“Unto me [Paul], who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;” – Ephesians 3:8
Christ gave to Paul a message of grace containing riches unknown since the world began.
If we searched enough we can find all sorts of riches God has promised in the scriptures, but if they are found in the Jewish scriptures then they are not “unsearchable” as Paul describes.
Jesus told Israel to “search the scriptures” to hear his testimony:
“Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.” – John 5:39
Anyone in Israel could read about the riches God had promised through the Messiah to Israel. They are found in covenants and promises and are all a part of prophecy. This is why the noble unbelieving Berean Jews “searched the scriptures daily” to find out whether Jesus was the Christ (Acts 17:11).
Certainly, they were not reading Paul’s epistles which had not even been written yet!
In the Jewish scriptures, they could have searched out the many prophecies about the first coming of Christ being fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth.
Peter at Pentecost preaches the coming restoration of Israel and the fulfillment of God’s promises to Israel in the new covenant. All of the new covenant riches were spoken by the prophets since the world began, and could be searched out (Acts 3:19).
What is unsearchable is not included in what can be searched from the scriptures. Unsearchable riches were not part of Peter’s message.
The searchable riches to Israel under the new covenant are not the unsearchable riches Christ gave Paul to preach.
We have riches in Christ that are not found in Israel’s scriptures (Eph 3:8).
“And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God,…” – Eph 3:9
These unsearchable riches are the subject of what Paul calls the mystery of Christ (Eph 3:4; Col 4:3).
“To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:” – Col 1:27
God is creating a new creature today in Christ (2 Cor 5:17). This new creature was not described and cannot be searched out in the Jewish scriptures. It was a mystery kept secret.
God has a heavenly place for the church, the Body of Christ, that cannot be described in the prophetic revelations, promises, and covenants to Israel.
The unsearchable riches of Christ according to the mystery cannot be searched out in the scriptures to Israel.
We can only learn about these unsearchable riches from our apostle Paul who was first sent to preach Christ according to the revelation of the mystery.
Article Index Published: October 24, 2015
Last Modified: August 31, 2018