This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord,

This eternal plan which we discussed in the last post was according to the eternal purpose of God. I can’t stress this enough. God’s decrees and plans are eternal. His plans and purposes are not dependent on what people do. This eternal plan was realized in Christ Jesus our Lord.

So, let’s summarize the last couple of verses. God has had an eternal purpose, realized and revealed through Jesus Christ coming into the world as a man. This mystery has been hidden for all generations until revealed to the apostles and prophets of the first century.

Paul’s preaching as well as our own is to bring this mystery to light. And what is the goal? That the multifaceted wisdom of God might be made down to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places.

A key part of this is to understand that making known the wisdom of God to the principalities and powers occurs through the church. The church is the body of Christ. The church is the people whom God has saved, filled with His Spirit and commissioned to worship together and proclaim the gospel. So, living as a Christian as part of the church involves more than just being a good testimony to those who are around us. It involves demonstrating to these powers, even those we wrestle against, demonstrating what God is like. How merciful and gracious He is in having taken enemies and turned them into friends, joint-heirs with Christ to rule and reign with Him.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 1:16 PM December 3, 2020.