Verse 9 continues without a break, “and to make clear” (Good News Translation making … see), which translates the Greek verb “to illuminate, shine upon,” here used in the figurative sense of revealing, showing.
In view of some of the complex elements in the latter part of verse 8, it may be useful to begin verse 9 as a separate sentence. This would mean repeating certain elements in verse 8, for example, “My task was also to make all people see….” Frequently, however, it is necessary to translate see as “to understand,” since people did not actually see with their eyes but simply were caused to understand.
All people: in Good News Translation the direct object of the verb, “all (people),” is placed within brackets, which indicates considerable doubt about the genuineness of the word. The Greek text followed by New English Bible omits the word, and New English Bible translates “(and of) bringing to light how….”. If a translator chooses to omit all, it may still be necessary to have “people” as object of the verb: “to reveal to people how God’s secret plan is to be put into effect.”
How God’s secret plan is to be put into effect: “what (is) the administration of the secret” is also a direct object of the verb “to reveal.” For “administration” see 1.10; 3.2; for “secret” see 1.9; 3.3-4. The event expressed by the Greek abstract noun for “administration” has a subject, and if it must be made explicit in translation, who is the subject? Caragounis says it is the author of the letter; so New International Version “to make plain to everyone my administration of this mystery.” Barth says it is Christ, and points back to its use in 1.10; Twentieth Century New Testament translates “what is God’s way of working out that hidden purpose” (similarly Traduction œcuménique de la Bible). There is no way of determining which is correct; given the nature of the word, however, and of its use in Ephesians, it seems that the subject would be God himself (or Christ) and not the writer of the letter. It may be difficult to employ the passive structure in the clause how God’s secret plan is to be put into effect. In a number of languages the agent must be specified, and the clause may be restructured as “how God will put into effect his secret plan” or “… cause his secret plan to happen” or “… carry out his secret plan.”
Hidden through all the past ages; “which was hidden from the ages in/by God”: the expression “from the ages” (see “age” in 1.21) means through all the past ages, all time in the past, since creation; see Colossians 1.26. It is possible that here the word is used in a personal sense of the spiritual powers, as it is in 2.2. If the word is taken in a personal sense here, the translation could be “God kept his secret hidden from the spiritual powers.”
Hidden translates the perfect passive participle of the Greek verb “to cover up, conceal.”
God … kept his secret hidden through all the past ages may be expressed as “through all the time that is past, God did not reveal his secret plan” or “… God refused to let people know about his secret” or “… God refused to let people know about what he was planning.”
The Greek prepositional phrase “in God” is taken by Good News Translation to mean “by God,” God … kept his secret hidden (so Phillips, Moffatt, Bible en français courant), but Caragounis takes it to mean location, “in God” (so Barth, Westcott; Revised Standard Version, New English Bible, and others). Translator’s New Testament translates “he … has kept this to himself”; Barclay has “in the mind of God” (similarly Twentieth Century New Testament). This may well be the meaning intended; in Colossians 3.3 the phrase is used in a locative sense.
Actually there is very little difference in meaning between these two interpretations, and the translations of both will be almost identical. Whether the secret was hidden “in God” or “by God,” it was certainly God who was hiding the secret. The essential difference here would be to say either “God kept the secret hidden” or “God kept the secret hidden in himself.”
God is here characterized as the Creator of all things. For the verb “to create” see 2.10, 15, where it is used of the new creation. A strictly literal translation of who is the Creator of all things may be misleading, for it might imply that God had made all the artifacts in the world. Therefore it may be better to say “who created the world” or “who created the world and the sky.”
Verse 10 in Greek begins with “in order to be made known now.” What does “in order to” go with? If it expresses purpose it may go back to the verb “was given” in verse 8: “This grace was given me … in order that it be made known now” (so Salmond; so Revised Standard Version seems to construe it); the presence of “now,” however, seems to tie this purpose clause closely to the preceding hidden through all the past ages; so Good News Translation, New English Bible, and others. New International Version makes a full stop at the end of verse 9 and begins a new sentence with verse 10: “His intent was that now…”; similarly Barclay “The purpose of all this was….” It is possible to take the Greek to express result: “as a result, now it has been made known….” It is also possible to connect the clause with the verb “to make clear” in verse 9, in which case it would be necessary to repeat the verb of verse 9 and to start verse 10 with a clause such as “He made people see God’s secret plan in order that at the present time….” Or else, “God’s purpose was…” or “What God intended was….”
“To the rulers and authorities in the heavenlies”: see 1.20-21 for “rulers and authorities” and 1.3 for “the heavenlies.” These are the spiritual powers, and it seems unlikely here (so Salmond) that they are regarded as evil. The angelic rulers and powers in the heavenly world can best be expressed in some languages as “the angels who rule and have power in the sky” or “… in heaven.”
By means of the church; “through the church”: this phrase, which is used nowhere else in the New Testament, says that the church is the means by which “the manifold wisdom of God” (Revised Standard Version) is revealed to the spiritual powers and rulers. The writer does not elaborate, so the interpreter is left to decide whether this means the church’s existence as the body of Christ, the place where reconciliation between Jews and Gentiles has taken place (so Beare, Barth, Caragounis), or the church’s activity in the proclamation of the gospel.
The insertion of the phrase by means of the church in the rather complex clause of verse 10 can be very misleading. It may be possible to render the phrase more effectively at the end of verse 10 as “the church was to cause these angels to learn about this.” Otherwise it may be best to introduce the church as the causative subject of the purpose clause in verse 10, for example, “in order that at the present time the church might cause the angels who rule and have power in heaven to know about God’s wisdom….” On the other hand, if through the church refers to the way in which God is working out his plan, this would certainly require a separate sentence.
In all its different forms: the compound adjective translated “manifold” occurs only here in the New Testament; for the simple form “varied, many, several,” see Matthew 4.24; James 1.2; Hebrews 2.4; in 1 Peter 4.10 it is applied to “the grace of God.” Phillips brings out the meaning in a forceful way: “The purpose of all this is that all the angelic powers should now see the complex wisdom of God’s plan being worked out through the Church.”
In some languages it is impossible to retain an ambiguous expression such as his wisdom, for either it is the content of God’s knowledge or it is a statement about God’s state of being wise. Therefore might learn of his wisdom in all its different forms may be expressed as “might learn how wise God is in everything.” The phrase in all its different forms must refer to the application of the wisdom to different areas of experience, and therefore the phrase “in everything” can be an adequate equivalent.
Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert C. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1982. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .