November 9th 2018 – Ephesians 1:15-22

"For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church."

Ephesians 1:15-22

As to the prayer itself, it is threefold in nature, embracing a threefold knowledge, as 18 and 19 make plain. The threefold petition corresponds to the threefold unfolding of the riches of grace in the first half of the chapter. 'The hope of His calling' corresponds to 'calling and election' in 4, 5; 'the glory of his inheritance' corresponds to the 'inheritance' in 11; and 'the greatness of His power to us-ward who believe' corresponds to the power of 'the Spirit' in 13, 14. This means that what Paul is in effect saying is, 'I have spoken (3-14) of your calling in grace, but do you really know what that means and implies? I have spoken of your inheritance in Christ, but oh, do you have any conception of how great and wonderful it is? I have spoken of the working of the Spirit in your hearts but do you know how big and glorious and immeasurable a thing it is that has gripped you, and what an incalculable power is at work in you? It is for this that I am praying on your behalf, that you may enter into all that is yours in Christ'. This is the significance and interpretation of the passage, that the Ephesians - and we ourselves - may come to know, as fully as redeemed sinners can ever know, all that is ours in Christ Jesus.