he embraced Manicheaism, a philosophy that pursues ancient Zoroastrianism, Gnostic Christianity, and paganism, and teaches that equal forces of good and evil are pitted against each other in the world. When he was twenty-one Augustine became a teacher of rhetoric, what we today would call today public speech and debate, and was soon known as a great orator. He moved to Rome when he was twenty-nine to further his career, and a year later ended up in Milan. He studied the Christian faith under Ambrose, the Bishop of Milan. He was still seeking wisdom a year later when he claimed to have a Platonic ecstatic experience. Augustine was given over to sexual promiscuity and debauchery, and had many mistresses. During all these years, his mother Monica faithfully prayed for his salvation. Finally, Augustine was in a state of great conflict. He believed Christianity was true, but he loved his licentious lifestyle, and he knew that conversion to Christ would mean the end of his debauchery. He was in a garden one day with his friend Alypius when he asked to be by himself. He sat down on a bench and heard a child saying over and over, “Tolle lege, tolle lege,” This phrase meant, “Take up and read, take up and read.” Augustine saw a copy of Paul’s epistle to the Romans and opened it, reading the first passage he saw, “Let us behave properly as in the day, putting aside all carousing and drunkenness, sexual promiscuity and sensuality, jealousy and strife; and put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts,” (Romans 13:13–14). At that very moment Augustine saw his sin, repented, and believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. God the Holy Spirit utterly transformed Augustine from the inside out. He was wondrously converted and five years later became a pastor. Eventually he became a Bishop, and led the way against the heretic Pelagius, who denied original sin.4
All the years of searching for wisdom finally resulted in the mystery of the gospel being revealed to Augustine. Paul the Apostle in Ephesians 1:9 is speaking of this mystery. Jesus speaks of “the mystery of the kingdom” in Matthew 13:11. In Matthew 11:25, Jesus says, “Father I thank You that you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to babes.” Paul speaks of this mystery in many places, (see Ephesians 3:2ff, 6:19, 1 Corinthians 2:6ff, Romans 11:25, 16:25, Colossians 1:27, 4:3). A mystery is something once concealed but later revealed. The Old Testament spoke of Christ but in types and shadows. The advent of Christ made the gospel clear. Paul is saying in Ephesians 1:9 that we ought to celebrate the revelation of the mystery of the gospel. The simple truth is this—if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, then the mystery of the gospel has been made clear to you. God has opened your eyes and ears. He has enabled you to repent and believe. There are, of course, other mysteries in the Bible, doctrines like the Trinity and the hypostatic union (how the two natures of Christ can be in one person), but Paul is speaking here of the mystery of the gospel made known to us for salvation by the work of the Holy Spirit.
Know this—the gospel continues to be, to those without eyes to see or ears to hear, utter and complete foolishness, (see 1 Corinthians 1:18, 2:14). Why? Theologians speak of the fall into sin putting us into a state of corruption, status corruptionis. This fall has rendered us non posse, non peccare, not possible not to sin. This corruption had produced in all of us the noetic (from the Greek word nous, which means mind) effects of sin. Our minds are so adversely affected by the fall that we cannot understand the gospel of Christ. It is foolishness to us. Here’s an application for all church leaders—if this is true, then why compromise the gospel message? Why water it down? Why hint at the possibility of other ways to God? Why flatter people by refusing to tell them how corrupt they are, how sinful they are? Why stay away from the H word (the doctrine of hell)? The natural man, the unconverted, sees the gospel as foolishness. Of course he does not believe it. The Holy Spirit must call him, regenerate him. Then and only then are his eyes and ears opened.
And here’s a personal application—if you are a believer, remember that you had nothing to do with it. God has revealed the mystery to you. He has opened your eyes and ears so that you may rejoice in being called a sinner and in trusting the sufficiency of Christ on the cross.
And here is another practical application—put away your former poverty and live out your privileges, responsibilities, and securities. The old man, the old you, is dead (Romans 6:1–5), what you were before you became a Christian. Don’t go back to the way you lived formerly. How stupid would it be for a wealthy man coming out of poverty to go back to that lifestyle! Instead live out your privileges. You can start by meditating on your adoption, your access to the Father, and the comforting fact of the Spirit and the Son are interceding for you, (see Romans 8:14ff). But you also need to live out your responsibilities. How about Romans 12:1ff, where you are commanded to offer yourselves as living sacrifices to God; where you are told to love one another, to forgive one another, to show kindness to one another, where you are called to live authentic lives before a watching world. And finally you need to live out your securities. Oh, there is so much in Scripture about this! Consider Isaiah 25:1, 43:1–3, 45:6ff, 46: 8ff, 40:27ff.
Will you bow in awe and wonder at God revealing to you the mystery of redemption? God in His sheer mercy has opened your eyes to see what so many cannot see. To whom much is given, much is required. Will you not live out your privileges, responsibilities, and securities in covenantal faithfulness? Will you not pour out your life for the progress of the gospel in your community and beyond? This progress is true revival living. It is Acts 2 Christianity.
4. Piper, The Legacy of Sovereign Joy: God’s Triumphant Grace in the Lives of Augustine, Luther, and Calvin, 60.
Foreordination
In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will.
Ephesians 1:11
John Owen, the greatest of the Puritan theologians was born in 1616, the year William Shakespeare died and four years before the Pilgrims landed in Massachusetts. He was a brilliant theologian who wrote profound and helpful books that many still feast upon today. He served with Oliver Cromwell, The Lord Protector of England, during the cessation of kingly rule in England. Owen preached numerous times in Parliament, and was a major contributor at the Westminster Assembly in 1643 and onward. But Owen’s public life is not what I want to stress here. He was married for thirty-one years and his wife blessed him with eleven children, ten of whom died in infancy and one as a young adult. His wife died five years before he did. How could Owen possibly live with a sense of peace, joy, and fervency for Christ in the midst of untold tragedy? It is true that death was very much a day to day reality for people in the seventeenth century, and families commonly experienced infant mortality. But eleven children? This number is truly remarkable. That’s simply staggering. How was Owen able to weather such storms?5
Ephesians 1:11 gives us an insight. Paul, in verse 10, is presenting an overarching plan or purpose for all things, saying that Christ Jesus is the household manager as it were (oikos, nomos, our word economics) , given responsibility by the Father to direct and dispose all things for His glory. He goes on to say that Christ Jesus will sum up again, make all things right on that great day of His return. Now Paul deals with present realities. Every English translation of the Bible I have consulted translates this verse as inheritance or heritage, “In Him we have obtained an inheritance, a heritage.” Certainly it is a glorious truth that we have an inheritance from the God, that we are heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ; but I suggest “inheritance” is not what Paul has in view here. The Greek word is our root word for lot. In Joshua we read of how God directed Joshua to allot portions of land to the twelve tribes of Israel. It seems to me that a more accurate translation of this verse is, “in whom we also were made to receive a lot, this lot being foreordained or predestinated according to God’s purpose, who continually works or energizes all things after His deliberate, well intentioned will.” This means that you have a lot from God. Whatever your life situation is—marriage, children, health, money, you name it—this is God’s lot for you. Furthermore, this lot has been foreordained, predestined by God, (see Romans 8:29–30, Isaiah 14:27, Daniel 4:34–35). God has planned it from eternity past. This plan is not bad luck, chance, or