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The "decrees" of Acts 15 which palliated these differences, emphasized the existence of the middle wall. The
full and complete unity of the One Body could not be brought into existence until this middle wall was "abolished",
and now, those reconciled "in one body" to God, have access "in one spirit" unto the Father.
We must now pass to the second passage which speaks of the complete and new equality that is the outstanding
characteristic of the One Body under the terms of the "Mystery".
What is a "Joint-Body"? (Eph. 3:6).
Much controversy and confusion has arisen out of the failure to discern between "The Mystery" and "The
Mystery of Christ" in Ephesians 3:4-8 and the structure of this passage will help to distinguish between them.
Ephesians 3:4-8
d 4.
Two
Mystery of Christ
mysteries  e 5.
Apostles and Prophets (plural)
f  5,6.
The Mystery g In spirit (sphere)
and two
h1 Joint-heirs
ministries
h2 Joint-body
h3 Joint-partakers
g In Christ (sphere)
e 7,8.
Paul alone (singular)
d -8.
Unsearchable riches of Christ
The subject matter of the Mystery of Christ is capable of comparison, for the apostle says: "Which in other ages
was not made known unto the sons of men, AS IT IS NOW revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets" (Eph. 3:5).
The subject matter of the Mystery is not capable of similar comparison, for of this he says, "The mystery which has
been hid from ages and from generations, but is now made manifest to His saints" (Col. 1:25-27). If these two
statements of the apostle speak of the same thing, then we must admit a contradiction in the Scriptures. The A.V.
has veiled the teaching of the apostle by translating the Greek word genea "ages" in Ephesians 3:5 and
"generations" in Colossians 1:26. The moment these translations are made to agree, the distinction between the two
mysteries becomes apparent:
"The mystery of Christ" WAS made known in other GENERATIONS,
"The mystery" was NOT, for it was HID from ages and from GENERATIONS.
It is THIS mystery which Paul claims to have been made exclusively to him:
"Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you ... even the
mystery" (Col. 1:25,26).
The fact that the apostle uses the title "the sons of men", in Ephesians 3:5, to indicate those to whom a partial
unveiling of the mystery of Christ was made known, seems intentional in order that the higher type of ministry "His
holy apostles and prophets" should be thereby seen to advantage. The A.V. makes the words "by the Spirit" follow
the reference to the apostles and prophets, as though to teach us how the revelation was made known to them. Yet
the universal witness of the Scriptures is so definite that "Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy
Ghost" that one may pardon a moment's indecision and ask why it seemed necessary for believers like the
Ephesians to require this information.
Immediately we refer to the original we read en pneumati and our mind travels back to the same two words with
which chapter 2 closes, there translated "through the Spirit". We note the four occurrences of the phrase en
pneumati in Revelation 1:10; 4:2;17:3; 21:10, and also see an intended contrast between the SPHERE "in spirit" of
Ephesians 2:22 with the realm indicated in the same chapter as "in the flesh" and "in the world". So, when we come
to the end of Ephesians 3:5, we must allow the words en pneumati to stand as a heading of the newly revealed
constitution of the church defined as "joint-heirs" etc., which is balanced at the close by the words en Christo Jesou.
This correspondence we have indicated in the structure.