Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents

1:15 because I have heard. See Introduction: Author and Title.

1:16 do not cease . . . in my prayers. See note on 6:18.

1:17 To name the Father of glory as the God of our Lord Jesus Christ is not to deny Christ's deity but to affirm his true incarnate humanity. Further, it expresses that Christians know God through the Lord Jesus as their mediator. Spirit of wisdom refers to the Holy Spirit's secret working in Christians to give them insights into God's Word and the saving knowledge of him (1 Cor. 2:6-12).

1:18-19 Paul prays that believers will comprehend the blessings that are theirs in Christ: (1) their future hope; (2) God's inheritance in the saints; and (3) their power in Christ. The "inheritance" here is not the Christian's inheritance but his (God's). This indicates how precious his people are to God. They are, so to speak, what he looks forward to enjoying forever. Paul piles up "power words" to express the immeasurable greatness of God's power, working, and great might toward believers. Power over supernatural forces through magic and the occult was a great concern in ancient Ephesus (Acts 19:19), but the power of the living God in Christ trumps all competing authorities (Acts 19:20).

1:22 put all things. Paul quotes Ps. 8:6 as being fulfilled by Christ's exaltation over all creation and as head over the church. head. Like a present-day "head of government," this term points to Christ's preeminence as Lord (see note on 1 Cor. 11:3).

1:23 body. Christ has so identified himself with his church that it is said to be his very body, much as Adam described Eve as "bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh" (Gen. 2:23) and as God declared man and wife to be "one flesh" (see note on Eph. 5:28-30). fullness. The church, filled by Christ, fills all creation as representatives of Christ.