The Church: A Closer Look

The Church was not revealed in the Old Testament. Jews in Jesus' day had no conception of the Church that we have been describing so far in this volume. In fact, after the Day of Penetcost (the birth of the Spirit-filled Church) even the Apostles didn't have a true grasp of what the Church really is. It remained a mystery. It was the Apostle Paul, and not any of the 12, who was the human vessel chosen to receive the lofty new revelation. 

In Ephesians 3:3 Paul tells the reader that the mystery was made known to (him) by revelation (ESV). The Greek word translated as revelation is ἀποκάλυψις (apokalypsis), meaning disclosure, appearing, or manifestation.(1) This word probably sounds familiar. Revelation 1:1 reads The revelation of Jesus Christ, literally the apokalypsis of Jesus Christ. This is where we get the title of the Book. This Greek word is why we call it the Apocalypse. 

Certain spiritual knowledge only comes by revelation. If God didn’t reveal it, we wouldn’t know it. The Bible clearly teaches this.

But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. - 1 Corinthians 2:14

At the end of Luke's Gospel after the resurrection Jesus appeared to the Disciples and "opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures" (Luke 24:45). 

The Apostle Paul knew that revelation was needed to understand certain things. This is why he prays the following at the beginning of his Epistle to the Ephesians:

...that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; - Ephesians 1:17-18

Ephesians 3:3 says that through revelation a mystery was unveiled to Paul. The Greek word translated as mystery is μυστήριον (mystērion), meaning a hidden thing or a secret.(2) Some Bible Scholars have translated mysterion as a sacred secret.(3) In the Greek speaking Ancient world this word carried with it the connotation of a religious secret that was only known to the initiated. Ancient mystery religions in Bible times were secret cults that offered secret knowledge only to initiated members. Readers in Paul's Day knew this. 

In a similar way, God revealed a mystery - a sacred secret - to Paul. As previously mentioned, certain things cannot be known by Christians unless unless God chooses to reveal them. For example, Jesus the Eternal Son reveals or makes known the Father:

…and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. - Matthew 11:27

And:

No one has ever seen God. The one and only Son, who is himself God and is at the Father’s side​— ​He has revealed Him. - John 1:18 (CSB)

Knowing the Father requires revelation - it does not happen by default. In a similar way, Paul received revelation - a mystery or a sacred secret - that had to be unveiled to him. Without that mystery being revealed, Paul could not have known it (and by extension neither could we). 

So then, what exactly is this mystery? We are told:

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 (ESV). - Ephesians 3:6

From this many commentators say that the mystery is that the Gentiles are included in the covenant blessings of God. But this reading of the text is at best incomplete. It was known in the Old Testament that God would bless the Gentiles and the Gentile Nations. Provision was made for Gentiles in the Hebrew Bible. Jews knew that Israel was meant to be a light to the Gentile Nations. 

Under the Abrahamic Covenant we are told that all families of the earth will be blessed (Genesis 12:3, see Galatians 3:8). Later Rahab, the gentile Harlot from Jericho - along with her father's household - dwelled in Israel (Joshua 6:25). Rahab is included in the Genealogy of Jesus Christ (see Matthew 1:5). Ruth, a gentile Moabite, was determined to sojourn with her mother-in-law Naomi, declaring:

​For wherever you go, I will go; ​​

And wherever you lodge, I will lodge; ​​

Your people shall be my people, ​​

And your God, my God. - Ruth 1:16-17

Under the Law of Moses, resident aliens (gentiles or sojourners) were to be treated equally both in terms of the Law and social status (Leviticus 19:33-34, 24:22; Numbers 15:14-16; Deuteronomy 10:19). Gentiles were able to participate in worship with Israel. Alien families were able to observe the Passover as long as all the males were circumcised (Exodus 12:48). Gentile sojourners could also participate in the Feast of Pentecost (Deuteronomy 16:11) and the Feast Tabernacles (Deuteronomy 16:14). They were able to give acceptable offerings (Leviticus 22:17). Additionally, they could eat and be filled from the tithe of the produce during the harvest season in Israel (Deuteronomy 14:28-29). 

Gentile inclusion in the Covenant Blessing of Yahweh is explicitly prophesied in Old Testament Scripture. Here are a few examples:

 And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, ​​

Who shall stand as a banner to the people; 

​​For the Gentiles shall seek Him, ​​

And His resting place shall be glorious. - Isaiah 11:10 

Praise the LORD, all you Gentiles! 

​​Laud Him, all you peoples! - Psalm 117:1 

​He has remembered His mercy and His faithfulness to the house of Israel; ​​All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. - Psalm 98:3

(See also 2 Samuel 22:50, Psalm 2:10-12, 18:49, and 66:4.)

To say that the mystery of the Church is the inclusion of the Gentiles in the covenant blessing of God is to miss what is truly being said. It is the difference between milk and meat. 

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. - Ephesians 3:6

This requires some unpacking. Gentiles are fellow heirs and partakers in the promise, yes, but what of this Body? The body is the Body of Christ. What does Scripture tell us about this Body of Christ (the Church)? 

As we have seen, the Church is one Body in Christ (Romans 12:5). In Christ, we are told, there is neither Jew nor Gentile (Galatians 3:28). In Christ, there is one new man (Ephesians 2:15). This new man is a new creation - literally in the Greek a new creature (2 Corinthians 5:17). Those in the Church (in Christ) literally make up a new race (1 Peter 2:9). When Jesus rose from the dead it was the start of a new humanity. Only those who are born again are part of the new humanity. This new revelation greatly impacts our view of the Body of Christ.   

Recall that the Head and Body are one. Together they form a single organic entity, as it were. Whatever the Head is, we in the Church are (in terms of this new humanity but not in terms of His eternal divinity). We can't be one with the Head and yet be of a different nature than the Head. Thus, if the Body is neither Jew nor Gentile, that means the Head is neither Jew nor Gentile. Thus, the risen Lord Jesus is no longer a Jew (or a Gentile). The New Humanity in Christ transcends these distinctions. The term Messianic Jew really only applies in human terms. It does not apply in the ultimate, eternal sense. I bring this up only to highlight the fact that this reality of a new creation and a new humanity is far more radical than we have realized or imagined. It's a realization and a reality that shatters long-existing paradigms.

This new man / new humanity creates a third category that didn't exist before in Scripture. Before this there was only Jew and Greek - Greek being emblematic of all Gentiles. But now according to 1 Corinthians 10:32 there is the Jew, the Greek, and the Church of God. 

Let us now return to this matter of provision provided for Gentiles in the Old Testament. Provision was made for gentile proselytes, but according to Scripture there was a separation or barrier in place between Israel and the other nations. Except for proselytes, Gentiles were excluded from Israel. For a non-Jew, the only way to be included was to be circumcised (the sign of the covenant given to Abraham and required under the Law of Moses) and to live as a Jew. 

The Temple Complex in Jerusalem contained an outer court that was known as the Court of the Gentiles. The Court of the Gentiles was a large, open area where non-Jews could pray, learn about Judaism, or conduct business related to the Temple. Gentiles were not permitted to go into the inner court area. Doing so was punishable by death. This forbidden area was accessible to Jews only. There was literally a physical wall of separation that divided the inner court from the outer court. Under the Old Covenant, Jews had access to God through their system of Ordinances and Sacrifices. Provision was made for Gentiles to live as Jews but the Law of the Mosaic Covenant separated Israel from the other nations. 

With this background in mind, Paul writes:

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,… - Ephesians 2:13-19

There is a lot to unpack here but the main point to consider for our purposes is that through the blood of Christ, who fulfilled the Law of Moses (Matthew 5:17), Jews and Gentiles have been made one new man and one body. This one new man is the Body of Christ - the Church. The Church is a new humanity that transcends and does away with the idea of Jew and Gentile All who are in Christ are citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven and members of the Household of God.

This is not academic. This is not abstraction. The practical application of this is very important. Let us return to Ephesians 3:6:

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.

There is an aspect of the Gospel that the overwhelming majority of Christians do not understand because they have never been taught it. They understand that Jesus died for their sins, but they do not understand that they also died with Christ at the Cross. If this is new to you, you are not alone! 

The first five chapters of Romans deal with Christ dying for us (see Romans 3:23, 5:8). Romans 6 reveals this second aspect of Christ’s work at Calvary:

...How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. - Romans 6:2-4

Based on this some might spiritualize this and make it more allegory than reality. Others will relegate the reality entirely to the future, 'when we all get to heaven'. But Romans 6:6-8 eliminates any such idea:

knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. 

The old man was crucified and died (past tense) with Crist at the cross. So what does that mean? What is the old man? 

Romans 5:12-19 explains this. Adam was created sinless but he sinned in the Garden of Eden as described in the Book of Genesis. Adam’s sin was propagated to all of his offspring. Because of sin we are born spiritually separated from God and we all die physically. 

…sin came into the world through one man (Adam), and death 

  through sin (ESV) - Romans 5:12

Many of us can recite 2 Corinthians 5:17, but has the Holy Spirit revealed the true meaning?

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 

Before we are born again, we are ‘in Adam’ - dead in the trespasses and sin (Ephesians 2:1). All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). 

When we are born again we are transferred from Adam to Christ. We move from being ‘in Adam’ to being ‘in Christ’ - a phrase that we see very often in the New Testament.     

Romans 6:11 is the the application, the payoff if you will:

Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We must consider ourselves dead to who we were in Adam and alive in Christ. In Christ is where the new man / the new humanity is found.  

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. - Galatians 2:20

And,

Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the -Spirit is spirit. - John 3:5-6

That which is born of the flesh is that which is in Adam. That which is re-born in the Spirit is that which is in Chirst. 

We are dead to who we were in Adam and our sin nature. We should no longer regard ourselves - or each other - that way.  We are to regard ourselves and each other according to who the Bible says we are in Christ - a new creation and a new humanity. (Paul spells out the tremendous blessings and benefits that come along with this in the first three chapters of Ephesians). 

The word baptize means to idenitfy and to incorporate. When you baptize a cloth into water and dye, the color becomes a part of the cloth. The cloth identifies with the color. When Jesus was baptized he was identifying with our humanity in Adam. When Christians are baptized, they are identified with Christ the second man (1 Corinthians 15:47), the corporate head of a new creation. In baptism, who we are in Adam went down into death with Christ at the Cross, and who we are in Christ came out of the water a new creation. Of course baptism itself isn't the cause of this but it is a perfect picture and illustration of the spiritual reality. (This is why I strongly argue for baptism by immersion - without it we lose the analogy.)  

But again this is not mere abstraction. What I have just explained I believe is the New Testament basis for sanctification. We spend our time reading well-intentioned Christian books on self-improvement and trying to do better by an act of the will. We resolve to improve by pulling ourselves up by our moral bootstraps, never realize that this is a fool’s errand. Week after week, month after month, and year after year, we spin our wheels and waste our time. The thing is, God is not asking us to do better. He is calling us to die. This is radical!   

We admit to God that we are weak and we ask Him for strength. But that implies that we have some strength in us, something of merit. But who we are in Adam is irreparably broken and beyond improvement. 

…God consigns the old fallen Adam-life to the cross, and has nothing to say to it. God deals with all believers on the ground - ‘In Christ you died.’(4)

To be alive in Christ we must be dead to who we were in Adam. 

There are two aspects of the finished work of Christ at the cross, but most Christians only ever hear about the first. The blood of Christ deals with our sin. Yes. And praise the Lord for this! But the cross of Christ deals with the sinner. In Adam we are sinners. We have a terminal sin nature. 

The work is finished positionally or judicially. But we must appropriate this work so that the effects become a reality subjectively and practically. How? By reckoning our old nature, on an ongoing basis, to be dead with Christ on the cross. Only in the risen Christ will we find new resurrection life. 

To summarize, when Christ was raised from the dead He became the Head of a New Humanity. This presupposes the death of the old humanity (that which is in Adam). If we truly grasp this we will come away with a more radical Ecclesiology (doctrine of the Church). It also becomes the basis and foundation for our sanctification individually and corporately. Nothing less than death to the old self will due. Again, it's radical. Once we begin to glimpse this reality we will stop trying to improve upon that which is dead and we will start to look upon our new source of Life in Christ, who is raised from the dead and seated at the right hand of the Father. 

Works Cited

(1) Strong's G602 - apokalypsis

(2) Strong's G3466 - mystērion

(3) Example Joseph B. Rotherham's Emphasized Bible https://studybible.info/Rotherham/Ephesians%203 

(4) Miles J. Stanford, The Green Letters Principles of Spiritual Growth, pg 52, Miles J. Stanford, 1975

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