Short Summaries of

Sermons on Ephesians

by Rev. Ralph Allan Smith

Christian Enlightenment

(Eph. 1:18-23)

Paul prayed that by the illumination of the Holy Spirit the Ephesians may be enlightened. Though Christian enlightenment comes from God's Spirit, it is not to be understood as similar to Buddhist enlightenment, which is an irrational intuitive knowledge. Christian enlightenment is rational, based upon the words of God recorded in Holy Scripture. God's Spirit works in our hearts to reduce the influences of sin and foolishness and enable us to understand what God's word means, including its application to our lives. Without the illumination of the Spirit of God, the Bible would remain a closed book for us, not because it is not clear in itself, but because we are sinful stubborn and resist the truth.

Paul prayed specifically for the Spirit of God to enlighten the Christians in regard to three aspects of salvation: first, that they would know the hope of God's calling (18b); second that they would know what are the riches of His inheritance among the saints (18c); and third, that they would know the exceeding greatness of His power that works in them (19). These three requests are closely related. Paul's emphasis falls on the last request since he expands on it from verse 20-23, but the emphasis on the last request actually includes the first two as well.

The Hope of His Calling

Paul has emphasized the sovereignty of God repeatedly in his description of God's saving grace. We were "chosen . . . before the foundation of the world," "predestinated . . . according to the good pleasure of His will," and "predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will." God's calling, grounded in His eternal decree, is the foundation for our future hope, a guarantee of its certainty.

The Riches of the Saints Inheritance

The second aspect of salvation that Paul prays we may understand is "the riches of the glory of His inheritance among the saints." I believe this refers again to our inheritance of the glory of Christ. What Paul is accenting here is the prodigious abundance of wealth that God promises to us who believe. As Paul explains in Romans: "And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us" (Rom. 8:17-18). He makes a similar point in his letter to the Corinthians: "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal" (2 Cor. 4:17-18).

This second point is an expansion of the first point. Paul has given us a more concrete idea here of the hope of God's calling. In the first expression the emphasis falls on the sovereignty of God who will accomplish the work that He has begun. In the second expression the emphasis falls on the profound magnificence of our future hope. God has granted that we shall share with Christ in His everlasting glory. We cannot begin in this life to comprehend the fullness of what that means. Indeed, eternity is too short for us to begin to know how great are the riches of glory that God has reserved for us and will forever cause to abound to us.

His Great Power Working In Us

In addition to our having a knowledge of the greatness of the salvation that God has given us in Christ, it is also essential that we know that His power is working in us to accomplish that salvation. Once again Paul uses language that transcends our understanding: "And what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe." The omnipotence of God is devoted to securing our hope. Paul goes on to explain that the power of God working in us is the same power by which Christ was raised from the dead. Resurrection power is the miraculous power of creation. It is also the ethical power of the cross--overcoming death because righteousness has conquered sin.

All three points are brought together here. The power that is working in us is the same power that brought our Lord Jesus to glory. God will do in us as He did in Christ, for we are His people, one with Him. God worked in Christ so that He realized the hope of His calling and was given eternal glory with God. God is now also working in us in the same manner. It is to spotlight the fact that God is working in us as He did in Christ that Paul expands this last point from verse 20-23. If we understand the greatness of the exaltation of Christ and the power of God at work in Him, we will begin to see something of the wonder of the grace of God working in us.

The Exaltation of Christ

Paul speaks of the power of God not only in raising Christ from the dead, but also of God's power in completing the resurrection by the exaltation of Christ. The exaltation of Christ is important because it is the exaltation of the new Adam, a man, to the very right hand of God as ruler not only over earth, but also over heaven: "All authority is given unto me in heaven and in earth" (Mat. 28:18). Jesus throne was exalted above every other throne of every authority in heaven and on earth. All things have been placed under His feet. A glorified man--the God-man--is now ruling the universe, bringing in the kingdom of God.

Moreover, the church is His body, the instrument by which He will accomplish all things. Christ is the head that directs her, but the Church is the organ through which He works. Whatever Christ is doing in the world today, He is doing through His Church. And if He has been exalted over all thrones and dominions by the power of God, His Church will certainly be victorious in her warfare against thrones and dominions of wickedness. Indeed the wicked only survive in so far as they are used by Christ for the sanctification of His Church.

Ethical Understanding

Paul prays that the Ephesians may know these things because we need to see the broader working of God in history and in Christ in order to understand what God is doing in our lives. We also need to understand these things so that we may have the courage and strength to continue our fight. God does not, after all, strengthen us by shots of spiritual adrenaline, nor does He encourage us by drug-induced visions--like some contemporary and some ancient religions. God works in us by the power of His Spirit through the Word of God. His working is ethical and rational. We are taught to understand His truth by the Spirit. The more deeply His Word of Truth is engraved in our hearts, the more power we have to live righteously. Thus Paul's prayer that we may understand is a prayer for our spiritual growth, for without understanding, ethical growth is not possible.

On the other hand, this is not a prayer for a mere intellectual understanding of certain abstruse points of theology. We cannot really know the things that Paul here prays for us to know. These matters transcend our capacity. We know them in the sense that we gain an increasing apprehension of them as we fix our eyes upon Christ and God's work in Him, believing that God is working in us too. The knowledge that Paul speaks of here is the knowledge of faith. It is not hindered by a lack of academic skill or education, but it is hindered by sinful selfishness, small-heartedness, and every other form of insubordination to God. Understanding itself is an ethical issue, for man's heart attitude determines what he will be able to know. Thus spiritual growth both presupposes and leads to understanding.