Ephesians 3 is a chapter on the distribution of the riches of Christ. God has a plan to distribute the unsearchable and untraceable riches of Christ. The riches of Christ are firstly what Christ is to us. Christ is the life, the light, the way, and the truth (John 8:12; 14:6). Christ is righteousness, sanctification, and redemption to us (1 Cor. 1:30). Christ is typified by many items in the Old Testament. He is the Son of David and the Son of Abraham (Matt. 1:1). The riches of what Christ is, what He has accomplished, what He is doing now, what He shall do, what He has attained, and what He has obtained are unsearchable. The riches of Christ are exhaustless.

Colossians 2:9 says that Christ is the embodiment of all the fullness of the Godhead. "Fullness" refers to the expression of the riches of God. What dwells in Christ is not only the riches of the Godhead, but also the expression of the riches of what God is. When a cup is filled with water to the extent that it overflows with water, the overflow of the water is the fullness of the water. What comes out of the cup is the fullness of its contents. Ephesians 3 reveals that we are supplied with the riches of Christ unto all the fullness of God. The riches of Christ are for the fullness of God and the riches of Christ will result in the fullness of God. God's plan as a mystery hidden in Christ was to distribute all His riches stored in Christ as His very embodiment into His chosen and redeemed people in order to make the church the very fullness of God, the expression of God.

To carry out His plan, God needs an arrangement, a dispensation, and He also needs some stewards. If we want to prepare a great feast for many people, we need to have a plan to serve them with many rich dishes. We also need some stewards, or waiters, to dispense this rich food. The serving of the waiters is a kind of distribution. If they did not serve the food, the people would have nothing to eat. In Ephesians 3 is God's dispensation, which is His hidden plan (v. 9). This chapter also tells us of the "stewardship of the grace of God" which was given to Paul (v. 2). The Greek word oikonomia may be translated into economy, dispensation, or stewardship. With God it is an economy, or a dispensation. But with Paul it was a stewardship. His ministry was a stewardship. In Paul's time, great families with many riches hired stewards to dispense, to distribute, those riches. God made a plan as a dispensation within Himself. This plan was hidden in God until the New Testament age. God raised up apostles whom He commissioned to carry out His distributing plan, and this commission is the stewardship. The apostles' stewardship is to distribute to His chosen people what Christ is, what Christ has done, what Christ is doing, what Christ will do, and what Christ has attained and obtained. This stewardship is the stewardship of grace to dispense, to distribute, the riches of Christ (vv. 2, 7-9). The distribution of the riches of Christ results in the church.

The apostles' commission is to distribute the unsearchable riches of Christ to God's chosen people. Gospel preaching is a kind of distribution. Paul tells us that he received God's grace to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ as the gospel (v. 8). Our preaching the gospel is a distribution to the God-chosen sinners of what Christ is and of what Christ has done. After we preach the gospel to them, we must continue to work with them like the apostles did. The apostles preached the gospel, taught the truth, set up churches, and then labored to build up the churches. Everything that they did was a distributing work. What we are doing in the Lord's ministry is to distribute the riches of Christ to all the God-chosen and Christ-redeemed people.

The riches of Christ may be likened to all the rich foodstuffs produced in America. America has many rich foodstuffs such as eggs, chicken, beef, fish, vegetables, and fruits. To distribute these riches of America, a plan is needed. Then some stewards are needed to do the distribution work. When these riches are eaten, digested, and assimilated by us, they become a part of us, and they even become us. A husky American man who assimilates so much of the American foodstuffs is the fullness, the expression, of the riches of America. This man is the totality of the rich food of America. The riches eventually result in a person and become the constituents that constitute that person. In like manner, the riches of Christ result in a corporate person, the church. The church is the mystery of Christ, which is the Body of Christ constituted with the untraceable riches of Christ (vv. 3-6, 8b).