Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.

Ephesians 1:15-21 NKJV

1:15-16 “Because of this” (therefore)… This is the first use of the phrase in Ephesians. Paul is very intentional when it comes to connecting ideas and building off of them. “Therefore” or its similar English translations are a common fixture in Paul’s writings. In this particular instance, Paul reveals his prayer life in light of his understanding of God and His relationship to the body of Messiah. As he gives us a glimpse into his prayer life, Paul is also introducing a prayer for the whole Church. These are not generic prayers. They are inspired by the Holy Spirit, included in the Scriptures, and loaded with very practical theology that is given to inspire, equip, and empower the Church in our pursuit of God and His will.

1:17 The God of our Lord Jesus Christ is the Father of Glory. The Father is the begetter of (able to produce in His image) glory itself. We just finished talking about glory. Everything the Father does reflects the praiseworthiness of Him who creates. All that is good, beautiful, honoring, and wonderful comes from Him. The idea conveyed in the statement “The God of our Lord Jesus Christ” highlights Christ in His humanity. It was Jesus who came to us in human flesh, with all of its weakness and limitations, to reveal to us the Father. Yes, Jesus is fully God, but He chose to reveal the will and nature of Father God to us within the context of His humanity. The humility and kindness of God to meet us on our level and go the whole distance to make known to us the good pleasure of His will is absolutely mind blowing. Here also it is desired we possess a “spirit of wisdom and revelation” in the knowledge of Him. Paul doesn’t want us to merely have head knowledge of the grace and glory of God in the mystery of His will. Paul is desiring we possess a living, unveiled and unhindered skillful insight regarding the knowledge of God which can only come by the Spirit of God. The goal is intimate knowledge, similar to how we know and understand a close sibling, best friend, or spouse. It is the kind of knowledge which comes from deep friendship.

1:18 The first part of this verse, “The eyes of your understanding being enlightened” is a somewhat poetic way to say something very basic. The prayer here is inviting us into a state of having our eyes opened to understand a holy desire that produces positive expectation. More simply stated: We get to have our eyes opened to a very holy desire of which we get to feel good about wanting. So what should we feel really good about wanting so much? Well, there are three things (two of which we will look at in this verse): First, it is to know the hope of His calling. So often I hear people reference this verse and start talking about their calling in Christ. While I never want to discourage someone from pursuing what they believe God is calling them into, this verse is actually very specifically highlighting the calling of Christ Himself.

What again is the calling of Christ? It is to rule from Jerusalem over Israel unto the salvation of Israel, to bring deliverance and justice to all peoples through Israel, and to share the Kingdom with His people.

We experience the firstfruits of His calling through salvation and the infilling of the Holy Spirit, but once we’ve been born again, we should begin fixing our eyes on the yet-to-come promise. Once “saved” , this should begin producing a wonderful and envious yearning for the kingdom of God and righteousness of Christ. Second, it is “the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.” Did you know that you are considered a glorious inheritance to God and your shining characteristic is your great value to Him? Did you know you were born again into what should become an obsessive, envious, and zealous desire to experience the reality of being glorious in the eyes of the God who redeemed and ransomed you? If you are a Christian, you are Jesus’ glorious prize. That is your identity. We are called to live in light of this identity, as it is this identity which will strengthen us until the day Jesus receives the fullness of His inheritance.

1:19-20 The third desire of Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians is for them to see God’s exceedingly great power toward us who believe. What kind of power can exceed the already infinite strength of the God who begat all of creation by His own voice? In essence, the full divine strength and effort of the most powerful being in all of existence is utilizing the full measure of His power for our favor and our good. It is by this same power that the Father raised the dead Christ (into a physically resurrected and glorified human body) and seated Him on a real physical throne in a real physical realm called “heaven”. Paul’s words could have almost come across as an exaggeration due to their excessiveness. Yet here we see that what may have seemed like an exaggeration just one verse before has very real, physical, spiritual, and tangible evidence.

Next week, we are going to do our first deeper look. In the complete commentary, I refer to these as Parenthetical Notes, and they are designed to provide a deeper and more well rounded understanding of a passage as it relates to biblical passages outside of Ephesians. Until then, blessings!