Section 266
65This spelling out of the πολυποιϰιλία of divine wisdom is adduced by H. Schlier, in a short excursus, ‘H πολυποίϰιλος σοφία τοῦ θεοῦ (Der Brief an die Epheser, pp. 159-66), where he mentions the possibility that Wisdom 7:22-23 is a riposte to the language of an Isis aretalogy.
66Der Brief an die Epheser, p. 165. He borrows multiformi specie from the Isis aretalogy of Apuleius, Metamorphoses 11.5.
67So H. Schlier, Der Brief an die Epheser, pp. 21, 156.
68Cf. H. Schlier, Der Brief an die Epheser, p. 155: “The ἀϱϰαὶ ϰαὶ ἐξουσίαι are not sancti angeli, as many expositors assume, but . . . ‘evil’ powers.” They certainly include the kosmokratores of Eph. 6:12 (cf. the archontes of 1 Cor. 2:8, who were previously ignorant of the divine purpose), but there is no reason why even the angels of the presence should not learn lessons about the ways of God from the working out of his saving purpose.