“For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you, and your love for all the saints, do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him.”
With verse 14 Paul has ended his lengthy and praise-filled salutation to the Ephesians. The more I study the epistles of this man, the more I understand and appreciate those who have been so drawn to him as a person, even now, 2000 years after he walked this earth.
Paul is so filled with Christ; so overflowing with the Holy Spirit in power and love, that he can’t even say ‘hello’ without bursting into a virtual song of wonder and praise.
“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ”... and off he goes!
I recently ran across a statistic compiled by a German scholar whose name I can’t pronounce. He determined that in Paul’s 13 epistles, some very short (Philemon is little more than a page long), he uses the term “In Christ” or some form of it ~ “in Him”, “in the Lord” ~ no less than 164 times! How he loved to talk about Jesus!
Here in the first chapter of Ephesians he spells out all these spiritual blessings God has lavished on us out of the kind intention of His will. He tells us that the end, or the purpose of all this blessing is that we should be to the praise of the Father’s glory. Our calling, our hope, our forgiveness, our redemption, our inheritance, the gift of the Holy Spirit in us, sealing us, preserving and protecting us as God’s own possession.
And it’s important to remind you of those things today as we continue, because Paul begins his next thought with “For this reason...”
Due to the fact that God has blessed us with all these spiritual blessings, and has sealed us unto Himself in the Holy Spirit in order to redeem us to Himself as His own possession.. because He has done all this to make us His (glory to His name)... “for this reason”...
I, Paul, give thanks for you without ceasing, and I never forget to mention you in my prayers, asking God to give this to you: the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.
In other words, Paul is praying for the Ephesians the most important prayer any Believer can pray for another Believer. That God would take them deeper and deeper into an intimate knowledge of Himself.
Man’s chief end is to know God and to enjoy Him forever, it was determined in the Westminster Catechism; but Paul knew and taught that basic truth long before.
“...that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him”.
Now something that, I must admit, surprised me about the various translations I checked , is that only the NIV translates verse 17 to say “the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, giving the word ’Spirit’ a capital S.
The same Greek word is used for spirit throughout the New Testament, whether referring to the Holy Spirit or the spirit of man. The application of it is generally determined by the context. For example, chapter 1:13 uses the term Holy Spirit and that makes it quite obvious. But over in chapter 2, verse 18, when Paul says that we all have our access in one Spirit to the Father, it is understood that he is referring to none other than the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the trinity, as we know that it is His office to bring us, draw us, to God.
So looking closely at our text, verse 17, I have to assert that the wording of it and what Paul is praying for the Ephesians is for something that only the Holy Spirit of God can give.
He is not praying for them to have an attitude, or a strength of determination, or any other thing that can be conjured up, mustered up within a man; he is praying and asking God for this particular thing because he is praying for spiritual wisdom and revelation, that can only come from God.
Now does that mean he’s praying for God to give them the Holy Spirit? No. He’s writing to believers. They have the Holy Spirit since their salvation. What he is praying for simply, is the Holy Spirit’s help and continued unction in bringing to these faithful believers ever greater wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God.
Christian, we spend a great deal of time closely examining Paul’s doctrine; debating the finer points and talking about how we should be living according to the truth of them.
And of course I agree and consistently teach that Paul’s aim was to magnify Christ and to point us to Him, and it is Christ we need to study and learn to know personally, and it is Christ who is our ultimate example in all things.
But we could learn some things by looking at the example of the Apostle Paul too.
When was the last time you prayed for the spiritual growth and well-being of another Christian? Oh, you may have prayed for your child. You may pray often for your child. Your child may give you very frequent cause to run to your room and fall on your knees in prayer. And I hope you pray for your spouse. I believe there is a great deal of spiritual power in the prayer of a husband for his wife and visa versa.
But I wonder how many Christians, even among pastors of congregations of people, intercede for other believers ~ for believers everywhere ~ and pray, not for things, not for health, not for help in specific, known circumstances, ... but just that the Holy Spirit would give them wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of the Father of glory.
Since I’ve been studying this great epistle for this series, I have been moved to pray these things for you. On my morning walks I like to run your faces past my mind’s eye and pray for you by name. And if I know of any particular, present need, I mention that. But some things I can pray for each and every one and never have to wonder whether I am praying for a legitimate need or not. I can pray that the Lord will enlighten the eyes of your heart, so that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe; and be confident that I am praying aright. Because I’m praying the scriptures for you. Can’t go wrong there!
I can pray that the Lord will give you an ever greater hunger for His word, and that He will use your study to draw you ever closer to Himself, and that as you grow in the grace and knowledge of Him you will be used of Him to illumine the world around you.
These and many other things I can pray for you from the scriptures, and I hope that you will pray the same for me. I don’t care if you pray that the Lord will give me physical comfort. I don’t care if you pray that the Lord will meet my financial needs or keep me safe from harm or illness.
But I will be blessed beyond measure, if you will pray that the Lord give me the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.
You see believers, this is a great and wonderful privilege we have; to pray this way for one another. Because no one outside of Christ can pray this. When we pray this way, we’re asking God to give us and give our fellow believers something that is only available to us who have the Holy Spirit of God.
Proverbs 9:10 declares, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”
Man in his natural mind cannot begin to comprehend God. In fact, one basic truth that the scriptures teach us from beginning to end, is that apart from the Spirit and spiritual birth, God is infinitely and eternally out of man’s grasp.
Actually, the best commentary on Ephesians 1:17 to be found is I Corinthians chapter 2.
Listen to verses 6 thru 8 of that chapter:
“Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom, which God predestined before the ages to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory;”
Then in verse 14 Paul says,
But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.”
He is, in effect, repeating Jesus’ teaching when He told the Pharisee, Nicodemus, “...unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
I have a copy of an e-mail that was sent to the host of a website (www.raptureready.com). We used it just this last week in our Wednesday night study, to challenge our ability to answer some questions. So I’m getting a lot of mileage out of this e-mail. But I want to read it to you today, because it so clearly illustrates the truth of these things Paul has been saying to us from I Cor. 2
“Hello Todd. You seem like a well meaning fellow and all but the thing that makes all of this quite illogical is this: You say “God” (and I use that term loosely) wants all people to repent of their sins and misdeeds. To reach “salvation” one must have faith and repent and all of that. Wait a second here. If there really is a God, one who is all-powerful, all knowing, all this, all that, who had no beginning and will have no end, what would he care if people repented or not? That is, if he even created them in the first place. If he had to concern himself with all of that trouble, wouldn’t he have just skipped that part of creation? Wouldn’t he say, ‘To heck with mankind, they’re not worth all the trouble in the first place’. And what would God care what I or anybody else believes? He’ll continue being God without regard for me or anyone else. Are you saying I’ll ruin his existence if I don’t repent or believe? I hardly think so. I’d be just another atom in the universe to him. You see, it makes no difference either way. He either does not exist (which is highly probable) or does exist but doesn’t care about anyone because he is God. One more thing that is disturbing. Just who created God anyway??? Don’t give me that ‘it’s just a mystery’ stuff either. It is totally illogical and senseless in addition to impossible that he never had a beginning or will have no end. Best regards, Lou
I wish I could respond to Lou. I hope someone from that website did respond, in love and in persuasive terms. Because frankly, if I knew Lou’s e-mail address, I would write to him and tell him that I agree with him. I would tell him that the god he described does not exist. I would tell him that the God who is revealed in the scriptures, which is the only place available to learn of God, is quite the opposite of the uncaring, unfeeling god of his e-mail.
Nevertheless, my point here is that Lou is simply confirming to us that the natural man cannot fathom the things of the Spirit.
The best that the natural man can ever hope to come up with is a god of futility. A mental image that is by nature as shallow and two-dimensional as a character in a grade B novel.
A figure carved out of stone or wood and made to stand in a corner or on a shelf, to be dusted once a week, but that has no life or breath in it.
Because the natural man, since he can think no higher than his human spirit will let him, can therefore only make gods like himself and no higher.
But since no one can know God or His thoughts except the Spirit of God, then God cannot be known except by His Spirit. Again in II Corinthians, verse 10
“For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.”
So now we touch on this word ‘revelation’. “For to us God revealed them...”
Paul prays, “...that...the Father of glory may give to you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation.
We’ve been seeing that man cannot have the knowledge of God apart from His Spirit. The wisdom, or the learning, the understanding of the things of the Spirit.
But I can go farther and say that apart from God’s revelation of Himself to the spirit, there can be no understanding of God at all.
Here is probably the clearest and best example.
The disciples walked and talked with Jesus for over three years. They were with Him constantly, listening to Him teach, seeing His miracles, asking Him questions, seeing Him in all the aspects and circumstances of life.
But they did not understand. They did not perceive His purpose in coming, until after the resurrection...and even then they continued to ask questions that exposed their ignorance. “We were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel”
“Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?”
It wasn’t until they were gathered in the upper room, and there came from heaven a noise like a violent, rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves and they rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.
And they stepped out onto the streets of Jerusalem...
Now I want you to take notice here... they weren’t given a crash course in theology. They didn’t stay sequestered in the upper room for another 13 weeks while Jesus appeared to them with a dry erase board and a box of scrolls and taught them doctrine and homiletics and how to properly exegete the scriptures.
They had a certain knowledge, a learning that He had stored up in them while He was with them, but they had no revelation of the Spirit, until He came from the Son and filled them; baptized them, there in that upper room.
And when He did, these disciples who only days before were still asking questions in ignorance; these same ones whose hearts were still filled with fear and doubt when they met him after the resurrection on the Mount of Olives; who stood gazing into the sky as He ascended and even after He was out of their sight, as though they thought He was going to return immediately and had to be exhorted by angels to go about the task He had given them to do...
...now stepped immediately out of the upper room and preached a Holy Spirit inspired sermon that had even those who crucified their Lord crying, “What must we do to be saved?”
So you see, it is not enough to have just a head-knowledge of Jesus. To examine Him and scrutinize His word and His actions and think to understand Him that way.
Our relationship to Him must be based on the revelation of Himself through His Spirit to our spirits; it will only be in the spirit and by the Spirit of wisdom and revelation that we will begin to understand His mission in the world, His purpose in us; Only by the Spirit of wisdom and revelation that we begin to know the Father.
I’d like to enter into a pact with you, that we pray these things for each other faithfully.
Not a pact that calls for some legalistic accountability. I’m not going to call you on the phone one day and say, “Hey! The Lord has revealed to me that you haven’t prayed for me for over a week...what’s the deal?”
But let’s simply agree, earnestly and sincerely, that in the course of our days, as the Lord brings us to each other’s minds, or even if it’s something other than the Lord that brings us to mind... even if it’s the Enemy, trying to make us think poorly of one another in an attempt to destroy our unity... let’s agree to turn that around and say, “Lord, give (this one or that one) the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of You.”
And in the days and weeks and months to come let’s watch and see what marvelous things the Father of glory does in and through us as a family of believers.
I want to finish today by reading you an excerpt from D. Martin Lloyd-Jones’ commentary on this verse. I enjoyed what he said and I want to share it with you.
“We have been considering one of the most important doctrines of the Christian faith. The Protestant Reformers used to tell their hearers that there is a double action of the Holy Spirit. There is the ‘Testimonium Spiritus Externus’ - the Spirit that is in the Word, as it were, the Spirit that inspired the men who produced the Word. That is essential. But it is not enough. Before I know that this is God’s Word and God’s truth, before I can read the Bible and discover health and food for my soul, something additional is necessary - the ‘Testimonium Spiritus Internus’. The Spirit in the Word, the Spirit in the reader! And without the Spirit in him no man will be able to understand the meaning of the Word. The two operations are absolutely essential.
In other words we have seen that the Apostle prays for the Ephesian believers that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give them ‘the Spirit of wisdom (the Spirit in the Word) and ‘the Spirit of revelation’, (the ability to see it and to receive it and revel in it and to enjoy it). What a perfect provision for damned, blind, helpless, wretched sinners! All the truth I need to know and the ability to receive it and to apprehend it! And all given freely through the Holy Spirit of God! What a perfect salvation! ‘All I need, in Thee to find’.”
{Wisdom: The Spirit in the Word} {Revelation: The Spirit in the believer, taking the Word and from it revealing the person of the Father in all His glory}
I am constrained to return to an anthem of praise that I have found myself repeating with increasing frequency, my friends...
...what a wonderful and loving God we serve, whose plan and design for us in everything He has done, every gift He has given, every promise He has made, His very call to us, His purpose in us and through us, is all for the sake of having our company; our fellowship. He wants to be with us and us with Him, so much, so very, very much, that He even teaches us to pray for one another, an ever-deepening knowledge and understanding of Him. Not just facts about Him... but Him.
The Father of glory.
