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(1)
It was given to Paul as `the prisoner of Jesus Christ'.
(2)
It was given to Paul `for you Gentiles',
`to you -ward'.
(3)
It had immediate relation to `the Mystery'.
(4)
Which was received by `revelation'.
A parallel passage in Colossians 1 makes Ephesians 3 even more clear
and emphatic:
`His body ... the church: whereof I am made a minister, according to
the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil
(complete) the word of God ... the Mystery which hath been hid from the
ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to His saints'
(Col. 1:24 -26).
Additional items that give further light are the following:
(1)
The Church which is His Body is intimately associated with this
new dispensation.
(2)
This new dispensation completes the word of God, and
(3)
Finds its expression in a Mystery which had never been made known
before it was entrusted to the apostle Paul.
We can now go back to Ephesians 1 and read again the first reference to
this dispensation:
`Unto a dispensation of the fulness of the seasons, to unite all things
under one head, in union with Christ, both which are in heaven and
which are on earth' (Eph. 1:10 author's translation).
Where Colossians tells us that this dispensation of the Mystery
`completes' the word of God, Ephesians tells us that this dispensation of the
mystery of His will is `the fulness of the seasons'. There is a contrast in
Ephesians 2:12 -19:
`At that season ye were without Christ ... aliens ... strangers ... now
therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow -citizens
with the saints ...' (author's translation).
The `now' of verse 19 is the present season in contrast with `that
season' when the Gentile was an alien. A new creation intervenes between
verses 12 and 19. `The both' have been `made one'; this deals with the
reconciliation of Jew and Gentile. Ephesians 1:10 speaks not of the Jew and
the Gentile, but of the things in heaven and on earth being made one under
the headship of Christ. This is the reconciliation spoken of in Colossians
1:20. Now all this is absolutely new. Nowhere else in the whole range of
the Scriptures can such things be discovered as are made known by the apostle
in these epistles to the Ephesians and Colossians. Lest we be misunderstood,
it is evident, we trust, that we speak of the `dispensational' revelations.
Such blessed doctrines as redemption and forgiveness of Ephesians 1:7 have
already been revealed and explained in earlier Scriptures.
To complete our references, we quote 1 Timothy 1:4 R.V.: