‘Whereof I was made a minister (diakonos) according to the stewardship of God which was given me towards you, to fulfil the word of God, even the mystery which has been hid from all ages and generations, but now has it been openly revealed to his saints, to whom God was pleased to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you the hope of glory.'
Paul stresses again that he has been made a servant in accordance with the stewardship from God which was given to him to ‘fulfil the word of God', that is to preach it openly and fully and to bring into being what the prophets promised beforehand (Romans 16:26; 1 Peter 1:10; 2 Peter 3:2).
What had been prophesied was ‘a mystery', something hidden. But now it was revealed to all those who would receive it. None who will hear are excepted. It had been hidden ‘from ages and from generations' but was now openly revealed to all His people (no exclusivism here). Indeed God was pleased to make known to them the full glorious riches of that mystery, and that mystery was ‘Christ in you, the hope of glory', Christ in the Gentiles who are to share in all the blessings brought by the Messiah.
That God's word was to be a blessing to the Gentiles was declared again and again in the Old Testament, and the Jews had welcomed Gentile proselytes on this basis (e.g. Genesis 12:3; Isaiah 42:1; Isaiah 42:6-7; Isaiah 49:6). But they had to become Jews. What had not previously been revealed was that they were to be received on equal terms as fellow-heirs, fellow-members of the body, fellow-partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus revealed by the Gospel (Ephesians 3:6)
‘To fulfil the word of God.' Here Paul may be saying that he has brought the word of God into effect by his preaching and ensured its fulfilment. But compare Romans 15:19, ‘so that from Jerusalem and round about, even to Illyricum, I have fulfilled the Gospel of Christ', which means that he has preached it fully, completely and successfully over a wide area.
‘The riches of the glory (a Hebraism for ‘glorious riches', Hebrew was lacking in adjectives) of the mystery.' No richer mystery could be known for it brought home to them the ‘unsearchable riches of Christ' (Ephesians 3:8).
‘Christ in you, the hope of glory.' How are we to express fully this amazing fact and its consequences, the reception of the unsearchable riches of Christ (Ephesians 3:8)? Christ the Creator and Redeemer being among them and in them, possessing them, dwelling within each of them (Ephesians 3:17), working in them (Philippians 2:13), united with them so that they have become His body, and are thus becoming perfected together as He is perfect, being made complete as He is complete, and are experiencing His saving work which will bring them to their glorious inheritance and destiny (Colossians 1:12; Acts 26:18; Ephesians 1:14) and give them glory (Romans 5:2; Rom 8:18; 1 Corinthians 15:43; 2 Corinthians 3:18; 2 Corinthians 4:17; Ephesians 1:18; 2 Thessalonians 2:14; 2 Timothy 2:10; 1 Peter 5:4).