Eph. 1:17 - Know Him!

"I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better."
Eph. 1:17

Interesting verse... The question that popped into my head when I read it was... "If we have received the Holy Spirit at the moment of belief, then is Paul contradicting himself by praying that they receive the Spirit?" I had to do more study on this passage to answer my question. The NIV translates pneuma (the Greek word for spirit) as "the Spirit" when other translations determine it to be "a spirit". There is a huge difference. Is Paul talking about the Holy Spirit, is he talking about the human spirit, or is he talking about an attitude? The word spirit can mean many things, so the language and context help us to figure it out. Here is what John MacArthur says:

"The Greek word translated "the spirit" is an anarthrous construction-- it appears without an article. So Paul was praying that God would give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation."

The context supports this as well since Paul already made the statement that we were given the Holy Spirit when we believed.

Paul was referring to an attitude. His prayer was that the Ephesians would have an attitude of wisdom and revelation for the purpose of knowing the Father better. This involves both us and God... The word wisdom is speaking of human understanding and application and the word revelation refers to divine understanding and application. Paul was praying that they would have an attitude that allowed their understanding to be shaped by God's understanding.

If we want to know God, we must have an attitude of wisdom and revelation. We must be willing to allow God to shape our understanding of Him and His wisdom! God has given us revelation through the Word of God, and the Scriptures teach us that we cannot internalize its truth without the work of the Holy Spirit, therefore, let us submit ourselves to His work of revelation so that we would know the Father better!

Father, I know that I cannot know the true You without your revelation shaping my understanding. Give me a spirit of wisdom and revelation! I desire to know you more and live like you want me to live. Please give me this attitude!

Comments

Reason2Breathe said…
I feel like i've heard you say this somewhere before... oh wait :)
February 1, 2011 at 6:37 PM
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