“To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 3:8)
The mystery that St. Paul is referring to is the incarnation of Jesus Christ, which was part of God’s plan before creation. This mystery is deeper than even the creation of the universe, since it involves the entry into time, space and creation—in a word, into a human life—of Jesus Christ. And the reason for His coming to be one of us while remaining in all ways God is because of the love for us of the Father and the Holy Spirit, as well as the Son of God.
The apostle explains that it was given to him not because he had so great an intellect that he worked it out rationally, nor because he did anything to merit that insight which totally changed his life. That’s why he called himself “the least of all the saints.” It was by grace alone, the free gift from the Holy Spirit that enlightened him to the awareness of what God in Trinity has done for humanity. But he didn’t covet that mystery and keep it to himself.
He spent the remaining time of his life with a single purpose: “To make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery.” This is the meaning of evangelism. Here is the work of an apostle. He left it to others to spread the word of the Lord among the Jews, because that should have been the simplest task of the evangelist. They were the “chosen people,” set apart for the purpose of setting an example of what the Lord Almighty expected from His people—first the Jews, then the Gentiles.
St. Paul felt he was having little success among his own kind, so he determined, or better stated, the Holy Spirit led him to take that wonderful, baffling revelation to the Gentiles. However, he didn’t evangelize as an individual; he spread the gospel as a member of the Church. This truth is the crossroads where the Orthodox Church parts company with many cults and sects in America and elsewhere. Our nation founded on rebellion and proclaiming its independence politically in a proud declaration tends to glorify the individual who stands alone against a community, and many among our citizens would understand St. Paul as one such loner. Yet a careful reading of Acts and the writings of St. Paul demonstrates his collaboration with the Church and their leaders, the apostles led by St. Peter and the Lord’s brother, James, in Jerusalem. The new reality that entered the world on the day of Pentecost is the Church, those who are called out of the conventional world [Greek: ecclesia means “called out”]. The Church is based on two Persons of the Holy Trinity, the Son of God and the Holy Spirit. They act as the arms of the heavenly Father, aiding and inspiring the members of the church to unite with the Holy Trinity themselves, and to “go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19).
What are those “unsearchable riches of Christ”? We receive only a foretaste, an aperitif of those riches, when we open ourselves to the glorious life in Christ. The joy that comes with the conquest of lust, anger and greed with the help of the Holy Spirit, the awareness that “I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me,” the feeling of Christ’s love and proof in His Cross, the “peace of God that passes all understanding,” and the knowledge that death is not the end of my existence, only a transition into the glory of the Lord and the opportunity to behold the face of God for all eternity.