2022.08.24 WednesdayThat men might know the measure of Gods power. There stood that awful obstacleand it is still the great obstacle that stands between all men and Goddeath in sin and nothing but the power of God could deal with such a situation. Eido/oida is distinguished from ginosko(epiginosko, epignosis - the other major NT word group for knowing) because ginosko generally refers to knowledge obtained by experience or "experiential knowledge". Sign up now for the latest news and deals from Bible Gateway! The eyes of our hearts refers to our total inner person, which includes the intellect, the emotions, and the will. (cf 2Co 6:11-13+)(Ephesians Commentary). Man can supply the energy, enterprise and enthusiasm for things human. And so he prays that these saints might be able to grasp the breadth and length and height and depth (Eph 3:18) of the great truths in chapter one, so that they might be enabled by the indwelling Spirit and the riches of God's grace (DOCTRINAL TRUTH IN CHAPTERS 1-3) to order their steps so that they "walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called." God never gives niggardly to His children but according to the (infinite) riches of His grace! The first phrase of verse 18 is literally, the eyes of your heart having been enlightened. I understand it to be explaining in more specific detail Pauls words in verse 17, that God would give us a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the true knowledge of Him. To know these spiritual truths, God must open our eyes. Ephesians 6:10 says, "Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. No spendthrift hand can scatter or over-spend its treasures. I ask - ask the God of our Master, Jesus Christ, the God of glory - to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing him personally, So even though many of the translations are not perfectly accurate to the Gree, they all retain the essence of Paul's desire for the saints to "know" these three things beyond a shadow of a doubt. But the effectual call is the lightning bolt that connects. Maybe youre saying, Is that ever true! On the other hand if I give you a million dollars, I have given to you "according to" or more in proportion to my riches. These things are brought about by the power of God for the believer. In either case Pauls point is clear: redemption and its accompanying blessings are so profound that we must have supernatural help to understand them. The idea is to cause something to be fully known by revealing clearly and in some detail. Reprinted by permission. But you cant understand this manual by mere human insight or wisdom. But in order that you may know (eido) that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins-- He said to the paralytic--I say to you, rise, take up your pallet and go home. There is no power shortage, just a shortage of our understanding of what we possess in Christ. Comment: The firm assurance or hope that believers have in this life is the return of Jesus Christ in glory to take them home into His presence and give them glorified bodies like His. Now Paul deals with the third area, that is, the greatness of his power which God directs toward believers (for a structural layout of the prayer, see 1:16b). She discusses her burden with her pastor and her spiritual mentor. Some commentators see His inheritance as a reference to believers, who are Gods inheritance or special possession (Eph 1:14). . By submitting your email address, you understand that you will receive email communications from Bible Gateway, a division of The Zondervan Corporation, 3900 Sparks Drive SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546 USA, including commercial communications and messages from partners of Bible Gateway. Therefore, not only do we have an inheritance (Eph 1:14) but He also has an inheritance (Eph 1:18). Where do we find the power to overcome anger, resist greed, offer forgiveness, or pursue sexual purity? Will this day ever end? If you are in a strained marriage, a single person aware of your loneliness, or if youre physically afflicted, a day can indeed seem like a thousand years. 46) he admonished them to employ that power in faithful living for their Lord. He teaches you to recognize and uphold what is excellent so that you will be sincere and blameless before God (Phil. KJV The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. Amos I feel now that I want to serve God, if He can use me, instead of making the goal of my life the making of money. Be diligent to pray and spend time in the Word so that your spiritual progress will be evident to all (1 Tim. How does this apply? NET and what is the incomparable greatness of his power toward us who believe, as displayed in the exercise of his immense strength. The fault is with themselves. Thus to believe is to obey and to stake one's life on the truth of the gospel manifesting a lifestyle in accordance with that truth. We have to exercise ourselves in order that the Son of God may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 15:19). His death had our name on it. The heart the seat of the mind and will, and the heart could be taught what the brain could never know (or sadly the converse to know something intellectually but not in one's heart!) The person pronoun of the second person singular; thou. Its certainly not because of the power of the believer, but the power of God. You might not always sense it, but its there nonetheless. Says a good divine, "It is one of the greatest glories of the Church of Christ, that our mighty Maker, and our Friend, always chooses our inheritance for us." 1:4). Dunamis is rather ability, faculty: not necessarily manifest, as ischus: power residing in one by nature. How long he laid siege to our hearts! All Christians have the same hope. Eph 3:16+is another "powerful" (power full - also using dunamis) passage indicating that the Holly Spirit is the Source of this incredible supernatural power (cf Lk 4:14+ = Jesus' pattern for our lives today [1Co 11:1+]!, Acts 1:8+, Ro 15:19+, 1Co 2:4+, 1Th 1:5, Micah 3:8)! It does not matter how it hurts as long as it gives God the chance to manifest Himself in your mortal flesh. Ed, Issue 46, Winter 2023. He said that we never form adequate conceptions of the treasure of the gospel, or if we do, we cant persuade ourselves that these things pertain to us, because they are so far from what we experience. Lehman Strauss-Paul requests for the saints the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ that they might know three things:(1) The hope of His calling. God has called us, but to what purpose? a patrimony or a possession. 29:1113). In verse 18 he prays that we will comprehend those great truths, which he summarizes in the phrase, the hope of His calling.. Used by permission of NavPress. The wealthy devoted their treasure to the cause, and all classes sacrificed everyday amenities for troops in the field. It is great power: nothing less would suffice. Open the compasses of your faith to measure this measureless abyss; and then marvel at the power which bore your Lord across it, and know that that same power is towards you, if you believe, waiting to do as much for you in your daily experience if you will but let it have its blessed way. Ecclesiastes Whatever Thou dost get out of us, Thou must first put in. (Lehman Strauss Commentary Devotional Studies on Paul's Letters to the Galatians and Ephesians- online), Kenneth Wuest says that dunamis "power in the sense of that which overcomes resistance or effects a change" (In Mark 5:30 literal Greek = Jesus, perceiving in Himself the out from Him power going out) It was some of (Jesus') supernatural power which He felt leaving Him in the accomplishing of the miraculous cure". The American Standard Version reads: "the eyes of your heart," not mind. 28:9; 33:12; 78:62, 71; 106:5, 40; Isa. Seeking the Gospel in Malachi, the Last Book of the Old Testament. (ESV Study Bible), Spurgeon - "See how high Christ is raised! Just before His ascension Jesus assured the disciples, You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you (Acts 1:8), an enduement every believer receives at the time he is saved. ', Mark 12:33+ and to love Him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as himself, is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices. Remember that the first three chapters are doctrine but the last three are "duty," calling for a walk "in step" with the doctrinal truths. ESV 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. We need not pray for power to evangelize, to witness the gospel to others. It is available. Well, if you're in Christ, and Christ is at the right hand of God, where are you? He will bring fruit out of thy rockiest nature, as the Norwegians raise crops on every scrap of soil on their mountain slopes. Such enlightenment is crucial because how you perceive your spiritual resources dictates how you live. In addition the view that the saints are Gods inheritance has precedence in the Old Testament, Moses recording that Israel was God's possession For the LORD'S portion is His people; Jacob is the allotment of His inheritance. For fifteen years the Romans defended their homeland against the brilliant Carthaginianand could never drive him out. The eyes of your understanding being enlightened By the Spirit of God already, to see the exceeding sinfulness of sin; the insufficiency of their own righteousness; the beauty, glory, fulness, and suitableness of Christ, as a Saviour; the excellency, truth, and usefulness of the doctrines of the Gospel; in which their understandings were before dark, but now had light into them: wherefore these words are not to be considered as part of the apostle's petitions, but rather as what was taken for granted by him; and are to be put into a parenthesis, and the following words to be joined in connection with the preceding verse; unless it should be thought, that the apostle prays for greater illuminations, and for more spiritual light, and that the eyes of their understandings might be more and more enlightened; the phrase, (lkvh Nye) , (omma thv dianoiav) , "the eye of the understanding", is Rabbinical, and often to be met with in Jewish writings F6; the Alexandrian copy, and several others, the Complutensian edition, the Vulgate Latin, and all the Oriental versions, read, "the eyes of your heart"; and to, (twbblh ynye) , "the eyes of the hearts, or minds", is a phrase used by the Jewish writers F7: that ye may know what is the hope of his calling; by which is meant, the effectual calling of the saints; which is not a call to an office, or a call merely by the external ministry of the word; but which is internal, special, powerful, high, and heavenly: and this is the calling of God, of which he is the author; who calls with an holy calling, unto eternal glory by Christ Jesus; and which is without repentance: and the hope of this calling, is either eternal happiness, which is the thing hoped for; or Christ, who is the ground and foundation of it; or the grace of hope, which is exercised on both; or all three: for hope of eternal glory, as it is founded on Christ, may be said to be the hope of the calling of God, because it is wrought in the soul at the time of the effectual calling, and what saints are then called to the exercise of; and calling grace, is an encouragement to hope for eternal life; since whom God calls, he justifies and glorifies: and now the apostle prays, that these saints who were called by the grace of God, might know more of Christ, the foundation of their hope; and what that is they are hoping for, and more and more what it is to hope for the same, upon the view of Christ's person, blood, and righteousness: and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints; the saints themselves are the Lord's portion, and the lot of his inheritance, in whom he is, and will be abundantly glorified; but here it rather seems to design the heavenly inheritance before spoken of, of which the Spirit is the earnest; and this is the Lord's, it is of his preparing, and it is his gift, and a very rich and glorious inheritance it is: hence it is not only signified by mansions, and everlasting habitations, by an house, and by a city, but by a kingdom; the riches of grace are preparatory to it, and the riches of glory are comprised in it; and this is in, or among the saints, who only have a right unto it, and a meetness for it; and what this inheritance is, with the riches and glory of it, will not be fully known in this life; and indeed but little of it is known; so that such a petition as this is always proper and pertinent.
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