Bite 52: The Trinity Active in Ephesians 3:1-13

Process of Study

If you’ve been following along for any length of time, you know that my primary objective in spending time with you is not so much to tell you what to think but is more about telling you how I think. My technique for study. The trails and paths I wander in order to accomplish this seemingly overwhelming task of personal study. My hope and prayer for you is that the lofty goal of “study” will practically drop down to the shelves we can all reach and partake of the Word. For ourselves. As supplement to being taught by other godly, Bible-centric voices.

This morning I sat down at my beautiful new desk my beloved made for me without a question in mind or a plan for study. Thinking about the last time few times we’ve met, I wondered what the Holy Spirit wanted me to learn today. I took my structural diagram in hand, considering the reason for the suffering Paul talks about. The Gospel.

The Passage

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. 7 Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace, which was given me by the working of his power. 8 To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, 10 so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. 
11 This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, 12 in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him. 13So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory.1

Hermeneutics for Me

I’m not sure if this Bite will be one part or three parts. If I will stay here in Ephesians or if I will explore other texts that mention the various members of the trinity. What I mean by “hermeneutics for me” is that I’m learning and following a set of guidelines for an actual science: the science of how to study. The “what” in scripture that I’m going to study is actually up in the air when I sit down. I don’t yet know what Paul’s meaning was under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, but with the Holy Spirit’s help, I will attempt to discover it. He meant what he wrote when he wrote it, that is where the art and discipline of hermeneutics comes in.

As students of the Word, we do not assign meaning to the text. We discover the biblical author’s meaning.

Here in this passage, Paul mentions all three members of the trinity. Why? Who is responsible for what? Is Paul teaching his readers through the brief explanation of the gospel here in Ephesians 3:1-13 some more of the character and nature of God? All of God? I don’t know, but since I noticed everyone present and active, I think I should spend some time looking at the triune nature of God as presented.

Jesus: He is Mentioned First

When we were observing the text initially, as is my norm, I made lists on my observation worksheet about Paul, the recipients, God, Jesus: whatever I can find to observe and list. This is my technique for getting my hands right into the text to gain understanding about what is there.

I don’t see anything right now that I missed the first time around, and I’m not seeing questions pop out at me. Let’s bring God’s list here. After all, the objective is to see what Paul was trying to explain when he brought all of them into his explanation. Let’s look at them together.

And also the Holy Spirit. Not much of a list from this text, but I will share what I see.

Holy Spirit

• Not-action: did not reveal mystery in ages past Eph 3:5
• Action: reveals mystery now to holy apostles and prophets Eph 3:5

See? Pretty small list. But, if he hadn’t performed his role, who would know the mystery?

If you think about it, God the Father doesn’t typically send out emails or show up at our front door. Jesus is the Word (Greek, logos), the God-man, who went back to heaven, sending the Spirit, the helper, to live in our hearts. Who else could have told us? The Spirit is the one who speaks to us even now, illuminating our hearts to truth, through the Word. The Spirit has to be active or we would be in the dark. He will come up again later in Ephesians and we will study him in depth at that time. For the purposes of our study right now, we know that as part of the trinity, he is not the weird uncle who lurks from the corner of the living room. He’s vital in the Godhead.

How Does the Trinity Work Together?

Making those lists, they don’t seem to have an obvious mesh or overlap with each other. I decided to try and make a wee flow chart to illustrate for myself.

So to briefly recap, God had a plan from ages past. Jesus did the plan. The Spirit revealed the plan and actions of Jesus. The trinity all participating in the plan of salvation.

What is the Significance of This?

Specifically, what significance does this have for me? I don’t think this was an isolated event. What I mean is that what Paul describes was the Primary event, but now there are Secondary events. This type of event happens all the time. Let me show you by way of a slightly different flow chart.

Again, I will summarize the flow chart. God had a plan from ages past. Jesus did the plan. The Spirit revealed the plan and actions of Jesus. The trinity all participating in the plan of salvation. Only in the Secondary event, I’m in the plan. I have a role to play. Why do I think that? Because of the context. What we read in Ephesians 3:14-21 talks about the same power working in the recipients. And we’ve previously established that we could’ve been in that church as well. (We don’t start there in interpretation, but we are doing some preliminary application right now.)

There is actually a Secondary event that happened in the passage. Paul assumes they have heard of the stewardship, his ministry, the gospel. Therefore, they had the mystery revealed by some other apostle or prophet. That person had the mystery revealed to them and they spoke truth to the communities where Paul’s letter would eventually reach.

Reflection

As I sit here and reflect on the gospel and the trinity’s part in it, I am reading through the rest of the letter of Ephesians to see where this passage leads. In our next passage, Paul prays for the church. Strength, love, knowledge, all made known through the activity of the trinity. And from there, Paul begins teaching less of the big picture and eternal and more of the practical, daily living. Which is not means to or separate from the gospel but is an outflow of the gospel. Wait. I’m getting ahead of myself and my study.

The result of this activity of the trinity making the gospel known is in Ephesians 3:10. I will quote it from the NET to give us a little variety. “The purpose of this enlightenment is that through the church the multifaceted wisdom of God should now be disclosed to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly realms.” Part of God’s purpose and plan was to make himself known in heaven.

Do we have a lot of information about this? Nope. Should we then spend time developing doctrine or make life choices based on this text? Nope. However, are there implications we can find from it? I think so.

God’s Plan and Its Impact

If part of God’s purpose and plan and his triune effort is ultimately to make himself known, what would be the best task for his people? Like Paul? Paul spent his time joining in the activity of the trinity to make the gospel known to grow the church. To the point that he offended the governing authorities with how much he followed God’s will and he was imprisoned. And eventually executed. Paul was Christ’s prisoner because he was willing to submit to what began on the Damascus Road in Acts 9.

What about for me? I too can join in the activity of the trinity to grow the church. In my world, I haven’t had many opportunities to bring sheep into the fold like Paul, but I do think that there are more ways to “grow” the church than strictly numbers.

With regard to the truth of God’s Word that we have in our hands today, I believe first I need to speak the gospel to myself. When I preach to myself, when I teach myself, then I am able to teach someone else what I’ve learned. Daily I talk to myself about who God is, what Christ has done, and how the Spirit works within me.

Through the church, grown in number and grown in knowledge, God’s multifaceted wisdom is made known. To whom? Yes it says in the heavenly realms and I accept that, but since I don’t understand that I don’t really focus on it. I choose to focus on what I can understand. And participating with the trinity to make God known is something I can understand and do since I too have heard about the stewardship Paul has been given.

Wrap Up

Our Bible Study Bite for today? To keep observing the text, even when we’ve moved into the interpretation aspect of study. Keep asking questions. One particular question to keep asking is, “Why did the biblical author write this?” When we ask this type of question, it will keep the focus of our study on the author’s intent and the text rather than on what we might want the text to say.

1. Ephesians 3:1–13 (ESV)