Ephesians 1:15-23, Part 3
Did you know that your heart has eyes? And no, I’m not referring to anatomy. Stay with me here.
After praying that the people would have the spirit of wisdom and revelation to know God better, Paul has another powerful prayer request for them. Here’s what he writes in Ephesians 1, verse 18,
“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people.”
This request has some similarities to the request for wisdom and revelation in verse 17. The eyes of your heart enlightened. What does he mean?
Paul likely borrowing a metaphor from Israel’s great poet king, David, who wrote many psalms, including Psalm 19. There David talks about how the heavens declare the glory of God, how the sun shines forth with light and heat. Then David says God’s word is like that. In verse Psalm 19, verse 8 David writes, “The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes.”
Both David and Paul are talking about our inner being. Our personality, our desire, our will, our understanding, our mind, that inward part of us. In the ancient world, the word “heart” referred symbolically to all of that. It still does today, such as when we say to someone “I love you with all my heart.”
Therefore in Ephesians 1:18, Paul’s prayer is that deep within us, our mind, our understanding, would be enlightened. Paul wants something to be revealed to us. He wants something to be uncovered, brought to light, so that we can really truly know it.
What does he want us to really truly know, deep within, to really get it? We find out in the next post!
Photo by Marcin Sajur on Unsplash
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