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partakers of His promise in Christ by the Gospel Whereof Paul Had Been Made A
Minister.  When writing later to Timothy, the apostle adds a similar rider, he
does not simply say to Timothy:
`Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead'
(2 Tim. 2:8),
that would be a salutary word indeed, for without the resurrection all are
without hope.  Paul was more incisive and exclusive; what he did say was:
`Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead
according to my gospel: wherein i suffer ... unto bonds' (2 Tim. 2:8,9).
The same Saviour and the same Resurrection provides Peter's Gospel with
blessed assurance of the fulfilment of the promises made to David concerning his
Throne (Acts 2:24-30).  The same Saviour and the same Resurrection has taken us
`far above all ... thrones' as we have seen in Ephesians 1:19-23.  The Gentile
members of this Body do not inherit and share promises, they share on equal
terms `His promise', and that found in the gospel entrusted to Paul alone.
These believers do not share the promise of the Father (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4;
2:33).  These joint-partakers do not take to themselves the promise of Acts
2:39.  These fellow-heirs do not inherit the promises made unto `the fathers',
and which were confirmed during the earthly ministry of Christ (Rom. 15:8).
They are concerned with `the promise of life' which antedates the beginning of
the ages (2 Tim. 1:1,9; Titus 1:2,3).  The seal which they have received is `the
Holy Spirit of promise' not `of the promises' (Eph. 1:13) for they were, while
in the flesh, `strangers from the covenants of promise' (Eph. 2:12).
The teaching of Ephesians 3:6 is not that the unequal partnership that
existed between the Jewish believer and the Gentile believer has been exchanged
so that the Gentile now enters into the promises, originally held so exclusively
by the Jew, on equal terms.  No, the teaching is that a new promise is brought
to light, a promise that Abraham never knew; a new man has been created, and
into that new company and concerning that one new promise no one has precedence
over another; the membership of this Body is `concorporate', and the partaking
of the promise found in the Gospel preached by Paul the prisoner, is a `joint-
partaking'.  The new company, as Paul wrote to the Colossians, is `a new man',
and it is `created', not `evolved' from the period covered by the Acts:
`Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision,
Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all' (Col.
3:11).
The following extract from an article contributed to The Palestine
Exploration Quarterly for Jan. - April 1953 by Sir J. L. Myers, writing on the
relationship of Persia, Greece and Israel and particularly dealing with the
concept of the Polis or City, has a note that may prove suggestive to the reader
after studying the threefold fellowship of Ephesians 3:6.
`Fundamental principles of such an association of hereditary groups, not
originally or necessarily related by blood, were
Isonomai, equality of assignment in material and social amenities,
Isegoria, equality of utterance,
Isoteleia, equality of function and responsibility.
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