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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadWilliam Burkitt Notes and Observations - Ephesians 1:17 - 1:17
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These words give us a short, but very comprehensive, account of that affectionate prayer which St. Paul put up to God on the behalf of these Ephesians, newly converted to Christianity; in which observe,
1. The person whom he prays unto, God, under a very endearing title, for the strengthening of his faith; he styles him, not as the Old-Testament saints, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but in the language of the New Testament, The God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory. The God of our Lord Jesus Christ, as he is Man and Mediator, commissioned of him, and sent by him; and the Father of Glory, as being in himself infinitely glorious; to whom all glory is and ought to be ascribed, and from whom alone it is communicated.
Learn hence, That as all our prayers and requests are and ought to be directed unto God only, so in order to our having access to God with assurance in prayer, it is our duty to apply to him as a Father, as a Father in Christ, as a Father in Christ to us, and under this notion and apprehension to strengthen our faith for the obtaining of what we ask in prayer; May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give unto you, &c.
Observe, 2. The great and comprehensive blessing prayed for; namely, divine illumination and spiritual knowledge; that is, a farther increase of that wisdom and saving knowledge of divine mysteries, whereof the Spirit of God is the author.
Learn hence, That as spiritual wisdom, or the saving knowledge of divine mysteries, is necessary to a Christian; so those who have a good measure of this grace already received, ought not to sit down satisfied with it, but aspire after farther measures and degrees of it; spiritual knowledge is as necessary for increasing grace, as it is for working grace in the soul.
Observe, 3. The title here given to the Holy Spirit of God; he is styled the Spirit of wisdom and revelation; he being the author of all that knowledge in the mysteries of religion which we attain unto, and it being his proper work and office to reveal unto us the will of God for our salvation.
Learn hence, 1. That believers themselves, who are divinely enlightened by the Holy Spirit of God, have yet need of farther measures, and fuller degrees, of spiritual wisdom.
Learn 2.That the way to obtain this fuller measure of divine wisdom and spiritual illumination, is to be earnest with God in prayer for his Holy Spirit. So the apostle here.