Ephesians 1:15-19 (10/11/08)

Ephesians 1:15-19

Passage: “For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you, and your love for all the saints, do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may hive to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so 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 surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might…” (NASB)

Overall Significance—TO KNOW

• To know the will of God
• If Paul prays this for our fellow believers under divine inspiration, then the areas that he asks God to grow them ought to be viewed as areas that God desires us to grow also
• To know how to Pray
• Like the Lord’s Prayer, this is a scriptural example of how and what to pray for in regards to our brothers and sisters in Christ—so pay attention!
• An exhortation:
• to know well the blessings we already have obtained by grace
• to know the power of God working in us RIGHT NOW
• to know the better the hope of a future in Christ
• TO KNOW GOD!
• Against anti-intellectualism in the faith
• To know God personally requires that we know truth from His Word, otherwise we might just be worshiping an idol

Surrounding Context:

• Relevant truths already discussed
• God “has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ…” (v. 3)
• Erickson observes 3 spiritual blessings discussed earlier in the chapter (1022):

1. Redemption by grace (v.7 & 14): “With out redemption nothing else could be done” because the initial problem of sin had to be fixed.
2. Adoption and the its consequences: e.g., membership of God’s family, inheritance (v. 5, 11, 14)
3. The seal of the Holy Spirit (v. 13)
• After reviewing the passage I can see a possible 4^th blessing to add to the list—knowledge of the mystery of His will which is the summing up of all things in Christ (v. 9-11)
• Importance

· there is reference to all of these blessings in one form or another during Paul’s prayer which we are now studying

· Paul states that his reason for praying lies somewhere in what he has just discussed, especially within the previous 2 verses (O’brien, 124-5) and interestingly vv. 13-14 also make mention of all the above spiritual blessings except perhaps the 4^th blessing (knowledge)

· Future Context

o Much of the letter of Ephesians discusses the blessings we have in Christ (Ch. 1-3) and how we are to live in light of the knowledge of those blessings (Ch. 4-6).

§ There is a large amount of contrasting imagery between the past and the present state of believers in Ch. 2 which shows Paul’s desire for them to know what God has made them into

· Were Dead; Now Alive (2:5)

· Were Gentiles, Separate from Christ, Excluded, Strangers, Having no Hope, Without God, Far Off; Now Brought Near (2:11-13)

· Were Aliens; Now Fellow Citizens and Members of God’s House (2:19)

· As result, Paul’s prayer makes sense. He is asking God to supply them with the divine illumination necessary to grasp the major themes of the epistle

· In the same sense he is almost indirectly stating his purpose of the letter

o Somewhat parallel prayer in Ch 3 vv. 14-19

§ Paul mentions similar topics like faith, love, and knowledge, but sheds new light on them

§ Paul is a praying man

· Liefeld compares Paul to Martin Luther who, “it is said, actually added extra hours of prayer when his day promised to be long and busy” (48).

Overview:

• A prayer of thanksgiving
• Reasons for such a prayer lie in somewhere in the previous passage and are somehow connected with the believer’s faith and love for the saints
• A prayer of intercession
• Paul gives thanks while “mentioning” the believers in his prayers and interceding for them
• His intercession is essentially a prayer for knowledge, not of things un-obtained, but of the blessings they already have (see v. 3)
• “Unlike contemporary Christians, the apostle does not pray for fresh spiritual blessings, as though he is unaware of the fact that God has graciously given them every spiritual privilege in Christ.” (O’brien, 130)
• Paul desires that we might know:
• that we have every spiritual blessing
• that God is capable of supplying us with each spiritual blessing
• that we might know and understand the significance of each spiritual blessing better and better
• that we might know the God who has blessed us with each spiritual blessing
• Thus there is always a connection between the spiritual blessing and God

“For this reason…”

• As earlier stated, there is a connection with vv. 13-14
• Paul speaks of the three spiritual blessing mentioned above as coming in response to (1) hearing the good news, and (2) believing it.
• Particularly, “faith” in v. 15 seems connected to “believing” in v. 13.
• The ESV bears this connection well: “For this reason, because I have heard of your faith and your love toward all the saints…”
• Thus, the “reason” of Paul’s thanksgiving seems to be that he has heard of the believer’s faith. This is important because he just mentioned how “believing” is a prerequisite for having the three spiritual blessings he just mentioned in vv. 13-14; in a moment he will continue to write that he is praying that they will understand such spiritual blessings better.
• Paul realizes that it might be quite foolish to pray for them to increase in the knowledge of God and His blessings if they are “natural men” (read 1 Cor 2:14).
• Paul also mentions their “love for all the saints”
• This bears connection to faith in that it is the fruit/evidence of faith (see Gal 5:6&14)
• Therefore, Paul having heard of not only their faith, but evidence of it, gives thanks for them unceasingly before God because he knows they have by God’s grace obtained the spiritual blessings mentioned above
• Manuscript evidence against inclusion of “your love”
• If “your love” is omitted, “then the addressees’ faith would have to include the notion of their fidelity” (O’brien, 127). Thus, the phrase may have still been a reference to evidence of faith.

“…having heard of…”

• Often opponents of Pauline authorship of this epistle regard this as a key point of evidence in support of their position. Why? It is suggested that if Paul, having lived and nurtured the Ephesian church for almost 3 years (Erickson, 1020), had written the letter it would not make sense that he had to have heard of the Ephesians’ faith and love as if he did not know them personally and experience it for themselves. However, there are adequate explanations for this:
• If the letter was not actually intended for the Ephesians alone, but was in fact a cyclical document for the readership of numerous churches, then Paul had no reason to be well acquainted with his entire audience.
• It seems rational for one to think that if Paul was writing from prison and had not spent time with the Ephesian church for however many years, that he would almost be required to employ such terminology, since hearing of their faith and love would be the only way he could be assured of that what he had experienced while at Ephesus still persisted or perhaps grew since Paul’s departure and imprisonment. Note: this my own thought so use with caution.
• Paul actually does appear quite close with his audience at the end of his letter in 6:21-22 (The Archeological Study Bible; 1919)
• IMPORTANCE:
• Reliability of scripture: Eph 1:1 the writer says he is an apostle named Paul. Unless there was another “apostle” named Paul who wrote this, then claiming Paul did not write it means claiming that the opening statement is false according to our best manuscripts. Therefore, either at least some parts of scripture are not “God-breathed” (which would necessarily include 1 Tim 3:16), or God at times “breathes” dishonesty which is contrary to many other passages of scripture that speak of God not being able to tell a lie (Heb 6:18, Num 23:19, Tit 1:2, etc.). But if that were true, and God really does breathe dishonesty, then I suppose we cannot trust those passages either because they would then be contrary to fact. Therein the problem lies: non-Pauline authorship = the unreliability of God’s word and thus leads to a buffet-style of Christianity which allows the “Christian” to pick and choose which passages he/she desires to obey and regard as truthful. At that point it is difficult to even say what being a Christian truly means
• Canonicity of Ephesians
• A large criterion for determining what books to include as part of scripture by the early church was apostolic authority. That means that often books were rejected (as was Hermas’s Shepherd according to the Muratorian canon) because they lacked either apostolic authorship or authority (Ferguson, 120). Apostolic ties are evident in other canons also such as that found in Irenaeus’ Adversus haereses.

“do not cease giving thanks for you”

• Not necessarily to be taken literally—but does say something of Paul’s regular concern for them and his own love for the saints (Erickson, 1023).
• O’brien states that this “is not a claim to uninterrupted prayer of unceasing thanksgiving. To speak of prayer by this and similar terms (e.g., ‘continually’, ‘at all times’, ‘day and night’) was part and parcel of the style of ancient letters, both Jewish and pagan…” (128).
• Believers are still commanded to pray at all times in the Spirit. See 6:18-19.
• APPLICATION: The challenge to pray and know God is put forth by Paul’s example who most likely prayed at least the customary three hours a day according to O’brien. At first we think about what seems impossible and ask how can he make mention of them in every prayer? The answer becomes plausible when considering Paul’s great love for them in combination with typical 1 hour prayer sessions in the morning, noon, and evening. Are we willing to love others in our prayers in such a way?

“that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory”

· The titles of God in NT prayers often highlighted some attribute of God particularly appropriate to the prayer (most of this section is from O’brien 130-131).

o ‘God of our Lord Jesus Christ’ points to the previous verses in the chapter where “in Christ” is commonly found.

1. Question to Ponder: How can the Father be the God of Jesus, if Jesus is Himself God?

o ‘Father of Glory’ points to the Father as being both glorious, and the source of all glory.

o Both titles seem to emphasize God’s ability to provide the things Paul will petition for.

o IMPORTANCE: When reading the titles of God given during prayers and confessions in the NT, we ought to now consider in what way they pertain to the prayer/confession in order to understand and know God as He relates to us better.

“a spirit of wisdom and revelation”

· Grammatically this can be referring to the spirit of the believer or the Holy Spirit. O’brien seems to give good reason why it is probably referring to the Holy Spirit (132).

· Paul seems to mention 2 of the 4 spiritual blessings above.

o If it refers to the Holy Spirit, then Paul is referring to the blessing of the seal of the Spirit which interestingly Paul says they already have. Thus, Paul is probably referring to a receiving of the influence of the Spirit in regard to His role in imparting to revelation and wisdom

o There also seems to be reference to the blessing of knowledge of the mystery Paul has previously discussed: the summing up of all things in Christ.

2. “In Ephesians the motif of ‘revelation’ has specially to do with making known the mystery of various aspects of it…The mystery had already been made know in Christ (vv. 9-10), but the readers needed to grasp its full significance, not least of all their own place within it. And the Spirit worked in their midst, giving them insights and revealing God’s purposes in Christ, so they would grow in the knowledge of God” (O’brien, 132).

3. “Anyone—whether a believer or not—with the ability to grasp the syntax and sense of a given portion of the Bible should be able to understand what it is saying. But it takes the inner work…of the Holy Spirit to comprehend the spiritual implications of the text in a discerning way” (Liefeld, 50).

“in the knowledge of Him.”

· Paul’s prayer is that they know God. This seems to refer to the Father, but Erickson mentions in passing that it could refer to Christ (1023). If this is true then it would tie in well with knowledge of the ‘mystery’ which is the summing up of all things in Christ.

· Regardless of what person of the Trinity is being spoken of, Boice (34-35) conveys strong insight into its meaning

o He reflects, “I think that the greatest need of the evangelical church today is for professing Christians really to know God”

o Overall he lists 3 wrong ways in which Christians approach the subject of God and knowledge:

§ “We want to go to heaven ignorantly.”

§ Some have only a knowledge of the Bible, but no experience of Him

§ Some only know about God/theology. “It is possible to know much theology and still not be a Christian.

o Boice then states that what Paul desires is for us to real KNOW God in a personal way.

§ Personal; not Private! I have seen too many people today mistake these meanings and think that because we are to have a personal relationship with God that we are not to share our faith (i.e., “My relationship with God is between me and God so don’t talk with me about religious things!”).

o Boice quotes Packer in saying that what is most important however, is not that we know God (although it certainly is important), but that God knows us.

“eyes of your heart”

• Gr. for heart = kardia
• Not only a source of emotions as we often use the term, but it “refers to the whole thinking, feeling, and volitional inner person” (Liefeld, 50), or “the seat of the physical, spiritual, and mental life of a person” (O’brien, 134).
• Thus the meaning seems to refer in a way to everything that a person is, that is, Paul prays that all that they are might be enlightened in order to know and experience each spiritual blessing to its fullest.

“hope of His calling”

• “calling” here may look back to earlier in the chapter (all sub-points from Boice, 36)
• “to be holy and blameless in his sight” (v. 4)
• “to be adopted [a spiritual blessing] as his sons through Jesus Christ” (v. 5)
• “to be “for the praise of his glory” (v. 12)
• These callings from God are actually “part of our hope along with our hope of being taken into heaven, seeing God, and being made like the Lord Jesus Christ.”
• Keith will discuss more so the future hope (that is certain) as described in Revelation.

“...what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints”

• There are two rival interpretations of this clause as the Greek is ambiguous (Boice, 37), and with both it is impossible to argue that God does not absolutely love His children or see them as precious.
• 1^st this may refer to our inheritance that we receive from being children of God. Boice tends to side with this interpretation, and Keith’s reflection on Revelation would apply here also.
• This seems rational in light of the prior context which speaks mostly of our inheritance earlier in the chapter. One possible exception, however, is v. 14 where Paul speaks of “the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory” (NASB) which interestingly is translated quite differently in the ESV.
• A parallel text in Colossians 1:14 which speaks of our inheritance.
• 2^nd this may speak of God’s inheritance in us (O’brien, 135 & Liefeld, 51).

“surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe”

• Paul’s description of God’s power for us is immense; in fact it makes sense that it is immense because it is God Himself as the person of the Holy Spirit that works inside of us.
• “…that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man...” (v. 3:16).
• His point is that the same God who not only raised Jesus from the dead, but was able to give Him authority over all things (especially evil!) is working inside us.
• We are not helpless when it comes to sin or opposing evil, but God Himself is with us and able to deal effectively in regards to our struggles with life, sin, evil powers, and basically any circumstance we may find ourselves in. WE ARE NOT HELPLESS—WE HAVE A HELPER!
• The working of the Spirit in our lives is not limited by His ability (as this passage clearly shows), but rather most likely by the limitations we set as we fail to fully realize the blessings of the power we have in Him.
• We sometimes “grieve” the Spirit (4:30)
• We may get drunk on wine instead of being filled with the Spirit (5:18)
• We sometimes may “quench” the Holy Spirit (1 Thess 5:19).
• All these acts seem to refer to limitations we can set on the Spirit’s working in our lives.

Bibliography

Bettenson, Henry & Chris Maunder. Documents of the Christian Church.

Boice, James Montgomery. Ephesians: An Expositional Commentary.

The Authorship of Ephesians. The Archeological Study Bible.

O’brien, Peter. T. The Letter to the Ephesians. The Pillar New Testament Commentary.

Liefeld, Walter L. Ephesians. The IVP New Testament Commentary Series.

Erickson, Richard J. Ephesians. Baker Commentary on the Bible.

Ferguson, Everett. Church History, Volume One: From Christ to the Pre-Reformation.

All Scripture quoted: New American Standard Bible, unless otherwise mentioned.