Make the Gospel Known to the Demons (Eph 3:10)
- Paul starts by saying that “Now through the church.” So this is a word for our day. Today Sept 8th
- This is not a word for a bygone era.
- The word translated here as “manifold” in the Greek is an adjective.
- And is related to the word Poly meaning many.
- The primary use of this word in Greek seems to be to speak of many colors.
- One lexicon defined it as: “of differing colors”
- Some commentators suggest that Paul made this word up just for this use.
- From two words: One meaning “much” and the other meaning “of various kinds”
- Not used anywhere else in the NT.
- But, remember though the word is an adjective and is modifying the noun wisdom.
- How should we understand this wisdom of God?
- All of God’s wisdom has always been tied up in His redemptive work throughout history.
- So, it would not be a stretch to say that God’s wisdom could be seen as God’s redemptive history.
- And now in our day God’s redemptive history is solely tied up in the person of Jesus.
- There is no wisdom apart from the person of Jesus.
- So here in this verse we could safely say that the many faceted wisdom of God is Jesus
- The previous context of chapter 3 has been about the Gospel.
- So again, it is not a stretch to say the wisdom referred to here in 3:10 is the Gospel of Jesus.
- Recap: Today, in our day, the many faceted wisdom of Jesus, the Gospel, should be made known by the Church.
- So, who are the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms?
- Later in the Book in chapter 6 Paul does a teaching on the armor of God.
- In that passages he sets the stage by saying that we do not struggle with flesh and blood but with spirits in the spirit realm. He refers to those spirits by the terms “rulers” and “authorites”
- The same words used here in 3:10.
- In Chapter six everyone agrees that Paul is referring to demons.
- So then here in 3:10 we must also see these terms as referring to demons.
- So, now we end up at this place where Paul is telling us to make known the Gospel of Jesus to the demons.
Now here is where things get interesting
- Paul does not tell the church to preach. He says that we are to “make known.”
- And in fact, the verb, “to make known” is in the passive form
- The action of the verb happens to the subject with no volition of the part of the subject.
- So, this is not a deliberate act on our part.
- This is what God is doing through the gathered church.
- When we gather as the church of Jesus Christ in unity God uses that to make the Gospel know to the demonic world.