The Prayers of St. Paul Part 5

3. THE REQUEST.

Now we come to this profound prayer which teaches the inmost secrets of the spiritual life.

(1) A Divine Gift. "May give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation." He has spoken of the wealth of blessing stored up in Christ (ver. 3), and of G.o.d's grace abounding to us in all wisdom and prudence (ver. 8). Now he asks for wisdom and illumination to perceive all this for themselves as a personal experience. The word "spirit" seems to refer to their human faculty, though of course as indwelt and possessed by the Divine Spirit.

But the absence of the definite article from the word "spirit" seems to suggest a gift rather than a Person. The Holy Spirit of G.o.d enters into our spirit, and the result is wisdom and revelation. These two words refer to general illumination and specific enlightenment. He desires his readers to enter fully into the meaning of these great realities to which he has given such full expression (vers. 1-14).

(2) But this Divine gift is only possible by means of a simple yet important condition. It is "in the full knowledge of Him." The word rendered "knowledge" is characteristic of these prison epistles, and always means "full knowledge," the mature experience of the spiritual man.

It is invariably connected with G.o.d; it refers to the deep, growing, ripening consciousness which comes from personal fellows.h.i.+p with Him.

Philosophy can only say "Know thyself," but Scripture says, "Know G.o.d."

This is how wisdom and revelation become ours, and Christian history and experience testify abundantly to the simple yet remarkable fact of spiritual insight and moral understanding which are due solely to fellows.h.i.+p with G.o.d. Nothing is more striking than the fact of a deep, spiritual apprehension and appreciation which are independent of intellectual conception and verbal expression. Believers can have a true spiritual consciousness of G.o.d without the possession of great capacity or attainments. Many whose natural education and intellectual opportunities have been slight have had this spiritual perception in an uncommon degree, and it always marks the spiritually ripe Christian. It is not the one whose intellectual knowledge is critical, scholarly, and profound, but he whose spiritual insight is suffused with grace, love, and fellows.h.i.+p. This does not mean that natural knowledge or culture is to be despised or avoided as evil, but that the two kinds of knowledge should be carefully distinguished. The Christian Church has at least for the last three hundred years set great store by knowledge and science, but deeper than all this is the spiritual instinct, insight, knowledge, and illumination which const.i.tute the supreme requirement of the true Christian life. We can see this spiritual perception in its various stages in several pa.s.sages of the New Testament. We have seen how St. John divides believers into three cla.s.ses (1 John ii. 12-14). But while in his repet.i.tion the Apostle can vary the description of the "children" and the "young men,"

when he has to speak the second time of the "fathers" he has nothing new to say, for they cannot be otherwise or more fully described than as those who "know Him Who is from the beginning."

(3) The immediate consequence of this fellows.h.i.+p is that the eyes of the heart become permanently enlightened (Greek). Keeping in view the Scripture truth of the "heart" as including the elements of Mind, Emotion, and Will, the result of fellows.h.i.+p with G.o.d is that every feature of the inner life becomes purified and enlightened. The mind is illuminated to perceive truth, the emotions are purified to love the good, and the will is equipped to obey the right. It is not that new objects meet the gaze so much as that a new and deeper perception is given to enable the heart to see and understand what had hitherto been dark and difficult. This illuminated heart is one of the choicest blessings of the spiritual life and one of the greatest safeguards against spiritual error.

"Ye have an unction ... and ye know" (1 John ii. 20). "The Son of G.o.d hath come, and hath given us an understanding" (1 John v. 20). Many of the problems affecting the spiritual life are solved only in this way.

Criticism, scholars.h.i.+p, intellectual power may be brought to bear upon them, but they will not yield to this treatment. The illuminated heart of the babe in Christ is often enabled to understand secrets which are hid from the wise and prudent.

(4) The outcome is a permanent spiritual experience. "That ye may know,"

_i.e._ possess an immediate, instinctive, direct knowledge (eidenai).

Three great realities are thereupon mentioned as the objects and substance of our spiritual knowledge.

(_a_) The first is "What is the hope of His calling." "His calling" is the appeal and offer of the Gospel with all its Divine meaning and purpose, and "the hope of His calling" is that which is intended by and included in the offer of G.o.d. This "hope" is either that _to_ which G.o.d calls us, or _by_ which He calls; either objective or subjective; either the substance or the feeling. Hope when regarded as objective, as the substance of our experience, is full of promise, on which the believer fixes his faith.

Hope when regarded as subjective, as the possession of the soul, is full of inspiration, as it encourages and confirms belief that "He is faithful that promised." Hope as an objective reality is fixed on Christ, and since G.o.d has a purpose in calling us, we can exercise hope. Hope as a subjective realisation is based on the fact of experience. G.o.d calls us by the Gospel, and therefore hope becomes possible. Hope is the top-stone of life and follows faith and love (cf. ver. 15). Faith draws the curtain aside; hope gazes into the future; while love rejoices in the present possession of Christ. Faith accepts; hope expects. Faith appropriates; hope antic.i.p.ates. Faith is concerned with the person who promises; hope with the thing that the person promises. Faith is concerned with the past and present; hope with the future alone. Hope is invariably fixed on the future and is never to be regarded as merely a matter of natural temperament. It is specifically connected with the Lord's Coming, and we are thus reminded that the calling of G.o.d covers past, present, and future. It starts from regeneration and culminates in the resurrection of the body at the Coming of Christ.

(_b_) The second is "The riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints." This may mean the wealth which G.o.d possesses _for_ them or _in_ them; our wealth in Him or His in us. If we take it in the former sense it will mean that G.o.d is the inheritance and we are the heirs; that the saints now possess imperfectly, and antic.i.p.ate in its fulness, the inheritance of grace, the spiritual Canaan which they are to enjoy here and hereafter. If, however, we take it, as is more likely, in the latter sense, it will mean that we are the inheritance and G.o.d is the Possessor and Heir. We must never forget that the Biblical ideas a.s.sociated with "heir" and "inheritance" always refer to possession, and not, as in ordinary phraseology, to succession. In the Bible the heir does not merely expect, but already enjoys in part that which he will possess in full hereafter. Adopting, then, the second of these interpretations, the saints belong to G.o.d and are precious in His sight. They are His _peculium_, or special treasure, like Israel of old (Deut. iv. 20). They have been formed for Him and are to show forth His praise (Isa. xliii. 21). He sets store by them, as is suggested by the significant words, "Hast thou considered My servant Job?" There are several indications in Scripture that G.o.d values and trusts His people; "I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him" (Gen. xviii. 19). "The Lord taketh pleasure in His people" (Ps. cxlix. 4). "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and He (that is, G.o.d) delighteth in his way" (Ps.

x.x.xvii. 23). And the "wealth" is a further proof of the value placed on believers by G.o.d. Five times in Ephesians the Apostle uses this metaphor of "riches," showing his thought of those who have been "bought with a price" (1 Cor. v. 20). Believers are G.o.d's riches, wealth, treasure; they belong to Him in view of that day on which He will enter in full upon His inheritance when He comes to be glorified and admired in them that believe (2 Thess. i. 10). And we are to see this, to know it, to realise the spiritual possibilities of each believer and all G.o.d's people together as G.o.d's own inheritance.

(_c_) The third is "the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe." In this marvellous a.s.sociation of almost inexpressible thoughts the dominant note is "power" (dunamis), and the Apostle prays that the Ephesian Christians may know what this means. Power is a characteristic word of St. Paul as expressive of Christianity. The Gospel is "the power of G.o.d unto salvation" (Rom. i. 16). By the Resurrection Christ was designated "the Son of G.o.d with power" (Rom. i. 4). He is "the power of G.o.d" (1 Cor. i. 18). Man needs power, not merely a philosophy or an ethic, but a dynamic, and it is the peculiar privilege of His Gospel to bring this to us. But let us try to a.n.a.lyse this power. There are no less than four comparisons stated or ill.u.s.trations given. (1) It is exactly the same power that G.o.d wrought in Christ at the Resurrection. Nothing less than this is the standard of the Divine working. We are to possess and experience the spiritual and moral dynamic exercised by G.o.d on Christ when He raised Him from the dead. This is described as "the exceeding greatness of His power." The same adjective is used of grace (ch. ii. 7), and of love (ch. iii. 19), and it is intended to express the superabundance of that power which was put forth in the Resurrection and is now exercised on our behalf. Then the four words used for power are particularly noteworthy: "power," "energy," "strength," "might." Each conveys an aspect of this great spiritual force. "Might" is power in _possession_; "strength" is power as the result of _grasping_, or of coming into contact with the source of that power; and "energy" is a power in _expression_.

(2) Not only so, but the power exercised by G.o.d in the Ascension is also intended to be bestowed on and experienced by us. When we are told that Christ was set at G.o.d's right hand far above all powers, we can understand something of the Divine might exercised. (3) Still more, it is the same power by means of which G.o.d put all things under the feet of Christ. This, too, is the Divine force and energy for believers. (4) Not least of all, it was Divine power that gave Christ to be "the Head over all things to the Church," and it is exactly this power that is exercised on our behalf.

When we contemplate all this as intended by G.o.d for us, we can see something of the vigorous and victorious life He can and will enable us to live.

As we review this wonderful prayer it is impossible to avoid noticing that the first pet.i.tion refers mainly to the past ("His calling"); the second mainly to the future ("His inheritance"); and the third mainly to the present ("His power"), though of course each pet.i.tion has its bearing on the other two points of time. Every part of our life is thus adequately supplied and intended to be abundantly satisfied. Nor may we omit to observe that all through the prayer the emphasis is on G.o.d: _His_ calling; _His_ inheritance; _His_ power. Everything is regarded from the Divine standpoint, because we are not our own but His. The contemplation of this glory of the Divine love and grace overwhelms the soul with "wonder, love, and praise."

In the presence of such a prayer, dealing with such profound realities, three thoughts naturally arise in our minds. (_a_) How little we know, and how much we might and should know. (_b_) How little we are, and how much we might and should be. (_c_) How little we do, and how much we might and should do. And yet if we will but remind ourselves of the simple secret of true living, as here described, we might become and accomplish infinitely more than we have ever experienced up to the present. "To us-ward who believe." Faith is the simple yet all-sufficient secret. Trust relies on G.o.d and receives from Him. It puts us in contact with the source of blessing, and in union with Him we shall find spiritual illumination, spiritual insight, spiritual experience, and spiritual power that shall all be lived and exercised to His praise and glory.

VIII.

STRENGTH AND INDWELLING.

VIII.

STRENGTH AND INDWELLING.

"For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of Whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which pa.s.seth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of G.o.d."--EPH. iii. 14-19.

"In no part of Paul's letters does he rise to a higher level than in his prayers, and none of his prayers are fuller of fervour than this wonderful series of pet.i.tions. They open out one into the other like some majestic suite of apartments in a great palace-temple, each leading into a loftier and more s.p.a.cious hall, each drawing nearer the presence chamber, until at last we stand there" (MACLAREN).

The second prayer in Ephesians possesses remarkable affinities with the first; indeed, the two are complementary, and many of the expressions call for close comparison.

1. THE STANDPOINT.

"For this cause" (ver. 14). To what does this phrase point back? Some a.s.sociate it with verse 1, "For this cause," thinking that St. Paul, having been diverted from his main teaching in verses 1-13, here resumes it in the form of a prayer. But perhaps it is still better to regard the resumption of the main teaching as coming in ch. iv. 1, where the Apostle again speaks of himself as "the prisoner." This would make ch. iii. wholly parenthetical, so that instead of the present prayer being based on the teaching of ch. ii. the Apostle is led here to speak of his ministry (ch.

iii. 1-13) and its outcome. His ministry is a gift, a trust, a stewards.h.i.+p, and its purpose is the proclamation of the Gospel and its results in the accomplishment of G.o.d's purposes for Jew and Gentile. On this view the standpoint of the prayer is a.s.sociated closely with his ministry and its effects, as seen in the immediately preceding verses. It is because of his remarkable ministry, given to him by G.o.d, and all the spiritual privileges brought to the Gentile Christians thereby that he is able to work for them (ver. 13), and also to pray for them (ver. 14).

Thus, while the prayer in ch. i. looks at their life from the standpoint of the Divine purposes, this prayer will be occupied with their spiritual privileges in Christ.

2. THE ATt.i.tUDE.

"I bow my knees unto the Father" (ver. 14). The intense reverence of the Apostle in this allusion to bowing his knees is particularly noteworthy.

As a rule the Jews stood for prayer (Luke xviii. 11-13), and prostration seems to have been an exceptional posture. But in connection with Christians, kneeling is mentioned (Acts vii. 60, ix. 40, xx. 36). Nothing could more beautifully express the true att.i.tude of the soul before G.o.d than this posture of the body. At the same time the use of the word "Father" indicates the other side of the truth and confidence with which we approach G.o.d. He is at once our G.o.d and our Father (ch. i. 17), and our att.i.tude must be expressive both of our adoration and of our a.s.surance. He is great and good, and we approach Him as the Holy One and the Loving One.

3. THE ADDRESS.

"The Father from Whom every family in heaven and earth is named." It is interesting that the t.i.tle "G.o.d" is not a.s.sociated with this prayer as in ch. i., although the thought of Deity is found in the allusion to bowing the knees. And in addition to G.o.d as the Father He is described as the One "from Whom every family (Greek, 'fatherhood') in heaven and earth is named." This seems to mean that whatever element of family life exists, it comes from G.o.d, that all true spiritual life in heaven or earth has its origin in the Father. The scope of the prayer is particularly noteworthy, as we contemplate G.o.d as the Fount of every fatherhood and the Parent of all men everywhere. Such a statement will do more than anything else to guard us against narrow or purely selfish desires as we approach G.o.d in prayer.

4. THE APPEAL.

"That He would grant you" (ver. 16). As in the former prayer, the Apostle is clear that what he is about to ask is essentially a Divine gift. It comes from above, whether he is seeking knowledge (ch. i. 17) or power (ch. iii. 16). At every step G.o.d must give and the believer must receive.

It would be well for us in our Christian experience to emphasise this simple but searching truth. "Every good and every perfect gift comes from above."

5. THE STANDARD.

"According to the riches of His glory" (ver. 16). Here again we begin to realise something of the fulness of the prayer to be offered. The measure of the Apostle's desire is not our own poverty, but G.o.d's wealth; we are to look away from ourselves to the infinite riches of the Divine glory. In the former prayer he asked that we might know the riches of G.o.d's glory.

But here there is something more; we are to experience them in our heart and life.

6. THE PEt.i.tIONS.

In general St. Paul asks for two great spiritual blessings, the inward strength of the Holy Spirit and the indwelling presence of Christ. These are inseparable, and we may regard the first as essential to the second, and the second as the effect of the first. But the prayer goes into detail and each part of the pet.i.tion calls for careful meditation.

(1) "Strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inward man" (ver.

16, R.V.). As wisdom was the burden of the former prayer (ch. i. 17), so strength is the main thought here. The order, too, is significant; wisdom and power, since power without knowledge would be highly dangerous. This strength comes from the Holy Spirit; He is the Agent of G.o.d's enabling grace. And the strength is to extend "into the inward man." The contrast seems to be between the inward and the outward, as in 2 Cor. iv. 16; Rom.

vii. 22. The strength is not of the body, or of the mind, but of the soul.

The "inward" is not exactly identical with the "new" man, but emphasises the inner essential life of the spirit as contrasted with the outer life of the body. "The hidden man of the heart."

(2) "That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith" (ver. 17, R.V.).

This is the outcome of the inward strength of the Spirit, and almost every word needs attention. The indwelling of Christ is virtually identical with that of the Spirit (ch. ii. 22), although of course Christ and the Holy Spirit are never absolutely identified in Holy Scripture (2 Cor. iii. 17, 18). It is only in regard to the practical outcome in the believer's experience that the indwelling of Christ and the Spirit amount to the same thing. This is to be a permanent indwelling and not a mere pa.s.sing stay, just as believers together are described as a temple for G.o.d's permanent habitation (ch. ii. 22, Greek). This permanent indwelling of Christ is to be "in your hearts." Almost every prayer is thus concerned with the "heart," the centre of the moral being, and the Apostle prays that Christ may make His home therein. This is no mere influence, but a Personal Presence, the Living Christ within, and it is to be "through faith." It is faith that admits Christ to the heart, allowing Him to enter into every part of the "inward man." And the same faith that admits Him permits Him to remain, reside, and rule. Faith, in a word, is the total response of the soul to the Lords.h.i.+p of Christ.