John Calvin Commentary Ephesians 3:9

"and to make all men see what is the dispensation of the mystery which for ages hath been hid in God who created all things;" — Ephesians 3:9 (ASV)

What is the fellowship of the mystery. The publication of the gospel is called a fellowship, because it is the will of God that his purpose, which had previously been hidden, should now be shared by men. There is an appropriate metaphor in the words φωτίσαι πάντας, to enlighten all men,—conveying the thought that, in his apostleship, the grace of God shines with the brightness of noonday.

Which hath been hid in God. This is intended, as before, to counteract the objection to its newness—to oppose the rashness of people who think it improper that they should remain ignorant of anything at all. Who will question the right God has to keep his own purposes concealed until he is pleased to communicate them to men? What presumption—indeed, what madness is it, not to admit that God is wiser than we are! Let us remember, therefore, that our rashness should be checked whenever the boundless height of divine foreknowledge is presented to our view. This, too, is the reason why he calls them the unsearchable riches of Christ; intimating that this subject, though it exceeds our capacity, should be contemplated with reverence and admiration.

Who created all things by Jesus Christ. This is not as accurately understood of the first creation as of the spiritual renewal. It is, no doubt, true, and is frequently declared in Scripture, that by the Word of God all things were created; but the connection of the passage requires us to understand by it the renewal which is included in the blessing of redemption.

But it may, perhaps, be thought that the apostle is illustrating this renewal by an argument drawn from the creation: “By Christ, as God, the Father created all things (John 1:3); and why, then, should we wonder, if by Christ as Mediator, all the Gentiles are now brought back to one body?” I have no objection to this view. A similar argument is used by him in another Epistle.

For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, is the same who hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:6).

From the creation of the world he concludes that it is the work of God to enlighten the darkness; but what was visible in the first case is ascribed to the Spirit when he speaks of the kingdom of Christ.