This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus.
Parallel translations
- WEB that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of his promise in Christ Jesus through the Good News,
- KJV That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:
- NKJV that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel,
- NASB to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel,
- NLT And this is God’s plan: Both Gentiles and Jews who believe the Good News share equally in the riches inherited by God’s children. Both are part of the same body, and both enjoy the promise of blessings because they belong to Christ Jesus.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The mystery is that Gentiles are fellow heirs, members, and partakers of the promise in Christ. It defines the content of the revealed mystery as Gentile inclusion.
Overview
Paul states the mystery plainly: through the gospel, Gentiles are 'fellow heirs, and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of his promise in Christ Jesus.' The threefold 'fellow' stresses full equality with believing Jews. This union of Jew and Gentile in one body is the heart of God's once-hidden, now-revealed plan.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Gal 3:26–29You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
- Gal 3:14He redeemed us in order that the blessing promised to Abraham would come to the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.
- Rom 8:15–17For you did not receive a spirit of slavery that returns you to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
- 1 Jn 1:3We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And this fellowship of ours is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ.
- 1 Jn 2:25And this is the promise that He Himself made to us: eternal life.
- 1 Cor 12:27Now you are the body of Christ, and each of you is a member of it.
- Gal 4:5–7to redeem those under the law, that we might receive our adoption as sons.
- Eph 2:13–22But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.
- Col 2:19He has lost connection to the head, from whom the whole body, supported and knit together by its joints and ligaments, grows as God causes it to grow.
- Eph 5:30For we are members of His body.
- Eph 5:7Therefore do not be partakers with them.
- 1 Cor 12:12The body is a unit, though it is composed of many parts. And although its parts are many, they all form one body. So it is with Christ.
- Rom 12:4–5Just as each of us has one body with many members, and not all members have the same function,
- Eph 4:15–16Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Christ Himself, who is the head.
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Christ at the center
Every spiritual blessing is 'in Christ,' the head over all things for the church, in whom Jew and Gentile are made one new man by his blood.
How Ephesians 3:6 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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