Two facts have great prominence in the New Testament: the Church as God has formed it, and the Church as man has corrupted it. Each will have an end of its own.
THE CHURCH AS GOD HAS FORMED IT had its beginning at Pentecost; but the full truth of what was then effected was not brought to light till later. In connection with the Church, God had a choice secret, hidden from all previous generations since the world began. Marvelous to say, the first to get any direct intimation of this chief of secrets was the "chief of sinners" at his conversion. This secret is called "the great mystery," and involves spiritual union between Christ in glory and those possessing His Spirit on earth. The Lord's appeal to Saul of Tarsus showed that He regarded His saints as part of Himself. "Why persecutest thou ME?" This was the first intimation of the secret, but its full revelation was set forth later in Paul's epistles (Rom. 16:25,26: Eph. 3:3-12;5:23-33; Col. 1:26,27).
But it may rightly be asked, What about the necessary moral suitability of those to be united to a Person so holy, so glorious, so exalted as the One seated in the highest heavens?
To set our hearts at rest on this point another revelation was necessary, and the man who leaned upon "his bosom" was the one chosen to record it-the apostle John.
Those spoken of by John, before the cross and the coming of the Spirit, as "Jesus and his disciples," are spoken of by Paul as "Christ and the church." Only that Gentiles had been included in this mystical union when Paul wrote this epistle (see Eph. 3:3-6).