In Paul’s case there was the added memory that he had persecuted the Lord Jesus (Acts 9:4) by persecuting the church of God (Gal. 1:13; Phil. 3:6). In spite of this, the Lord had commissioned him in a special way to take the gospel to the Gentiles (Acts 9:15; 13:47; 22:21; Gal. 2:2, 8).

The second part of Paul’s ministry was to make all see what is “the administration of the mystery” (JND), in other words, to enlighten them as to how the mystery is being worked out in practice. God’s plan for this present age is to call out of the Gentiles a people for His name (Acts 15:14), a Bride for His Son. All that is involved in this plan is the administration (stewardship, NKJV margin19) of the mystery. All here must mean all believers. Unsaved people could not be expected to understand the deep truths of the mystery (1 Cor. 2:14). Paul therefore is referring to all in the sense of saved people of all kinds—Jews and Gentiles, slave and free.

This mystery had from the beginning of the ages been hidden in God. The plan was itself in the mind of God eternally, but here the thought is that He kept it a secret throughout the ages of human history. Once again we notice the care the Holy Spirit takes to impress us with the fact that the assembly, or church universal is something new, unique, unprecedented. It was not known before to anyone but God. The secret was hidden in God who created all things. He created the material universe, He created the ages, and He created the church—but in His wisdom He decided to withhold any knowledge of this new creation until the First Advent of Christ.

What a secret it was! God was going to create a church. He would baptize Jews and Gentiles into it, making no difference between them. That church would be the mystical body of Christ. He would raise it higher than angels. He would seat it with Himself in the heavenlies. It would share fully and forever all that Christ has. That church would be His crowning masterpiece. Creation itself, the showpiece of God’s eternal power and godhead, would pale before the everlasting splendors of the church.

What a secret it was! God was going to create a church. He would baptize Jews and Gentiles into it, making no difference between them. That church would be the mystical body of Christ. He would raise it higher than angels. He would seat it with Himself in the heavenlies. It would share fully and forever all that Christ has. That church would be His crowning masterpiece. Creation itself, the showpiece of God’s eternal power and godhead, would pale before the everlasting splendors of the church.

The Greek word that Paul used here to describe God’s wisdom occurs nowhere else in the Bible. It means “infinitely diversified” or more poetically, “many-colored.” From whichever way you view God’s wisdom, new flashes of truth blaze forth. His wisdom is inexhaustible, as has been displayed in creation. The more we study medicine or astronomy or physics or microbiology, the more complex each facet of nature seems.

For instance, the ancient Greeks invented the word we translate “atom” to describe the ultimate, uncuttable, building blocks of the universe. In the late nineteenth century the discovery of radioactivity indicated that atoms themselves have internal structure. Work on cathode rays showed that within the atom are charged particles called electrons. Atoms, scientists realized, are much more complex than originally thought. Then they discovered that electrically positive protons and electrically neutral neutrons clump in the atom’s nucleus. Whirling around this nucleus are negatively charged electrons. Scientists envisioned the atom as a miniature solar system, infinitely small and emptier than space. More discoveries followed, and the quantum theory was stated. Three families of subatomic particles have been named: gauge particles, quarks, and leptons. Indeed, the deeper physicists delve, the more elusive final answers seem to be. Such is God’s wisdom demonstrated in creation—infinitely diversified and inexhaustible.

What is true of creation is true of redemption. The Bible, in which the plan of redemption is recorded, reveals the many-colored wisdom of God. We are constantly finding new depths in verses that have been familiar friends since we first met the Lord. God’s infinite wisdom is now being displayed to principalities and powers in heavenly places.

It would seem that these principalities and powers are the hostile angels in the unseen world. They are the fallen ones who help Satan rule his planet and stand in stark contrast to the holy angels, known as thrones and dominions, who side with God and serve the redeemed. The principalities and powers are God’s sworn enemies. They are the Christian’s constant foes, with whom he has to do unremitting battle (Ephesians 6:12). These dark lords of the night are blinded by Satan and are destined to spend eternity in fires God has prepared especially for them. It is fitting that the futility of their schemes should be made plain through the church. In contrast to God’s wisdom, Satan’s “deep things” are exposed in the church as utter folly, the senseless plottings of a tormented and perverted mind. No wonder principalities and powers bitterly hate the church and those in its ranks.

This verse marks the conclusion of the sentence begun in verse 2. If the Ephesians truly understood “the administration of God’s grace that was given to” Paul (v. 2), they should not … be discouraged because of his sufferings for them. His sufferings were for their gain and glory. If Paul had not dispensed to the Gentiles the stewardship of God’s grace, then Jews would not have been hostile to him and he would not have been imprisoned. His preaching brought salvation to the Gentiles, but it incurred the wrath of many Jews on him. However, many others became members of the church, Christ’s body, and this was their glory.