To the intent that now unto the principalities and
powers
in heavenly places
By whom are meant, not civil magistrates, much less evil angels,
but the good angels, the angels in heaven; (See Gill on
Ephesians 1:21).
might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of
God;
not the perfection of wisdom, nor Jesus Christ the wisdom of God,
nor the holy Scriptures; but the Gospel, which is the pure
produce of the wisdom of God; which is gloriously displayed in
the several doctrines of it; as in election, in choosing men in
Christ for the security of their persons, in founding it not upon
their works, but his own grace, for the security of his purpose,
and in pitching on such persons as he has, for the magnifying of
his grace: and in redemption, which is seen in the person of the
Redeemer, who is both God and man; and in the manner in which it
is effected, being both for the glory of God's grace and mercy,
and for the honour of his justice and holiness; and wherein Satan
is mortified, sin is condemned, and the sinner saved: and in
justification, whereby sinful men become just with God: God is
just, and yet the justifier of him that believes; the ungodly is
justified, and yet not justified in his ungodliness, but from it:
and in the pardon of sin, in which iniquity is forgiven, and yet
vengeance is taken on men's inventions; it is an act of mercy,
and yet of justice; it is by price, and yet of free grace; and
the like may be observed of all other doctrines of the Gospel.
And it may be called "manifold", because of its various doctrines
and promises and because of the various instances of wisdom in
them, and the various persons to whom it is made known, and the
various times in which it is displayed: and now under the Gospel
this is more clearly known, or made known to the angels by the
church of God, through the ministry of the word in it, on which
angels attend, being desirous to look more diligently into the
mysteries of it; and by the displays of the wisdom and grace of
God unto his church and people.
