Ephesians 1:15-23 Part 1 Bible Teaching

WELCOME
PRAYER
SONG
SILENCE

Okay, we left off with verses 1-14 in three parts last week.

Today we will try and wrap up Ephesians 1 beginning at verse 15. So, let’s read our passages together, which are quite revelatory in nature, saying:

Ephesians 1.15 -end
August 25th 2019
MILK
15 Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints,
16 Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;
17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:
18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
21 Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
22 And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
23 Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

Now, we recall that from the beginning of this first chapter Paul speaks to an audience in so doing includes himself in the things he says through the use of the terms “we” and “us.”

I have strongly suggested that Paul is directly speaking to the Nation of Israel who God predestined to do certain things in accordance with His desires to reconcile the world to Himself. And these things the predestined Nation of Israel, called and elected by God, did accomplish.

We also noted that at verse 13 Paul shifts from speaking to an audience of we’s and us’s and begins to, it seems as an apostle, to speak to and audience of “ye’s and you’s,” referring to the Gentiles who were beneficiaries of what the Predestined Nation did to help bring together two nations into one by Christ.

From verse thirteen on Paul appeals to ye’s, you’s and your’s and drops the use of we and us, proving that he is from verse 12 forward, addressing Gentiles who came to faith.

Interestingly, Paul will return to we after this opening chapter and it seems that there he is speaking of the whole body, whether Jew or Gentile, it does not matter.

Anyway, let’s go back to verse 15-16 where he writes speaking of himself personally, says:

Ephesians 1:15 Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, 16 Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;

So obviously these words are now to a specific audience from Paul the Apostle who is actually distinguishing himself in some way or another from them.

This one of the passages usually relied on by those who suppose that this epistle was not written to the Ephesians. The argument is, that he writes to them as if they were strangers to him, and that it is not the language such as would be used in addressing a people among whom he had spent three years.

But this is not decisive. Paul had been absent from Ephesus for a number of years when this epistle was written and all he could be saying to them is that he is pleased to have heard that they are doing well and that he has been praying for them.

Perhaps, after saying goodbye to the Elders of Ephesus at Miletus, (according to Acts 20:1-38,) he had heard positive things about them and this is what he was talking about here, causing him to add:

(Therefore – verse 16 – “I”)

16 Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;

And what was Paul specifically asking for (apparently) in his prayers? (verse 17)

17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:

Of course, I cannot help but notice how Paul describes the God whom he is petitioning on their behalf, saying:

“That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

To me this verse again affirms that there is ONE God and He is the God not only of us but OF the Lord Jesus Christ.

This passage nicely supports another passage we will get to in Ephesians 4:5-6 where Paul will say:

5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

And it supports another direct passage in
1st Corinthians 8:6 where Paul writes

But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.

It supports Peter’s words in Acts 2:36 to the Jews when he said

Acts 2:36 Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.

It helps us understand Philippians 2:11 which says:

And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

How do you respond when someone says, describe God to me? I quote scripture:

“But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him,”

And what do you say when people follow up with, Well what about Jesus? I again quote the rest of that scripture:

“and (there is) one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.”

How all of it works out in ontology I do not understand fully, but I am sticking with how Paul chooses to describe the one God and the One Lord and let everyone else be a liar.

So, Paul says that he has

“Not ceased to to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;

17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may (what has Paul prayed that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ would give them??)

May give unto you

the spirit of wisdom and
revelation in the knowledge of him:

These things are then connected to what Paul says next, which would lead to

The eyes of your understanding being enlightened;

Which would allow

that ye may know what is the hope of his calling,
and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, (verse 19)
And what is the exceeding greatness of
his power to us-ward who believe,
according to the working of his mighty power, (verse 20)
which he (God) wrought in Christ, when he (God) raised him (Christ) from the dead, and set him (Christ) at his own (God’s own) right hand in the heavenly places,

And from here on Paul describes what God has wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, saying about His Son (at verse 21) that He is

Far above all principality,
and power,
and might,
and dominion,
and every name that is named,
not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: (verse 22)
And hath put all things under his feet
and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
Which is his body,
the fulness of him
that filleth all in all.

So, let’s go back and work through these amazing passages where Paul explains for un, in somewhat of an order, what His prayers were for these believers.

17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you

the spirit of wisdom and
revelation in the knowledge of him:

In other words, for someone to comprehend the rest of what we have written on the board, Paul first asks that God would give them

1 The Spirit of Wisdom and 2, the Spirit of Revelation in the Knowledge of Him.

Imagine that God bestows upon you – God himself – the Spirit of Wisdom and the Spirit of Revelation in the Knowledge of Him.

Now, we have to ask – “who is the “Him” that Paul is referring to here in this verse and the verses that follow all the way to verse 21?

I propose that the Him is God Himself and that at verse 21 Paul begins to write and speak about the Kingdom and Name of Christ.

Therefore, we might be safe to suggest that the Spirit of wisdom refers to being wise in understanding the things of God who His Son came to reveal.

Wisdom has been defined as “knowledge applied,” and so Paul seems to be saying that he prays that the Saints there would be blessed by God with the ability (the wisdom) to take the knowledge they have and rightly apply it to their lives.

But he also adds a line to the phrase “the Spirit of Wisdom” that is really intriguing saying:

And (it’s implied “the Spirit”) of Revelation IN THE KNOWLEDGE of Him.

These two hopes of Paul go hand in hand as he prays that these Saints would receive from God the Spirit of Revelation IN THE KNOWLEDGE of God and since wisdom is knowledge applied, therefore he speaks to the wisdom to rightly apply the knowledge of God . . . that they get by . . . revelation!

“Revelation in the knowledge of Him.”

Apookalypsis in the Greek is translated, “Revelation” which comes from the root, apokalypto – sound familiar? It’s the actual name of the book of Revelation, and it means “the uncovering” or the “disclosing of a thing” – in this case, the apook-alypsis or the uncovering “of knowledge of Him” (which I interpret to mean, God).

We know that when Jesus walked the earth he said:

“And this is life eternal, that they might know thee, (who Jesus calls the Only True and Living God) and Jesus Christ whom He has sent.”

Here Paul prays that the Spirit of Revelation, which in all probability refers to the Holy Spirit, which gives revelation, would give these believers this very knowledge.

Now, what is intriguing about this passage, (and remember, it is believed that this epistle was a circular epistle meaning it was circulated around to all the churches) is that Paul prays that God would give them the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation.

So, they had the Old Testament – that was scripture to them – and the Spirit in conjunction with that was one means for this to occur. But the content of the New Testament which is rife with insight on the nature of God and Christ, was far from being available and yet Paul simply speaks of them having wisdom and Revelation by and through the Spirit, praying that:

“God would give them the Spirit of Wisdom and of Revelation of the knowledge of Him.”

It’s a fascinating concept or topic because IF God gives the Spirit of Revelation of the Knowledge of Him to some, and does NOT give it to others, God is obviously going to allow for disagreements and divisions among people who seek or believe or follow him to some extent or another.

Why?

Because the revelation of Him would obviously produce information about Him that would be missing from the minds of those who don’t have it!

In other words, if God does not grant and equal measure of spiritual gifts to all men (which he does not appear to do) this fact automatically sets believers up to having to exist in an imbalanced environment where one person has spiritual insight and another does not, right?

In the face of this I conclude that it is for this very reason faith and love with in the body are the priority – not opinion or insights. If one person believes something about God or Christ that another person does not, the challenge is to love them and trust that God will work everything out in the end and to not allow differences of opinion or insight divide us.

To do otherwise is to embrace arguments and division – and to forever doubt the Spiritual Revelations and even the Christianity of those who spout them.

I think it is something to seriously consider.

Additionally, we tend to dismiss revelation in the Body today. I challenge this dismissal directly.

All of us are receiving revelations every moment of the day – “uncoverings and disclosures” by the hand of God through the Spirit.

Are these new revelations that thrive outside the context of scripture. I suppose some could be. A mother is inspired to go down to the school and check on her child by God. Is that in scripture? Not exactly.

So, revelations are continual on earth today and I don’t know why some Christians are resistant to this idea.

Where we need to be careful about revelations is when it comes to uncovering or disclosing things about God and Christ that cannot be supported by scripture itself.

See, the incarnation of Christ, along with His life, works and ways, were recorded sufficiently – and we trust that we possess what God wants us to have on the subject.

His coming was His unveiling. All that we needed to know and understand about Him in a literal actual sense appears to have been provided.

Should someone have a revelation that Jesus wore a pink wig on Passover we should resort to scripture to see if such a revelation is supported or not.

That being said, if God reveals something to us relative to our comprehending and interpreting of scripture, and it can be substantiated by scripture, it ought to be received and tested to determine its validity – at least in my estimation – and if the view or revelation is viable, even if it stands in opposition to established tradition, it ought to be considered.

Assuming that God did or will bless them (and or us) with the Spirit of Wisdom and of Revelation in the Knowledge of Him, Paul now explains what he hopes that blessing will accomplish or achieve in the lives of those who receive it, saying (verse 18 -20)

that ye may know what is the hope of his calling,
and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, (verse 19)
And what is the exceeding greatness of
his power to us-ward who believe,
according to the working of his mighty power, (verse 20)
which he (God) wrought in Christ, when he (God) raised him (Christ) from the dead, and set him (Christ) at his own (God’s own) right hand in the heavenly places

That is some content. So let’s work through it. Paul prayed that God would give them the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation of the Knowledge of him (so that)

The eyes of your understanding would be enlightened

When Jesus came to earth the objective, prophesied in the Tanakh and repeated by Him was to open the eyes, even the hearts, of the blind.

Apparently, tied to Paul’s prayerful request, God bestows the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation as a means to help facilitate this.

This is our hope for all people who stumble in the dark and have their spiritual understanding obscured – to have the eyes of their understanding would be enlightened, illuminated.

Without light or illumination eyes cannot see. The same with our eyes of understanding. Most teachers experience watching their pupils suddenly get concepts that they otherwise struggled comprehending in the past.

The describe this as seeing “the light go on.” Comprehending spiritual concepts is no different.

When people ask me how to know that they have been given a new heart or have been born again, one of the things I suggest happens is that they begin to “see” things in a new light – especially the written word or elements of Nature.

This is the direct result of the eyes being enlightened (by God) and them having the capacity to see (or better put, understand) spiritual concepts hidden from them previously.

When this occurs we are led to reading why Paul would love for the eyes of our understanding to be opened (are you ready for this)

that ye may know what is the hope of his calling,
and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,

In other words, Paul is saying that he longs for our eyes of understanding to be opened so that we will see, we will come to understand, we will comprehend and therefore know “WHAT IS THE HOPE OF HIS CALLING.

God has a hope in calling people? Apparently so.

What is the full import of that hope to which he has called and invited us?

I’m not so sure anyone can fully say here in the flesh, but Paul seems to allude to the fact that we can to some degree or another KNOW what the hope is of His calling and the next line gives us some idea as he adds:

“And what the riches of the glory of his inheritance are.”

The Web translation puts it like this, saying:

The RSV reads “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,”

There is actually a laundry list of things that the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation of Knowledge of Him would bring, as the list shows, including:

that ye may know what is the hope of his calling,
and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, (verse 19)
And what is the exceeding greatness of
his power to us-ward who believe,
according to the working of his mighty power, (verse 20)

Because of the words used here it is easy to think that all of these things translate to the here and now. I’m not so convinced. But instead believe that what Paul is describing are spiritual powers in heavenly places – that can certainly be manifest and known by us while we abide in the flesh, but are powers and glories and greatness through him to believers spiritually.

That is why such things can only be known if and when He gives us the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation. Get it?

The second thing listed also helps us see that Paul is speaking of the future inheritance given to those who believe as he says:

that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,

God has a hope in His calling all to Him and in that hope there are riches of glory to be found in the inheritance in the Saints.

In other words, Paul seems to be suggesting that if God bestows the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation of the Knowledge of Him on someone, they have the capacity or possibility to KNOW what is the hope of His calling people to him AS WELL AS the riches of glory that is found in the inheritance of the Saints.

I happen to believe that Paul is obviously talking about the fact that the purpose in calling people to Himself is the hope that they will become His Sons and Daughters and as such will comprehend, at least in part, the glorious abundant wealth to be inherited by those who are His family, His Son’s and Daughters.

Of course we take all of this on faith and for me it can get pretty taxing to cling to the idea that there does in fact await a glorious inheritance for those who seek to follow Him over those who don’t.

It makes sense intellectually, but it is sometimes hard to fathom. Nevertheless, Paul reiterates the promise here in these passages.

In addition to the contents of verse 18 Paul adds at 19

19 AND . . . what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power

Initially, this translation is a little cumbersome and really should be read with verse 20.

So . . .

18 that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
AND . . . what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power WHICH
he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,

Okay . . . and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe.

This line the third point Paul links to believers having the eyes of their understanding opened –

That we would KNOW what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe . . .

So, one, “that we would know what is the hope of his calling,”

AND we would know what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints, and THREE, to “know what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward those who believe.”

To be fully familiar with the power of God in our life as believers.

Now, in my life, which is of very limited scope and therefore application, I can honestly say that I have absolutely experienced the power of God in my life as a believer.

But that power, at least in my Christian life, is best seen – I suppose I should say is mostly observed in what He has accomplished in me as an individual human being.

For in no uncertain terms can I ever deny His power of reformation in my once corrupt soul and in turning me from a hater to something of a lover.

That power was not accessible through any other avenue I embarked upon to find solace in the past and I am still frankly amazed at the power of His ways in my person.

I have also seen the power of God in my life in learning to trust him to provide for the needs of the ministry and my family financially, physically, with peace and protection too.

I think most believers can attest to similar displays of power in their lives from the hand of God.

But it is at this point that Paul ties the power that believers observe in their lives to the power God evidenced in the life of His Son.

He does this by saying:

what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power WHICH
he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places.

A couple of things here. When the King James says:

“what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power WHICH
he wrought in Christ”

A better way to understand this is to insert “as seen in” where “according” is. So it reads like this:

“what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, “which is seen in” the working of his mighty power WHICH
he wrought in Christ.”

Therefore the meaning is that the power which God has exerted in us was evidenced with the power which was shown in His raising up Jesus.

Because Paul likens the power in us to the power which God wrought in Christ

“when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,”

I suggest that Paul is saying that the power God is working in us is to bring about a similar end.

The power to raise a sinner to new life was the same power to resurrect someone dead back to life and the same power that takes a carnal human being and makes them a Son or daughter fit to abide in heaven with God is the same power that took Jesus, born of a woman, born under the Law, and to place him at his right side in heavenly places.

We understand that this is what Paul is alluding to when he speaks of the power of God because of what he will write in chapter 2 in this epistle, saying

2:1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
4 ¶ But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

In any case at this point, Paul has taken us to a point where he begins to describe all that God has done and established in and through His Son, which we will begin to cover next week.

Questions/Comments
PRAYER

Dave and Nancy
Jax