‘That is that the Gentiles are fellow-heirs, and fellow-members of the body, and fellow-partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the Gospel.'
This is the revealed mystery, that the Gentiles come on the same basis as believing Jews and partake of all the promises of God without having to become Jewish proselytes. They are fellow-heirs. That means that on believing they inherit the promises made to Abraham and the Prophets, and now belong to the commonwealth of the true Israel. They are fellow-members of the body. This is the body mentioned in Ephesians 2:16, the new man made of both Jew and Gentile united with Christ. The Greek for ‘body' is ‘sussoma', a combination of ‘sun' (with) with ‘soma' (body). The emphasis is thus not on the body but on the oneness of it. Thus they are no longer alienated. They are fellow-partakers of the promise. Thus they are no longer strangers to the promises. They are one body together ‘in Christ', joint heirs, joint members, joint beneficiaries.
‘In Christ Jesus through the Gospel.' This is how the miracle has been brought about, through the offering of Christ Jesus on the cross as a sacrifice as proclaimed in the Gospel and by their being united with Him in His body (Ephesians 2:13; Ephesians 2:16; 1 Corinthians 1:17-18).
It is difficult for us to appreciate how great this change was. As a Pharisee Paul had believed implicitly in the precedence of the Jews in all things related to God. The Gentiles were in the shadows, with a comparatively few coming humbly to take hold of the coat tails of the Jews. But now all this is turned upside down. Now all God's ways are open to all who believe on equal terms, and all are equal in God's sight.