Colossians 1: 25, 26  states that this secret was hid from past ages (time) and

generations (people) and in view of this it is unbelief to say that it can be found in the

O.T. or in any Scripture previous to the point Christ made it known to Paul.

It cannot therefore refer to the gospel of salvation, for this was never a secret, but had

been "promised afore by His prophets in the holy Scriptures (the O.T.)" (Rom. 1: 2). Nor

can it refer to the fact that the Gentiles were to be blessed with Israel, for this had been

made known in Gen. 12: 1-3 and many other passages. Eph. 2: 15 reveals the fact that

this sussoma (lit. joint-body) is made up of the "two" (twain, A.V.) i.e. Jewish and

Gentile believers and is a creation which God calls "a new man". It is important to know

that the word "make" in this verse (A.V.) is the deeper word "create", which shows that

this company is not an evolution or development from the Acts period, but a new

company, a new man and a new creation.

We do not know whether this is a large company, a medium sized or a small one, for it

is not revealed and it is idle to guess. We are on sure ground however, when we start

with the Father's elective choice (Eph. 1: 4) and this choice was made before creation. It

was therefore in the mind of God before He commenced to create, which shows its

tremendous importance to Him in His redemptive plan. Even the aristocracy of heaven,

principalities and powers, are now learning from it and its association with the manifold

wisdom of God (Eph. 3: 9-11).

This great revelation to Paul, the prisoner of the Lord, must certainly be included in

"the good deposit" of truth, given by the risen and ascended Christ to him and then

deposited by the Apostle to Timothy and the churches. In fact we must include in it all

the truth expressed in the epistles that make it known (Ephesians and Colossians) and the

epistles of Paul that followed (Philippians, Philemon, Titus, I & II Timothy). Once

revealed, the secret was addressed to all the faithful (Eph. 1: 1; Col. 1: 2) and was not

hidden again.  It was linked with a dispensation, "the dispensation of the mystery

(secret)" (Eph. 3: 9, R.V.). The word "dispensation" is little understood, most people

imagining that it means a period of time, an age. This is not so; in Luke 16: 2 the word

is rendered "stewardship", something that is entrusted to a person to look after and guard.

And so the word is very near the "deposit" in its meaning. It is God's truth that has been

passed on to the redeemed to live out and faithfully make known to others.

Paul was keen to make all the chosen ones see it (Eph. 3: 9) and furthermore, we are

told that God wishes "to make known the riches of the glory of this secret among the

Gentiles, which is Christ among you (A.V. margin), the hope of glory" (Col. 1: 24-27). In

the A.V. "would make known" = wishes to make known. In the light of these most

important statements, one might assume that every believer has a clear conception of "the

good deposit" of truth, but it is not so. The first chapter of Ephesians reveals an essential

to this knowledge. Verses 17 and 18 reads, and we give Rotherham's translation: