3:6
Paul now outlines what the “mystery” is. It is that through the gospel both the Gentiles and Israel are heirs of all the promises of God. Two of the dominant features of the Old Testament are that on the one hand it is full of promises of blessing, but on the other Israel is utterly sinful. So how could a sinful people inherit the promises of a holy God? And while there are promises that the blessings are for the whole world (Gen12:2,3 and in various of the prophets, especially Isaiah), the action is very much focused on Israel. Why do things this way? Part of the answer may be that Israel is a microcosm of the situation of the whole of humanity. For we are all sinners, Jews and Gentiles alike. At the time of Jesus and the early church it seems that the Jews were resentful that the blessings were going to the Gentiles. They had no right to them! Indeed they didn’t, but neither did Israel on her own merits. In Christ, and only in Christ can both Jews and Gentiles inherit the promises, and we are no longer rivals but brothers in Christ.
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