Praying With Paul

Praying With Paul

Ephesians 1:15-23

Main Idea: ​​​​We should pray for divine illumination to know more of God and Christ’s power at work in his church.

I. Praying in Thanksgiving (1:15-16)

Paul begins his prayer with thanksgiving, recognizing that the Ephesians “bear a telltale cross-shaped birthmark of God’s true children” (Richard Coekin). 

  • Faith in the Lord Jesus (vertical dimension)

Ephesus was a major city of influence in the Roman Empire and it was steeped in idolatry. The city participated in worship of the Roman emperor cult and famously was the headquarters for the worship of the Roman goddess, Diana (Greek: Artemis). When the gospel began to take root in Ephesus, it caused a riot because the silversmiths were losing customers buying idolatrous statues (Acts 19). 

  • Love toward all the saints (horizontal dimension) 

The glorious gospel doctrine of Eph. 1:3-14 embraced by their faith in Jesus produced in them a gospel culture held together by the ethic of love. 

John 13:35: By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

II. Praying for Illumination (1:17-19)

Paul’s prayer is not for additional blessings from God or a circumstantial change, but rather that the church in Ephesus would know God better. This “knowing” is not merely intellectual knowledge but an experience of increasingly realizing “every spiritual blessing” (1:3) already belongs to them in Christ.  

The only way to gain this “knowledge” is by the power of the Holy Spirit “enlightening the eyes of our hearts” (cf. Lk. 24:45, Acts 16:14), illuminating to us what had been “darkened” in our understanding (4:18). 

2 Corinthians 4:6: For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

“The Spirit makes the heart of Christ real to us: not just heard, but seen; not just seen, but felt; not just felt, but enjoyed. The Spirit takes what we read in the Bible and believe on paper about Jesus’ heart and moves it from theory to reality, from doctrine to experience.”
~ Dane Ortlund

As Paul prays for the Spirit’s illumination that we might know the Triune God more fully, he prays for specific knowledge of: 

  1. The hope of our calling (1:18b). God’s calling is “effective;” all who God has called will be justified and glorified (Rom. 8:29-30), which gives us an unshakeable hope. 

  2. The riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints (1:18c). God has claimed us (the church) as his glorious possession and inheritance. “To the degree you understand this phrase, you will receive strength not to sin.” ~ D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

  3. The immeasurable greatness of his power toward us (1:19).

III. Praying for Power (1:20-23)

The church in Ephesus would have likely felt “powerless” in the culture they inhabited. Paul prays they would realize the power (lit. dynamic) that is at “work” (lit. energy) in them, given to the church because of Christ. The work of Christ is the most definitive and dramatic display of true power the world has ever seen. 

Paul draws attention to three powerful realities about Jesus:

  1. Christ’s Resurrection (1:20a): It was “not possible” for Christ to be held by death (Acts 2:24), and the same spirit that powerfully raised Jesus now dwells in us (Rom. 8:11)

  2. Christ’s Ascension (1:20b): Christ is now seated at the right hand of the Father, the place of authority and honor as he rules and reigns as King. 

  3. Christ’s Exaltation (1:21-23): ‘All things’ have been put under his feet; there is no power, realm, or authority that rivals Jesus. Christ is the head of the cosmos in an ultimate sense, and the head of the church in an intimate sense. 

“Jesus is changing the world for the good of the church by means of the church… He who is head over all things and gives the universe its full purpose also fills the church that gathers in his name. The church, the body of Christ, is the present instrument of his filling the universe with his purpose. The eternal, universe-conforming power of God is present in the world through the church, and this power is working in the world for the church.”
~ Bryan Chapell

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