[91] =Pasa oikodomê=, according to the well-established critical reading. For =pas= without the article, implying a various whole, compare =pasês ktiseôs= in Col. i. 15; =pasa graphê=, 2 Tim. iii. 16; =en pasê anastrophê=, 1 Peter i. 15; and =Theos pasês charitos=, 1 Peter v. 10.
"For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus in behalf of you Gentiles,--if so be that ye have heard of the dispensation of that grace of God which was given me toward you; how that by revelation was made known unto me the mystery (as I wrote afore in few words, whereby, when ye read, ye can perceive my understanding in the mystery of Christ), which in other generations was not made known unto the sons of men, as it hath now been revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit; _to wit_, that the Gentiles are fellow-heirs, and fellow-members of the body, and fellow-partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel, whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of that grace of God which was given me according to the working of His power. Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, was this grace given, to preach unto the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; and to bring to light what is the dispensation of the mystery which from all ages hath been hid in God who created all things."--EPH. iii. 1-9.
Verses 2-13 are in form a parenthesis. They interrupt the prayer which appears to be commencing in the first verse and is not resumed until verse 14. This intervening period is parenthetical, however, in appearance more than in reality. The matter it contains is so weighty and so essential to the argument and structure of the epistle, that it is impossible to treat it as a mere _aside_. The writer intends, at the pause which occurs after the paragraph just concluded (ii. 22), to interpose a few words of prayer before passing on to the next topic. But in the act of doing so, this subject of which his mind is full--viz., that of his own relation to God's great purpose for mankind--forces itself upon him; and the prayer that was on his lips is pent up for a few moments longer, until it flows forth again, in richer measure, in verses 14-19.
Like chapter i. 3-14, this passage is an extreme instance of St Paul's amorphous style. His sentences are not composed; they are spun in a continuous thread, an endless chain of prepositional, participial, and relative adjuncts. They grow under our eyes like living things, putting forth new processes every moment, now in this and now in that direction. Within the main parenthesis we soon come upon another parenthesis including verses 3_b_ and 4 ("as I wrote afore," etc.); and at several points the grammatical connexion is uncertain. In its general scope, this intricate sentence resolves itself into a statement of _what God has wrought in the apostle_ toward the accomplishment of His great plan. It thus completes the exposition given already of that which _God wrought in Christ for the Church_, and that which _He has wrought through Christ in Gentile believers_ in fulfilment of the same end.
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Verses 1-9 speak (1) of the mystery itself--God's gracious intention toward the human race, unknown in earlier times; and (2) of the man to whom, above others, it was given to make known the secret.
I. _The mystery_ is defined twice over. First, it consists in the fact that "in Christ Jesus through the gospel the Gentiles are co-heirs and co-incorporate and co-partners in the promise" (ver. 6); and secondly, it is "the unsearchable riches of Christ" (ver. 8). The latter phrase gathers to a point what is diversely expressed in the former.
Christ is, to St Paul, the centre and the sum of the mysteries of Divine truth, of the whole enigma of existence. In the parallel epistle he calls Him "the mystery of God--in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden" (Col. ii. 2, 3: R.V.). The mystery of God, discovered in Christ, was hidden out of the sight and reach of previous times. Now, by the preaching of the gospel, it is made the common property of mankind (Col. i. 25-28).