βIf ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-wardβ (Eph. 3:2).
Could it be that those to whom Paul addressed his Ephesian letter had not yet heard that God had committed to him βthe dispensation of graceβ?
Next to the death and resurrection of Christ, the conversion of Paul and his commission to proclaim βthe gospel of the grace of Godβ was the greatest event in history . The apostles at Jerusalem had recognized the importance of Paulβs part in the divine program. They themselves had at first been sent by Christ into βall the world,β yet in Gal. 2:9 we find James, Peter and John publicly shaking hands with Paul in a solemn agreement that he should henceforth be the apostle to the nations.
Could it be that some twelve years later, when he wrote the Ephesian letter, there were any who professed the name of Christ who had not heard of Paulβs special place in the program of God as the apostle of grace? Little wonder his words βif ye have heardβ carry with them a touch of reproach.
It is possible, of course, that there were some among them, but recently brought into the Church, who had not heard, but what seems utterly incredible is that there should be even one believer at this late date who has not heard that after Christ and His kingdom had been rejected and the world was ripe for prophesied judgment to fall, God intervened, saving Saul, His chief enemy on earth, and sending him forth with βthe good news of the grace of God.β
This good news is based, of course, upon the fact that since Christ was the spotless Lamb of God, His death is accepted by God as full satisfaction for the sinner. Thus Paul, by divine inspiration, declares that believers are βjustified freely by His [Godβs] grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesusβ (Rom. 3:24). source
