fulfilled certain of these conditions for the Apostle told them that he gave thanks and

prayed for them "After I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the

saints" (Eph. 1: 15).

A | 15, 16. Faith according to you in the Lord Jesus. Kata.

B | That He may give. |

17. Spirit of wisdom and revelation.

17. Acknowledgment of Him.

18. Eyes of heart enlightened.

B | That ye may know. |

18. What is the hope.

18. What is the riches.

19. What is the greatness.

A | 19. To usward who believe. Kata.

This prayer leads on directly from the revelation given in the chapter (Eph. 1: 3-14)

and is particularly connected with the third portion, the Witness of the Spirit, where

"faith" and "hope" appear, as well as the inheritance which is to be entered in the day of

redemption. The whole of the previous section has been directed upward and outward.

The believer's attention has been turned away from self and experience, to the elective

and redemptive purposes of grace, with its heavenly places and its spiritual blessings.

At the close of the doctrinal section of the epistle we shall find another prayer

(Eph. 3: 14-21) and yet once more when the practical section is nearly closed, a third

prayer of the Apostle is recorded. These prayers are interrelated, and are an integral part

of the teaching of the epistle. The following comparison, though it be only in outline,

will show the connecting points, yet reveals the different aspects of the truth to which the

attention is directed. In the first prayer, the direction is up, to where Christ sits, and away

from self. In the second, the attention is focused upon "Christ in us", "the inner man",

"at home in the heart" rather than being seated at the right hand of God. In the first

prayer "every name that is named" speaks of the supreme exaltation of the Saviour. In

the second passage it is "every family . . . . . is named", where high exaltation gives place

to the figure of home.