ἵνα γνωρισθῇ νῦν. Dependent perhaps on ἀποκεκρυμμένου (so Lightfoot), cf. Mark 4:22; or on φωτίσαι (so Hort apparently).

ταῖς�. Superhuman intelligences either good (Ephesians 1:21; Colossians 2:10) or evil (Ephesians 6:12; Colossians 2:15). For the interest of Angels in human concerns cf. Mark 13:32; 1 Corinthians 2:8; 1 Corinthians 4:9; 1 Corinthians 11:10; 1 Timothy 3:16; 1 Peter 1:12. Cf. Angels as fellow servants, Revelation 19:10; Revelation 22:6-9.

διὰ τῆς ἐκκλησίας, Ephesians 1:22; Ephesians 3:21; Ephesians 5:23-32. The Society made up of the two now harmonized elements, and so embodying God’s purpose of love. See Hort on 1 Peter 1:12, who says: ‘St Peter’s words receive important illustration from their often noticed affinity to Ephesians 3:10. St Paul there represents the present making known of the manifold wisdom of God through the Church to the principalities and powers as one purpose of his preaching of the Gospel to the Gentiles: and the remarkable phrase “through the Church” is explained by part of the preceding paragraph (Ephesians 2:14-18) on the founding of the two, “Israel and the Nations,” in Christ into one new man, the reconciliation of them both in one body to God, and the announcement of peace to them that were far off and peace to them that were nigh. The Church in virtue of this its Catholicity was not only the herald of God’s all-embracing peace to the ears of men, but its visible embodiment in the eyes of men and of angels. Its very existence was a memorial of Divinely appointed barriers Divinely broken down, and a living sign of a Will and a Power which would work on till the victory of love was universal and complete. Neither to angels nor to men were the last resources of the manifold Wisdom as yet disclosed: but a sufficient pledge of the “unsearchable riches” contained in it was already given in the Gospel, and in the living community created by the Gospel.’

ἡ πολυποίκιλος σοφία τοῦ θεοῦ. ‘The very complex wisdom of God’ as displayed in His ordering of human affairs in ways which baffle human powers of anticipation. See 1 Corinthians 1:21; Romans 11:33; Matthew 11:19 = Luke 7:35. Cf. ποικίλης χάριτος, 1 Peter 4:10.

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Old Testament