Knowing the Trinity of God – 1:17
The letter to the Ephesians nine times expresses the Trinitarian nature of God all of which reveal an aspect of how this blesses each Christian and local church. The whole Trinity is engaged in our salvation and continuing relationship with God. Here Paul prays that the Ephesian Church will gain a deep spiritual understanding of God that has two aspects. Both are gained through the Holy Spirit, it is a matter of revelation, in other words the opening of our spiritual eyes by the Spirit of God. God the Father is the giver, he is the father of our Lord Jesus Christ and the gift is the person of God in the form of his Spirit. He then enables us to know and understand the Father and the Son but also provides us with wisdom in knowing how our relationship with God works out in our lives. Before we rush out to work for Christ we need to know him in ever greater depth. Recently I was part of a discussion which centred around whether accounts of emotional experiences related to the Holy Spirit were helpful and did this either encourage of put others off of asking God the Father to be filled with the Spirit. Paul does not speak in such terms, the Spirit is the revealer of God and his wisdom. In those terms it is good that all of us seek to be filled with him.
(References to the Trinity in Ephesians: 1:3, 1:11-13, 1:17, 2:18, 2:22, 3:2-5, 3:14-17, 4:4-6, 5:18-20.)