The Function Of The Church
THE FUNCTION OF THE CHURCH
EPHESIANS 3:7-13
The purpose of the church is not just to be a social gathering, but to reflect God’s purpose of making believers alive in Christ and disarming evil powers.
Paul’s life and mission was governed by his commission to be the “apostle to the Gentiles.” He never lost a deep sense of privilege that God had allowed him to preach “the unsearchable riches” of the gospel. His comment that he was “the very least of all the saints” in 3:8 must be understood against the background of his persecution of the church before his conversion (see 1 Corinthians 15:9f.; 1 Timothy 1:12-16).
Paul’s task is to make all understand the nature of God’s plan to gather all things together in the church, which is a fellowship of those who share his secret that the gospel is for the Gentiles as well as the Jews (3:9-11). Paul appears to shift the emphasis from the person of Christ to the church in 3:9-10 when speaking of “the mystery.” But it is only an apparent change.
Because the church is the body of Christ, the mystery of Christ is incorporated and made visible in the church. The church does not exist as an end in itself but to be the showcase in which God displays his wisdom to the world, and particularly to those powers of destruction that are opposed to his purposes. The church had been in existence only a few dozen years, but already it had made an impact on the realm of the hostile powers.
This extremely high concept of the church is consistent with God’s eternal purpose, which found its expression in the cross of Christ. Through the cross, believers are made alive (1:7; 2:13-18) and rulers and authorities (Paul is probably referring to demonic rulers and authorities) are disarmed (Colossians 2:15). Believers being made alive and evil powers being disarmed are two effects of reconciliation that must be reflected in the church. Paul’s language implies an entirely new concept of mission in which the church takes seriously its cosmic significance and finds in its access to Christ the resources sufficient for its task.