When did the administration of the grace of God begin?

In Ephesians 3:1-2 (CLNT) we read the following:

“On this behalf I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you, the nations – since you surely hear of the administration of the grace of God that is given to me for you…”

Although the location from which Paul was writing as a prisoner isn’t specified in this letter (nor are we told how long Paul had been a prisoner when he wrote), it’s commonly believed that this letter was written during the time period of which we read in Acts 28:30-31 (cf. 28:16). Adlai Loudy, for example, expressed this view when he wrote that “the Ephesian and Colossian epistles were not written until after the last public witness of the Kingdom of God had been made to representatives of Israel in Rome, in the spring of A. D. 61, followed by the quotation of Isaiah 6, as recorded in Acts 28:17-28.”

The fact, however, is that Rome isn’t the only location in which Paul was a prisoner, and from which he could’ve written as a prisoner. In addition to the unspecified number of times that Paul was imprisoned before he wrote his second letter to the saints in Corinth (see 2 Cor. 11:23), we also know that Paul was later imprisoned in Herod’s pretorium in Caesarea (Acts 23:33-35; 24:22-27). According to what we read in Acts 24:27, Paul’s imprisonment in Caesarea lasted a little more than two years (from approximately A.D. 58 to A.D. 60). In Acts 24:23 we’re provided with the following description of the conditions in which Paul remained a prisoner in Caesarea: 

“Now Felix…prescribes to the centurion that [Paul] is to be kept, besides, he is to be having his ease, and to prevent no one of his own to be subservient to him.” 

These conditions would’ve not only allowed Paul the freedom to write letters, but also to have these letters delivered to their recipients by means of those who came to visit him during his imprisonment. I believe that a compelling case can be made – and, in fact, has been made – that Paul wrote Ephesians (as well as Colossians and Philemon) while he was a prisoner in Caesarea rather than in Rome, and that only one of his letters to an ecclesia – i.e., Philippians – was written during the time of his house arrest in Rome (see, for example, Caesarea, Rome, and the Captivity Epistles by Bo Reicke: https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/ahg/caesarea_reicke.pdf).

However, with regard to when Paul could’ve written as “the prisoner of Christ Jesus for…the nations,” it ultimately doesn’t matter whether Paul was writing from Caesarea or from Rome. For Paul was no less a prisoner “for the nations” while he was in Caesarea than while he was in Rome.

We know that Paul’s ministry to the nations was based on his earlier commission from Christ. We also know that, from the time that Paul and Barnabas were “severed” to God for the work to which God had called them (Acts 13:2), Paul was faithful to the dispensation he received from Christ to certify the evangel of the grace of God among the nations (Acts 20:24; 22:21; 26:17-20). In fact, it was this very commission from Christ that ultimately led to Paul’s becoming a “prisoner of Christ Jesus.”

From the very beginning of his ministry to the nations (and because of this commission), Paul was met with hostility and antagonism from the Jewish people (Acts 13:44-51). And when we carefully examine the chain of events that led to Paul’s becoming a prisoner, we discover that the catalyst for his arrest were two major events recorded in Acts 21-22 that involved Paul’s work as the apostle to the nations.

In Acts 21 we read that Jews from the province of Asia “threw the entire throng into confusion” with the accusation that Paul had taught “all men everywhere against the people, and the law, and this holy place” and had brought Greeks into the sanctuary (vv. 27-29). This led to the formation of a large mob and a violent assault on Paul that would’ve resulted in his death had the Roman soldiers and centurions in the area not intervened (vv. 30-32).

After Paul was taken into custody and led into the citadel, he was permitted to speak to the Jewish people and give a defense. We then read that the crowd was momentarily quiet and listened to what he had to say – that is, until he recounted to them his commission from Christ regarding the nations: 

“And He [Christ] said to me, ‘Go! For I shall be delegating you afar to the nations” (Acts 22:21) 

This single statement (in which Paul quoted the Lord himself) so enraged Paul’s Jewish audience that he had to once again be removed from the scene by Roman soldiers (which, this time, was with the intent of interrogating him). From this point on, Paul became, for all intents and purposes, a Roman prisoner (Acts 23:18), with protective custody quickly turning into outright imprisonment and to his eventually being tried before Roman authorities.

Significantly, while he was on trial before King Agrippa, Paul declared that it was his obedience to Christ’s commission – a commission which essentially involved going “afar to the nations” – which led to his being apprehended by the Jews (Acts 26:18-21). Since it was this event that ultimately led to Paul’s imprisonment, we can conclude that his status as “a prisoner of Christ Jesus” was, from the very beginning, “for (the sake of) the nations.” And throughout the time of his imprisonment – whether he was in Caesarea or in Rome – Paul continued to minister to (and be the apostle of) the nations.

The “now” of Ephesians 3

Paul went on to write the following in Ephesians 3:2-5:

“…for by revelation the secret is made known to me (according as I write before, in brief, by which you who are reading are able to apprehend my understanding in the secret of the Christ, which, in other generations, is not made known to the sons of humanity as it was now revealed to His holy apostles and prophets)”

Notice Paul’s use of the word “now” in v. 5. We find the same word used just a few verses later. In Eph. 3:9-10, Paul went on to write that it had been granted to him “…to enlighten all as to what is the administration of the secret, which has been concealed from the eons in God, Who creates all, that now may be made known to the sovereignties and the authorities among the celestials, through the ecclesia, the multifarious wisdom of God…”

By his use of the word “now” in these verses, Paul had in mind a period of time that was present when he was writing. But when did this time period begin?

According to some students of Scripture, this time period began when (or shortly after) Paul came to be in the location from which his “Ephesians” letter was written (and which, as noted above, is commonly believed to have been Rome). However, there’s no good reason to assume that the time period to which Paul was referring began with his imprisonment (whether in Rome or in Caesarea).

Paul used the same word translated “now” in Eph. 2:1 when he wrote of “the spirit now operating in the sons of stubbornness…” I doubt anyone believes that, in this verse, the word “now” refers to the period of time that began with Paul’s imprisonment (for Satan had, of course, been operating in the sons of stubbornness long before Paul’s imprisonment began). But it’s no more reasonable to believe that the time period that Paul had in view in Eph. 3 when he used the word “now” began with his imprisonment. One could just as well claim (and with just as little justification) that the period of time Paul had in mind here began when he started writing the letter itself – or even when he started writing the word “now!”

But when, then, did the time period to which the word “now” refers begin? It should be noted that, in v. 5, Paul contrasted “now” with “in other generations.” Similarly, in Col. 1:26, Paul wrote of “the secret which has been concealed from the eons and from the generations, yet now was made manifest to His saints…” In both verses, the contrast in view allows for a significantly broader period of time than simply that of Paul’s imprisonment at the time he wrote these letters. Given the contrast being made here, there’s no good reason to limit the meaning of “now” in Eph. 3:5, 10 to the time of Paul’s imprisonment only. Instead, Paul’s “now” in Eph. 3 (as well as the “now” of Col. 1:26) can be understood to embrace the same period of time that Paul had in mind when he wrote the following to the saints in Rome: 

“Now to Him Who is able to establish you in accord with my evangel, and the heralding of Christ Jesus in accord with the revelation of a secret hushed in times eonian, yet manifested NOW and through prophetic scriptures, according to the injunction of the eonian God being made known to all nations for faith-obedience…” (Rom. 16:25-26)

In other words, the “now” of Ephesians 3 simply refers to the period of time that began when Paul’s apostolic ministry to the nations began. That is, it refers to the period of time when people from among the nations began to be added to the body of Christ through the heralding of the evangel that was entrusted to Paul (i.e., the evangel of the Uncircumcision, or evangel of the grace of God). Unlike what Peter declared in Acts 3:21-24 (which concerned “all the things which God speaks through the mouth of His holy prophets who are from the eon”), the “secret” that Paul had in view in these verses had been “hushed in times eonian.” It wasn’t manifested until after Paul had been called by Christ (Gal. 1:1, 11-16).

But what about the “prophetic scriptures” to which Paul referred in v. 26? Answer: Paul was simply referring to his own inspired writings. It was through Paul’s letters to those in the body of Christ that the “revelation of the secret” was being “made known to all nations.” We know from 1 Cor. 14:37 that Paul understood that what he wrote was inspired and prophetic scripture. What Paul wrote concerning the body of Christ and our expectation – whether in his earlier letters or later letters – is just as much prophetic in nature as what we find written elsewhere concerning Israel’s expectation (concerning which Paul also prophesied; see, for example, Romans 9-11). Not only this, but there are prophetic revelations found in Paul’s letters that pertain to a future time that’s more distant than any other future time prophesied outside of Paul’s letters (i.e., the consummation, when all are reconciled to God and God becomes “All in all”). 

The secret of Ephesians 3:6

Having considered when the time period began that Paul had in mind when he used the word “now” in Eph. 3, let’s now consider the three elements that constitute “the secret” of which Paul wrote in v. 6. As quoted earlier, Paul stated that it was “by revelation” that “the secret” (i.e., the secret that pertains to “the administration of the grace of God” that was given to Paul for the nations) was “made known” to him. Paul then went on to specify the elements of the secret as follows:

“…in spirit the nations are to be joint enjoyers of an allotment, and a joint body, and joint partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus, through the evangel of which I became the dispenser, in accord with the gratuity of the grace of God, which is granted to me in accord with His powerful operation.”

Notice that every element that comprises the secret of which Paul wrote is said to be “through the evangel of which [Paul] became the dispenser.” This means that the three elements that comprise this secret began to be true of those to whom Paul wrote when the evangel of which he became the dispenser – i.e., “the evangel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24) – first began to be believed among the nations. But when did this evangel first begin to be heralded and believed among the nations?

Answer: The evangel entrusted to Paul to herald among the nations began to be heralded shortly after Paul and Barnabas were “severed” to God for the work to which God had called them (Acts 13:2-3). A careful consideration of the three elements that comprise the secret of which Paul wrote supports this understanding. As will be demonstrated below, Paul was not revealing anything new when he specified the elements that comprise this secret. Instead, what we read in v. 6 is simply a concise statement or summary of certain truths that Paul had already been making known to the saints among the nations prior to the writing of this letter.

“Joint enjoyers of an allotment”

The first element of the secret is that “in spirit the nations are to be joint enjoyers of an allotment…” There is nothing written in Paul’s earlier letters suggesting that those among the nations who had become members of the one body of Christ had a different allotment than the believing Jews (such as Paul and Silvanus) who had become members of the one body of Christ at this time. Nowhere are we told (nor is it ever implied) in Paul’s earlier letters that the allotment of the gentiles who had believed the evangel of the grace of God was in any way distinct from, or inferior to, that of the Jews who believed this evangel.

Instead, we find that, even before Paul wrote his “prison epistles,” the nations were “joint heirs of an allotment” with their believing Jewish brethren in the one body of Christ. They together awaited “the glory that is going to be revealed for us,” when we (the “sons of God”) are unveiled, our bodies are delivered, and we’re glorified/conformed to the image of Christ (Rom 8:18-25, 29-30). In accord with the fact that the believers among the nations to whom Paul wrote during the “Acts era” were “joint enjoyers of an allotment” with Jewish believers in the body of Christ, we also know that the allotment that they shared was, at the time Paul wrote, an allotment that will be enjoyed “in the heavens” (and thus distinct from Israel’s terrestrial allotment); see the following article for a defense of this truth: https://thathappyexpectation.blogspot.com/2024/04/a-refutation-of-rapture-dont-get-caught.html

With regard to the eonian allotment of those in the body of Christ, the only distinction that Paul ever made in his earlier letters is found in Romans 8:17. However, the distinction made here has nothing to do with the ethnicity or covenant status of those to whom he wrote. Rather, Paul wrote that the saints in the body of Christ – whether Jewish or not – would be “enjoyers of an allotment, enjoyers, indeed, of an allotment from God, yet joint enjoyers of Christ’s allotment, if so be that we are suffering together, that we should be glorified together also.” 

In other words, every believer to whom Paul wrote would enjoy “an allotment from God,” but only those who were “suffering together [with Christ]” would be “joint enjoyers of Christ’s allotment” and be “glorified together also.” This fact implies that the “allotment from God” referred to by Paul is something that will be enjoyed by every member of the body of Christ. However, by “suffering together” with Christ, a believer (whether Jew or Gentile) could acquire something in addition to the common allotment that would be the enjoyment of all within the body of Christ. This is, in essence, the same truth we find taught in 2 Timothy 2:11-13 (cf. Phil. 3:9-16).

But what, exactly, is the allotment of which Jews and gentiles in the body of Christ will be “joint enjoyers?” We know that it will involve “life eonian,” for in Titus 3:4-7 Paul wrote the following:

Yet when the kindness and fondness for humanity of our Saviour, God, made its advent, not for works which are wrought in righteousness which we do, but according to His mercy, He saves us, through the bath of renascence and renewal of holy spirit, which He pours out on us richly through Jesus Christ, our Saviour, that, being justified in that One's grace, we may be becoming enjoyers, in expectation, of the allotment of life eonian.

It’s also evident that our allotment will involve being in the kingdom of God. For example, in 1 Cor. 6: 9-11 we read the following:

“Or are you not aware that the unjust shall not be enjoying the allotment of God's kingdom? Be not deceived. Neither paramours, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor catamites, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards; no revilers, no extortioners shall be enjoying the allotment of God's kingdom. And some of you were these, but you are bathed off, but you are hallowed, but you were justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the spirit of our God.”

The implication of what Paul wrote in 1 Cor. 6:11 is that, unlike the “unjust” referred to in the previous verses, the saints in Corinth weren’t among those who won’t be “enjoying the allotment of God’s kingdom.” For a more in-depth defense of the view that everyone in the body of Christ will be enjoying an allotment in the kingdom of God, see the following article: Enjoying the allotment of God’s kingdom

That Paul understood the allotment of the saints in the body of Christ to be an allotment in the kingdom of God is further evident from Colossians 1:12-13; in these verses Paul wrote that God “makes [us] competent for a part of the allotment of the saints, in light, Who rescues us out of the jurisdiction of Darkness, and transports us into the kingdom of the Son of His love…” Here Paul seemed to equate “the allotment of the saints, in light” with Christ’s kingdom.

Of course, when Paul referred to the kingdom of God as the allotment of the saints in the body of Christ, he wasn’t referring to the kingdom that’s going to be established on the earth at the time of Christ’s eon-consummating return (Dan. 2:44) – i.e., the kingdom that’s going to be restored to Israel (Acts 1:6). Rather, he was referring to the kingdom of God as it’s going to be established in the heavens (Rev. 12:7-12) – i.e., the Lord’s “celestial kingdom” (2 Tim. 4:18).

“A joint body”

The next truth that Paul referred to in Eph. 3:6 is that the nations would be ”a joint body.” The truth that those among the nations who believed Paul's evangel are a “joint body”– i.e., a joint body that included the Jews who believed Paul’s evangel (which included, of course, Paul himself) – is explicitly taught in 1 Corinthians 12:12-13, 27 (cf. Rom. 12:4-5), and implied in places like Gal. 3:27-28. Whether circumcised or not, all who were called by God through the evangel of the grace of God were, prior to Paul’s arrival to Rome, baptized in one spirit into the same body of Christ. There is no indication that those Jews who were called through the evangel of the uncircumcision had a superior status within the body of Christ during this time, or that it was in any way different than the status of those among the nations who’d been likewise called.

Some students of Scripture have argued that, during the “Acts era” of Paul’s ministry, there were actually multiple “bodies of Christ” in existence. According to this view, it wasn’t until the time of Paul’s house arrest in Rome (as referred to in Acts 28:30-31) that there came to be only one body of Christ. Here’s how one proponent of this position has attempted to defend it:

“In the Pentecost Administration, during the Acts period, there were many ecclesias, in the plural – “all the ecclesias” (Romans 16:4, 16; I Corinthians 7:17; 14:33; II Corinthians 8:18; 11:28, CV).

“Each of these ecclesias were, in and of themselves, “the body of Christ” – an integrated unit in a particular locality – while today in the Secret Administration there is but one single ecclesia, in the singular – “the Ecclesia which is His Body” (Ephesians 1:22-23, CV).

“There were local bodies of Christ in the Pentecostal Church, but Christ was not the head of these bodies, as He is of this church of the mystery.

“Members of that church were its head (I Corinthians 12:12-22). Note the difference in “the church which is His Body,” where only Christ is the Head (Colossians 1:18; Ephesians 1:22-23).

Contrary to the claims made above, we know for a fact that there was more than one ecclesia among the nations when Paul wrote the letters that are commonly thought to have been written after “the Acts period” (i.e., Ephesians and Colossians). In Colossians 4:15-16 we read the following:

“Greet the brethren in Laodicea, and Nympha and the ecclesia at her house. And whenever the epistle should be read to you, cause that it should be read in the Laodicean ecclesia also, and that you also may be reading that out of Laodicea.”

Similarly, in Philemon 1:1-2 we read the following:

“Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and brother Timothy, to Philemon, the beloved, and our fellow worker, and to sister Apphia, and to Archippus, our fellow soldier, and to the ecclesia at your house…”

It’s also implied in Philippians 4:14-15 that the saints in Philippi comprised an ecclesia that was distinct from other ecclesias.

Since there was more than one ecclesia among the nations in existence at that time, it can be reasonably concluded that at least some – if not all – of the ecclesias that Paul had in mind when he referred to “all the ecclesias of the nations” in Rom. 16:4 were still in existence at the time when Paul wrote Colossians. In any case, it’s evident that Paul’s references to “the ecclesia” (singular) in Ephesians and Colossians are perfectly consistent with the fact that there was more than one ecclesia among the nations at that time. When Paul referred to the ecclesia as a singular entity, he was referring to the total number of believers in the body of Christ throughout the world. In other words, the singular, worldwide ecclesia of which Paul wrote was, at the time he wrote, comprised of multiple local ecclesias (including the ecclesia at Nympha’s house, the ecclesia at Achippus’ house, and the Laodicean ecclesia).

Since we know that there were multiple local ecclesias of the nations that were in existence when Paul wrote to the saints in Colosse – and that these multiple ecclesias comprised the single, worldwide ecclesia that Paul identified as Christ’s body – there’s no good, scripture-based reason to believe that this wasn’t also the case when Paul wrote his earlier letters. In other words, there’s no good reason to believe that the various local ecclesias among the nations that were in existence when Paul wrote to the saints in Rome or in Corinth didn’t comprise the “one body” of Christ to which Paul referred in 1 Cor. 12:12-13.

A similar point could be made concerning the ecclesias to which the believers among the Circumcision belonged (i.e., the ecclesias that were distinct from “all the ecclesias of the nations” referred to in Rom. 16). Although there were multiple local ecclesias to which the believers among God’s covenant people belonged – e.g., “the ecclesias of Judea which are in Christ” (Gal. 1:22; cf. 1 Thess. 2:14) – these local ecclesias also comprised the singular “ecclesia” that Christ had in mind when he declared, “on this rock will I be building my ecclesia [singular], and the gates of the unseen shall not be prevailing against it” (Matt. 16:18). Similarly, in Acts 9:31 we read that “the ecclesia [singular] down the whole of Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace.” [i]

In addition to these considerations, there’s no indication from what Paul wrote in 1 Cor. 12:12-22 that the head of the body of Christ included, or consisted of, any of the members of the ecclesia in Corinth. In verses 14-26, Paul was referring to the literal human body (with its literal members) as an illustration of the spiritual body of Christ. In verses 15-16 and 21-26, the various members of the human body are being personified. Paul wasn’t teaching that some of the saints in Corinth were “feet,” that some were “hands,” or that some were “ears.” Again, Paul was using the literal human body and its members as an illustration. The application of Paul’s illustration to the spiritual body of Christ – i.e., the company of saints who are spiritually united to Christ (and which included the believers in Corinth) – is made in verse 27.

But what completely undermines the view that there were multiple “bodies of Christ” during the “Acts era” of Paul’s ministry is the following fact: Although Paul didn’t belong to the ecclesias in Corinth and Rome to which he wrote, he nevertheless considered himself as belonging to the same “body of Christ” to which the saints in Corinth and Rome belonged. In 1 Cor. 12:12-13 we read the following:

“For even as the body is one and has many members, yet all the members of the one body, being many, are one body, thus also is the Christ. For in one spirit also we all are baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and all are made to imbibe one spirit…”

And in Romans 12:4-5 we read the following:

“For even as, in one body, we have many members, yet all the members have not the same function, thus we, who are many, are one body in Christ, yet individually members of one another.”

The words, “For in one spirit also we all are baptized into one body” and “we, who are many, are one body in Christ” prove that there was only one body of Christ in existence when Paul wrote to the saints in Corinth (and that there were more members who belonged to this one body of Christ than who comprised the local ecclesias in Corinth and Rome).

Paul’s membership in this one company of saints (“the body of Christ”) wasn’t based on locality; rather, it was based on the spiritual union that they all shared. And this spiritual union was true of all the saints to whom Paul wrote, irrespective of where they lived or where they went. Whether the saints to whom Paul wrote resided in Corinth, Rome, Galatia, Thessalonica, Ephesus, Philippi or elsewhere, they had all, “in one spirit,” been “baptized into one body,” and were “one body in Christ.”

Moreover, we know that the body of Christ to which the saints in Corinth belonged is the same body of Christ that existed on the earth when Paul wrote his later letters. In 1 Corinthians 12:27-28 we read the following:

Now you are the body of Christ, and members of a part, whom also God, indeed, placed in the ecclesia, first, apostles, second, prophets, third, teachers, thereupon powers, thereupon graces of healing, supports, pilotage, species of languages.

And in Ephesians 4:7-12 Paul wrote the following:

“Now to each one of us was given grace in accord with the measure of the gratuity of Christ. Wherefore He is saying,

Ascending on high, He captures captivity And gives gifts to mankind.

Now the ‘He ascended,’ what is it except that He first descended also into the lower parts of the earth? He Who descends is the Same Who ascends also, up over all who are of the heavens, that He should be completing all. And the same One gives these, indeed, as apostles, yet these as prophets, yet these as evangelists, yet these as pastors and teachers, toward the adjusting of the saints for the work of dispensing, for the upbuilding of the body of Christ…”

Notice that it was “for the upbuilding of the body of Christ” that the ascended Christ gave some as “apostles,” “prophets,” “evangelists,” and “pastors and teachers.” Since Paul undoubtedly had the same apostles, prophets and teachers in mind in both of these passages, it follows that the body of Christ in which these various gifts were present and being used “for the upbuilding of the body of Christ” was the same as well. That is, the body of Christ that was being “upbuilt” when these gifts were first given (and which existed at the time when Paul wrote to the saints in Corinth) is the same body of Christ that existed when Paul wrote concerning these gifts in Ephesians 4.

Another claim made in support of the idea that the body of Christ to which Paul referred in 1 Corinthians was not the same body of Christ as that of which we read in Paul’s “prison letters” is that, for the saints in Corinth, membership in the body of Christ was based on their possession of the spiritual gifts/endowments of which we read in this letter (12:1, 4-11). But this view is simply mistaken. At the time when Paul wrote to the saints in Corinth, the “one spirit” in which the saints had been “baptized into one body” was operating among them and being manifested in various supernatural ways. This operation of the spirit (and the related gifts/endowments given to the body of Christ) was for the edification of the ecclesia, and was always meant to be a temporary state of affairs that would end when “maturity” came (1 Cor. 13:8-12). This state of “maturity” came, I believe, when the word of God was completed through Paul (Col. 1:25; cf. Eph. 4:7-14).

In any case, that which united all of the believers to Christ and to each other wasn’t the various ways in which the spirit was operating and being manifested at that time. Rather, it was the spirit itself. And the saints to whom Paul wrote continued to possess (and be united by) this one spirit even after “maturity” came. Thus, the body of Christ of which Paul wrote in his letter to the Corinthians did not disappear when the spiritual endowments ceased, for the spirit itself – that which united the saints to Christ and to each other – remained within them.

It has also been claimed by at least one Acts 28 proponent that, since the Greek article “the” is absent from 1 Cor. 12:27, the verse should read, “Now you are a body of Christ, and members of a part” instead of “Now you are the body of Christ, and members of a part.” There’s a problem with this understanding, however. While the use of the article “the” in the Greek Scriptures does mean that the noun with which it’s connected is definite, the absence of the article with a noun doesn’t necessarily mean that the noun is indefinite (that’s because the Greek article is not required to make a noun definite; see, for example, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics: An Exegetical Syntax of the New Testament, 245–54).[ii]

It’s also the case that, when a noun is “anarthrous” (i.e., when it occurs without the use of the article “the”), it can take on a qualitative aspect. This is likely the case in 1 Cor. 12:27. The Corinthian ecclesia was not “the” body of Christ in the sense of being the entire or complete body of Christ (or in the sense of being the exclusive body of Christ) in relation to other local ecclesias at that time. However, it was the body of Christ in a qualitative sense (since it was a local instance or manifestation of the worldwide body of Christ that existed on the earth in Paul’s day). Thus, by not using the article “the,” Paul was likely emphasizing this fact.

“Joint partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus”

The last truth pertaining to the “secret of the Christ” that we find referred to in Eph. 3:6 is that the nations would be ”joint partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus.” What is “the promise [singular] in Christ Jesus” of which those to whom Paul wrote had become partakers? Paul was likely referring to the spirit that has been given to all who are in the body of Christ (and which united – and continues to unite – all believers to Christ).

In Galatians 3:14 Paul made it clear that the believing Gentiles in the body of Christ had, through faith in the evangel that had been heralded among them, obtained “the promise of the spirit” (cf. Gal. 3:2-5). In Romans 8:23, this promise of which all in the body of Christ have been made partakers is referred to as “the firstfruit of the spirit.” In 2 Corinthians 1:22 it’s referred to as “the earnest of the spirit in our hearts” with which we’ve been sealed (cf. 2 Cor. 5:5), and in Ephesians 1:14 it’s referred to as the “holy spirit of promise” with which we’ve been sealed (and which is said to be “an earnest of the enjoyment of our allotment”). See also 1 Cor. 12:13 (cf. 2:12, 3:16, 6:19).[iii]

Conclusion

As has been demonstrated in this article, each of the truths referred to in Ephesians 3:6 were central to the administration given to Paul prior to the writing of this letter. Although these truths were indeed a secret prior to the beginning of Paul’s ministry as the “apostle to the nations” (and had no part in Israel’s prophetic program), Paul was not making them known for the first time when he wrote what he did in Ephesians 3:6. Instead, Paul was simply giving a concise, summarized statement of truths that he’d been making known among the nations all along (whether through direct, personal teaching, or through his other letters to the saints).

So when did the administration to which these truths distinctly belong – i.e., the “administration of the grace of God”/“administration of the secret” (Eph. 3:2, 9) – begin? In light of the above considerations, I think we can reasonably conclude that the administration that was given to Paul for the nations began at around the time when “the evangel of which [Paul] became the dispenser” – i.e., “the evangel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24) – began to be heralded by Paul among the nations (which was shortly after Paul and Barnabas were “severed” to God for the work to which God had called them; see Acts 13:2-3).

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[i] Some appeal to 1 Thess. 2:14 in support of the view that the gentile believers who comprised the body of Christ when Paul wrote this letter belonged to the same company of saints that comprised the Jewish ecclesias in Paul’s day (e.g., “the ecclesias of God which are in Judea”). However, the very next verse informs us of exactly how the Thessalonian saints had become “imitators” of these Jewish ecclesias. According to Paul, the saints to whom he wrote had “suffered the same, even you by your own fellowtribesmen, according as they also by the Jews…”  

In other words, the Thessalonian believers had endured persecution from their own “fellowtribesmen” (or “countrymen”) just as the ecclesias in Judea had suffered persecution from the unbelieving Jews. It is in this way that they had become “imitators” of them. This understanding of 1 Thess. 2:14 is perfectly consistent with the view that Paul had in view two different categories of saints with two distinct callings and expectations. Moreover, the fact that Paul contrasted the “Jews” (as a people group) with the “fellowtribesmen” of the persecuted believers in Thessalonica further confirms the fact that the Thessalonian saints to whom Paul wrote (or at least the majority of the saints within this ecclesia) weren’t Jewish. 

[ii] The following are some examples from the Greek Scriptures in which something definite is in view despite the  article “the” not being used: Mark 12:28 (“[the] foremost precept”); Luke 1:4 (“[the] words”); Luke 20:33 (“[the] wife”); John 18:13 (“[the] father-in-law,” “[the] chief priest”); Romans 4:11 (“[the] sign of circumcision,” “[the] father of all”); Rom. 4:16 (“[the] faith of Abraham”); Rom. 8:15 (“[the] spirit of sonship”); Rom. 8:29 (“[the] purpose”); 1 Corinthians 9:1-2 (“[the] Lord”); 1 Cor. 11:3 (“[the] head”); 1 Cor. 16:15 (“[the] firstfruit of Achaia”); 2 Corinthians 4:4 (“[the] Image”); 2 Cor. 4:16 (“[the] face of Jesus Christ”); 2 Cor. 6:16 (“[the] temple of God,” “[the] temple of [the] living God”); 2 Cor. 8:5 (“[the] will of God”); 2 Cor. 12:2 (“[the] third heaven”); Galatians 4:31 (“[the] maid”); 1 Thessalonians 1:1 (“[the] Thessalonians,” “[the] Father,” “[the] Lord Jesus Christ”); 1 Thess. 2:13 (“[the] word of God”); 1 Thess. 4:3 (“[the] will of God”); 1 Peter 5:12 (“[the] true grace of God”); 2 Peter 1:17 (“[the] voice”). 

[iii] In Titus 1:2, “life eonian” is referred to as having been promised by God “before times eonian.” If this is what Paul had in view as the “promise in Christ Jesus,” then this blessing is something of which believing Gentiles have had an expectation since the beginning of Paul’s ministry among the nations (Acts 13:48). Regardless of what, exactly, we understand the “promise in Christ Jesus” to be, there’s no good reason to think that it didn’t belong to the believing Gentiles who became members of the body of Christ before Paul’s arrival to Rome.