Paul Prays with Power
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Paul Prays with Power
The Big Idea: Christians of active faith can have hope in the power of God.
For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints,
I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers,
that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him,
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.
And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church,
which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
We are looking at the letter to the Ephesians, which was not only a letter to the Ephesians, but also a letter that was intended to circulate among the churches in that region. It is a letter that in a way is a handbook of Christian living, laying out how Christians should get along and live together in a way that glorifies God. In the introduction of the letter, as in many Pauline writings, we see an opening that marks a life of praise and prayer.
Paul’s writings reflect his priorities and philosophy of life. The first verses, 1-14, contain what is known as a doxology, or an outpouring of praise to God. In those verses, he celebrates the work of God the Father, God the Son, Jesus Christ, and God the Holy Spirit as he shows how each one of them has an active role not only in history in respect to his plan of redemption, but personally for those of us who have realized our salvation through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.
This letter is thought to have been written within a few decades of the resurrection and ascension of Jesus, and Paul had planted many churches, who he continued to correspond with by letter even while he was in prison. For that reason, this letter is included what are known as the “prison epistles”, or letters from prison.
In the passage before us, We see a flow from the doxology of the first 14 verses into a praise and prayer. Paul shares how he has heard good things about the church there, and also shares what he prays for them. There are a few key concepts here:
Paul prays that we would:
Receive wisdom and understanding
Realize the hope we have
Recognize God’s power
In verse 15, we see that Paul has heard a good report about the church. While our translation says Paul said he “heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus”, we miss a little of the implication of the original greek language. What is hard to the translators to convey is that when Paul says he heard about their faith, he is not saying “I heard about your faith in receiving salvation. The words used are present tense and active. So another way to look at it is that Paul has heard of their living out the faith. So he is not rejoicing in their salvation only, but the fact that they are participants in family of God.
Are we living out our faith as well? Paul saw this as a reason for thanksgiving and prayer. He says that since he has heard of their living out of the faith that he thanks God, and remembers them in prayer. Again, we may not get the full implication of this in our English translation, but Paul is saying that he constantly is mentioning aloud in his prayers the church. He obviously does not know all of them by name, but he still is praying and interceding on their behalf.
And what is he praying for? The rest of this paragraph tells us. Paul again is using some long phrases, or thoughts, that are strung together. So it takes a little careful study on our part to not take snippets of this passage out of context, or put our own meaning on them, but to really discern, or understand, what meaning this passage had to the original recipients of the letter, almost two thousand years ago, and what it means to us today.
The first thing that Paul says he is praying for is that we would receive wisdom and understanding. Note that he doesn’t say that he has prayed, but that he keeps praying that God would give us the Spirit of wisdom and revelation. He is modeling consistency in prayer with a hope and expectation of the result. There may be some debate whether that should be Spirit with a capital S, meaning the Holy Spirit, which gives us wisdom, or a small s, meaning an attitude of wisdom. There are scholars on both sides of this, which is reflected by the various English translations of the Bible. Some of them use a small s, and others, like the NIV, use a large S.
If it is large S, then Paul is really praying that we will be a Spirit-led church, relying on the Holy Spirit for wisdom and understanding. I think it is fair to say, when looking at the entirety of Paul’s writings, that this is what he is saying. In fact, the language used reflects how the prophet Isaiah predicted that Jesus would be filled with and guided by the Holy Spirit. Isaiah 11:2
And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
If the Spirit of wisdom and understanding rested on Jesus, and we as believers are promised that we can also receive the Holy Spirit, then it is certainly a safe conclusion to say that Paul greatly desired that we would be a Spirit-filled people! We are to live our lives in reliance upon the Holy Spirit, not only for wisdom and understanding, but also for counsel and might, knowledge and fear of the Lord. If Jesus had this same Spirit empowering Him, we can live in the Spirit-filled life as well, Paul writes in some of his other letters the same thing. He is always praying for believers that they have wisdom and understanding.
In light of Paul’s writings about bad doctrines and false teachers, we can see why his concern is so grave considering people having wisdom and understanding. We do have this wisdom and understanding revealed to us through the Holy Spirit, but we also must take part in the learning process, continually studying the scriptures and learning and relearning the gospel. When Christians don’t feel the need to learn how to study scripture, it can lead to dangerous beliefs that can distract them, or even worse, alienate them, from the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Next Paul prays that we realize the hope we have, or as Paul says “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, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.”
This part is well aligned with the overall intent of Paul’s prayers. While earlier he mentions his prayer for us to have wisdom and revelation, or understanding, now he prays that our hearts be enlightened as well. This shows that Paul sees the importance of our faith being all-inclusive of our senses and rationale. Not only does he pray for wisdom, which relates to our thinking, he prays that our hearts be enlightened in order to know the hope we have.
The Christian faith, then, is not only something we understand in our heads, but something that our hearts feel. And what is it that our hearts must be enlightened of? The hope that we have in Jesus Christ! Paul’s theology includes a connection to Christ and the gospel in our mind, our soul, and with the power of the Holy Spirit. J.P. Moreland wrote a fantastic book on the subject of the balance of these three, and the importance of not focusing on one area at the expense of neglecting the others. We are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds, we are to renovate our souls, and we are to live in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Paul says here that he wants us to know the hope we have. Paul speaks of hope throughout his writings, using it with much emphasis, especially in regards to Christians looking forward to their blessed hope in order to be able to make it through times of trials and persecution. Paul is looking forward to this hope. Hope is something that applies to the future.
waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
So we see that Paul is not speaking of hope here in a bubble, but it permeates everything he thinks or writes. Paul was a man of hope! And so should you be, Christian! The hope of our eternal future with Christ is enough to bear us though hard times and is the implement that we use to have joy in the most difficult circumstances.
Let me share one more passage regarding hope, so that you may rejoice with Paul. From Romans 8:18-25
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.
For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope
that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.
And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees?
But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
So we hope because there is better yet to come! The Christian looks forward too a future, that Paul says the glory of is so great that it is hardly worth noting any suffering we currently are going through! He says not only do we hope, ,but all creation is waiting with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God! This is yet to happen! and it will happen! And when it does, Paul says, “the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God!
Those of us who have the first fruits of the Spirit groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, and the redemption of our bodies. This means that the Christian has hope not only for a spiritual state of union with God, but a physical, glorified body! And we aren’t talking plastic surgery here, but a level of perfection we don’t know yet, disease free bodies. The first fruits of the Spirit are that which we talked about last week. The Holy Spirit is our downpayment, or earnest money, that assures us that God’s plan will be completed, and we will see His glory. Finally, in Romans 8 here, Paul says that it is in this hope that we are saved. “Hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? but if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
Paul is saying, as he and Peter also write, that this is not completed yet. It still is coming. For what is hope to someone who already has the object of their hope? Christmas is past, and if you got a gift you had hoped for, then you no longer hope for it. Hope cannot be a term used for something already realized. Before we are married, we look forward with hope to the day we are one with our spouse, but once we are united, we no longer hope but live out the promise. And that is the image Christ gave us, that we would be united to Him, and we have that Hope. Glory to God that we have that hope! Praise His beautiful name that we have that hope! Oh, that we would live in that hope daily, with the same fervor that Paul had when he wrote this beautiful passage! God gives us hope, and that through Christ, with the downpayment of the Holy Spirit so we are assured that one day it will be completed, Praise the Lord!
One last thing I would like to mention about hope. In this passage mentions an inheritance. At first glance and with respect to our understanding of our adoption by God, we tend to automatically think of our inheritance in the kingdom of God, but here, when we look at the vocabulary used by Paul in his original letter, he is actually talking about God’s inheritance! So God inherits those who believe in Jesus Christ. He called us, and He considers us to be a gift to himself! This shows that great value that God places on each of you and should give you cause for celebration. He loves you, He chose you, He calls you, and He adopts you, and He considers that and inheritance to Him!
Finally, Paul wants us to recognize God’s power. In his fervent prayers for the church, he wants us to recognize God’s power and authority. See here that Paul uses powerful language to describe the Power and might of God. Power, mighty strength, exerted. Jesus was raised by this power. He is now seated at the right hand of the father in this power. We need not think of Jesus as sitting next to God on a throne chair somewhere. The language here is to give us a sense of the unity of God that we find in the Trinity.
The same in regards to “far above” this is not a spacial term, as though Jesus is above, up in the stratosphere or something, but rather this is a hierarchical term. It refers to Jesus being at the top of all chains of command we can envision. Paul says Christ is “far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but the one to come.” We consider that Christ is more powerful than Satan, and surely He is. Satan will one day bow to the Son of God. Nothing Satan does is allowed other than by God allowing it. The same for all those beings who are Satans, the demons. They are all subject to Christ.
However, be careful that you don’t give too much credence to these evil beings. Paul actually mentions demons and Satan very little. The same with Jesus. We should not ignore that there are evil spiritual beings, especially as the Bible reminds us that our battles are not against flesh and blood, but against spirits. We need not make too much of this. Paul focused his ministry on the power of God. This is what this passage is about. In fact, here he doesn’t even specifically mention demons. Our world today, even the Christian world, has a lot of focus on demons, satan, and even representations thereof, like Vampires. The focus we should have should be on Christ alone.
I am a little leery when Christians focus so much time and thought on Satan and demons. Some in ministry make this the main focus of their teachings. It can be just what itching ears are looking for. There seems to be a desire to feel the thrill of exploring the dark spiritual side. I can tell you, though, that while I will not ignore the spiritual battles around us, I choose to focus my ministry on the saving grace of Jesus Christ and the power of God through the Holy Spirit that we can walk in confidence of. We are not ignorant to those things, but our focus should be on Jesus Christ and Him crucified, because in the power of HIs resurrection we have our hope. Here Paul says that Christ is far above, not just a little more than. He is above all rule and authority, which probably represents governments. He is above every power and dominion, which probably refers to those spiritual battles. Jesus is more powerful. and He is above every name.
That includes you. That includes me. Jesus is far above every name, we love to acknowledge that, until we realize that our name is included. Jesus is above you and I. Jesus is our Lord, and that means He exercises all power and authority over us as well. Sorry to lump us in with the devil, but we could narrow this hierarchy of power down to two groups. Jesus and everything else. We are in the everything else. All is subject to Christ. All will answer to Him. All will bow the knee and open the mouth and proclaim that He is Lord. We need to remember that in celebrating the victory we have in Christ, we are still subject to Him. We still must reverence Him. We can call ourselves friends of God, but at the same time, we dare not get too friendly.
Paul writes that Jesus is already over all, but he also says that it isn't just in this age, but the age to come. Clearly Paul likes to reinforce again and again the hope that we have. He always brings us around to that hope. Heaven help us if we look at the world around us and forget the hope we have. We are lost without it. We will despair without it. We have nothing without hope.
To review our points,
Paul prays that we would:
Receive wisdom and understanding
Realize the hope we have
Recognize God’s power
Finally, we conclude with Ephesians 1:22-23
And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church,
which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
Another reminder who is the head of the church. Not the pastor, not the superintendent, not the Pope. Christ is the head over everything for the church. Everything we do must flow from Him. It must flow from His teachings, His gospel and His love. All that we do should reflect the glory of Jesus Christ.
The church here is portrayed as the body of Christ. In 1 Corinthians, Paul says that we each individually are members of the body of Christ, and every body part has a necessary function. That means we are all called to serve in the way that God created us to serve. We have a duty and responsibility to find out what it is that we could do to serve the church. Everyone has something to offer. Not only is the church blessed by those who serve, but those who serve are blessed as well as they have a sense of fulfillment in carrying out the work of the kingdom of God.
So what does that last phrase mean? “the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. This is a tricky thing to translate. The church could not be the fullness of Christ in the sense that it completes Him, since He is complete on his own. It more likely means that Christ is the fullness of the church. In other words, He fills everything. Ephesians 4:10 says “that He might fill all things”. Christ fills the entire world. There is nowhere we can be and avoid Him, for he fills everything in every way.
I pray as Paul did that you also would be given the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation, that you would understand the hope you have in Christ, and that you would walk in the power of his Holy Spirit. May we always honor and glorify Him as the head over everything in the church.
