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\u2019s 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 \u201cthe spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him (God in His fullness).\u201d<\/p>\n
In Ephesians 1:18 Paul added that \u201cthe eyes of your understanding being enlightened\u201d 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]<\/a> Paul built upon the language of wisdom, revelation, by using words that convey sight in 1:18: \u201ceyes\u201d and \u201cenlightened.\u201d You can hear in Greek words we associate in English with sight. \u201cEyes\u201d is ophthalmia <\/em>and \u201cenlightened\u201d is photizo<\/em>. For the New Testament, faith is not blind faith. Faith is rooted in God\u2019s 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, \u201cThat 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.\u201d This testimony is real life. It is Jesus in the flesh, incarnate, and with us.<\/p>\n But what was to be \u201cenlightened\u201d was their \u201cunderstanding\u201d (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 \u201cSpirit of wisdom and revelation\u201d that operates to give revelation in God\u2019s word for fruitful and faithful living.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n The first prayer objective is \u201cthat you may know what is the hope of His calling.\u201d Recently I heard a leader speak of the difference between God\u2019s call and God\u2019s assignment in our lives.[2]<\/a> He remarked that God\u2019s call establishes His call to ministry which does not change. But God\u2019s assignment(s) have beginnings and endings. We may have multiple \u201cassignments\u201d throughout our lifetime of obedience to \u201cthe call.\u201d As I have reflected on this, I have thought there is another part to this found in the word \u201cpurpose.\u201d God\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n This means that \u201cthe hope of His calling\u201d is a certain hope. Throughout his letters Paul referenced the \u201chope\u201d 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 \u201cliving hope\u201d upon which we can base our lives (1 Peter 1:3).<\/p>\n Second, Paul prayed that the Ephesians would experience \u201cwhat are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.\u201d This is the second use of \u201criches\u201d in Ephesians, the first being in 1:7. In the previous study we discussed two aspects of \u201cglory\u201d in the Bible: weight and illumination. To experience \u201cthe riches of glory\u201d is to experience those things that are stable, constant, certain, and can be \u201cseen\u201d with eyes of faith. The place where these \u201criches of glory\u201d are found is in \u201cthe inheritance we have in the saints.\u201d In other words, the riches of God\u2019s 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\u2019s 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 \u201cother\u201d 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]<\/a><\/p>\n 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]<\/a> These nouns are introduced with a word used in the New Testament only by Paul: huperballo<\/em>, \u201cexceeding greatness.\u201d Paul used this verb five times and the noun seven times.[5]<\/a> It\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n Ephesians 1:20 is the second use of the phrase \u201cheavenly places\u201d 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.<\/p>\n All this power, which is beyond human comprehension, God has made \u201ctoward us who believe\u201d (Ephesians 1:19). It is the triumph of Jesus\u2019 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.<\/p>\n [1]<\/a> For a review of \u201cthe spirit of wisdom and revelation\u201d 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\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n [2]<\/a> Rev. Doug Clay, personal conversation with the General Superintendent of<\/p>\n the Assemblies of God USA. He used this in connection to people called into the ministry of the church.<\/p>\n [3]<\/a> I have found that Dietrich Bonhoeffer\u2019s book, Life Together<\/em>, best describes the dynamics of Christian community. It is a book that I make it a point to read portions of nearly every year.<\/p>\n
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