SO THAT THE MANIFOLD WISDOM OF GOD MIGHT NOW BE MADE KNOWN: hina gnoristhe (3SAPS) nun...e polupoikilos sophia tou theou: (Exodus 25:17-22; Psalms 103:20; 148:1,2; Isaiah 6:2-4; Ezekiel 3:12; 1 Peter 1:12; Revelation 5:9-14)  (1:8; Psalms 104:24; Matthew 11:25-27; Romans 11:33; 1 Corinthians 1:24; 2:7; 1 Timothy 3:16; Revelation 5:12)

Not only was the mystery of our redemption, of Jew and Gentile now in one body, preached to a visible audience on earth, but it is also being proclaimed to an invisible audience of angelic hosts in the heavenlies, both good and evil angels.

So that (2443) (hina) expresses purpose. This is the purpose Paul sees in this new arrangement in the church of Christ.

Vincent connects the "so that" (in order that) with the subject matter of the preceding two verses. He paraphrases this section as follows...

"Grace was given me to preach Christ and to enlighten men as to the long-hidden mystery of the admission of the Gentiles, in order that now, etc."

Manifold (4182) (polupoikilos from polús = much + poikilos = diverse, various, multi–colored) is literally much varied and means many sided, variegated, greatly diversified, abounding in variety. It means marked with a great variety of colors, as in a cloth or a painting. It means manifesting itself in a great variety of forms. It is multi-faceted wisdom.  "Wisdom in its rich variety". It pertains to that which is different in a number of ways. Greeks used this word to describe pictures, flowers, garments (e.g. the root word poikilos is used in the Septuagint to describe Joseph's varicolored coat, Genesis 37:3, 23, 32). 

Paul's point is that the wisdom of God has shown itself in Christ to be varied beyond measure and in a way which surpasses all previous knowledge thereof. It is "infinitely diversified" and  from whichever way you view God's wisdom, new flashes of truth blaze forth. His wisdom is inexhaustible. God’s eternal plan is more complex and multifaceted than OT saints had imagined. As a corollary finite human beings, even the best of systematic theologians, should be careful not to try and fit God's complex and much varied purposes in specific theological pigeonholes!

Larry Richards comments that...

God’s plan seems so straightforward when we read the Old Testament. He chose a people, promised them redemption, a Saviour King, and ultimate triumph. And history moved toward this fulfillment. Then, suddenly, the Son of God appeared as the promised King, was rejected by His people, crucified, and resurrected, and we realize that all along God intended far more for humankind than was previously revealed. Don’t put God in a box, or try to squeeze Him into limiting categories. God’s plans and purposes are multifaceted, and each facet reflects His complex wisdom and love. The more we glimpse of that complexity, the more we should be moved to worship and to praise. (Richards, L. The 365 Day Devotional Commentary. Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books)

From a practical standpoint manifold or "multi-colored" points out that the wisdom of God is sufficient for any circumstance we might encounter in life. Nothing catches God's wisdom "off guard". There is nothing of light or of dark, of sunshine or of shadow, for which God's wisdom is not triumphantly adequate. It follows that we would all do well to follow the advise of James who wrote in the context of trials that...

if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, Who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. (James 1:5)

Wisdom (4678) (sophia) is the ability to judge correctly and to follow the best course of action, based on knowledge and understanding.

BKC explains that...

The “manifold wisdom of God” does not refer to redemption as such but rather to the new relationship between believing Jews and Gentiles in one body. (Walvoord, J. F., Zuck, R. B., et al: The Bible Knowledge Commentary. 1985. Victor).

Vincent explains that...

Through the Church God’s wisdom in its infinite variety is to be displayed — the many-tinted wisdom of God — in different modes of power, different characters, methods of training, providences, forms of organization, etc (Word Studies in the NT)

Might be made known (1107) (gnorizo from ginosko = acquire information by whatever means but often with the implication of personal involvement or experience) means to cause information to be known by someone. Paul's point is that the rulers and authorities simply would not know about the mystery unless God taught them through the church. This great spiritual truth has to be taught or communicated by the visible church to its invisible audience, so that they understand God's eternal plan for the redemption of mankind.

Think about this for a moment. When Jesus was on the cross and He cried out to His Father and His Father turned His back on Him and darkness fell on the earth, the good angels must have wondered "What is going on?" And the fallen angels were rejoicing and saying, "Ah ha, we have done it! We killed the Son." The angels did not understand why would God the Father put Jesus His only begotten Son on a cross? Now the Church, the body of the Risen Christ, proclaims a message of victory and redemption for both Jew and Gentile. And then ponder that glorious future day when...

in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as He preached to His servants the prophets. (Rev 10:7)

Wayne Barber applies this truth (making known the mystery) to individual believers declaring that...

When we start living obediently, doing the things that God has told us to do, the angels look at us and say, "What has happened to him? Why, we were around here last year and acted like a sinner. Man, look at him now. He is living like a saint. What happened in his life? Look at him. Look at him. He just sinned against his wife and look, he is going to ask her forgiveness. What is going on here? What is this redemption?" They don’t know. We are teaching them. When Jesus is Jesus in your life, friend, it is not only touching a lost world, it has opened the eyes of the angels who haven’t got a clue. They are looking intently. The audience is an invisible audience, but we are an invincible teacher, folks, through the Church. (Ephesians 3:1-9 God's Divine Mystery - 2)

Now (3568) (nun) at the present time in contrast with "for ages" in Ephesians 3:9.

MacDonald explains that...

Paul again uses the metaphor of a school. God is the Teacher. The universe is the classroom. Angelic dignitaries are the students. The lesson is on “The multi-faceted wisdom of God.” The church is the object lesson. From heaven the angels are compelled to admire His unsearchable judgments and marvel at His ways past finding out. They see how God has triumphed over sin to His own glory. They see how He has sent heaven’s Best for earth’s worst. They see how He has redeemed His enemies at enormous cost, conquered them by love, and prepared them as a Bride for His Son. They see how He has blessed them with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies. And they see that through the work of the Lord Jesus on the cross, more glory has come to God and more blessing has come to believing Jews and Gentiles than if sin had never been allowed to enter. God has been vindicated; Christ has been exalted; Satan has been defeated; and the church has been enthroned in Christ to share His glory. (MacDonald, W & Farstad, A. Believer's Bible Commentary: Thomas Nelson)

 THROUGH THE CHURCH: dia tes ekklesias:

Through (1223) (dia) a function word to indicate means or agency by which the wisdom is made known to the angelic forces (good and bad). By means of the church.

Church (1577) (ekklesia from ekkaléo = call out in turn from ek = out + kaleo = call) literally "called-out ones". The Greeks used ekklesia for assembly of citizens called out to transact city business. The church is a living organism, composed of living members joined together; through which Christ works, carries out His purposes and He lives.

Everyone who has been saved in the "church age" belongs to the body of Christ, the universal church and is "on stage" in a cosmic drama. The universal church is manifested in the world by individual local churches, each of which is to be a microcosm of the body of Christ. The church is to function under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, operating under His sovereign rule. Jesus Christ is the Founder and Lord of His church and has guaranteed its perpetuity until He returns.

Applying the truth of this verse practically

today this means that God’s wisdom is shown even to angels and demons (“principalities and powers”) when people from different racial and cultural backgrounds are united in Christ in the church. If the Christian church is faithful to God’s wise plan, it will be always in the forefront in breaking down racial and social barriers in societies around the world, and will thus be a visible manifestation of God’s amazingly wise plan to bring great unity out of great diversity and thereby to cause all creation to honor him. (Grudem, W: Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. IVP; Zondervan, 1994 or computer format)

S Lewis Johnson explains that "church"...

is a term that refers, first of all, to the believers, the body of believers, who’ve been, by the baptism of the Spirit through faith, brought to this relationship to all other believers (see 1Cor 12:13). It’s an organism, a body, a universal body. That’s the church.

And then of course there is the local church, the group of believers who meet at a particular place regularly and there observe the ordinances, listen to the word of God, practice baptism, observe the Lord’s supper, listen to the word of God under the oversight of elders and their helpers, the deacons.

Now when we say that the Apostle laid great stress upon the church, we must be careful to point out that when he said the church is this important and is at the center of the purpose of God, we’re talking about the universal church and its local manifestation. We’re not talking about a denomination. We’re not talking about an institutional body.

But we’re talking about the true believers. Now these true believers are the object of the concern of the triune God in this age: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And we cannot really be in harmony with the Lord if we’re not concerned about the body of believers. All the body of believers that make up the church, and not simply in Believers’ Chapel, but the whole body of believers, it is the concern of the triune God. It is his purpose to accomplish this task of building this one new man and brining this one new man to maturity.

Let me sum it up by saying, the church is the body of believers, Jews and Gentiles, they themselves are fellow partakers of the promise, fellow members of the body, fellow heirs of the great promises. They stand on the same basis, Jew and Gentile. They are the concern of our triune God, and through the church, God is accomplishing, as one of his great tasks, the display of his manifold wisdom: his wisdom in creation, his wisdom in providence, his wisdom in redemption, his wisdom in his total plan, which will ultimately lead up to a kingdom and finally the new heavens and a new earth.

As believers, it is important that we find our place in that body, perform our tasks, and under God, by his grace, fulfill his purpose for us.  (Ephesians 3:1-13 Dispensation of Grace Audio/Pdf)

TO THE RULERS AND THE AUTHORITIES IN THE HEAVENLY PLACES:  tais archais kai tais exousias en tois epouraniois: (Ephesians 1:21; Romans 8:38; Colossians 1:16; 1 Peter 3:22)

To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God (KJV)

Rulers (746) (arche) means first, chief or beginning. Here arche is a metonym (a figure of speech consisting of the use of the name of one thing for that of another of which it is an attribute or with which it is associated) that stands for those having the position of priority and preeminence.

In context Paul is saying there is an invisible audience of princes or chiefs among angels, including the fallen angels (see note Ephesians 6:12) who are watching the unfolding of the drama of this mystery of redemption of Jew and Gentile in one body. The point is that even in the invisible angelic world there is a stratification of authority.

Unfortunately some modern commentators have incorrectly interpreted the terms rulers and authorities as the political and economic structures of our society. This is just another good reason to allow the Scripture to speak for itself and to interpret it literally and not allegorically or spiritually.

Authorities (1849) (exousia) from exesti = it is permissible or allowed) means permission, authority, right, liberty, power to act. The idea in exousia can be summed up as the right and the might. Here exousia is a metonym that stands for those invested with the "right and the might". As in Ephesians 1:21 (see note) the context of the book indicates that those invested with power are the hosts of heaven, the angelic forces of God, including the host of fallen angels ruled by Satan (the ruler - arche) who are inextricably arrayed against God and His eternal purpose. As the angelic hosts witness the church universal, they must admit that having Jews and Gentiles in one body is evidence of God’s wisdom.

Exousía denotes the executive power whereas arche represents authority granting the power.

The arche is the one who has the power to delegate authority, and the word exousia, is the one who carries it out and executes that authority or power. Arche is the authority granting the power, and exousia is the one who executes the power which pictures a divine order or an invisible rank.

Heavenly (2032) (epouranios from epi = upon + ouranos = heaven) means celestial, what pertains to or is in heaven.

In short, when comparing Scripture with Scripture, there is no question that "rulers and authorities" refers to angelic hosts. So what Paul is saying here is that God is "educating" the angels by means of the church! What they learn is the "manifold wisdom of God". They knew God's wisdom in creation but the truth of salvation of Jew and Gentile in one body was a mystery hidden from them.

We see a similar declaration by Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians...

For, I think, God has exhibited us apostles last of all, as men condemned to death; because we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. (1Cor 4:9) (Comment: "Spectacle" is the Greek word "theatron" and literally means a theater, referring either to gladiator contests or to a triumphal procession of a Roman general bringing captured soldiers to the arena. Likewise, the apostles in the arena of this world were fighting to the death on a stage, as it were, being carefully watched by an audience that even includes the angels. Paul probably wrote 1Corinthians from Ephesus which had a great stadium where they had various contest. The remains of the victims who were torn to pieces by wild beasts were sometimes exposed at the end of the combat which gives great vividness to the apostle's reference in this passage)

Comparing Ephesians 3:10 to 1Corinthians 4:9 S Lewis Johnson reasons that...

the Apostle’s figure is we have a theater. What’s the theater? Well the theater is human history. That’s God’s theater. What’s the stage? Well the stage is the world. Who are the actors? Well the actors are the members of the body of Christ. Who’s the author of the play, the director of the play, and the producer of the play? Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They are the authors of the play, the directors of the play, the producers of the play. And who is the audience? Well from Ephesians the audience is the angelic host. And what are they learning? The manifold wisdom of God.

There are great things of course that the angelic world will perhaps ultimately see. Some things they may never be able to completely understand. I think it’s probably true in the light of Paul’s statement to broaden it out a little bit and say we are learning some things, too. But what we have is this great production by the Lord God in order that the angelic hosts might come to understand his manifold wisdom. And it’s through the church. We are the instrumentality. Think of the fall in the Garden of Eden. Think of the work of redemption by the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul says angels desire to look into that redemption.

The national program of the gathering together of Jews and Gentiles into this one body, into this great new international community, and all of the things that he is going to do, now and in the future, is designed to be instructive for the angels. That has some relationship to that state over in 1 Corinthians chapter 11 when Paul is talking about head coverings, and he says that women, under certain circumstances, ought to wear head coverings on account of the angels (see 1Cor 11:10). Why? Well, the angels are interested in things that are happening in the church of Jesus Christ. What are they learning through you, if anything? Of course, they can learn things negative as well as positive. But isn’t that a magnificent plan to the intent that now “unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known through the church the manifold wisdom of God according to the purpose of the ages which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord”? (Ephesians 3:1-13 Dispensation of Grace Audio/Pdf ) (Bolding added)

Peter also alludes to the angelic host's interest in the salvation of man writing that...

It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven-- things into which angels long to look (literally to bend beside and then to lean over or stoop down so as to look carefully into our salvation! This same verb parakupto describes John "stooping" to look into the empty tomb to see the linen wrappings of our resurrected Lord in John 20:5!). (See note 1 Peter 1:12) (Comment:  It is amazing to realize that even God's holy angels and probably also Satan and the fallen angels are observing, with great interest, the unfolding of God's great plan of salvation, both in individual human beings and for the whole creation. See these other allusions to the relationship of angels to salvation in Hebrews 1:1- note; Psalm 34:7; Matthew 18:10; 1 Corinthians 11:10)

S Lewis Johnson explains that...

this great work of building up this one new man of Jew and Greek, so that they’re equal in one body of Christ, has as one of its major purposes the manifestation or the making known of the manifold wisdom of God to the angelic hosts about us. In other words, we (the body of Jewish and Gentile believers) are the means by which God is instructing the angels in His wisdom. Now isn’t that something to think about? (Ephesians 3:1-13 Dispensation of Grace Audio/Pdf)

Wuest explains that...

The Church thus becomes the university for angels, and each saint a professor. Only in the Church can the angels come to an adequate comprehension of the grace of God. They look at the Church to investigate the mysteries of redemption. 1 Peter 1:12 (see note) speaks of the things which the angels have a passionate desire to stoop down and look into, like the golden cherubim that overshadow the Mercy Seat, ever gazing upon the sprinkled blood that is upon it. The preposition para, “beside,” is prefixed to the verb “stoop down,” which speaks of the angels as spectators viewing the great plan of redemption from the side lines, not being participants in it. (Wuest, K. S. Wuest's Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: Eerdmans)

Morris comments that in this verse Paul provides....

an amazing brief insight into God's purposes with respect to His angelic creation, both the holy angels and the fallen angels who have followed Satan in his age-long rebellion against God. They are intently observing and learning about God, His nature and His purposes, through His work of creating and redeeming men and women, whom He had created in His image (Job 1:3-2:10; 1 Peter 1:12 - note). Thus the church--the vast body of redeemed individuals, past and present--is serving as an instructor of angels, including the very angels who are currently assigned as our individual guardians and ministers (see Hebrews 1:1- note; Psalm 34:7; Matthew 18:10). It is wonderful to contemplate being able to meet these angelic friends, person to person, in the age to come when Christ returns with all His holy angels (2 Thessalonians 1:7). We shall actually even judge the angels (1Corinthians 6:3). (Morris, Henry: Defenders Study Bible. World Publishing)