“Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: ²⁷ To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ In You, the hope of glory:” Colossians 1:26-27

While beyond the space available for our present study, it should not be overlooked that the apostles did indeed often use their authority to take official action in the absence of their King. So, they chose a successor for Judas (Acts 1), proclaimed in no uncertain way Israel’s failure and the terms for her salvation (Acts 2-3), withstood attempts at deceit (Acts 5) and division (Acts 6), while working many “signs and wonders and divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost” (Heb. 2:4).

While early Acts clearly demonstrates that the “little flock” Messianic Church carried on the program Jesus had committed to them, so also Acts 15 demonstrates “the Twelve” Apostles exercising their authority.

The Twelve and Paul:

It was by the very authority vested in them by their Messiah that “the Twelve” Apostles (along with the Jerusalem church as a whole) turned over their ministry to the nations (the Gentiles) to that other Apostle, the Apostle Paul.

Frankly, Paul did not need them to appoint him “the apostle of the Gentiles.” He clearly states that his apostleship was “not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ” (Gal. 1:1). It was Christ Himself who had appointed Paul to the “office” of “the apostle of the Gentiles” (Rom. 11:13). Yet, the circumcision saints (Israel) needed to recognize this change in their program. They needed to recognize Paul’s apostleship and this they did in an official, public way.

The Binding and Loosing of Ministries:

Recognizing that Israel’s long prophesied program had been interrupted by Paul’s “preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery (secret plan),” the leaders of the “Little Flock” Messianic Church gave Paul and Barnabas “the right hands of fellowship,” agreeing that “we (Paul and Barnabas) should go unto the heathen (Gentiles), and they (the twelve) unto the circumcision (Israel).”

By this public, official action they were not only ‘binding’ the heathen (i.e., all the unsaved, whether Jew or Gentile, from then on) over to Paul, they were also ‘loosing’ themselves from their former commission. From that day onward, all men (Jews and Gentiles) were to be seen as Gentiles, so, the only way to be saved was through Paul’s grace gospel for “all men.”

The so-called “Great Commission,” as the Fundamentalist call it, as followed by so many in our day, actually Went Out Of Commission by the official action of the Twelve Apostles and their brethren of Israel, to whom it was given!

Failure to see that the post-resurrection commissions of Christ did not survive the meeting of Acts 15 as noted in Gal. 2:7-9, has caused untold confusion and havoc among sincere believers through the centuries. How much better to recognize what Peter and his brethren understood and rejoice in the new gospel message Christ sent forth through that other apostle (Paul) and thus join him in seeking “to make all men see.”

Accordingly, Paul wrote:

“Whereof I (Paul) was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power. Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; 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” (Eph. 3:7-9)

The “Fellowship of The Mystery” is the literal union that has taken place between the resurrected indwelling Lord Jesus Christ and the believers who are the now living “members of His body” … “the body of Christ,” and also the relationship the members of “His body” have with each other.

Our grace commission today is “to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God”; to this Peter and the others of “the Twelve” apostles would agree.