Ephesians 1:16–23

Hearing of their faith and love, the Apostle cannot help giving thanks and praying without ceasing for these saints. If we only dwell on each other's defects and failures, we shall be overwhelmed and always complaining about the saints. If we look for, and dwell on, what the grace of God has done in the saints, we shall have cause for thanksgiving. At the same time, we shall not be indifferent to what may need correction. The Apostle never overlooked what was of Christ in the saints, though he was never indifferent to what was of the flesh.

It is worth noting that the Apostle gives thanks for the fruit of the work of God in the saints — their "faith" and "love." Here he does not thank God for the knowledge of the truth they may have gained, or for their hard study of the word. He thanks God for the results of the truth seen in their lives. Writing to the Ephesians, he does not thank God that they had entered into the highest truths of God's purpose. He thanks God for how far the truth had shaped them, seen in their "faith in the Lord Jesus" and "love toward all the saints" (Eph. 1:15-16; also Col. 1:3-4).

These Ephesians became known to the apostle by their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and their love to all the saints. "Oh," says Paul, "they are Christ's; that is enough for me." So he never stops giving thanks. He prays that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, might give them the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. He does not pray, you notice, that they might have the spirit of wisdom and revelation, until he knows of their "faith and love."

However clearly we set the truth before the saints, only the Holy Spirit can make it good in their hearts, and the apostle knew that well... We can be sure he did not pray for the saints in a general way only; he understood the truth too well for that... One wonders why our prayer meetings are not more specific and less general. We do pray for all saints, we pray for the gospel, for the ministry of the truth. Why not name those who may be ministering?

As he unfolds the wonderful truths of this letter, the Apostle is led into prayer. Those prayers matter very much for our souls. I am sure many of us have felt a thought often put to us: these great truths can only be learned on our knees. This is what seemed to impress the Apostle. The Spirit of God led him to pray that the truths he was inspired to pass on would take deep hold of the hearts and consciences of the saints.

Aged believers, disabled believers, imprisoned believers, take courage! Although you can no longer run the Lord's errands, you can still serve the people of God at the throne of grace. Paul in his Roman prison did not cease to give thanks for his Ephesian brothers and sisters, remembering them in his prayers (Eph. 1:16). He remembered the Philippians too, and in every prayer for them he prayed with joy (Phil. 1:4).

These words of the Lord will also be remembered: "I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God." The two prayers of the apostle in the letter to the Ephesians (the one in chapter 1 and the one in chapter 3) will be seen to rest on these two titles. The prayer of chapter 1 is founded on the second title, that of "God of our Lord Jesus Christ" (v. 17); and the prayer of chapter 3 on the first, that of "Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" (v. 14). The first title is used in relation to glory, the second to communion in love.

God is light and God is love. The first prayer is a prayer for light, that His redeemed people may know, may be enlightened; therefore it is addressed to the God of our Lord Jesus Christ. The second prayer in the third chapter is for love, and therefore addressed to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Here we get Christ presented in a double character — as Son of the Father and as Man — and that lies at the root of our whole condition too. He is the God of our Lord Jesus Christ as Man, and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ as Son.

In this prayer God is also addressed as "the Father of glory". The scene of glory we are going to takes its character from the Father, the One it springs from. His love and holiness will fill that world of glory in which God will be perfectly displayed. While the Father is the spring and source of glory, the Lord Jesus, as Man, is the centre and object of glory.

The world's glory is stained by its god — Satan. Every true and pure ray of glory comes from Him who is the Father of glory — the Source of all that is pure and lasting.

God's giving His saints the spirit of wisdom and revelation does not mean the gift of the Spirit of God Himself. Verse 13 has already declared them sealed with the Holy Spirit. But just as "the spirit of meekness" (Gal. 6:1) refers to an attitude marked by meekness, so this is an attitude marked by both wisdom and revelation. Wisdom is what rightly applies whatever knowledge we may have learned. But the spirit of revelation is that attitude of soul that is ready to receive directly from the Lord whatever thoughts He may reveal to us.

It was not enough for the Apostle to unfold the truth to the saints. To understand what he made known, they had to be in the spiritual state to enter into it. To receive the things of divine wisdom, we must have the spirit of wisdom. To receive the things God reveals, we must have the spirit of revelation. It is God who gives this spiritual state, to those who want it and who are in communion with Him about what He has revealed.

There might be a little difficulty if it were simply "the knowledge of him." The proper meaning of the word is "the full knowledge of him." They already knew Him, but Paul prayed that they might know Him more. He wanted them to be fathers in Christ, and what makes a father is a deep and growing knowledge of Christ Himself. The Spirit of God alone could give them this entrance into it.

The believer and the church have a wonderful position before God and the Father. We must understand the mind of God about that position before we can appreciate a walk that matches it here below. What Paul seeks for the saints is heart knowledge — not just the eyes of the understanding, but "the eyes of your HEART being enlightened, that you may know."

Every word and phrase of the opening section underlines this: although this knowledge can be learned, we depend on God to teach it by His Spirit. God has given His Spirit, but this prayer asks for the wisdom, revelation, and knowledge, which are some of His mighty works. We ought never to be afraid to pray for knowledge, the right kind of knowledge, coming to us from the right source.

At verse 15 the apostle stops being a teacher and becomes someone praying for others. You will find that he never pulls down in prayer what he had built up as a teacher. You will sometimes hear people asking God to love them. I could never make such a prayer... To ask God to love me, to make me a co-heir with Christ, to appoint me to heavenly places in Him! I will make a prayer much more humbling than that. I am so blessed in my calling, so poor in my enjoyment! If God has lit a candle, I will not ask Him to light it, but to take the film from my eyes, that I may see what He has done.

The knowledge of Christ that the apostle prays for is not just intellectual knowledge. It is a heart acquaintance with a Person. That is why he says (as the text should read), "being enlightened in the eyes of your heart." Again and again we see in Scripture, and learn by experience, that God teaches through the affections.

There is no point in making anatomical distinctions between head and heart... All knowledge must in fact involve the brain — head knowledge, as people say. So what does "the eyes of your heart" mean? The verse has just insisted that this knowledge comes from God by the revelation of His Spirit. It can only mean that this knowledge is also tied in a special way to the affections.

What then is the hope He has called us to? In Ephesians it is not the Lord's coming, and this is because of the height of the position we are set in, seated in the heavenly places in Christ. His coming would, as it were, disturb the seated ones. The hope of it is the full realisation, in the eternal glory, of all that God has called us into in Christ. It is the fruit of what He planned from a past eternity. If only we were more struck by how completely heavenly and eternal such a calling is! God planned it for us in Christ before the world was founded. We have it in Him in the heavenly places. And we will know it in full when we are made completely like Him in the glory of God for ever. No link with time or the course of this world: the Christian belongs to eternity.

With remarkable clearness the apostle distinguishes the hope from the inheritance of glory... The earlier verses of the chapter detail the calling of God. The central verses develop the riches of the glory of God's inheritance. He does not take that inheritance directly and personally, so to speak — not in Christ alone. He takes it in the saints too. The saints are not the inheritance. They are the heirs — heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ.

Just as a king might occupy conquered territory by putting his troops and officials in possession, so it will be then. We shall get our inheritance when Christ gets His. This is what the apostle means when he prays that we may know "what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints." It is not that the saints are His inheritance, but that He takes up His inheritance in His saints, by putting His saints in possession.

We must first grasp the mind of God about the wonderful position the believer and the church have before God and the Father. Only then can we intelligently value a walk that matches it here on earth.

"The hope to which he has called you" is the bright prospect of the saints themselves, as they are in Christ before God. "The riches of his glorious inheritance" take in, of course, that vast scene of creation which God will put under the glorified saints... But then he adds a third point, which was not given in the previous part of the chapter.

Three words describe this power here, and each one carries the thought of strength or might... A free translation of them might be: the ability of His all-prevailing strength. The first word is the well-known "dunamis", the word from which we derive our word "dynamic" or "dynamo"... The word translated "mighty" is "kratos". It comes from the same root as the divine title "Almighty". The third word, "iskus", is usually translated "strength".

For a sample we look not to creation but to the grave of Christ. In creation God made everything out of nothing by His Word, and no enemy appeared. At the grave of Christ it was different. Death, the great enemy, ruled that scene, and even Christ gave way to it — though He did so in grace — and died for sins. The power of God raised that blessed Man from the dead and put Him in the highest place at God's right hand. So God displayed a power that no enemy could withstand.

The cross, though the most essential of all things for God's glory and our need, does not give us the power of God. It shows us what God calls His weakness, and if I look at Christ there, He was "crucified in weakness."... But when we look at the resurrection, every trace of weakness has passed away for ever, and we see nothing but the most triumphant power of God.

We see Christ in His tomb raised and elevated to the throne of God. Could any power be greater? And yet this same power has worked toward us. It did not only act for our benefit in Christ. We too have been made alive — raised with Christ — as the second chapter shows. The power that worked in Him has worked in us. How amazing!

In Ephesians 1:19, His power toward us... In Ephesians 3:16, 20, His power in us... and in Ephesians 6:10, His power with us.

This power is spoken of as "working", so it is active toward us at the present time. There are other and great powers in the universe, but the power that is "working" toward us surpasses every other power, whether it be the power of the flesh in us, or the power of the devil against us. What a comfort to know that in all our weakness there is a surpassing power toward us and working for us.

By attempting to gauge this work by our faith, or feeling, or intelligence, we never lay hold of it. The measure is outside ourselves.

Why then are we so weak? Because we so feebly believe it... It is one thing not to deny it as teaching. It is another to apply it and live in it — not only in great trouble or under heavy blows, but in the ordinary run of daily duty.

In Ephesians we have what the power of God is. The Apostle prays that we may know it. To see a sample, we look not at creation but at the grave of Christ. At creation the Word of God made everything out of nothing, and no enemy appeared. But at the grave of Christ, death, the great enemy, had swept the scene. Even Christ, in grace, gave way to it and died for sins. The power of God raised that blessed Man from the dead and put Him in the highest place at God's right hand. So God displayed a power that no enemy could withstand.

The exceeding greatness of God's power toward us who believe has its measure in the working of His own mighty power. He put that power to work in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places. The measure of the might is divine. If we try to gauge this work by our faith, or feeling, or intelligence, we never lay hold of it. The measure is outside ourselves.

God raised Him from the dead. He set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, according to His merits and the dignity of His Person. There He is far above every rule, authority, might and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. So God has raised Man, in the Person of Christ, above everything except the throne that raised Him. And is He alone? No. The same power raised Christ and set Him at the right hand of God. That surpassing greatness of power, which raised the Man who was dead to the right hand of God, works with the same might in everyone who believes.

The 'heavenlies' mark out this letter: compare Eph. 1:3, 20; Eph. 2:6; Eph. 3:10; Eph. 6:12. Romans takes up man as alive in his sins, and grace meets his need. Ephesians shows God's life-giving power for those dead in sins, seen in His raising Christ up from among the dead. Colossians views believers as risen with Christ, but still on earth with their hope in heaven. Ephesians seats believers in Christ in the heavenly places.

All of us alike, Jews and Gentiles, were dead in trespasses and sins... What takes place? God gives them life. Is it by a work inside their souls? No, but in a completely different way — "together with Christ."... What is in view here is not a work done in certain people at particular times. It is the work of God, according to the might of His strength. Where and when? "In Christ, when He raised Him from the dead." The power is "toward" us, but the operation itself took place in Christ.

Christ has received a higher dignity, and He holds that place in present association with us while we are here. It is One who not only owns us and is kind to us, and uses the greatness of His glory for our good, but far more. The head of a vast empire can turn his throne to the good of his subjects and to the honour of those he wants to honour. But there is no real, direct, personal association with him. This is what the Christian has with Christ. Nothing less than to be one with Christ is what we have here.

The meaning is clear. Whatever the rank or dignity of any of the heavenly orders or beings, God has set Christ as the glorified Man above them all. Among the vast number of heavenly beings He is absolutely supreme. The rendering "far above" may not be exactly justified by the word used. But we cannot doubt that our translators seized its spirit. They sought to express that there was no second to the glorified Christ, and that His exaltation is so far beyond words that all the highest ranks of angelic beings are far beneath His feet.

Chapter 6:12 shows that principalities and powers (or authorities) belong to the spiritual realm — angelic beings, evil in nature in that case. But chapter 1:21 includes all spirit beings, good or evil.

Nothing declares the majesty of God's power and the sovereign supremacy of His will to the whole intelligent creation so strongly as this: the Man Christ Jesus lifted to the throne of heaven. For the natural place of man is earth. The first man was not heavenly. He was of the earth, made of dust... He stood on a level essentially different from, as well as lower than, the heavenly beings. Angels are greater in power and might than man. But Jesus is now made higher than the heavens. God gives Him not only supremacy of place, but supremacy of name as well. The name of Jesus is now named in heaven as well as in the church below, with the worship due to God alone.

Scripture uses no such strong expressions when it is a question of raising the millions who will share the bliss of the first resurrection. The reason, no doubt, is that raising them is a simple matter. It is not complicated by all those tremendous questions of sin, death and Satan's power that were at work in the case of Jesus. Then the real battle was fought. Then every opposing power, whether human or satanic, rose to its highest expression and combined in one last effort to hold the Saviour in the dominion of death. Then the might of God's power rose up. It flung back every assault, confounded the full power of the enemy, and raised Him from the dead, and up until, seated at His own right hand, He is above — and not only above, but "far above all principality and power."

The distinction this verse draws between the present age and the age to come is very marked. It is not a comparison of time with eternity, but of one limited period with another. The subject here is the appointed supremacy of Christ, and this relates in a special sense to the present age and the age that follows it at once. This description of Christ's position at the right hand of the Father presses one truth on our minds. God has given Him a name and place of such universal pre-eminence that every claim to independent power or action takes on the definite character of rebellious enmity against God. Whether He is confessed or denied, He is "the Head of all principality and power."

In that place of conferred glory, the church is associated with Him. He is not only "head over all things" but "head over all things to the church." The very same power that worked in Christ to set Him on high works in us to set us along with Him there.

The truth that matches the lifting up of Jesus is the subjection of all created things to Him as Lord of all. This is now stated by a quotation from Psalm 8, a passage mentioned elsewhere in the New Testament for a similar purpose (1 Cor. 15:27; Heb. 2:8). The subjection spoken of here is by the same hand that raised up Jesus from the dead.

So the writer of the letter to the Hebrews explains the eighth Psalm to his readers and says, We see now that this has not yet been fulfilled. This is not a contradiction of Ephesians, where the same Psalm is quoted. In Ephesians we have the counsel of God. That counsel is that all things are to be put under the feet of the glorified Christ, and when God takes a counsel it is as good as accomplished. But here in Hebrews 2 the writer speaks about the time aspect. So he says that at present the Lord Jesus is at the right hand, as in Ephesians, but we do not yet see all things put under His feet in a visible, practical way.

Notice here two headships of a very different character. That He is the Head of the Church is obvious, because the Church is spoken of as His body. But besides this, God presents Him to the Church as "Head over all." God has already exalted Him and set Him in the highest place at His own right hand. God will make Him Heir of all things, the acknowledged and undisputed Head of the whole universe. In this character, as Head over all things, He has joined the Church to Himself. She is not part of the realm over which He reigns, but part, so to speak, of Himself — "the Church, which is His body."

But the apostle says, "Head over all things to the Church": why and how "to the Church"? That cannot mean to limit what is absolute. No, this headship over all shows the fulness of His resources for that to which He is Head in such a way that it is His Body. The Head over all is Head to a people so united to Him by the Spirit that they are one with Him as a body is with its head.

It does not make much difference. He gave Him to the church, that is, gave Him as Head to the body. That, at any rate, is the sense of it. It is the character in which He has been given.

The church is not to be a glorious people only, over which Christ is to reign. We are heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ — not just heirs under Christ, but heirs with Him. This matches the picture given at the very beginning of man's history. Adam had the glory of being head over this lower world, and his wife shares the dominion because of her union with him. The church is the spiritual Eve of the Lord Jesus, the bride of the last Adam.

The church exists today, and her Head is the One who — though "over all, God blessed forever" — is over all things, the ascended and glorified Man. So the church does not have to wait to receive gifts. They are hers today, and have been hers since she came into being. They have reached her from her exalted Head. Every one of them exists to maintain His interests and to do His work in the world, and this world is the scene of the enemy's power. Every one of them is a witness to the triumph of our Head.

It does not say head over the church, but head over all things to the church. Nothing could show the riches of God's grace more fully than this: it pleased God to join the church with Christ. The church here means all saints from Pentecost until the Lord comes. And Christ is the Man of His purpose, His own blessed Son, the One in whom is all His pleasure. Every believer indwelt by the Spirit is united to Christ, the living Head, as a member of His body, and the Lord regards him as a part of Himself.

The figure of the body shows how close the church's connection with Christ is — "the church which is His body." This is not the relationship of subjects to a ruler, though it is also true that the church is subject to Christ. But this striking picture carries a wonderful truth. God's eternal purpose is not fulfilled unless the church is joined to the Risen Man in the place of glory where He is exalted.

The Church is "His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all." It is the complement — that which fills up Christ, seen as man risen from the dead. As Son of God He needs nothing, of course, to complete His glory. But as man He does. Without the Church He would be no more complete in His resurrection-glory than Adam would have been without Eve.

"The fullness of Him who fills all in all" — this is not the fullness of God the Father, which the Church is not and cannot be. It is the fullness, or complement, of Christ, seen as the glorified heavenly man, whose body we are.

The Church is His fullness. According to Lightfoot, this word means "the filled condition of a thing, whether a tear to be mended, an idea to be realized, a prophetic plan to be fulfilled". How can we accept the idea that so glorious a Being needs anything to complete Him? Part of the answer, at least, is that Christ is here a Man. The quotation from Psalm 8 confirms this: "all things under His feet." It brings us close to this thought: in God's counsel it was not good that man should be alone, and God took Eve out of his body. In becoming man, Christ accepted this too — that He needs the Church to be His body, and later His bride.

The body is complement to the Head; it is in this sense its fullness. Christ fills all in all: this is His glory. It is He who divinely fills the whole universe — the church is the body of Him who does it.

The church is His body and so His fullness — the body in which He is properly expressed. This passage clearly views the church in its largest and widest sense. It is the sum total of the saints of this present age: those called out between the coming of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost and the coming again of the Lord Jesus.

Baptised by one Spirit into one body, we have the Head and the body joined together. The Head is at the right hand of God in heaven, joined to the members. The power of the Holy Spirit forms them into a body down here on earth. Scripture calls that "the church."