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3 Different Kinds of Knowledge Paul Prays For
Paul’s Prayer
Believers who know God should always want to know him more, to be where he is, to meditate on his loveliness. We can never have enough of God. And as the next verses of Paul’s prayer will show us, God has depths that will take an eternity to discover.
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. —Ephesians 1:18–21
Paul now prays for God to grant the Ephesians three areas of knowledge: the hope of God’s calling, the riches of God’s inheritance, and the greatness of God’s power toward them. These are spiritual truths, and it requires spiritual eyes (“the eyes of your hearts”) to appreciate them. As in Paul’s earlier doxology of praise, the beginning and end of our new spiritual life is God. Our salvation reveals truths about ourselves and truths about salvation’s benefits, but its ultimate lesson is about our glorious Lord.
Ephesians
Megan Hill
In this volume in the Conversational Commentary series, Megan Hill offers women a warm and clear verse-by-verse examination of Ephesians. It’s an accessible resource for personal study, small-group discussions, teaching, and outreach.
The first way Paul wants the Ephesians to grow in their knowledge of God is by understanding the hope of their calling. Remember, throughout this prayer, he has in view both head knowledge and heart knowledge. The Ephesians need to be sure of the facts of their calling, and they need to experience the hope that their calling gives. A believer’s calling is the invitation from God to follow Christ. Unlike a human invitation to a party or a concert, which invitees may either accept or decline, God’s calling is effectual: The people he calls will come to him (see John 6:37). The first disciples abandoned nets and boats to orient their lives around Jesus (Luke 5:1–11); similarly, all those whom God calls step into a completely new life and don’t look back. Believers love, obey, trust, worship, enjoy, and serve Christ in everything. As they do, they look ahead to an eternal future where they will see Christ face to face and live with him forever. Compared to the futility and meaninglessness of life apart from Christ, the called life is deeply hopeful.
Believers also grow in their knowledge of God by meditating on the riches of God’s inheritance. Commentators are divided about whether “his glorious inheritance in the saints” in this text is the spiritual inheritance that believers receive or the believers as the inheritance that God receives. We find both ideas in Scripture. God does store up spiritual blessings for his people (see Col. 1:12, for example), and the blessing of our salvation is a kind of inheritance that God gives us (as we saw in Eph. 1:11 and Eph. 1:14). But it seems more likely that this verse is talking about believers as God’s inheritance. Notably, Paul calls it “his” inheritance, which indicates that the saints are a glorious treasure belonging to God.
God’s people could be purchased at no smaller price than God’s blood.
If you look around at the members of your church, “glorious” might not be the first word that comes to mind. But the work of Christ testifies to their true value. God’s people could be purchased at no smaller price than God’s blood (Acts 20:28). Elsewhere, Peter invites believers to meditate on their status as God’s priceless possession: “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Pet. 2:9). Knowing that God set us apart for his own leads us to worship.
Paul identifies a third area of knowledge he desires for the Ephesians: “the immeasurable greatness of [God’s] power” (Eph. 1:19). Paul presents Jesus’s resurrection, ascension, and heavenly reign as exhibits of God’s might. Jesus was dead, but God made him alive. God raised him to the heavenly places, gave him authority over all things, and exalted him above every earthly and spiritual power. Christ’s reign may be invisible now (“in this age”), but it is no less real. And one day soon, his reign will be revealed (“in the [age] to come”) for all to see (see also Phil. 2:9–11).
Again, Paul wants the Ephesians to know this truth in both their minds and hearts. God accomplished these acts in Christ by his “great might,” and by this same power he works in his people. From Acts 19, we know that the believers in Ephesus were highly interested in the subject of power. Prior to their conversion, many of them had practiced magic arts, investing heavily in books purporting to give them spiritual powers (Acts 19:18–20). But the power of Christ is a different kind of power altogether. Rather than causing bondage and harm like the evil spirits of Ephesus did, the Lord gives life and peace. The one who raised the Son and established him in heaven will one day raise us and establish us alongside him (Eph. 2:5–7). In this life, God is mightily working all things for his glory and our good (Rom. 8:28–29). His power is “toward us who believe.”
This article is adapted from Ephesians: Life Together in Christ by Megan Hill.
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