In this lesson we will go on to other aspects of the experience and enjoyment of God as the Father in the love of the Triune God.
Ephesians 3:7-10 shows us that God the Father has given grace to us according to the operation of His power that we may announce to people the unsearchable riches of Christ as the gospel and enlighten all that they may see what the economy of the mystery is, which was hidden in Him. When God gives grace to us, He dispenses Himself into us, and His dispensing is according to the operation of His power. Because Paul had received God's inner dispensing as grace, he was able to announce the unsearchable riches of Christ and to enlighten all concerning the economy of the mystery hidden in God.
In verse 7 Paul said, "Of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God which was given to me according to the operation of His power." The grace of God is God Himself, especially as life, partaken of and enjoyed by us. The gift of grace is the ability and function produced out of the enjoyment of the grace of God. Hence, the gift is the ability that comes out of life.
This gift is given to us according to the operation of God's power. This power is the power of resurrection (Phil. 3:10), which operated within the apostle and operates within all the believers (Eph. 1:19; 3:20). By such an inward, operating power of life, the gift of grace was given to the apostle, that is, produced in him. As members of Christ, we also have God's power operating in us to produce the ability and function that is out of life, so that we are able to announce the riches of Christ and the economy of God's mystery.
In verse 8 Paul went on to say, "To me, less than the least of all saints, was this grace given to announce to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ as the gospel." This indicates that all the saints can receive the same grace as was given to the apostle Paul. As to the ministry of Paul, he was not behind the very chiefest apostles (2 Cor. 11:5; 12:11). Yet, as to the grace he received, he was less than the least of all saints. This implies that all the saints can receive the grace that he received. This is similar to the receiving of the same lifeblood by all the members of our physical body, however small they may be. But the ability (gift) that comes out of the lifeblood differs among the members. All the members of the Body of Christ can have the same grace of life that Paul had, but their gifts differ from one another. These different gifts, however, are for the same thing. The announcing to people of the unsearchable riches of Christ as the gospel is not for the presentation of doctrines or merely for the teaching of the word in letters. The riches of Christ are what Christ is to us, such as light, life, righteousness, and holiness, what He has for us, and what He has accomplished, attained, and obtained for us.
These riches of Christ are unsearchable and untraceable. We announce to people the unsearchable riches of Christ as the gospel for the producing of the church as the Body of Christ. In Ephesians 3:9 and 10 Paul went on to say, "And to enlighten all that they may see what the economy of the mystery is, which throughout the ages has been hidden in God, who created all things, in order that now to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenlies the multifarious wisdom of God might be made known through the church." God's mystery is His hidden purpose, which is to dispense Himself into His chosen people. Hence, there is the economy (dispensation, plan) of the mystery of God. This mystery was hidden in God throughout the ages, but now the New Testament believers, having been enlightened, are able to see it. When God's chosen people partake of and enjoy the riches of Christ, they are constituted with those riches to be the church, through which God's multifarious wisdom is made known to the angelic rulers and authorities in the heavenlies. Hence, the church is God's wise exhibition of all that Christ is. Therefore, God the Father has given grace to us according to the operation of His power, that we may be able to announce to people the unsearchable riches of Christ and to enlighten all that they may see what the economy of the mystery hidden in God is, that is, to have the church.