Ephesians 3:1-6 reads, “For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles— assuming that you have heard of the dispensation of God’s grace that was given to me for you, how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
Paul introduces the thought of the “dispensation of the grace of God” that was given to him to give to them. The word dispensation speaks of Paul’s stewardship. A steward was often a slave and Paul so identifies himself as a prisoner of the Lord or a servant in his letters (cf. Eph. 3:1). The role of a steward is to be faithful and responsible to do the work that was entrusted to him. It was a responsible position as it implies an owner giving the care of his estate or property to the steward. The position describes the role of authority as does the word “ambassador” (cf. 2 Cor. 5:20-21).
The “dispensation of the grace given Paul is the “revealing the mystery of Christ” that he wrote so they could read and understand. The revelation of the mystery was given to the “apostles and prophets in the Spirit.” While the apostles and prophets revealed the same mystery, it is especially stewardship of Paul on behalf of the Gentiles (verse 1). He was called to “preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ and to make all men see what is the dispensation of the mystery that had been hidden for ages” (3:8-9).
We would like to think that we have a special stewardship like Paul, but we have neither the same promise nor commission that was granted Paul. We are not apostles of Jesus Christ because (1) we have not been sent on a commission by Jesus, (2) we were not walking with Him from John’s baptism (3) and we did not witness the resurrection. Even if you wished to argue the first point, you cannot successfully argue the second and third. That which qualified the selection of an apostle in Acts 1 is found in verse 22. It reads, “Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection.”