Deeper Reflection
GOD “HAS BLESSED US WITH EVERY SPIRITUAL BLESSING …in Christ” (v.3). Note the terms, “has blessed”, “every” and “in Christ”. We only need to see and know the “every Spiritual blessing” that God has already blessed us with in Christ, and to live in them and live them out.Paul’s doxology (Eph 1:3-14) is followed by his petition (Eph 1:15-21). And Paul’s first request has to do with personal knowledge of God: “that you may know Him better” (v.17, NIV). This being Paul’s first request underscores its primacy. To know God “means to be in close relationship with Him”⁵⁶ – and this knowledge is “linked with His demands [cf. 1 Jn 2:3-4] and often is described as knowing His will”⁵⁷ (cf. Col 1:9-10). But we cannot know God unless God makes Himself known to us. God has revealed Himself in the Scriptures. Read the Scriptures with the conscious intent to know God, asking the most important question: “What can I know about God in this text?” True knowledge of God shapes the way we look at reality and how we live our lives. And to know God, we need “the Spirit of wisdom and revelation” (v.17). “Wisdom” is “the wisdom of the deep things of God”⁵⁸. “Revelation” is the Lord opening the Scriptures to us and our spiritual eyes to see Him (Lk 24:27, 31-32). Knowledge of God “is not a fixed quantum but rather something that develops in the life of people as they are obedient”⁵⁹. Knowing God must be our life purpose, priority, passion and pursuit, making verse 17 our constant prayer.

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⁵⁶ Peter T. O’Brien, The Letter to the Ephesians, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Apollos, 1999), 132 ⁵⁷ Peter T. O’Brien, 133 ⁵⁸ William Barclay, The Letters to the Galatians and Ephesians, The Daily Study Bible (Saint Andrew Press, 1976), 90 ⁵⁹ Peter T. O’Brien, 133