To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.
This commentary is going to be a little longer than most because I want to cover the entire sentence that runs from verse 8 all the way through verse 10. I would suggest reading these verses a couple of times to get the flow of Paul’s logic, and then read through this commentary on those verses. You can spread your study over several days, but I didn’t want my comments to be broken up mid-sentence.
Paul is going to explain an amazing truth that has been given to him to explain. He begins by demonstrating his humility, calling himself the very least of all the saints. That’s saying something, isn’t it. Here is a highly educated Jewish leader, chosen by God to write a large portion of the New Testament, and he calls himself the least of all the saints.
What is the message he is to preach? He is going to proclaim the good news of the fathomless riches of Christ. A fathom is a measurement of depth of the ocean. Fathomless means there is no way to measure the depths of the riches of Christ. There is so much wealth there, it is impossible to get to the bottom of it.
By the way, he calls the opportunity to proclaim this good news, grace. In other words, he counts it as an undeserved gift of God to be able to declare this message.
What else is involved in this declaration? He says in verse 9 that he is going to bring to light something that has been hidden for ages. That’s what a mystery is in the New Testament. Where has this plan been hidden? It has been hidden in God who created all things. So what is Paul claiming? He is claiming that there is something that has been hidden in God Himself since before creation, and now he, Paul, is going to explain what that plan is. How does he know the plan? Verse 3 told us that it was given to him by revelation. God told him!
The question is, “Why?”. Why is this plan being made known now, and why to Paul? Verse 10 answers that question. So that the multi-faceted wisdom of God might be revealed and made known. To whom, Paul? Who are the recipients of this picture of the manifold wisdom of God?
The answer to that question is the principalities and powers. The rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. Wait a minute! Isn’t it the rulers and authorities that we wrestle against? “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities and powers in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:12.
So, let me see if I understand this. In the wisdom of God, He revealed this mystery to Paul so that the principalities and powers of the universe would see and know the amazing wisdom of God!
And through what means is this knowledge to be transmitted to the principalities and powers? Through the church! The church is God’s instrument through the preaching of the gospel and through lives transformed by the power of God — transformed from rebellious traitors to Christ-like followers — the principalities and powers, who have been warring against God since the beginning, will see how amazing God is!
Exported from Logos Bible Software, 10:17 AM December 3, 2020.