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exceeds all that has gone before, you may be more easily satisfied that, with regard to the
accompanying mystery, where comparison is ruled out, my exclusive claim is a just one."
The first occurrence of the words, "All things under His feet", which are a part of the
O.T. revelation of the mystery of Christ, is found in Psalm 8: As we have before
observed, a secret generally supposes an enemy, and the enemy here is in verse 2. The
glory of the Lord is also seen to be "above the heavens" (8: 1). The words used in the
LXX here are huperano ton ouranon, which are similar to those of Eph. 4: 10 ("far
above all heavens"), but not quite so full. The added fullness that marks the Apostle's
statements is even more clearly seen in verse 6 where the Psalmist writes: "Thou hast put
all things under His feet" (Psa. 8: 6). So says the Apostle also, but what a difference in
the meaning! The Psalmist goes on to explain what he understands by "all things" in the
following verse:
"All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field, the fowl of the air, and the fish of
the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the sea" (Psa. 8: 7, 8).
The "yea" which follows the words "all sheep and oxen" suggests the Psalmist's sense
of wonder as he enumerates the widening circle of this dominion. But what are sheep
and oxen when compared with principalities and powers, thrones and dominions, and
every name that is named? Surely it is clear that the Apostle, while he shares with David
the knowledge that Christ shall one day have "all things" under His feet, has
demonstrated how immeasurably vaster and higher is his knowledge of this part of the
mystery of Christ.
Whether it was possible, when Paul wrote his epistle to the Ephesians, for the
Ephesians themselves to refer to what he had also written in I Cor. 15: 25-28 or
Heb. 2: 5-9, we cannot say. Most probably it would not have been possible, and we can
well allow his claim to rest upon the one passage in Eph. 1: Most certainly, in this
particular case, all would have to concede that Paul's knowledge of the mystery of Christ
went far beyond anything found elsewhere in Scripture. If then, argues the Apostle,
where you can test my knowledge, you find my claim to be substantiated, it is reasonable
to accept my further claim to that exclusive revelation which is associated with the
highest phase of the mystery of Christ.
It is clear that God would not reveal to Paul the high glory of the Lord Jesus without
some well-defined object. The very fact that Paul had received the added revelation of
the mystery of Christ was in itself an argument that something like the dispensation of the
mystery was to follow.
It is certainly true that the mystery itself is manifested exclusively in the Apostle's
prison ministry, but it is equally true that the mystery of Christ is manifested in that
ministry also in a superlative degree.