Did you ever wonder how the figure of speech found in our title came to be used for the revealing of a secret? Some say it goes back to a time when piglets were sold in bags in open-air markets. In those days, an unscrupulous merchant might sell an unsuspecting patron a bag containingΒ a cat instead of a piglet, and it wasnβt until the hapless patron got home that the cat was out of the bag, and the merchantβs dishonest secret was revealed.
Well, beginning with the ministry of the Apostle Paul, an infinitely moreΒ pleasingΒ secret was revealed!
βPaulβ¦ an apostleβ¦Β in hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie,Β promised before the world beganβ¦Β But hath in due timesΒ manifestedΒ His word through preaching, which is committed unto meβ¦β (Titus 1:1-3).
If youβre not sure what that word βmanifestedβ means, it is well defined in something the Lord said:
ββ¦nothing isΒ secret, that shall not be madeΒ manifest, neither any thingΒ hid, that shall not beΒ knownβ¦β (Luke 8:17).
So to make somethingΒ manifestΒ means to makeΒ knownΒ something that wasΒ secretΒ orΒ hidden.
That certainly applies to the promise of eternal life that God made to a Gentile like Titus! God promisedΒ the JewsΒ eternal life throughout the pages of the Old Testament, and Gentiles who wanted to get saved in those days had to get in on that promise by becoming βproselytesβ (Acts 2:10). But Paul was raised up to reveal that Gentiles no longer had to become Jews to get the eternal life that God promised the Jews. Paul revealed that Gentiles hadΒ their ownΒ promise of eternal life, one that God made before the world began, but didnβt let the cat out of the bag until Paul came along.
There are many who hold that Gentiles who want to be saved today must stillΒ try to get in on Israelβs promise of eternal life by keeping the Law that God gave them through Moses. Others insist that Gentiles who want to be saved must submit to water baptism βfor the remission of sins,β as Peter told βthe men of Israelβ at Pentecost (Acts 2:38,22).
If youβre an unsaved Gentile,Β donβt you fall for it!Β God promised you eternal life long before the Law was given, and the apostle who revealed this promise says that eternal life canβt be obtained by the βworks of righteousnessβ of the Law (Titus 3:5). He further declares that it is βby the washing of regenerationβ (Titus 3:5) that we are saved, and not the washing of water baptism. The βregenerationβ or new birthΒ of which he speaks is yours βby graceβ¦through faithβ (Eph. 2:8), faith in the fact that Christ died for your sins, and rose again (I Cor. 15:1-4).
And if youβre an unsaved Jew, things have changed for you too! Just as Gentiles who wanted to be saved in time past had to look to Moses, the spiritual leader of the Jews, and be saved through the Law, so Jews who want to be saved today must look to Paul, βthe apostle of the Gentilesβ (Rom. 11:13), and be saved by grace through faith. Thatβs how the Body of Christ came to be made up of Jews and Gentiles (I Cor. 12:13; Gal. 3:28)!
So whether youβre a Jew or a Gentile, βBelieve on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be savedβ (Acts 16:31). source
