Ephesians Series: Ephesians 1:15a-Paul Presents the Reason for His Intercessory Prayer for the Recipients of the Ephesian Epistle

Ephesians 1:15 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 1:16 I do not cease to give thanks for you when I remember you in my prayers. 1:17 I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you spiritual wisdom and revelation in your growing knowledge of him, 1:18—since the eyes of your heart have been enlightened—so that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what is the wealth of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 1:19 and what is the incomparable greatness of his power toward us who believe, as displayed in the exercise of his immense strength. 1:20 This power he exercised in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms 1:21 far above every rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 1:22 And God put all things under Christ’s feet, and he gave him to the church as head over all things. 1:23 Now the church is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. (NET)

Ephesians 1:15 marks a transition in the epistle from the preface or the doxology contained in Ephesians 1:3-14 to Paul’s intercessory prayer on behalf of the recipients of this epistle in Ephesians 1:15-23.

This transition is marked by the prepositional phrase Dia touto (Διὰ τοῦτο), “for this reason,” which is pointing back to the contents of Ephesians 1:3-14, which reveal that the recipients of the Ephesian epistle are children of God who are in union and identified with Christ.

These verses are summarized in Ephesians 1:15 by the expression kagō akousas tēn kathʼ hymas pistin en tō kyriō Iēsou kai tēn agapēn tēn eis pantas tous hagious (κἀγὼ ἀκούσας τὴν καθʼ ὑμᾶς πίστιν ἐν τῷ κυρίῳ Ἰησοῦ καὶ τὴν ἀγάπην τὴν εἰς πάντας τοὺς ἁγίους), “because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints.” (NET)

In other words, Ephesians 1:3-15 makes clear that the recipients of the Ephesian epistle are regenerated children of God who are in union with Jesus Christ and identified with Him in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father.

Therefore, this prepositional phrase touto (Διὰ τοῦτο), “for this reason” indicates that the apostle Paul interceded in prayer to the Father on behalf of the recipients of the Ephesian epistle because they were regenerated children of God who are in union with Jesus Christ and identified with Him in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father.

So therefore, in Ephesians 1:15, the prepositional phrase Dia touto (Διὰ τοῦτο) indicates that Paul interceded in prayer to the Father on behalf of the recipients of the Ephesian epistle “because” of the work of the Father in eternity past, the work of the Son at the cross and the work of the Holy Spirit at justification.

This verse begins Paul’s intercessory prayer on behalf of the recipients of the Ephesian epistle and which prayer ends in Ephesians 1:23.

Like Ephesians 1:3-14, Ephesians 1:15-23 is a long, complex sentence.

The latter is composed of the following: (1) Thanksgiving (Eph. 1;15-16a) (2) Intercession for the recipients of the epistle (Eph. 1:16b-19) (3) Praise of the Father for raising His Son Jesus Christ from the dead and seating Him at His right hand by means of His omnipotence (Eph. 1:20-23).

The purpose of this intercessory prayer is that Paul wants the recipients of this epistle to appropriate by faith the spiritual blessings the Father gave them at their justification.

These blessings are the result of the Holy Spirit in baptism uniting and identifying them with Jesus Christ in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the Father’s right hand at the moment of their justification.

The contents of Ephesians 1:15 reveal that Paul is making two assertions about the recipients of the Ephesian epistle who we noted were not only members of the Christian community in Ephesus but also members of the various Christian communities in the Roman province of Asia.

Now, the first assertion states that they exercised faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior, which resulted in the Father crediting His Son’s righteousness to them and simultaneously declaring them justified.

This assertion describes their “vertical” relationship with God.

The second assertion describes their horizontal relationship with the body of Christ and states that they were practicing the love of God, which is by obeying the Lord Jesus Christ’s command in John 13:34 and 15:12 to love one another as He has loved them.

This obedience is the direct result of exercising faith in the Spirit’s teaching that the Father loved them in eternity past by electing and predestinating them in eternity past to be conformed to the image of His Son, Jesus Christ.

It is also the direct result of exercising faith in the Spirit’s teaching in the gospel that the Father loved them through His Son’s crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at His right hand when they were unregenerate, spiritual dead sinners (Rom. 5:6-8).

Lastly, this obedience to the Lord’s command to love one another is the direct result of exercising faith in the Spirit’s teaching in the Word of God that the Spirit identified them with Jesus Christ in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at His right hand at the moment of their justification when they were spiritually dead in their sins and transgressions (Eph. 2:1-8).