Title: Secrets of Christ, Secrets of the Church
Contents
2007.01.07.
The Jerusalem Community and the Gentile Community
Whether Jesus intended to establish such a community that we call the church today, or whether he commanded his disciples to do so, we cannot say with certainty now. But it is clear that the church is directly or indirectly related to the life of Jesus. The role of the apostles was particularly important here. Their thoughts and their actions are the roots of the church today.
In contrast, the Gentile community attempted to break with the law. The Jerusalem council, as reported in Acts 15, freed Gentile Christians from the obligations of the law. Because of the legal issue, the Gentile community continued to be scorned by Jewish Christians in Jerusalem. In the meantime, the Gentile community was committed to preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ in their own way, not in parallel with the law. They are the very roots of the church that has survived history today. At that time, the Jerusalem church, which claimed to be the mainstream, failed to maintain its Christian identity for various reasons and eventually disappeared from history.
Christ's Secret
Today's text, a letter Paul wrote to the Ephesian church members, contains Paul's very important faith and theology. The church in Ephesus, the destination of this letter, was a place where Paul stopped by on the way back from his second missionary trip to Greece to preach the gospel, and while preaching the word, he received such great resistance that he felt his life was in danger. On the way back to Jerusalem after his 3rd missionary tour, Paul called the Ephesian church leaders and gave a farewell speech to them in Miledo on the way back to Jerusalem (see Acts 19 and 20). It is located in the middle. Located in neither Europe nor the Middle East, the church in Ephesus constituted a community where Jews and Gentiles mingle together. That is why Paul emphasized 'unity' especially in this letter. A community in which Jews and Gentiles are united in Christ was the true form of the church Paul dreamed of. That was Paul's faith and theology. After realizing that, Paul devoted his whole life to this work, and the fruit of it is today's church. What he realized today we need to know a little more specifically.
First, look at verse 3. “God has revealed to me His profound plans.” God’s ‘deep plan’ refers to the Greek word ‘musterion’. That's the English word for 'mystery'. The word that draws the entire text today is this musterion. The King James Version translated the Bible as secret, the common translation was a profound plan, and Martin Luther translated it as 'Geheimness', all of which mean the same thing. It refers to something that is hidden. You might be a little confused when you hear these words. You would think that Paul was a completely different person from us because he was given a secret from God in a special way. Of course, he is a special person, but what he realized is not what the fortune tellers do. Rather, it is closer to the case of discovering a deep number unknown to others in Go. New numbers are cloaked until discovered. It's a secret. But when it is revealed, everyone will know for sure.
What does Paul refer to as God's musterion, or mystery? The mystery of God is the mystery of Christ. It is the mystery that God has planned through Christ. Its content is verse 6. “The profound plan is that the Gentiles will also hear the Gospel and live with Christ Jesus, and with the Jews they will receive the blessing of God, and become members of one body, sharing with them the promises of God.” Those expecting a very mystical secret will be disappointed by Paul's statement. This is the story you've always heard. Does it sound boring? It's not like that. This statement by Paul is a heavenly leak. He is speaking now of things that no one has ever said, no one has ever thought of. What does this mean?
The fact that Gentiles and Jews were to be members of one body in the gospel of Jesus Christ was an unacceptable argument at the time. I will tell you this metaphorically so that you can understand it realistically. Replace it with the words that both Buddhists and Christians become members of one body and receive God's blessing. I don't even need to explain how exclusive the Korean church is to other religions today. Not only that, some people even consider all people outside the church to be children of Satan. In this context, what if someone from other religions and people who don't come to church say that we are all one in Christ? I am not saying that religious pluralism is right now. It is to convey Paul's thoughts on what the essence of the Christian faith is. His claim that Jews and Gentiles could be one member in Christ was very revolutionary at the time.
But Paul didn't say that blindly. I'm not saying that God said that to me in a dream last night. His claim that unity between Gentiles and Jews is possible in Christ is well-founded. That is the 'gospel'. Consider Paul's statement that “the Gentiles also heard the gospel.” The gospel is a concept that is in opposition to the law. The Jews claimed salvation through the law, but Jesus radically dismantled it. Salvation is a gift. Just as we already live in sunlight and air, God has given us life as life and has invited us into the world of life that will ultimately be completed. We are children of God as long as we believe that the kingdom and rule of God are close to us even though we have no achievements. That's right. Jesus has set us free from legal and moral righteousness.
The reason the Pharisees had to collide with Jesus in everything was because Jesus preached the gospel, not the law. Think about it. If you don't give your tithing, you believe that you have stolen God's things, and if you tell a person who has been paying tithes throughout your life, how will you react if you tell them that it is not an important part of your faith? How would you react if you told a person who had been tainted with anti-communism for the rest of his life that communism was also an effort to create a human community worthy of living, even though it failed?
Paul saw that Christ was the only way for Jews and Gentiles, who were now hostile to each other, to become one member. Others couldn't understand it. So that's the secret. Invisible to others, but visible to Paul, the mystery is clear. Because of Paul's faith, the historical church was able to emerge, and it has been able to maintain its existence to this day.
the secret of the church
In this respect, the Church is a completely new community, completely different from Judaism before. In Judaism these things were not known. They couldn't understand it, nor did they want to. It was hidden from them. So Paul says in verse 9: “And he made it clear to all people how God, the Creator of all things, brings to life a profound plan that has been hidden from the past.” The mystery of God the Creator, which was hidden from the Jews, has now been spread to the whole world by the Christian community centered on Paul. Look at verse 10. “In this way, in the end, even the gods of authority and the gods of power in the heavens will come to know God’s infinite wisdom through the church.” Shall we look further to verse 11? “All these are the eternal plans of God, ordained to be accomplished through Christ Jesus our Lord.”
A slightly more complex sentence we read above. Paul had a new understanding of the mystery of God. The secret was hidden, and now it has been revealed through Christ Jesus. Paul was a man on a mission to share that mystery. He was put in prison for doing that. Paul's mission is the same mission given to the church today. Paul explains the mission of this church in an apocalyptic representation. The heavenly gods of authority and the gods of power refer to the princes of the empire at that time. The emperors were the same as the forces of heaven with all-powerful power. It is through the church that they come to know the wisdom of God.
This divine wisdom has a similar meaning to the divine mystery mentioned earlier. The church is a community that makes this mystery, the wisdom of God, known to the authorities of this world. The people of the world do not know God's secrets and His wisdom. Even the Jews did not know it. In this respect, the church is the keeper of the mystery of God and its wisdom. It is a community that not only guards, but also testifies to it. How will it appear specifically? How can we remain guards and witnesses of secrets and wisdom?
Earlier I said that the church in Ephesus was a community of Gentiles and Jews. In the eyes of the Jews, the impossible happened in that church. It symbolizes the coincidence of the entire human race. The church in Ephesus stands for the unity of all mankind. The church of today must also pursue this. We should aim for unity in which the difference in skin color, gender, and rich and poor disappears, and ultimately the difference in religious form also disappears. We talked about how this is possible earlier. It is not a religious or moral achievement, but the gospel of approaching God through faith in Jesus Christ.
When you hear these words, you may think that we are preaching Jesus Christ. Of course that includes it, but more important than that is finding a way to overcome all the differences and discrimination that humans have produced and become one. North-South unity, black-and-white unity, and unity in the workplace would be necessary. Furthermore, it will require harmony between humans and nature. If the church becomes a church, the authorities will learn this wisdom of God through the church. But what about the real church? Not coincidence, but rather separation? Isn't it rather denying society and suppressing other religions in the name of Christ? Don't you keep trying to make sure you're good? The closer we get to Jesus Christ, the more we will find ways to connect with people, communities, and objects we thought impossible. That is the mystery of Christ, and at the same time, it is also the secret of the church we are part of today.