I want to first touch upon the place of our “The Fellowship of the Mystery” (Eph. 3:9) which concerns the union of Christ and “His body” members – “the Church, which is His body” (Eph. 1:22b-23a)

Prior to Paul’s ministry and today’s “dispensation of the Grace of God,” if one was to be saved and have a relationship with the God of the Bible, he was to believe and obey whatever doctrine God had revealed. In the age immediately before Paul, during the dispensation of “the Law,” if somebody wanted fellowship with the God of Scripture, that individual had to come through the nation Israel based upon its distinct relationship with God under “the Law.” A Gentile proselyte would have to be circumcised and keep Moses Law, etc.

But, when God saved Saul of Tarsus in Acts 9 and made him Paul, “the Apostle to the Gentiles” (Rom. 11:13) He began ‘a new body of believers’ called “the Church, the Body of Christ” in which there is no difference between Jew or Gentile (1 Cor. 12:13; Gal. 3:28; 5:6, 6:15). His body is “a new creature [creation]” (2 Cor. 5:17), “one new man” (Eph. 2:15), a new species of mankind. This is “the fellowship of the mystery” referred to below

⁹ And to make all men see what is the Fellowship Of The Mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: Ephesians 3:9 (KJV)

²⁵ Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my [Paul’s] gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the Revelation of The Mystery, which was Kept Secret since the world began, Rom. 16:25 (KJV)

His “body” is in no way to be confused with the nation Israel. Israel and “the Body of Christ” will always remain separate entities unto their two different callings and eternal destinies. Israel is destined to dwell on the new earth and co-reign with Christ forever (Rev. 5:10, 20:6), but “the body of Christ” is destined to dwell “eternal in the heavens,” co-reigning with Christ forever “in the heavenly places” (2Cor 5:1b, Phili. 3:20-21).

Paul wrote in Eph. 3:7-9 that he was made a minister, an apostle, in order to preach to the Gentiles…

“the unsearchable [the previously kept secret] riches of Christ,” and to “make all men see what is The Fellowship of The Mystery….”

The goal of Paul’s ministry was to reveal “unsearchable” (previously-hid) doctrinal truth. This included having Gentiles see and understand “the mystery (secret).” This was hidden from Israel’s O.T. prophets (Jn. 5:39). These Gentiles are God’s representative during today’s “dispensation of the Grace of God.”

The “fellowship of the mystery” is the “Church the Body of Christ,” in union with Christ. It is a secret group of believers that God said nothing about until the resurrected, ascended, and glorified Lord Jesus Christ revealed it first to the Apostle Paul, and to us through his epistles (Romans through Philemon). The “body of Christ” is separate and distinct from the nation Israel and her Prophetic Program that had been operating prior to Paul. It cannot be stressed enough that the nation Israel has nothing to do with “the Church the Body of Christ.”

It is vital that we note the difference between individual Jews, racially, and that of the Nation Israel. This will become clear as we look at a comparison between the KJV and the NIV version of Ephesians 3:6. With no manuscript evidence, the NIV Translators Added to God’s Word here below, perpetuating error!

NIV - “This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of ‘one body’, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 3:6 (NIV)

KJV - “That the Gentiles [Gk. ethnos, ALL races or ethnicities, Gentiles and Jews all seen as Gentiles] should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body [the body of Christ], and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel [Paul’s gospel for the Gentiles):” Ephesians 3:6 (KJV)

Note in the KJV that ‘Israel’ is not at all mentioned or ‘singled out,’ but it references those of “the same body [of Christ].” It says we of “the body of Christ” are “fellow-heirs” with the believing Jews of this age of “the grace of God,” as members of the “same body.”  The “body of Christ” is NOT an add-on to the Nation Israel as the NIV implies!

We of the “one body” of Christ have a different calling and inheritance from that of the Nation Israel.

• Israel’s calling and inheritance is “earthly.” (Deut. 32:8, Psa. 2:8)

“When the most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.” (Deuteronomy 32:8 (KJV)
“Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.” (Psalm 2:8 (KJV)

• Our calling and our inheritance as “the body of Christ” is “heavenly.” (Phili. 3:20-21, 2Tim. 2:12)

“For our conversation [Gk. politeuma, citizenship] is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:” (Philippians 3:20 (KJV)

Again, the “Church the Body of Christ” has nothing to do with the Nation Israel. Sadly, The NIV, like most corrupt modern bible translators and publishers, has no appreciation for ‘dispensational Bible study.’

Please understand that today believing Jews as individuals can be saved and placed into “the Church, the Body of Christ” the same way that Gentiles do, by simple faith in Jesus Christ and His finished Cross-work as the sufficient payment for their sins, according to Paul’s Grace Gospel (1 Cor. 15:3-4; cf. Rom. 4:1-8).

Today, during this age of “the grace of God,” God is dealing with all men (both Jews and Gentiles), but He is NOT dealing with Jews on the NATIONAL basis as Israel, as He did under Israel’s Old Covenant (prior to Paul,) or as He will do in the future under Israel’s New Covenant, after our dispensation of grace ends.

• Today the ‘Nation Israel’ is
• “fallen” and “cast away” (Rom. 11:10-11),
• “blinded” 11:25) and
• seen as “enemies of God” (Rom. 11:28).

The Church, the Body of Christ” is not fallen or an enemy of God, so “the Church the Body of Christ” and the ‘Nation Israel’ are two different entities or groups!

¹⁰ Let their [Israel’s] eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway. ¹¹ I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their [Israel’s] fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. ¹⁵ For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead? ²⁵ For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles [the fullness or completion of ‘the body of Christ’] be come in. Romans 11:10-11, 15, 25 (KJV)