Ephesians 1:15–23 . . .

“Thanksgiving and Prayer”

Paul has written a beautiful Jewish-style poem that lists five spiritual blessings Christians have as a result of Jesus’ sacrifice (see highlights in my previous commentary). In today’s passage, Paul earnestly asks God to give his letter’s readers four essential things: (1) a spirit of wisdom; (2) a revelation of true knowledge of God; (3) hope and assurance of God’s call to salvation and the inheritance of eternal life; and (4) an appreciation of how great and powerful God’s gift of salvation is to all who believe in Christ Jesus.

After his poem in vv. 3–14, Paul responds with a prayer, asking that Jesus’ followers wouldn’t just know about but would personally experience the power of the gospel. He also prayed that they’d be energized by the same power that raised Jesus from the dead, placing him at the exalted head of the entire world.

In today’s nine-verse passage, Apostle Paul will commend the church in Ephesus for their bold faith (vv. 15–16). He’ll ask God to give them “the Spirit of wisdom and revelation” so they’d “know him better” (v. 17). He’ll also pray that their eyes would be “enlightened” or opened so they’d understand the hope and glorious inheritance that God had promised his people (v. 18).

Paul’s Thanksgiving Declaration and Prayer (1:15–16)

The apostle doesn’t hesitate to tell his readers that he’s praying for them; neither is he reluctant to tell them for what he prays. The text in today’s passage emphasizes the vital link between God’s Word and our prayers. In the early days of the New Testament church, the apostles ascertained their need to always prioritize the “prayer and the ministry of the word” (Acts 6:4). Our text helps to clarify the relationship between prayer and Scripture.

When Paul heard of the Ephesians’ faith and love, he had to thank them. In v. 16, he tells his Ephesian readers that he constantly prays for them. He has “not stopped” remembering them in his prayers. He begins by telling them the reasons for his prayers. First, he’s likely praying directly for the Ephesian church body. When he begins with “For this reason” (v. 15), he’s referring to what he’d stressed in vv. 3–14: the sovereign purposes of God for his church. God gives life to his church, directs its growth, and controls its destiny. So, Paul earnestly prays to God for the church.

Also in v. 15, we find the second reason why Paul prays for the Ephesian church: its saints have a genuine faith in Jesus Christ and a love for all of God’s children. Loving God and loving others are the marks of a true Christian! What Paul had recently heard regarding the Ephesian church body convinced him that the church was definitely made up of devoted believers. Since God has purposed and provided for the blessing of true believers, and since the Ephesian saints were true believers, Paul prays earnestly for them.

Remarkably, Paul gave thanks not for their love of God but for their “love for all God’s people.” The real evidence of God’s work in us isn’t the love we claim to have for him but our love for his children. And when he wrote, “remembering you in my prayers,” he not only gave thanks for God’s work among the Ephesians, he also prayed that it would continue with greater strength, as his entire prayer in vv. 17–23 accentuates. When we trust that loving others is no less essential for life than food or water, Jesus will enable our lives to be turned upside-down: We start living like we’re already in God’s Kingdom and begin to experience the taste of its goodness.

To Know God Better (1:17–19a)

Continuing his prayer for the Ephesians, Paul asked Father God, in v. 17, to grant this church’s believers “the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that [they] may know him better.” However, the purpose of this request wasn’t to enable them to examine others’ lives or have the ability to predict events. Instead, he prayed that they’d be given both of those spiritual gifts so they’d have an improved knowledge of God. When he added, “so that you may know him better,” his intent was likely to remind them that every Christian must be devoted to knowing the truth about God, as revealed by his Word, and correcting one another’s erroneous, idol-worshiping viewpoints of God’s plans for us.

In v. 18. Paul prays “that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened.” We should realize that those who have their eyes opened, who have some understanding in God things, need to be more and more enlightened and have their knowledge of him more clear, distinct, and exploratory. Christians shouldn’t think it enough to have warm affections; they should strive to have clear understandings and aspire to become knowledgeable, prudent Christians.

And when he adds in v. 19a of God’s “incomparably great power for us who believe,” he stresses this essential fact: Because Father God is fully sufficient while being omnipotent of divine grace, it’s absolutely necessary for believers in his Son, Jesus, to walk closely and steadily with him.

Paul’s prayer message is simple yet revolutionary. Jesus invites us to know God better and better, so we can trust him with the character of our daily existence, while simultaneously becoming filled with a hunger to have right relationships within God’s Kingdom.

Power, Prayer, and Hope (1:19b–23)

Although it’s difficult to prompt a soul to believe in Christ while maintaining the hope of eternal life, the Lord’s almighty power (v. 19b) enables us to do so, especially through prayer.

Power  It’s easy to see that Paul’s prayer begins at v. 15. But it’s not as easy to see where it ends. He’s already prayed for the Ephesian saints, asking the Holy Spirit to grant them needed enlightenment to grasp the unseen realities that the Scriptures reveal, which are the foundation of their faith. He’s prayed for their growing comprehension of the hope of His calling, and of “the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people” (v. 18). Next, in vv. 19–23, he describes the third foundational truth, which is elementary to the faith and practice of the Ephesian believers: knowledge of God’s infinite power.

Referring to God’s exerted power that “raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,” Paul proclaims that it’s God’s “mighty strength” that raised Jesus to heaven after his resurrection and elevated him above all demonic foes and potential enemies of all time, even in the future. Thankfully, God similarly empowers every Christian to accomplish many things by fully trusting and believing in Jesus.

Prayer  Paul’s prayer is that the Ephesian saints would be divinely enabled to grasp the infinite power that God invested in Christ. The text focuses on God’s power in two major categories: (1) God’s power over all powers and authorities and (2) his power exercised in behalf of the church. He prays that we might be divinely enabled by the Holy Spirit to comprehend God’s “incompatibly great power.”

We should see in Paul’s words a direct relationship between the infinite power/mighty strength of God that becomes manifested in Christ and his resurrection and ascension. Each miraculous event of our Lord Jesus demonstrates the powerful magnitude of God in Christ. The surpassing greatness of his power was clearly exhibited in Lord Jesus’ resurrection from death and obviously bestowed on him when he ascended into heaven.

Hope  Paul’s words at the close of chapter 1 imply that a Christian’s assurance of the certainty of God’s purposes and promises, which constitute a believer’s “hope to which he has called you,” rests upon one’s recognition of God’s power to achieve them. There’s a hope in this calling. And it’s desirable to know what this hope of our calling is and to realize and appreciate the immense privileges God’s people enjoy. We ought to pursue and pray earnestly for clear insight into and familiarity with the objectives of a Christian’s hopes.

Paul wanted his brethren in Ephesus to know that few things would give them a more secure and enduring hope in life than simply knowing that God has called them to fulfill something specific. The hope of his calling points to the future. All devoted believers have a glorious future that includes all of the following and more: bodily and spiritual resurrection, eternal life, freedom from sin, flawless justification, and the glorious promotion of being elevated above angels. In total, a Christian’s hope for those valuable rewards is based entirely on the power of the ascended Lord Jesus to raise us from the dead, overthrow the wicked, and establish the eternal kingdom of God. Apart from the supreme power and authority of God in Christ, we have no hope.

Pastor/teacher Bob Deffinbaugh summarizes this power/prayer/hope passage very well. “It is because of His infinite power that we are assured of obtaining the ‘hope of His calling’ and the ‘riches of the glory of His inheritance.’ Indeed, apart from the sovereignty of God, all of the blessings of vv. 3–14 would be nullified.”^[1]

Apostle Paul chose specific words to express the exceeding greatness of God’s “mighty strength” (v. 19b), which God brings into play towards his people, and with which he raised Christ from the dead (v. 20). That indeed was the undeniable proof to the world of the truth of the gospel. We might appreciate what the apostle writes here: “That power is the same as the mighty strength” that God will exert when he’ll also raise the bodies of believers to eternal life in the same way he raised Christ from death.

As he closes his prayer in vv. 22–23 for the church, which is his body, Paul reminds us that Jesus is the head while the community of Christian believers makes up his church body. When he adds, “the fullness of him who fills everything in every way,” he focuses attention on Jesus’ ability to fully inhabit his church with his presence, power, importance, and blessings.

Open the Eyes of My Heart

Paul believed that a measurable appreciation of Jesus Christ’s power was essential to a believer’s spiritual walk. He therefore not only describes the Lord’s power, but prays that the Holy Spirit would give each of his readers (including us) a deeper grasp of this power: “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you.”

As we ask God to reveal himself to us by enlightening our hearts and calling us to follow and serve him, we can know him better and declare his name, power, and authority with confidence (vv. 19–23). Having an unwavering faith in Jesus and an ever-present love for all God’s people, our lives can prove his limitless possibilities when we ask him, prayerfully, to continue opening the eyes of our hearts.

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