Ephesians 1:18

"Having the eyes of your heart enlightened in the knowledge of Him." He that hath learned what God is, will have no misgiving about His promises, and disbelief about what hath been already brought to pass. He prays, then, that there may be given them "a spirit of wisdom and revelation." Yet still he also establishes it, as far as he can himself, by arguments, and from "already" existing facts. For, whereas he was about to mention some things which had already come to pass, and others which had not as yet happened; he makes those which have been brought to pass, a pledge of those which have not: in some such way, I mean, as this, "That ye may know," saith he, "what is the hope of His calling." It is as yet, he means, hidden, but not so to the faithful. "And," again, "what is the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints." This too is as yet hidden. "The riches of the glory," That is, the unutterable glory; for what language shall be adequate to express that glory of which the saints shall then be partakers? None. But verily there is need of grace in order that the understanding may perceive it, and admit even so much as at least one little ray. Some things indeed they knew even before; now he was desirous that they should learn more, and know it more clearly.

That is, that He may give you the gift of being enlightened by the Spirit. For if the Spirit does not reveal the hidden mysteries, it is impossible to comprehend them by any other means. For only "He," and not an angel nor an archangel, …

In the beginning I call upon the first principle, from whom all illuminations descend as from the Father of lights, from whom is every good gift and every perfect gift, namely the eternal Father, through his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, that by the intercession …

Next, he explains what he asks for: First, what pertains to the gift of wisdom. Secondly, what pertains to the gift of understanding (1:18b). To the gift of wisdom belongs the knowledge of divine realities. Hence, to ask for the gift of wisdom is to …

We ought to labour after, and pray earnestly for, a clearer insight into, and a fuller acquaintance with, the great objects of a Christian's hopes. The riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. Besides the heavenly inheritance prepared for the saints, there is a present inheritance in the saints; for grace is glory begun, and holiness is happiness in the bud.

That ye may know what is the hope of his calling - That ye may experimentally and delightfully know what are the blessings which God has called you to hope for by his word and his Spirit. And what is the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints - What an immense treasure of blessedness he hath provided as an inheritance for holy souls.

The eyes of your understanding being enlightened,....

Christians should not think it enough to have warm affections, but they should labour to have clear understandings; they should be ambitious of being knowing Christians, and judicious Christians. What it is that he more particularly desire they should grow in the knowledge of.

He calls them the faithful in Christ Jesus, believers in him, and firm and constant in their adherence to him and to his truths and ways. Those are not saints who are not faithful, believing in Christ, firmly adhering to him, and true to the profession they make of relation to their Lord.

The first effect of the Spirit moving in the new creation, as in the original physical creation (Ge 1:3; So THEOPHILUS to AUTOLYCUS (1.3), "the ears of the heart." Where spiritual light is, there is life (Joh 1:4). The heart is "the core of life" [HARLESS], and the fountain of the thoughts; whence "the heart" in Scripture includes the mind, as well as the inclination.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens

[On a night when the Tabernacle was thrown open to all comers, the ordinary hearers vacating their seats for the occasion.] You see the text begins with a personal experience within the mind and judgment—"the eyes of your understanding being enlightened." Everything depends upon the opened eyes! The scene may be fair and the light may be bright, but if the sight is gone, all is in vain.

[On a night when the Tabernacle was thrown open to all comers, the ordinary hearers vacating their seats for the occasion.] You see the text begins with a personal experience within the mind and judgment—"the eyes of your understanding being enlightened." Everything depends upon the opened eyes! The scene may be fair and the light may be bright, but if the sight is gone, all is in vain. Zedekiah had his eyes put out by the king of Babylon and then he was taken down to the imperial city, but as for being able to enjoy anything, he might as well have been in a desert. There were vast halls, palaces, hanging gardens and a city wall which was the wonder of the world, so that Babylon is called, by the Prophet, "the glory of kingdoms and the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency"—but the blinded monarch beheld nothing of all the grandeur of the golden city and to him her wealth was as though it had not been. Thus is it with us by nature—we have no apprehension of spiritual things, no power to discern eternal good—our foolish heart is darkened. Therefore the Lord must first enlighten the eyes of our understanding, or else, however precious the Truth of God and however clearly it may be stated, we shall never be able to apprehend it. I find there is a rendering of the text which runs thus, "The eyes of your heart being enlightened," and it strikes me that this version has about it the appearance of being the correct one, because Divine things are usually better seen by the heart than by the understanding. There are a thousand things which God has revealed which we shall never understand and yet we can know them by a loving, trusting experience. Our Savior says, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." The purifying of the heart is the enlightening of the spiritual eyes.

The eyes of your understanding being enlightened - The understanding is that power or faculty in the soul by which knowledge or information is received, and the recipient power is here termed the Eyes of the understanding; and we learn from this that ὁπερ ὁ οφθαλμος εν τῳ σωματι, τουτο ὁ νους εν τῃ ψυχη, as Philo expresses it: What the eye is to the body, the understanding is to the soul; and that as the eye is not light in itself, and can discern nothing but by the means of light shining, not only on the objects to be viewed, but into the eye itself; so the understanding of man can discern no sacred thing of or by itself, but sees by the influence of the Spirit of wisdom and revelation; for without the influence of God’s Holy Spirit no man ever became wise unto salvation, no more than a man ever discerned an object, (no matter how perfect soever his eye might have been), without the instrumentality of light. Instead of της διανοιας, of your understanding, της καρδιας, of your heart, is the reading of ABDEFG, and several others; also both the Syriac, all the Arabic, the Coptic, the Ethiopic, Armenian, Sahidic, Slavonian, Vulgate, and Itala, besides several of the fathers. The eyes of your Heart is undoubtedly the true reading. The hope of his calling - That you may clearly discern the glorious and important objects of your hope, to the enjoyment of which God has called or invited you. The riches of the glory of his inheritance - That you may understand what is the glorious abundance of the spiritual things to which you are entitled, in consequence of being made children of God; for if children, then heirs, heirs of that glorious inheritance which God has provided for the saints - for all genuine Christians, whether formerly Jews or Gentiles. On the chief subject of this verse, see the notes on Gal 4:6, Gal 4:7 (note).

The eyes of your understanding being enlightened - The construction here in the Greek is, probably, “that he may give you (δώη dōē, Eph 1:17) the Spirit of wisdom, etc. - eyes of the understanding enlightened,” etc. Or the phrase, “the eyes of your understanding being enlightened,” may be in the accusative absolute, which Koppe and Bloomfield prefer. The phrase, “the eyes of the understanding,” is a figure that is common in all languages. Thus, Philo says, “What the eye is to the body, that is the mind to the soul;” compare Mat 6:22. The eye is the instrument by which we see; and in like manner the understanding is that by which we perceive truth. The idea here is, that Paul not only wished their “hearts” to be right, but he wished their “understanding” to be right also. Religion has much to do in enlightening the mind. Indeed, its effect there is not less striking and decisive than it is on the heart. The understanding has been blinded by sin. The views which people entertain of themselves and of God are narrow and wrong. The understanding is enfeebled and perverted by the practice of sin. It is limited in its operations by the necessity of the case, and by the impossibility of fully comprehending the great truths which pertain to the divine administration. One of the first effects of true religion is on the understanding. It enlarges its views of truth; gives it more exalted conceptions of God; corrects its errors; raises it up toward the great Fountain of love. And nowhere is the effect of the true religion more apparent than in shedding light on the intellect of the world, and restoring the weak and perverted mind to a just view of the proportion of things, and to the true knowledge of God. That ye may know what is the hope of his calling - What is the full import of that hope to which he has called and invited you by his Spirit and his promises. […]