Ephesians 3:8–13 · WEB Classic
8 To me, the very least of all saints, was this grace given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and to make all men see what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God, who created all things through Jesus Christ, 10 to the intent that now through the assembly the manifold wisdom of God might be made known to the principalities and the powers in the heavenly places, 11 according to the eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.
12 In him we have boldness and access in confidence through our faith in him. 13 Therefore I ask that you may not lose heart at my troubles for you, which are your glory.
Paul calls himself less than the least of all the saints. The statement corresponds to his history of persecuting the church and to his recognition that his ministry comes from grace. It is not a performance of modesty designed to persuade the readers to spend the rest of the paragraph telling him how wonderful he is.
Grace was given to him to preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. Those riches are too great to exhaust, yet they can truly be proclaimed. We do not need complete knowledge of everything Christ is in order to speak accurately about what he has done. The gospel communicates real truth even while the greatness of its Lord exceeds our ability to measure him.
Paul’s task also includes bringing to light the administration of the mystery hidden in God, who created all things. The Creator’s purpose for the nations is no emergency repair performed after one plan failed. The God who made the world has acted in Christ to gather a people through the gospel. The inclusion of Gentiles displays his intention rather than his defeat.
Wisdom displayed to heavenly powers
Through the church God’s manifold wisdom is made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. The church’s existence has a significance extending beyond what its members can see. A people reconciled through Christ, with Jew and Gentile sharing one body, displays the wisdom of God before the heavenly powers.
That would be a striking thing to tell believers whose city had made so much of religious power. Some of the people connected with Ephesus had once spent money on magical books, and the city’s religious economy had helped provoke a riot when the gospel threatened its trade (Acts 19). Paul now describes their life together as a display of God’s wisdom before heavenly powers. They have not acquired a more expensive collection of secret instructions. They have become a people through the cross of Christ.
The result is visible in relationships that the old boundaries would have prevented. The former outsider shares the inheritance. The Jewish believer approaches the Father beside him through the same Son. Nobody needs to manufacture a spectacle to make that reconciliation spiritually important. God has chosen to make his wisdom known through the church itself.
The display is according to the eternal purpose God accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. God’s purpose precedes the present moment, and its accomplishment centers upon Jesus. A church trying to make itself impressive through worldly measures can easily forget what actually makes it significant. A room full of reconciled sinners may look ordinary to observers who value spectacle. God uses that people to make his wisdom known.
The rulers and authorities belong within the heavenly world Paul has already described. Christ is above every rule and authority in 1:21, and the letter identifies hostile spiritual powers in 6:12. Verse 10 does not tell us that every being learning God’s wisdom here is hostile, or provide a list of the observers. Its emphasis falls upon what is made known and how: God’s many-sided wisdom through the church. Invisible resistance is real, but it has not stopped him from creating the people whose existence displays his purpose.
The wisdom is manifold, expressing the richness of God’s purpose. Consider what the reconciled body demonstrates. Guilt is answered through the very cross that appeared to expose the Messiah’s defeat. Those far away are brought near without making those near unnecessary. Hostile groups become one body while the holy God receives both through the same mediator. God overcomes the division without pretending the sin or the history was unreal.
First Corinthians 2:6–8 places a similar contrast beside the cross. Paul speaks of God’s wisdom and the rulers’ failure to understand it, then points to their crucifixion of the Lord of glory. What appears to be the successful removal of Jesus becomes the means of the salvation they did not understand. Ephesians identifies the result in a people reconciled through his death. The church exists because the crucified Lord lives and receives the people his cross has brought near.
That is a remarkable answer to the world’s usual ways of displaying wisdom. We tend to exhibit power by showing who has been kept beneath us. God displays his wisdom in people who have been reconciled to him and to one another through his Son. The former outsider belongs at the table, the person who once despised him must receive him as a brother, and neither can explain his place without grace.
Consider how easily we might undervalue that display. A congregation can seem uneventful because nobody has reported an extraordinary experience. Yet a man who once cheated people is learning honesty, a woman once treated as an outsider is being cared for as family, and people taught to despise one another are receiving the same Lord’s instruction. Those changes do not impress an observer who came looking for a performance. Paul gives us reason to look again at what Christ has accomplished among the people.
This gives unity substantial weight. Bitterness and ethnic contempt are not merely unfortunate social habits within an otherwise successful ministry. They contradict the reconciliation through which the church displays God’s wisdom. An impressive attendance report does not make that contradiction disappear.
In Christ we have boldness and access in confidence through faith in him. The language returns to the access described in chapter 2. We approach the Father because of Christ. The confidence does not arise from convincing ourselves that we have finally become impressive enough to enter.
Boldness therefore differs from arrogance. Arrogance assumes entitlement based upon our own importance. Christian boldness rests upon the welcome God has actually given through his Son. We can approach honestly because we are trusting a sufficient mediator. Reverence and confidence belong together when both arise from knowing who has opened the way.
Paul asks the readers not to lose heart over his afflictions for them, which are their glory. His suffering could look like evidence that the mission had failed. He interprets it through the gospel that has brought them into God’s people. Their belonging is so valuable that suffering in its service does not make the ministry a waste.
The readers may look at Paul’s imprisonment and wonder whether so much resistance means something has gone wrong with the promise. Paul asks them to look at what they have received through the ministry for which he suffers. They have access to the Father, a shared inheritance, and a place in the body. His chain cannot cancel any of those gifts. They need not call the imprisonment pleasant in order to recognize that the gospel has reached them through it.