EPHESIANS 3:10

“so that the multifaceted wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.”

Do you remember as a child getting that brand new jumbo box of Crayola Crayons? If you were lucky, you would get the box with the built-in sharpener. Man, I sure remember opening that box and seeing all those unspoiled, brand new crayons. It seemed every color of the rainbow was in that box. And the smell! That was one great smell.

Paul isn’t talking about crayons in today’s verse. But the word he uses for “multifaceted” could be described that way. It is the Greek word polupoikilos, and it is only used right here. It could literally be translated as “many many many.” Poly is the first part of the word and means much in number. Poikilos is the second part and means many diverse manifestations. Paul is saying the wisdom of God is so diverse, you could never explain it fully.

APPLICATION

My late brother-in-law, Dr. Wayne Barber, used to explain poikilos by comparing how it was used in two other passages, 1 Peter 4:10 and James 1:2. In the Greek Old Testament, the Septuagint, poikilos is used to describe Joseph’s coat of many colors. With that thought in mind, Wayne would talk about the many colors of trials we see in James 1:2, which reads, “Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you encounter various trials.” The word “various” is poikilos.

Then over in 1 Peter 4:10 we see, “As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the multifaceted grace of God.” “Multifaceted” is poikilos. So, we have multi-colored trials, wisdom and grace. Wayne explained that God had just the right color wisdom and grace to match the color trial you were going through.

God’s wisdom and grace are unexplainable. They are too multifaceted for words. You can study these concepts the rest of your life and never exhaust the definitions. Do you trust this inexpressible God with your finite life? You should. He has all the answers you will ever need.

Father, I thank You that no one will ever be able to fully explain the richness of your grace and wisdom.