FREE PREVIEW: Ephesians 1:15-23: Paul’s Prayer
This is a condensed preview of this week's full Bible study lesson, available exclusively to paid subscribers.
Introduction
Having spent the opening verses of Ephesians cataloging the believer’s immeasurable riches in Christ, Paul immediately does something instructive: he prays. And what he prays for is telling. He does not ask that his readers would receive new blessings — they already have every spiritual blessing — but that they would have their eyes opened to grasp the ones already theirs. Paul’s prayer teaches us what matters most, lifting our gaze from our circumstances to the hope of our calling, the riches of our inheritance, and the resurrection power at work in us — all crowned by a soaring vision of the exalted Christ.
I. The POSTURE of the Prayer — Thanksgiving and a Plea for Insight (vv. 15–17)
“I... don’t cease to give thanks for you... that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him” (Ephesians 1:16–17).
Paul’s prayer flows out of thanksgiving for the faith and love he sees in his readers. And his central request is striking: not for their comfort or circumstances, but that God would give them wisdom and revelation to know Him more deeply. The greatest thing we can ask for anyone is that they would come to know God better.
II. The PETITIONS of the Prayer — Three Things to Know (vv. 18–19a)
“Having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of his calling, and what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints” (Ephesians 1:18).
Paul asks that the eyes of their hearts would be opened to see three great realities: the hope of their calling — the certain future ahead; the riches of God’s inheritance — astonishingly, His people are His treasured possession; and the surpassing greatness of His power toward those who believe. Past, present, and future are all held up for the believer to see.
III. The POWER at the Heart of the Prayer — Christ Raised and Reigning (vv. 19b–23)
“Which he worked in Christ, when he raised him from the dead and made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly places... and gave him to be head over all things for the assembly, which is his body” (Ephesians 1:20, 22–23).
Paul cannot leave the theme of God’s power in a single phrase, so he unfolds it. The power available to believers is the very power that raised Christ from the dead and enthroned Him above every authority. And this exalted Christ has been given as head over all things to the church — His body — ruling the universe for our good.
Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain.
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