Eph 1:17-21 | KingComments | STEP | . With this verse the final part of chapter 1 starts. That part is a prayer. The apostle Paul prays here for the believers in Ephesus. The content of his prayer is rich, instructive and also necessary. Because to know God’s counsels is one thing – Paul explained that in ; but it is something else to honor and cherish that in your life. And for that Paul is going to pray. He doesn’t ask God to give the believers something, but he asks if He would give them more insight into all that they already possess. The purpose of his prayer is to focus the hearts (“the eyes of your heart”, ) of the believers on the Source of the counsels. He wants us to look, beyond all the wonderful gifts, at the glory and riches of the Giver. The believer who lives in a conscious relationship with Him, will understand more and more of God’s (“His”) calling ( ), God’s (“His”) inheritance ( ) and God’s (“His”) power ( ). The apostle could pray this prayer for the Ephesians, because they had the right mind. He had heard about their faith in the Lord Jesus and that they love all the saints. You might think: ‘What’s so special about their faith in the Lord Jesus? Isn’t that normal that believers do that?’ You are right, but it is important to notice that “faith in the Lord Jesus” characterized their whole attitude. To them faith was not only a matter of being saved from hell. Recently somebody said to me: ‘Of course I believe, for who would choose to go to hell?’ That was somebody who was seriously deviated from the Lord and in whose daily life there was no contact anymore with the Lord. That was not the case with the Ephesians. Faith meant to them: confidently living from faith and putting it into effect in all aspects of their life. In our days ‘faith’ is too much secondary. It is treated as certainly important, but not the main thing and not all pervasive. If, in your case, the Lord Jesus is the all determining Object of your faith, then you will also love your fellow believers. The one results from the other. There is no better proof of a living faith in the Lord Jesus than practical love that goes out to the saints. . From the moment Paul heard that from the Ephesians, he started to thank God for them. Is that also familiar to you? To thank God for the believers in whom you see that the Lord Jesus means everything to them and that they also commit themselves for their fellow believers? Paul doesn’t stop at thanksgiving, he adds intercession. . The apostle turns to “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ”. In chapter 3 his second prayer is written. There he turns to “the Father” of our Lord Jesus Christ ( ). There it is about the Lord Jesus as the Son of the Father, about the love of the Lord Jesus and about the fact that He dwells in our hearts. Here it is about the counsels of God and how we received a place in these counsels. In the explanation of , where both names ‘God’ and ‘Father’ are being mentioned, I already pointed to the difference between them. When God is called ‘the God of the Lord Jesus’ we see the Lord Jesus as Man. Because He Himself is Man, the Lord Jesus can share the blessings that He has received from God, with man. You and I could only be related to Him if He became Man. In this prayer, the issue is about the Lord Jesus as Man, and you can also derive from this, the fact that we read about His resurrection from the dead ( ). As Man He could die, as God the Son He of course could not. So Paul is praying to the God of the Lord Jesus, of the Man Jesus Christ Who is the center of all the counsels of God. God has never made any decision toward any man or any case, in heaven or on earth without the Lord Jesus being the center. We shall see this more clearly in the following verses. If we want to understand how God has made us partakers of His calling and of His inheritance, we should especially look at His power as it has become visible in raising the Lord Jesus. It is that power that was put into effect in us. What God did with the Lord Jesus, He also did with us. Paul also calls that God “the Father of glory”. That means that He is the source of glory and that it came from Him, He is the Distributer of it. To get a good perception of the glory of God’s counsels, Paul asks the Father of glory to “give the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him”. Imagine: God has unfolded the most profound thoughts in His Word. We could, for instance, learn them by heart. But what would be the use of it if He wouldn’t give us the ability, the capacity to understand those things? We then would not even be able to ever thank and glorify Him for that. And after all, God is all about us getting there: to the praise of His glory. That purpose will not be achieved by giving us an intellect to get to know God intellectually. To know and understand Him is only possible through “the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him”. In general terms you may say that God has provided every believer with all wisdom and understanding ( ). Yet, learning to know and enjoy God’s counsels consciously is quite different. To do that you not only need to possess wisdom, but you also need the ‘spirit of wisdom’; that makes you desire to spiritually intrude in getting to know Who God is. True wisdom is learning to know God in order to let this knowledge penetrate your whole life. He, who knows Him, also knows His counsels. Yet that is certainly not everything. We also shall have to be aware that to know God not only depends on our own efforts, but that it also depends on the revelation He gives of Himself. Here the desire of the believer and the work of God go hand in hand. If we desire to know much of God, it will not come naturally. And if we may know much of God, we can never boast on our own efforts. When we get to learn to know more about the truth of God, there is a great risk that we forget that to understand that spiritually, we have to be and remain dependent on Him. The danger is greater the more we have good intelligence and can remember well. It is important to keep in mind: what we know, we know because He has revealed it to us. Furthermore, it is not insignificant to understand that Paul does not pray for the knowledge of truths or dogmas. It is not about getting to know the truths, doctrines and teachings, but about the ‘full knowledge’, as it literally says, of God . If we may get to know the hope, the riches and the power of what has been given to us, then we should always relate that to Him Who is the origin of it. You may read this explanation and receive a good overview of what God shows us of His counsels, but it doesn’t make you to know God as He wants to be known. I would love to join Paul and pray that God will give you and me “the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him”. Now read Ephesians 1:15-17 again. Reflection: Thank and pray for yourself and for the believers you know after the example of Paul here.

‏ Ephesians 1:17-21

Faith and Love, Wisdom and Revelation

Eph 1:15. With this verse the final part of chapter 1 starts. That part is a prayer. The apostle Paul prays here for the believers in Ephesus. The content of his prayer is rich, instructive and also necessary. Because to know God’s counsels is one thing – Paul explained that in Eph 1:3-14; but it is something else to honor and cherish that in your life. And for that Paul is going to pray.

He doesn’t ask God to give the believers something, but he asks if He would give them more insight into all that they already possess. The purpose of his prayer is to focus the hearts (“the eyes of your heart”, Eph 1:18) of the believers on the Source of the counsels. He wants us to look, beyond all the wonderful gifts, at the glory and riches of the Giver. The believer who lives in a conscious relationship with Him, will understand more and more of God’s (“His”) calling (Eph 1:18), God’s (“His”) inheritance (Eph 1:18) and God’s (“His”) power (Eph 1:19).

The apostle could pray this prayer for the Ephesians, because they had the right mind. He had heard about their faith in the Lord Jesus and that they love all the saints. You might think: ‘What’s so special about their faith in the Lord Jesus? Isn’t that normal that believers do that?’ You are right, but it is important to notice that “faith in the Lord Jesus” characterized their whole attitude.

To them faith was not only a matter of being saved from hell. Recently somebody said to me: ‘Of course I believe, for who would choose to go to hell?’ That was somebody who was seriously deviated from the Lord and in whose daily life there was no contact anymore with the Lord. That was not the case with the Ephesians. Faith meant to them: confidently living from faith and putting it into effect in all aspects of their life. In our days ‘faith’ is too much secondary. It is treated as certainly important, but not the main thing and not all pervasive.

If, in your case, the Lord Jesus is the all determining Object of your faith, then you will also love your fellow believers. The one results from the other. There is no better proof of a living faith in the Lord Jesus than practical love that goes out to the saints.

Eph 1:16. From the moment Paul heard that from the Ephesians, he started to thank God for them. Is that also familiar to you? To thank God for the believers in whom you see that the Lord Jesus means everything to them and that they also commit themselves for their fellow believers? Paul doesn’t stop at thanksgiving, he adds intercession.

Eph 1:17. The apostle turns to “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ”. In chapter 3 his second prayer is written. There he turns to “the Father” of our Lord Jesus Christ (Eph 3:14). There it is about the Lord Jesus as the Son of the Father, about the love of the Lord Jesus and about the fact that He dwells in our hearts. Here it is about the counsels of God and how we received a place in these counsels.

In the explanation of Eph 1:3, where both names ‘God’ and ‘Father’ are being mentioned, I already pointed to the difference between them. When God is called ‘the God of the Lord Jesus’ we see the Lord Jesus as Man. Because He Himself is Man, the Lord Jesus can share the blessings that He has received from God, with man. You and I could only be related to Him if He became Man. In this prayer, the issue is about the Lord Jesus as Man, and you can also derive from this, the fact that we read about His resurrection from the dead (Eph 1:20). As Man He could die, as God the Son He of course could not.

So Paul is praying to the God of the Lord Jesus, of the Man Jesus Christ Who is the center of all the counsels of God. God has never made any decision toward any man or any case, in heaven or on earth without the Lord Jesus being the center. We shall see this more clearly in the following verses.

If we want to understand how God has made us partakers of His calling and of His inheritance, we should especially look at His power as it has become visible in raising the Lord Jesus. It is that power that was put into effect in us. What God did with the Lord Jesus, He also did with us.

Paul also calls that God “the Father of glory”. That means that He is the source of glory and that it came from Him, He is the Distributer of it. To get a good perception of the glory of God’s counsels, Paul asks the Father of glory to “give the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him”.

Imagine: God has unfolded the most profound thoughts in His Word. We could, for instance, learn them by heart. But what would be the use of it if He wouldn’t give us the ability, the capacity to understand those things? We then would not even be able to ever thank and glorify Him for that. And after all, God is all about us getting there: to the praise of His glory.

That purpose will not be achieved by giving us an intellect to get to know God intellectually. To know and understand Him is only possible through “the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him”. In general terms you may say that God has provided every believer with all wisdom and understanding (Eph 1:8). Yet, learning to know and enjoy God’s counsels consciously is quite different. To do that you not only need to possess wisdom, but you also need the ‘spirit of wisdom’; that makes you desire to spiritually intrude in getting to know Who God is. True wisdom is learning to know God in order to let this knowledge penetrate your whole life. He, who knows Him, also knows His counsels.

Yet that is certainly not everything. We also shall have to be aware that to know God not only depends on our own efforts, but that it also depends on the revelation He gives of Himself. Here the desire of the believer and the work of God go hand in hand. If we desire to know much of God, it will not come naturally. And if we may know much of God, we can never boast on our own efforts.

When we get to learn to know more about the truth of God, there is a great risk that we forget that to understand that spiritually, we have to be and remain dependent on Him. The danger is greater the more we have good intelligence and can remember well. It is important to keep in mind: what we know, we know because He has revealed it to us.

Furthermore, it is not insignificant to understand that Paul does not pray for the knowledge of truths or dogmas. It is not about getting to know the truths, doctrines and teachings, but about the ‘full knowledge’, as it literally says, of God. If we may get to know the hope, the riches and the power of what has been given to us, then we should always relate that to Him Who is the origin of it.

You may read this explanation and receive a good overview of what God shows us of His counsels, but it doesn’t make you to know God as He wants to be known. I would love to join Paul and pray that God will give you and me “the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him”.

Now read Ephesians 1:15-17 again.

Reflection: Thank and pray for yourself and for the believers you know after the example of Paul here.

God’s Calling, Inheritance and Power

Eph 1:18. Paul also asks God to give the Ephesians that “the eyes” of their “heart may be enlightened”. So he doesn’t pray for ‘eyes to enlighten their intellect’. As remarked already, knowing the things of God and to bring them into practice is not merely about our intelligence, but about our mind, our desires.

The word ‘heart’, here means the inner man, the place where all the considerations take place. The ‘heart’ is about the emotions and desires: the motives that lead someone in his speaking and acting. Just as the heart as a body part is the center of physical existence, Paul uses the word ‘heart’ here as the center of the spiritual existence. He is now asking God to supply this center with ‘enlightened eyes’. Only then can you look further to what follows and also understand it.

If you desire to know what your blessings are, you will also receive spiritual insight for that. The Holy Spirit will meet your desire by instructing you in the things of God and present them in an understandable way for you. You will get to know, sense with your heart, and also enjoy what is meant by God’s calling, God’s inheritance and God’s power. Because that is finally the purpose of his prayer: “So that you will know.”

Next he doesn’t ask that the believers would know which wonderful blessings they have received. Then it would be written ‘our calling’ and ‘our inheritance’. If we think of our blessings, we often only think of the great privileges that we have received as a result and the great joy we experience from them. Of course that was also why God gave them to us, but this is not what is being presented to us in these verses. Here the issue is that we rise above all the benefits and joys that these blessings bring us.

Paul prays that the Ephesians (and we also) get around to it that it all came from God and that it is His purpose that He is being glorified thereby. If you think of it this way, you can better sense how necessary the prayer of Paul is. To look at our blessings in this way, so in relation to the Source, the Father of glory, demands from us that we forget about ourselves. That is quite difficult, but if Paul’s prayer has effect, that will be an enrichment of our spiritual life.

And now the essence of Paul’s prayer. He prays that they would know three things. First, “the hope of His calling”, that is actually the calling of God. God has called us. For what? What we have read about in the Eph 1:3-6 of this chapter. There it is written that God has chosen us that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love; He has predestined us to adoption as sons to Himself. Because He has called us now, being chosen and our predestination have become a reality. Do you see how wonderful, how great, how overwhelming that calling of His is? From eternity it has been in God’s heart to give this to us, you and me. And when it was His time He called us and made us partakers of it.

We shall only know and enjoy the full result of His calling when we are with Him in His glory, in the Father’s house. Hence it says “the hope of His calling”. Don’t you also think that the only right response that we can have is to worship Him for that?

The second thing for them to know is “what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints”. Paul wrote about that inheritance in the Eph 1:10-14 of this chapter. There you see that we, as heirs, together with Christ will take possession of this inheritance. But the issue here is to see that it is God’s inheritance. That means that God will own everything. He will be praised by the whole creation and every knee shall bow before Him.

God will take His inheritance through us, His saints, the believers of the church. You can compare it with how God took possession of Canaan, which He mentions His land (Lev 25:23). He used His people Israel for this. They took possession of it by expelling all enemies from there so that they as His people could dwell there and He could dwell in their midst.

This is what will happen with creation. Christ will rule over it, together with the church. When the ‘saints’ are ruling, God has taken possession of the inheritance. And the saints will reign forever and ever (Rev 22:5). Then the time will have come that God will be all in all (1Cor 15:28).

In the whole creation that there will be then, no more discord will be heard. There will be nothing that is in contradiction with God’s holy and righteous Being. God will fill everything with His glory. How great must be its riches, that wherever we look, we only see the glory of God. Don’t you desire to know more of that now already?

Eph 1:19. The third thing Paul is praying for is that we shall know “the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe”. Here a new section starts that continues till chapter 2:10. In this section we are told how God could and will give us the blessings in the Eph 1:3-14.

How could God give us, who were dead in our trespasses and sins (Eph 2:1), such wonderful blessings? He could do that only because of the exceeding greatness of His power. And to know how great the power is “toward us who believe”, we should pay attention to what He did to Christ: “He raised Him from the dead” and then He gave Him a place above every imaginable power. There we may see what God did to us ‘who believe’.

The first thing we read in this letter about Christ, regarding His life on earth, is that He was dead. About His perfect life on earth we read nothing here. The reason He is presented in this way here is because He thereby took our place. Before God could give us His blessings, it was necessary that Christ would seek us and identify Himself with us in the situation we were in. We were dead because of our trespasses and sins. But He voluntarily went into death, and all that God then did to Christ, He also did to us. That is what chapter 2:1-10 shows us. God could do that because this Man glorified Him perfectly in everything on earth.

Eph 1:20. “The surpassing greatness of His power” that God showed toward us, He first brought about Christ “when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly [places]”. Here we see God’s power in action with a power that is also active in us. But first Christ is being presented. That is to make clear to us that we will never comprehend anything of our blessings if we do not learn to look upon the Lord and the place He now has as Man, the place at God’s right hand in the heavenly places.

Now read Ephesians 1:18-20 again.

Reflection: For which things is Paul praying that we should know them?

The Church, Christ’s Body

Eph 1:21. God gave the Lord Jesus a place that exceeds everything. He received that place as Man. He had always been above everything as Creator. But now as Man He is exalted above every imaginable power: in the human world as well as in the world of angels and demons – not only now, but also in the future.

In the future, powers will be revealed that will overshadow every former power. You find them amongst others in the book of Revelation, chapter 13: “a beast coming up out of the sea” and a “beast coming up out of the earth” (Rev 13:1 ; 11). They will, with an almost unlimited power, rule through a reign of terror during a period the Lord Jesus calls “a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will”. But the Lord Jesus will see to it that the days of their reign of terror will be shortened (Mt 24:21-22). The power of our Savior is that great.

But not only then will He show a power that exceeds every comparison. We know that already now “all authority … in heaven and on earth” has been given to Him (Mt 28:18), although that authority is not publicly visible yet. It seems like all decisions, for what concerns life in this world, are being taken in Washington, Brussels or Moscow. But faith looks up, far beyond the most powerful people on earth and sees the Lord Jesus at the right hand of God.

And not to mention the deceiving demons, full of uncleanness, that are poisoning the minds of billions of people through television, internet and spiritual centers. But faith looks up, beyond the meanest and most influential satanic powers and sees the Lord Jesus at the right hand of God. In Hebrews 2 it is written this way: “But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him. But we see Him, who was made for a little while lower than the angels, [namely,] Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor” (Heb 2:8b-9). Compared to Him, all human and demonic power is utterly dwarfed!

The distinction between the different names of the powers above which the Lord Jesus is exalted, is not easy to indicate. I looked them up in a dictionary where words of the New Testament are explained. On this basis, I will try:

1. “Rule” refers to a position above and over others.

2. “Authority” is the freedom and the right to exercise power.

3. “Power” is the ability and the possibility that a person owns to accomplish something.

4. “Dominion” also refers to a place above others, but therein others are subject, while in ‘rule’ it is more about the position itself.

Above all these forms of power the Lord Jesus is exalted.

Eph 1:22. Apart from that He is exalted above everything; also all things are subjected under His feet. Although all unbelievers and all demons have not subjected themselves yet, God has established that in His counsel. And that will certainly happen because God wants it. The Lord Jesus is now already exalted above all things and soon all things will be visibly subjected to Him too because He has humiliated Himself on the cross to death: “For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil 2:9-11). So everything will be subjected to Him.

But there are exceptions. The first one we find in 1 Corinthians 15 (1Cor 15:27). There we read that God, Who has subjected everything under the feet of the Lord Jesus, is being excluded. That makes perfect sense. But now comes the incredible, what no man could have ever thought of, the second exception: the church. How could God do this? He could do this by uniting the Lord Jesus and the church. God gave the Lord Jesus “as head over all things to the church, which is His body”. It is obvious that a body and a head form an indivisible unity. Here we find the revelation of the great mystery that is already highlighted in Eph 1:10. How could the church be able to reign together with Christ? It is by becoming one with Him.

And look at how God did that: He doesn’t give the church to Christ, but He gives Christ as a gift to the church. That is what it says here. When we give somebody a gift, then the person is always more valuable than the gift. That cannot be the thought here of course, but it rather indicates how God appreciates the church.

He appreciates the church that much that He had not only known her from all eternity in His counsel, but also that He has given to her the dearest He has, His own Son. God gave the Lord Jesus to the church, while He is “head over all things”. Due to that the church is also exalted to that position. It is just like with Adam and Eve. When Adam was put as head of the creation in Eden, he received Eve in that position. She is allowed together with Adam to rule over creation.

Eph 1:23. And yet, not all is said about all glory, wherein the church partakes due to her unity with the Lord Jesus as Man. The final words of chapter 1 add something more that is far beyond our understanding. It can only be admired and be seen with ‘the eyes of the heart being enlightened’ (Eph 1:18). Of the church as His body it is also said that she is “the fullness of Him who fills all in all”. Here it is said that the church is the ‘fullness’ of the Lord Jesus, which means that she makes Him complete, she complements Him as the complete Man Jesus Christ. When the Man Jesus Christ will reign over all things, He will be, said with reverence, a complete Man: Husband and wife.

This we also recognize in Adam. When he woke up from his deep sleep and saw Eve, he said: “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh” (Gen 2:21-23). The fact that a group of people would become the body of Christ is nowhere to be found in the Old Testament. That was only possible after the Lord Jesus’ return to heaven and the Holy Spirit could come to form the believers to be that body (1Cor 12:13). The church is seen here as the whole of all believers from Pentecost till her being caught up.

And then the words “who fills all in all”. Here we stand before a mystery that we will never be able to fathom: He, Who is being completed as Man by the church, is indeed also complete in Himself! By this completeness He fills the whole universe. He is always and everywhere present. We must never forget that He with Whom we are united as Man, yet always remains: the eternal Son of God.

Now read Ephesians 1:21-23 again.

Reflection: Which aspects of the greatness of the Lord Jesus have you found in these verses? Give Him praise for that.