The manifold wisdom of God

In this chapter, Paul resumes his prayer for the saints. He digresses to unfold ‘the mystery of Christ’, vv. 2-7, and his faithful stewardship of it, vv. 8-13. The prayer, vv. 14-19, in view of the sheer magnificence of the truths expressed, fittingly concludes with a doxology.

Paul indicates that the ‘mystery of Christ’ has been committed to him. A mystery in the New Testament is something undiscoverable by human reason, but now revealed by God. In essence, this mystery is that believing Gentiles participate in all the promises and privileges in Christ on exactly the same basis as the believing Jews, something previously hidden, but now revealed by the Spirit, vv. 5, 9. The terms of inclusion in this holy fellowship are such that ‘the Gentiles are fellow-heirs, and fellow-members of the body, and fellow-partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus’, v. 6 RV. Paul’s special mission is to make this known to all men - something that bows his heart in humility and wonder as he considers his past.

The church, however, is not simply for the benefit of the redeemed, but (according to the outworking of the eternal purpose of God) for the display of the ‘multi-faceted’ wisdom of God to spirit beings in the heavenly realms, cp. 1 Pet. 1. 12c. Since the outworking of God’s purpose centres in Christ, faith in Him opens direct access to the Father’s presence with boldness and confidence.

The conclusion of the prayer aligns with Paul’s earlier prayer, Eph. 1. 15-22, but reaches fresh heights of adoring worship and petition. Again, Paul’s focus is fully Trinitarian. Our enablement lies in the Father’s riches of glory, v. 16; the power resides in the indwelling Spirit; his desire is that Christ might make His home in our hearts by faith and that we might know His love, cp. John 14. 23. The grand objective is to enter into all the dimensions of divine purpose, cp. Job 11. 7-9, not as isolated individuals, but ‘with all the saints’. His final plea is that saints might come to be all that God wants them to be, before he closes in a paean of praise to the Triune God who has the limitless resources to respond beyond even an apostle’s thought.