Knowing Him

Ephesians 1:17b

We looked last time at the first half of this verse. We saw how God is the Father of glory. He created glory. He is glory. And we get to talk to Him.

Today we will look at the second part of this verse. In Ephesians 1:17 it says, “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him” [emphasis mine]. This is what Paul is praying for the Ephesians to have, and we saw previously that he prays for them on a daily basis. Clearly this was extremely important to Paul that the Ephesians gained “the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.” But why?

What exactly is “the spirit of wisdom”? Is it the Holy Spirit? No, we know it is not the Holy Spirit because of verse thirteen. Paul already stated that they were sealed with the Holy Spirit, therefore he does not need to pray that they would gain the Holy Spirit. They already have it, as do all of us the moment we got saved.

The next logical question to answer then is, “What is a spirit?” The Greek word for “spirit” in this verse is πνεῦμα (pneuma). It is defined as “breath”, and, humanly speaking, it is defined as “the rational soul”. When we get saved we become a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). We now have a spirit that wants to obey. This is not purely because of the Holy Spirit (though in the end we only want to do right because He saved us) but it is a part of us as new beings. This ties into the New Covenant (Hebrews 8:8-10). God said to the Israelites at the time that “I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts.” This is what happens to us when get saved. We get a new spirit, a spirit that wants to do right.

All of that to say that the spirit of wisdom is something that we can gain because we are saved. This shows that it is not an earthly wisdom, but a heavenly wisdom. It is true wisdom, not what humans have defined as wisdom. Some of the smartest men in the world are fools when it comes to spiritual wisdom. 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 discusses this stating in verse eighteen that “the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” What is foolish to the wise of this world is where heavenly wisdom truly lies.

Paul is praying specifically for the Ephesians to gain this spiritual wisdom. He wants them to not just know about God, he wants them to know God. Knowing about God is useful, but knowing Him is priceless. I fear that most believers, especially those who were born in a Christian home, believe that knowledge of Him is what they need to pursue. Knowing Him is what He truly wants. This is spiritual wisdom. This is what we ought to pursue.

This is why Paul prays that the knowledge of God would be revealed to them. The two go hand in hand. Pursuing spiritual wisdom will reveal a knowledge of Him to us. Paul understood that this was the most valuable thing he could pray for to help them grow. He prayed daily that they would grow in their knowledge of Him. This then raises an important question. How often do we pray for other, fellow believers to know Him? How often do we pray that we may know Him better? If this is what Paul prayed for, and what God wanted in His Word, don’t you think that we should follow suit?

Praying for health needs or job opportunities are great, and we should pray for those things, but ultimately the most important thing that we can pray for is that our fellow believers and ourselves will gain a spirit of wisdom so that we may know Him. Let’s make that a priority when we pray for others and when we pray for ourselves.

Follow Us on Social Media!