Ephesians 3:7-12 is a stunning passage concerning Gentile salvation and how God planned to offer His saving grace to all men.
Warren Wiersbe writes,
“In the OT, God revealed through prophecy His program for the people of Israel: that He would establish them in their kingdom when they received their Messiah, and then through Israel He would convert the Gentiles. God offered them the kingdom through the ministry of John the Baptist (Matthew 3:2), whom the Jews permitted to be slain; through Christ’s ministry (Matthew 4:12–17), whom the Jews asked to be slain; and through the apostles and Stephen (Acts 2–7), whom the Jews themselves actually killed (Acts 7:54–60). Three offers of the kingdom were made to Israel, but the nation rejected each of them. They had rejected the Father, who had sent John; the Son; and the Spirit, who was energizing the witnessing apostles. With the death of Stephen, the offers of kingdom ceased temporarily; the message went out to the Samaritans and the Gentiles (Acts 8 and Acts 10); in the meantime, Paul was saved miraculously in Acts 9.”[1]
The need to reveal the mystery, concretely beginning with Paul, continues with today’s church—those saved through the working of His power—as the “manifold wisdom of God might now be made know to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 3:10).
Manifold wisdom is a very “striking phrase,” writes Vincent: “The adjective occurs only here and means variegated. It is applied to pictures, flowers, and garments. [The Greek word] is used in the Septuagint of Joseph’s coat, Genesis 37:3. Through the Church God’s wisdom in its infinite variety is to be displayed—the many-tinted wisdom of God—in different modes of power, different characters, methods of training, providences, forms of organization, etc.”[2]
Thus, the spectacular and variegated wisdom of God is to be revealed by the theater, known as the church, to the audience of the Jew, the Gentile, and the principalities and powers in heavenly places—the good angels, who desire to “see” salvation (cf. 1 Peter 1:12); and the wisdom of redemption made known to the evil angels much to their dismay (cf. Colossians 2:15).
Pray today to be an active player—one of the infinite varieties of God’s wisdom who experienced His grace—to live the mystery that salvation is for all.
