The mystery proclaimed by Paul
I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power. 8 Although I am less than the least of all God’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things.
Paul says, “I became a servant of this gospel.” He wasn’t one originally. Paul always remained painfully aware that earlier in his career, as an ardent Pharisee, he had been violently opposed to Christ and a vicious persecutor of Christians. On one occasion, while on his way to Damascus to conduct a raid on Christians in that city, the risen Christ confronted Paul on the road. He literally knocked him to the ground and brusquely rebuked him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” (Acts 9:4; see 9:1-19; 22:6-16; 26:12-18 for Paul’s description of his call.)
Through the “working of his [Christ’s] power,” Paul became a convert to Christianity, a “servant of this gospel,” who willingly accepted the assignment to carry the message of Christ to the Gentiles. This task certainly wasn’t anything Paul sought or deserved. It was a gift. We have previously noted that the word “grace” can often be replaced with the term “undeserved gift.” Note how neatly that fits here. Although he is “less than the least of all God’s people,” Paul gratefully acknowledges that “this grace [undeserved gift] was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things.”
The two infinitives (to preach, to make plain) do not refer to separate or different things, but together they explain and define what Paul’s undeserved gift was. He was privileged to make plain what hadn’t been clear before, namely, the place of Gentiles in God’s plan. By revelation Paul received information that for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. Now the mystery of equality between Jews and Gentiles in one church was revealed.