promise referred to was doubtless the "promise of the Father," the
gift of the Holy Ghost. "That the blessing of Abraham might come on
the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the _promise
of the Spirit through faith_" (Gal. 3:14). "For this cause," says
Paul, "I was made a minister ... that I should preach among the
Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; and _to make all men see_
what is the fellowship of the mystery ... to the intent that now unto
the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known BY THE
CHURCH the manifold wisdom of God" (Eph. 3: 1-10).

[Sidenote: Was divinely attested]

Paul was given a tremendous task--"TO MAKE ALL MEN SEE" that mystery.
This task required from God "the effectual working of his power"
(verse 7). And in another place he also shows that this power was not
lacking: "For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which
Christ hath not wrought by me, to make the Gentiles obedient, by word
and deed, through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit
of God" (Rom. 15: 18, 19).

Paul, then, was divinely commissioned "_to make all men see_" the
mystery of this union of all classes of men "_in one body_ by the
cross" (Eph. 2: 16), all in "the SAME body, and partakers of his
promise in Christ by the gospel" (Eph. 3: 6). And when Paul's career
was finished, the same mystery was given over to others that it might
be "known BY THE CHURCH" (verse 10), "the church, which is his body"
(Eph. 1: 22, 23). The ministry, then, should have held the ground
already attained, the actual union of all the saved in one body, and
have labored earnestly "to make all men see" that that body only is
the church.