that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, would give you [the] spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of him,
Paul has just listed what God has done for believers. Now he turns to prayer, and asks for something surprising: a spirit of wisdom and revelation for people who already have the Holy Spirit.
Ephesians contains two prayers, and each one addresses God differently. One writer traces both back to a single sentence spoken by the risen Christ:
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.
Another writer draws the same line in terms of what each prayer asks for:
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.
Calling God the God of Jesus Christ can sound like a demotion. It is not:
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.
The title says where glory comes from, and what the coming glory will be like:
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.
Set beside the glory the world offers, the contrast is sharp:
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.
The phrase works the way other "spirit of" phrases do:
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.
Teaching alone, then, does not carry a truth into the soul:
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.
The word Paul uses for knowledge here is stronger than the ordinary one:
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 knowing Paul asks for is not just mental:
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."
Since God gives this knowledge, we should ask Him for it:
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.
- The Address — Paul prays here to the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the title that fits Christ as Man. In chapter 3 he prays to the Father, the title that fits Him as Son.
- The Source — "Father of glory" means every ray of real glory begins in Him. The glory we are going to will take its character from Him.
- The Gift — Not the Holy Spirit Himself, given already in verse 13. This is a state of soul: wisdom to apply what we learn, and readiness to receive what God reveals.
- The Depth — The word means "full knowledge". These believers knew Him already, and Paul asks that they know Him more.
- The Result — The eyes of the heart open, so we know our position before God and can walk in a way that matches it.
being enlightened in the eyes of your heart, so that ye should know what is the hope of his calling, [and] what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
Paul has just listed one blessing after another, and now he stops teaching and starts to pray. He does not ask for more blessing but for sight — that God would open the eyes of the heart to what He has already given.
The prayer assumes the blessing is already given. What is missing is our perception of it.
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.
Paul says the eyes of the heart, not the eyes of the mind. That difference decides how this knowledge comes.
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.
This does not shut the brain out. It says where such knowing takes root.
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.
The earlier verses of the chapter already spell out the calling. Paul asks for the hope of it — what it will look like when it is all out in the open.
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.
Commentators differ here. Others read the hope more directly: "This hope involves the coming of the Lord Jesus to transfer all believers into His heavenly glory" (Leslie M. Grant).
The second thing Paul asks for moves from hope to inheritance. He keeps the two apart.
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.
The little word "in" carries the weight. It also settles when our own portion arrives.
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.
This sight is not a bonus for advanced Christians. It is where practical Christian living starts.
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.
- Ask for sight — Paul does not pray for new blessings. He asks God to take the film off our eyes, so we can see what He has already done.
- Heart, not head — the text says "eyes of your heart"; God teaches through the affections, so study alone will never give it.
- Hope — the first thing to see: the full display in eternal glory of everything God's calling has put us into in Christ.
- Inheritance — the second: Christ takes up His inheritance in His saints. We get our portion when He gets His.
- Then walk — sight of the position comes first; a life that matches it can only follow.