“So that through the church the manifold
wisdom of God might now be made known . . .”
I
find these words both exhilarating and disheartening. They are disheartening because the truths
rooted in them are often neglected by many Christians in the west. Over the last century there has been an
explosion of Christian ministries that sprang up outside the church, often to
address problems that the church was neglecting. Many of these specialized, or para-church
organizations have had tremendous results in the proclamation of the Gospel,
and addressing social concerns in our world.
Whether intentional or not, the Church was often marginalized and at
times considered impotent. These words
are also disheartening because much of Christianity in the west became individualistic
as it embraced the populist[i]
ideals of our culture. In other words faith
has become individualistic rather than community-centric. As that happened the church became a
destination to address individual felt needs, rather than a place of worship,
community and service.
I
find these words exhilarating because despite her struggles God has an awesome
plan for His Church, for it is through the Church that God has chosen to make
known His manifold wisdom. Please don’t
let the unfamiliarity of the word “manifold” cause you to miss what Paul is
saying here. Most of us don’t use the word
“manifold” unless in a technical sense when referring to something mechanical
like a manifold on a car. The Greek adjective
that Paul uses to describe God’s wisdom is “polypoikilos”. This word is somewhat difficult to translate
into modern English and as a result, it is very easy to miss Paul’s emphasis
here. Another word that could be used is “iridescent”
which points to revealing brilliant colors when an object is seen from
different perspectives or angles. An example of this would be an iridescent
crystal. Commentator William Hendriksen describes
it as “the infinite diversity and sparkling beauty of God’s wisdom”. Not only is God’s wisdom multi-perspectival,
it is beautiful from each perspective and never stops revealing new beauty. It
is no wonder that we have a hard time fully grasping this. Yes, it is true, when what Paul writes “Oh, the depth of
the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!” (Romans
11:33-NIV).
In
this same passage Paul writes that even though he is “the very least of all the saints” (3:8), God graciously called him
to be a minister of the gospel of grace.
Paul was keenly aware of his own sinfulness and therefore could truly rejoice
in the grace that was given to him though Christ Jesus. Paul’s message was one of reconciliation. First it was the good news of reconciliation
of God to His people, then His people to one another, rooted in the “unsearchable riches of Christ” (3:8). Think about this for a minute, God’s wisdom
is entirely up-side-down to human logic.
He chose to love His children before the foundation of time despite
their hostility toward him. And by grace
through faith they have been made alive – saved through the redeeming work of
Jesus Christ. In doing this all the
ceremonial laws were abolished and the moral law fulfilled. Christ not only paid the price for our sin,
but He is our righteousness! That really
doesn't make sense – but it is iridescently beautiful!
Basically God has chosen to take the spiritually
dead, enslaved to sin and rebellious individual and adopt them into His family
made up of people of every race, culture, gender and socioeconomic as one
reconciled group. To most this seems
like a mess! Yet it is a new community
living out the gospel as they love each other as they have been loved by
God. Where “there
is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave
or free, but Christ is all, and is in all” (Colossians 3:11-NIV). A community of people that through
the gospel of grace become a brilliant iridescent light that shines forth the
wisdom of God. It is so brilliant, so beautiful,
so glorious that it causes the “rulers
and authorities in the heavenly realms” to stop and take notice! Imagine that!
“Now to him who is able to
do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is
at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout
all generations, for ever and ever! Amen” (3:20-21-NIV).
[i] In this
case “populist” is defined as a belief system that propagates the rights and
wisdom of the common people or the individual.
This is not to be confused with a political party formed in the United
States in 1891.
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