Reading Ephesians 1 is like listening to a piece of music that builds until it reaches a climatic crescendo bringing you to your feet clapping your hands in appreciation and admiration. It’s a prayer building in purpose and power through each verse. In Ephesians 1:17 we looked at the first part of the purpose of the prayer, that we would receive “the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him (God in His fullness).”
In Ephesians 1:18 Paul added that “the eyes of your understanding being enlightened” to the language of verse 17. These two phrases function like the Hebrew parallelism often found in the Psalms: two phrases using different terms to express the same concept.[1] Paul built upon the language of wisdom, revelation, by using words that convey sight in 1:18: “eyes” and “enlightened.” You can hear in Greek words we associate in English with sight. “Eyes” is ophthalmia and “enlightened” is photizo. For the New Testament, faith is not blind faith. Faith is rooted in God’s action in history in the mission, death, and resurrection of His only begotten Son, Jesus the Messiah of Israel. As the apostle John expressed it in 1 John 1:1, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled concerning the Word of life.” This testimony is real life. It is Jesus in the flesh, incarnate, and with us.
But what was to be “enlightened” was their “understanding” (New King James Version), or in the Greek text, their hearts. The heart was the seat of the will, emotions, the decision-making faculty of being a person made in the image of God. The sanctified heart makes decisions based on the knowledge of God revealed in Scripture. The sanctified heart does not operate solely on emotions. It knows that the enemy of our soul can manipulate emotions. This why the sanctified heart responds to the “Spirit of wisdom and revelation” that operates to give revelation in God’s word for fruitful and faithful living.
This faith certainty was established by the testimony of those who saw, heard, and touched Jesus before and after the resurrection. Paul experienced this certainty on the road to Damascus when he saw and heard the Risen Christ which led to his conversion. On this certainty Paul could pray with confidence three significant things for the believers in Ephesus.
The first prayer objective is “that you may know what is the hope of His calling.” Recently I heard a leader speak of the difference between God’s call and God’s assignment in our lives.[2] He remarked that God’s call establishes His call to ministry which does not change. But God’s assignment(s) have beginnings and endings. We may have multiple “assignments” throughout our lifetime of obedience to “the call.” As I have reflected on this, I have thought there is another part to this found in the word “purpose.” God’s purpose in our lives is found in the foundational natural and spiritual gifts that God has given us. As our assignments change in life, and as we grow in the knowledge of Christ, the Holy Spirit equips us with the necessary anointings needed to fulfill the assignment for that period of time and place.
This means that “the hope of His calling” is a certain hope. Throughout his letters Paul referenced the “hope” he had for the call upon his life which was based on what God had done in Jesus. In Romans 5:3, 4 Paul indicated that hope arose from the experience of trials, which produced patience, which in turn produced character (the character of Christ), which in turn produced hope. Hope for Paul, and the remainder of the New Testament, was not wishful thinking. Instead, it was a “living hope” upon which we can base our lives (1 Peter 1:3).
Second, Paul prayed that the Ephesians would experience “what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.” This is the second use of “riches” in Ephesians, the first being in 1:7. In the previous study we discussed two aspects of “glory” in the Bible: weight and illumination. To experience “the riches of glory” is to experience those things that are stable, constant, certain, and can be “seen” with eyes of faith. The place where these “riches of glory” are found is in “the inheritance we have in the saints.” In other words, the riches of God’s glory are found as we discover the blessings of God in other people. We are not meant to live isolated Christian lives. We are mean to live together in Christian fellowship and community. The brother or sister in my fellowship has within them a divine inheritance that is meant for me to experience the riches of God’s glory in my own life. There are gifts of God in my life that no one else has and are meant to be a blessing to others. This means that Christian community lives with the knowledge that the “other” brother or sister, in their frailty, weaknesses, flaws, and strengths, is the place where the Holy Spirit abides with His gifts and love for the sake of the body of Christ.[3]
Third, in Ephesians 1:19-21, Paul turned the entire prayer towards Jesus and the victory won in His resurrection. Paul expressed the triumph of Jesus over death with four nouns conveying His victory: power, working, mighty, power.[4] These nouns are introduced with a word used in the New Testament only by Paul: huperballo, “exceeding greatness.” Paul used this verb five times and the noun seven times.[5] It’s a word Paul used to express that there is nothing that compares to the greatness and power of God demonstrated when He raised Jesus from the dead, seated Him at the right hand of authority, and gave Jesus dominion over all powers, authorities, and dominions that will ever be known on earth.
Ephesians 1:20 is the second use of the phrase “heavenly places” in Ephesians. The heavenly places describe the realm of perfect righteousness in the presence of God where sin is absent. This is where Christ currently reigns, viewing unfolding human history from a standpoint of perfect righteousness, holiness, and love.
All this power, which is beyond human comprehension, God has made “toward us who believe” (Ephesians 1:19). It is the triumph of Jesus’ resurrection, described in the words Paul piled up in the paragraphs above, that is focused towards us. This enables us to overcome temptation, to overcome fear, to overcome obstacles. The victory is not measured by our sense of human achievement and accolades; rather, the victory is measured by our obedience, even obedience to the point of death, which brings glory to God and testifies to His righteous triumph over sin and death.
[1] For a review of “the spirit of wisdom and revelation” in Ephesians 1:17, go to https://iphc.org/gso/2025/02/12/this-is-my-prayer-wisdom-and-knowledge-of-god-ephesians-115-17/.
[2] Rev. Doug Clay, personal conversation with the General Superintendent of
the Assemblies of God USA. He used this in connection to people called into the ministry of the church.
[3] I have found that Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s book, Life Together, best describes the dynamics of Christian community. It is a book that I make it a point to read portions of nearly every year.
[4] Noel Brooks, Ephesians: Outlined and Unfolded (Franklin Springs, GA: Advocate Press, 1984) 46, 47. The Greek nouns in order are dynamis, energeia, kratos, ischyos. Brooks further described these words as (in order): potential power, operative power, adequate power, inherent power.
[5] The verb is used by Paul in 2 Corinthians 3:10; 9:14; Ephesians 1:19; 2:7; 3:19. The noun is used in Romans 7:13; 1 Corinthians 12:31; 2 Corinthians 1:8; 4:7, 17; 12:7; Galatians 1:13. See Brooks, page 46.
