The revelation of the mystery given to the Apostle Paul is all about our identity as members of the body of Christ—not sheep in some earthly flock.

Our Identity as Members of the Body of Christ

This truth comes straight from Paul's epistles (the only place God reveals it). Have you ever noticed how the Lord Jesus, during His earthly ministry to Israel, called His followers "sheep" and talked about the "little flock" receiving the kingdom? Yet when Paul—the apostle to us Gentiles—unpacks the mystery kept secret since the world began, that language completely drops away. Instead, he hammers home something brand new: we are members of His body, a heavenly new creation with Christ as the Head. That's not a minor detail. It's the key to understanding who we really are in this dispensation of grace.

Paul states it clearly in Ephesians 3 and Colossians 1:

"Whereof I was made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God; Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." (Colossians 1:25-27 KJV)

And right before that, he ties it to the one body:

"That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel." (Ephesians 3:6 KJV)

This mystery wasn't hidden in prophecy—it was hid in God. No Old Testament prophet ever saw it. It's not an upgrade to Israel's program; it's a brand-new program where Jew and Gentile are made one new man (Ephesians 2:15). That's our identity: not sheep waiting for an earthly shepherd-king, but living members of the risen, ascended Christ Himself.

What Does This Identity Entail?

Paul doesn't leave us guessing. He unpacks it throughout his thirteen epistles with glorious, practical reality.

We are joined to the Lord as one spirit and one body.

"Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? … For he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit. … For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit." (1 Corinthians 6:15, 17; 12:13 KJV)

"For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones." (Ephesians 5:30 KJV)

Christ is our Head—we are His body, the fulness of Him.

"And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all." (Ephesians 1:22-23 KJV)

We are complete in Him (Colossians 2:10), seated together in heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6), and already blessed with all spiritual blessings (Ephesians 1:3). No waiting for a future kingdom position—we have it now by grace.

We are a new creature with a heavenly calling and hope.

"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." (2 Corinthians 5:17 KJV)

"There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling." (Ephesians 4:4 KJV)

Our hope isn't earthly land or throne—it's "Christ in you, the hope of glory" and our citizenship in heaven (Philippians 3:20).

No distinction between Jew and Gentile—liberty, not law.

"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 3:28 KJV)

We stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free (Galatians 5:1).

Why Doesn't Paul Ever Call Believers in the Body of Christ "Sheep"?

If the body of Christ is just a continuation of Israel's program, why does Paul never once use the shepherd/sheep imagery for us? In the Gospels and Peter's epistles (written to the scattered Jewish remnant), sheep language fits perfectly with the prophetic kingdom program. But Paul is silent on it for the body of Christ.

Paul gives the only appearance of this language in Acts 20, when addressing the local elders of the church at Ephesus:

"Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock." (Acts 20:28-29 KJV)

The flock here is the local assembly at Ephesus—not the whole body of Christ. The Holy Ghost made these men overseers of their specific local group, not rulers over all believers everywhere. A universal "flock" with human overseers would require some man or board to watch over every believer on earth, which Paul never establishes and which contradicts the truth that Christ alone is Head over the whole body (Colossians 1:18; Ephesians 1:22-23).

Local elders/pastors/bishops are gifts to help a specific assembly grow up into Christ—they feed, guard, and equip the believers who are assembling together in a location. They are not mediators between you and Christ. The body of Christ doesn't answer to some distant religious hierarchy. It answers directly to the Head.

Contrast with the Kingdom Program

Compare that with the sheep/flock language aimed at Israel:

• Jesus: "Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." (Luke 12:32)
• To the twelve: "Go not into the way of the Gentiles… but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." (Matthew 10:5-6)
• Peter (to the scattered Jewish remnant): "Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof…" (1 Peter 5:2)

That earthly, kingdom-ready imagery fits prophecy. Paul, however, reveals something higher for this age:

"And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence." (Colossians 1:18 KJV)

"From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love." (Ephesians 4:16 KJV)

No human "shepherd" stands between you and the Head. This is liberating. Mixing kingdom sheep language into the body of Christ pulls us back under an earthly program and robs us of the heavenly liberty and direct access we have in Christ.

Stand fast in who you are: a living member of His body, not a sheep in a fold. That's the mystery revealed to Paul for us today.