Direct Revelation? 

Ephesians 3:3-4 How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, 4 Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) READ also Galatians 1.

Our question in this study is, ‘what did Paul mean, these verses, when he spoke of ‘revelation’ and why does God not reveal  the mysteries of heaven, in a similar fashion, to us?’

Before we go on there are two words in this passage that we need to understand.

Revelation. Not the book of Revelation, but the idea of God revealing himself to us, which he has done.  We cannot, in our human foolishness, ever understand God, his person, his holiness, his power, his greatness, all the superlatives that we use to try to describe the Almighty. God must reveal himself to us.  
Mystery. (μυστήριον mystērion) In this context, a mystery is a secret which would remain such but that God himself had revealed it to us.

1 Paul is an APOSTLE. How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery;

Paul has received this important, direct revelation from God, a revelation which was unique to him, telling him something about God, not previously revealed and which is to be shared with us. There are some important points that we need to remember…

• He held a unique position. Paul was an apostle, an office that was totally unique in the church. The apostles appointed pastors, and teachers and evangelists in the churches, not more apostles.  
• Paul lived at a unique time.  It was a moment in history that would never be repeated. The new body of believers that was the church, was built upon Christ and his teachings, with the apostles laying that foundation, doing the foundational work that they were appointed by God to do. READ 1 Corinthians 3:10-12 and Ephesians 2:20.
• He had a unique conversion and call. To be an apostle, one had to have met the risen Christ. Cf Acts 1:21-22.  Paul was a rebellious sinner, a religious fanatic who hated Christianity and its message of salvation by grace, not by any means a disciple of Jesus.  The risen Christ himself confronted him as he journeyed along a road and spoke to him, and revealed himself to him, – we know that passage very well indeed – but not just on that road to Damascus, but afterwards as well. READ: Galatians 1:11-12, and 15-19.

No-one taught Paul to be an apostle. So how can he say that God has revealed this great mystery to him – a mystery so profound that no-one else understood it fully? Jesus not only revealed himself to Paul at his conversion, but that he, like the other apostles, who had studied with Christ for three years, as his disciples, he, (Paul) was similarly schooled by Jesus, in direct revelation, (significantly Gal 1:18 – three years with Christ alone in a desert place!). Paul, in personal communication with the One who had created the universe and redeemed his people, and God revealed his divine purpose to his chosen servant.

So, can we receive similar direct revelation from God?  The answer is NO. There are NO apostles today. Paul was the last one. The foundation has been laid and it doesn’t need to be laid again, Paul himself tells us that he was the last to meet with Christ in this way. READ 1 Corinthians 15:8  We will see him again, one day, on this earth, when he returns, to judge the world, or we will meet him face to face, when as believers we arrive on heaven’s shore. Not in this world though! YET:-

2. God HAS Spoken and DOES Speak to US!

When we speak of the Doctrine of Revelation today, we understand that God has spoken to us in two ways. 

General revelation. God has revealed himself, the Almighty Creator God, in his work of Creation. There are many examples! The Psalmist specifically states this in  Psalm 19:1  and Romans 1:20  But there is also…

Special revelation. God has revealed himself to us in his word, – in the Bible, which is God’s inspired and infallible word. It shapes our conscience and informs our world-view and we live by its precepts. 

• We hear God speaking by reading His word. 2 Timothy 3:15-17. That’s why you should read your bible every day, and it is why you should bring it with you to church, so you can read the word of God for yourself..
• We are saved, faith is born within us, through His word.  John 1:18  John 6:46  So how then are we saved? READ Romans 10:17  

In Eph. 3:3, When Paul tells the Ephesians that he has received this unique and special revelation from God, he does NOT tell them to seek a similar revelation. He points them to something that HE HAS ALREADY WRITTEN. (2:14-22) He refers them to THE WRITTEN WORD OF GOD.  This sets the principle for us – the authoritative revelation of God to us is found in what has been written through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.  The inspiration and authority of the written word of God as being the authoritative rule of faith and conduct for every man and woman. That’s how God spoke to the Ephesians, and it is how God speaks to us today. That’s why we are still reading these words, these letters to this day. Because when we read the Bible, OT and NT, God is speaking to us. He does not speak to us in dreams or in ‘wee words dropped into your heart’ or in charismatic gifts.  To encounter Christ today, – open up your Bible and read it.

Did Paul know, when he was writing this epistle to the Ephesians, and his other letters to churches and pastors, that his work would be read 2000 years later, bound up in a book, along with the OT and the Gospels etc? Did he realise as he wrote that his words would carry the weight of the authoritative, divinely inspired word of God, – be a part of the Canon of Scripture?  I’m convinced that Paul knew perfectly well the importance of what he was doing. He knew he was an apostle, and he knew that God spoke to him in a way that he did not speak to others, and knew that he was a chosen instrument in publishing the Gospel of Christ in all the world. When he wrote his letters were to be read in public, in the church, and not just in one church but in others too. By the time 2 Peter was written, the reading of Paul’s letters in assembled groups of believers was an established practice. 2 Peter 3:15-16.  Paul’s letters were intended by him, to be read in Christian Churches, in the same way, and with the same authority that the OT Scriptures were read in the Jewish synagogues. Paul knew what he was doing, and he knew that what he was writing was God’s own words, inspired and infallible, and inerrant. 

© Bob McEvoy