Ephesians 3:10

ἵνα γνωρισθῇ νῦν ταῖς ἀρχαῖς καὶ ταῖς ἐξουσίαις ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις : in order that now unto the principalities and the powers in the heavenlies might be made known. To make the manifold wisdom of God known where formerly it was not understood is now declared to be the object in view. But the object of what? The creation of all things, says Harless; who connects the ἵνα γνωρισθῇ immediately with the τῷ τὰ πάντα κτίσαντι. But, while it is true that redemption is sometimes exhibited in relation to creation (John 1:1-14, etc.), and while Christ Himself is presented at times not only as the author and ground of creation but also as its end or object (Colossians 1:16), the idea resulting here on that view would be that the purpose of God in creating all things was the proclamation of His wisdom to the angelic world by the Church. This, however, would be a statement without any parallel elsewhere in the NT. It is better, therefore, to connect the sentence immediately with the τοῦ μυστηρίου τοῦ ἀποκεκρυμμένου, as is done by Meyer and many more. In that case the idea would be that the “mystery” was long hidden indeed, but hidden only with the design of being made known, and that on the widest possible scale to angels no less than to men in due time (cf. the general statement of principle in Mark 4:22). There is much to be said in support of this, e.g., the antithesis of the νῦν to the ἀπὸ τῶν αἰώνων, and the γνωρισθῇ to the ἀποκεκρυμμένου, etc. But it is best to take the verse as referring to the previous ἐδόθη ἡ χάρις αὕτη, etc. (Ell., Alf.; and substantially De Wette, Hofm., etc.). The main idea in the paragraph from Ephesians 3:7 onwards is unmistakably that of the marvellous call and commission of Paul, and the wonder of the grace that made an Apostle and preacher of him is magnified the more by the Divine purpose revealed in that commission, to wit, the making known the manifold wisdom of God in His ways with sinful men and with the outcasts of the Gentile world in particular. It is objected indeed that this is to make Paul claim for his own preaching and as his own special work what belonged to other Apostles and preachers no less than to him. But all that is stated here goes in point of fact to enhance the idea of Paul's own personal insignificance, the extraordinary and unmerited nature of his call, and his absolute indebtedness to grace. “For this sublime cause,” as Alford admirably expresses it, “the humble Paul was raised up to bring about he, the least worthy of the saints that to the heavenly powers themselves should be made known, by means of those whom he was empowered to enlighten” the manifold wisdom of God. The ἀρχαί and ἐξουσίαι can only mean good angels (cf. under Ephesians 1:21 above); and these names of dignity (the term ἄγγελος is not used in this Epistle) are appropriate here as suggesting again the greatness of Paul's commission, and perhaps also (as Mey. thinks) the glory put upon the ἐκκλησία. That the ἀρχαί and ἐξουσίαι cannot mean any orders of earthly powers Jewish, Gentile or Christian rulers or the like, is shown by the ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις. Nor can they refer to demonic powers, whether by themselves alone or as part of the angelic world, for this would scarcely be consistent with the mention of the Church, and further the Divine power would in that case be more in point than the Divine wisdom. Nor again is there anything in the context to suggest that Paul has in view the angels that ministered the law and the elemental powers honoured by the heathen (V. Soden). The ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις here, as elsewhere in the Epistle, has the sense = in heaven; see under Ephesians 1:3 above. The ἐν, therefore, has its proper local sense, and is not = in respect of, as if the clause meant “in the case of the heavenly things”. As the phrase makes one idea, too, with the ἀρχαῖς and ἐξουσίαις, defining them as heavenly, it requires no ταῖς after the ἐξουσίαις. διὰ τῆς ἐκκλησίας : through the Church. The Church, therefore, that is, as is evidently meant here, the whole body of believers in the unity in which Jew and Gentile are now made one, is the means by which the Divine wisdom is to be made known and Paul's commission in that respect made good. The Church, which it was his high Apostolic vocation to build up by bringing multitudes of Gentile believers into its membership the Church in which the breaking down of ancient barriers and the removal of the old enmity were now seen, was itself the living witness to the Divine σοφία, the “mirror,” as Calvin puts it, “in which angels contemplate the wonderful wisdom of God”. And that Divine wisdom is described as πολυποίκιλος (a word found only this once in the NT) not with any reference to Gnostic ideas of σοφία (as Baur imagined), for the use of such a term as this in that connection is of later date (Iren., Haer., i., 4, 1); nor simply in the sense of very wise, for which Aesch., Prom., 1308, is mistakenly cited; but as = multivarius, multiformis (Vulg.), having a great variety of forms. The adj. is used of the rich variety of colours in cloths, flowers, paintings, etc. (Eurip., Iph. T., 1149; Eubulus, ap. Athen., 15, p. 679 D; Orph. Hym., vi., 11; lxi., 4). In different ways had God dealt with men, with the Jew in one way and with the Gentile in another, in the long course of the ages. But in all these He had had one great end in view. Now in the Church the realisation of that end is seen, and in that great spiritual harmony angels can perceive the manifoldness and majesty of that Divine wisdom which by ways so diverse had been working to this great result. That angels have an interest in man's redemption and desire to look into it is stated in 1 Peter 1:12. Here it is indicated that they are capable of an enlargement of insight into it.