Perfect in Christ

1) Paul uses the word “mystery” several times in this passage. What do you think he means by this?
We see Paul write about the mystery of Christ in several of his letters. He writes to the Ephesians: “By reading this you are able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ. This was not made known to people in other generations as it is now revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit: The Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body, and partners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.” (Ephesians 3:4-6)
What’s so mysterious? Was God keeping a secret from them?
In the Old Testament and at the time of Jesus, the Jews were understood as God’s chosen people. The Gentiles (non-Jewish people) were seen as pagans and did not associate with Jews. God’s blessing was for Jews only, no Gentiles allowed! Jesus the Messiah changed all of that. In Acts 10, God reveals to Peter in a vision that the Gospel of Christ isn’t just for the Jews, but also for the Gentiles.  This was a big deal! Peter was immediately questioned and he explained the whole story to the Jewish Christians. After hearing him out, this was their response: “When they heard this they became silent. And they glorified God, saying, “So then, God has given repentance resulting in life even to the Gentiles.” (Acts 10:18). Welcoming Gentiles into the body of Christ was a total mystery to the Jews. But this is no mystery to God; this was His grand plan all along to redeem the world.

2) Are there other Pauline Epistles that have similar language to Paul’s struggling in 2:1? What can be learned from Paul’s struggle?
Paul was a passionate guy. Here we see him rejoicing in his suffering and struggling with all of his energy. In all of his letters we can read about his sufferings, his striving, and his affliction, but he is not dismayed. Instead, he tells the Philippians, “I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them as dung, so that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law, but one that is through faith in Christ—the righteousness from God based on faith.” (Philippians 3:8-9) All of his struggling is nothing in comparison to the joy that is found in Christ! In Romans, he encourages the believers (and us!) that suffering produces endurance, which leads to character, which leads to hope (Romans 5:3-4). Suffering for Christ is always worth it!

3) In verse 28 Paul desires to present everyone mature in Christ. “Mature” can also be translated “perfect”. What do you think Paul means by this?
Full perfection will only be accomplished when Christ returns and believers are fully made new. (Revelation 21:5) Until that time, Paul is not content with just a profession of faith. He wants believers growing in the faith and Christ-likeness. To the Corinthians he writes, “I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, since you were not yet ready for it. In fact, you are still not ready, because you are still worldly.” (1 Corinthians 3:2) Likewise, the author of Hebrews says, “Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the basic principles of God’s revelation again. You need milk, not solid food. Now everyone who lives on milk is inexperienced with the message about righteousness, because he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature—for those whose senses have been trained to distinguish between good and evil.” (Hebrews 5:12-14) The Church wouldn’t have grown from a few hundred believers to what it is today with Christians who were content to stay on “milk”. Instead, they grew up to take in solid food – the growing of their faith, discipleship, and evangelism.