism. Even Paul, the great inspired apostle, sensed his need for boldness. He pleaded with the church of Ephesus to pray that when he opens his mouth, God would give him the right words to say, and would embolden him to fearlessly proclaim the mystery of the gospel, the glorious message of the Law’s termination in Christ and the inauguration of a new spiritual order in him.

This, then, is the application of the sermon. Pray for those ministers in the OPC who are growing in their appreciation of Paul’s Law-free gospel. Pray for those who are already there, but who need boldness to declare the whole counsel of God without fear. Pray for me as I am involved in these discussions in the presbytery and the General Assembly.

First, parresia means that one is speaking plainly and frankly. You aren’t using veiled and cryptic expressions. There is a plainness, a frankness, telling it like it is, getting down to the bottom line, not concealing or downplaying any aspect of the truth just because it might make people uncomfortable. Paul says that the gospel was veiled in the old covenant. “We use great boldness in our speech. We are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face,” Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 3. In contrast with the veiled and cryptic ministry of Moses as a minister of the old covenant, the glory of the ministry of the new covenant is that the veil has been taken away in Christ. “We all with unveiled face, are beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord.” The new covenant proclamation of the grace of God is full, expansive, free, and bold.

Second, parresia implies confidence and assurance. The one who speaks with parresia speaks under the conviction that he possesses the absolute truth. He does not need to say, “probably” and “perhaps” or “it seems to me.” That is the language of the scholar who is setting forth a tentative hypothesis. It is not the full assurance that ought to characterize the ministers of the gospel when they speak of Christ and him crucified. Pray that we who are in this fight against legalism will preach the gospel with full assurance, knowing that the gospel we proclaim is the very gospel of Christ himself.

Third, parresia implies a strong sense of courage. He who speaks with parresia is not afraid of the opposition. He does not worry about what men may think or do in response. This was certainly Paul’s situation. He was already in chains. What more could the Jews do to him? He was emboldened by his chains, for he knew that they were a sign of his participation with Christ in his sufferings. It was a sign that he was preaching the right gospel. This is what Paul refers to as “the offense of the cross” (Gal. 5:11). If the cross is truly proclaimed in all its glory as that which has severed our relationship to the Mosaic Law, then it will offend the legalists. If it does not offend, them we aren’t preaching the cross.

Finally, notice that Paul describes himself as an “ambassador in chains.” He does not come with the fire and thunder of an Old Testament prophet when he comes declaring the mystery of the gospel. He comes in the bonds of Christ. The form and the content of Paul’s ministry coincided. The message of the gospel is a message of peace and grace. Therefore, as ambassador who beseeches God’s people, who entreats them by the mercies of God, he comes not to lord it over the faith of others but to humbly point them to the crucified and risen Lord. Pray, then, that we may adorn the gospel of grace with our lives, our behavior, our attitudes, so that those with whom we disagree may recognize that our message is not motivated by vain ambition but by sacrificial love and service to the church.

Brothers and sisters, you and I and the OPC are together involved in a serious spiritual battle for the gospel. But our conflict is not with flesh and blood. Ultimately it is Satan himself who is the arch-enemy of the cross, and who wants to hinder the gospel from going forth in clarity and power. Therefore, be alert unto prayer. Pray for all the saints, but remember especially to pray for those who labor in the ministry of the Word that they may make known with all boldness, the mystery of the gospel.