The Manifold Wisdom of God

I have always had a special fascination for a portion of the Bible found in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians.  In chapter 3 starting with verse 8, Paul says, “To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things; so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.  This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Just what is it that the church is doing here in conjunction with the “manifold wisdom of God?”  If I am part of the church, do I have a role in whatever this activity is?  Who are the “rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places?”  And just what is this “mystery” which Paul talks about?

This is deep stuff.  I would suppose that, were I teaching on this passage, I would say something like, “It doesn’t get any deeper than this.”  This passage affects everyone who is part of the church of Christ (church of Christ is meant in the universal sense throughout this blog).  For (according to Paul) it is the Church that reveals God’s wisdom…even to those spiritual beings in the heavenlies.

James Montgomery Boice in his pinnacle work “Foundations of the Christian Faith,” says this about this passage.  “Any reader of the New Testament will understand that the church is important in this age, just as God’s dealings with Israel were important in the Old Testament period.  But the text from Ephesians says more.  The fullness of God’s wisdom is being revealed in the church even now, and the principalities and powers—the phrase refers to spiritual powers such as angels and demons—are scrutinizing the church to learn of the wisdom and plan of God revealed there (emphasis mine).  It is as though the church is a stage upon which God has been presenting the great drama of redemption, a true-life pageant in which it is shown how those who have rebelled against  God and wrecked his universe are now being brought back into harmony with him, becoming agents of renewal and healing instead.”

Do you see that?  Do you understand what Paul is saying here?  Do you truly “get it” in that a part of what you as a member of the church of Christ do is display the awesome and unfathomable wisdom and plan of God in the redemption of His creation?

So, dear reader, how are you coming along with that?  How is that going for you?  How are you working to display the marvelous wisdom of God and in the revelation of what, until the days of the church, was a great mystery, seen only through a glass, darkly?  Are you doing your part in demonstrating to even the evil spirits and demons the wondrously incredible plan of God to redeem not only his people, but the entire creation?

OK, it’s time to do some soul-searching.  It’s time to understand truly what it means to be part of the church of Christ.  We may be pressed on every side by evil, indifference, ignorance, intolerance, and apathy.  But God is bigger than all of those things.  And it is His power, working through us, which enables us to show even those satanic, evil spiritual beings the power and wisdom of God.