Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints,
Paul heard of the believers' faith in the Lord Jesus and love to all the saints, and gave thanks for them and remembered them in prayer. Trust in Christ joined with love for fellow believers stands as the united mark of Christian life and the daily relationship of practical godliness. That faith and love is the condition God desires in those connected with His work, who seek Him with the whole heart, and it calls forth continual thanksgiving and prayer for wisdom, revelation, enlightenment, and understanding of God. The prayer is that the God of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, with the eyes of the understanding enlightened to know the hope of His calling and the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints and the exceeding greatness of His power toward believers shown in raising Christ and setting Him far above all principality and power. This experience is needed to make faith earnest and effectual for pulling down the strongholds of Satan and making straight paths amid the perils of the last days, through a contrite and humble heart, a personal connection with Jesus Christ, and the deep movings of the Holy Spirit.
Setting and Plain Sense
The verse is addressed to the saints at Ephesus and the faithful in Christ Jesus, and it sets forth part of the privileges of the Christian. It reports that after hearing of the believers' faith in the Lord Jesus and love unto all the saints, there is thanksgiving for them and remembrance of them in prayer. That faith in the Lord Jesus and love for all the saints are the marks of the believers for whom thanks is given, and they are the grounds and starting point of the prayer that follows for wisdom and revelation in knowing God. The verse thus joins trust in Christ with love for fellow believers as united marks of Christian life. It places practical godliness in a daily relationship of faith in Christ and love for fellow believers.
The verse belongs to inspired words that give assurances again and again for acceptance with God. The whole chapter is to be studied to grasp those assurances, so that the truly converted may claim its divine promises in depth and fulness through faith in the power of God rather than leaning on the arm of the law and trusting worldly powers. The verse stands in a chapter that gives the Lord's order for how His work is to be done. That order requires full zeal, fervor, and energy in saving souls ready to perish, but forbids consuming all time and means in one line of work for one class while the work for God's vineyard as a whole is neglected, since such one-sided work brings disproportion, sways the work into wrong lines, and fails to represent the refined, elevated character of the truth.
The verse belongs to the chapter's message of commendation to the Ephesian church. That commendation contrasts with the condemnation of the lukewarm Laodicean church and shows the difference between a humble, sanctified child of God and those rebuked by Christ. The faith in the Lord Jesus and love unto all the saints stand among those chosen before the foundation of the world to be holy and without blame before Him in love, predestinated unto adoption by Jesus Christ according to His will, made accepted in the Beloved, and redeemed through His blood with forgiveness of sins according to riches of grace. They stand also among those given wisdom and prudence and knowledge of the mystery of His will to gather all things in Christ, given an inheritance according to His purpose, and called to be to the praise of His glory as those who first trusted in Christ.
Prayer and Christian Living
Faith in the Lord Jesus and love toward all the saints is the condition God desires in those connected with His work and placed in His churches and institutions, who seek Him with the whole heart with His promise to be a present help in every time of need. That faith and love are the starting point that calls forth continual thanksgiving and prayer for wisdom, revelation, enlightenment, and understanding of God. They are grounds for thanksgiving and prayer, accompanying the hope of sharing Christ's inheritance.
The prayer asks that the God of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, with the eyes of the understanding enlightened to know the hope of His calling and the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints. It asks also to know the exceeding greatness of His power toward believers according to the working of His mighty power which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places far above all principality and power and every name. Christ has power over every authority, and believers can trust Him as the divine Physician for healing of physical and spiritual infirmities.
Believers need this experience to blend with faith and make it earnest and effectual for pulling down the strongholds of Satan and for making straight paths amid the perils of the last days. It calls for a contrite and humble heart, a personal connection with Jesus Christ the Fountain of knowledge and wisdom, and the deep movings of the Holy Spirit pervading mind and heart with the bright beams of the righteousness of Christ. So knowledge of the truth is rightly used to prepare to stand as sheep in the midst of wolves in the day of God's preparation. This thanksgiving and prayer belongs to professed believers now in trying times who must humble themselves, be zealous and repent, and be transformed in spiritual awakening with hearts aglow with the love of Jesus Christ.
The verse with the following verses is God's word addressed to believers so they may see themselves in a different light and be God's workmen by learning lessons from Him. It means the Master would have them work as Christ worked so that their efficiency may be of God and not of self. This is the will of God, even their sanctification.
Paul heard of the believers' faith in the Lord Jesus and love to all the saints, and gave thanks for them and remembered them in prayer. Trust in Christ joined with love for fellow believers stands as the united mark of Christian life and the daily relationship of practical godliness. That faith and love is the condition God desires in those connected with His work, who seek Him with the whole heart, and it calls forth continual thanksgiving and prayer for wisdom, revelation, enlightenment, and understanding of God. The prayer is that the God of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, with the eyes of the understanding enlightened to know the hope of His calling and the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints and the exceeding greatness of His power toward believers shown in raising Christ and setting Him far above all principality and power. This experience is needed to make faith earnest and effectual for pulling down the strongholds of Satan and making straight paths amid the perils of the last days, through a contrite and humble heart, a personal connection with Jesus Christ, and the deep movings of the Holy Spirit.
Setting and Plain Sense
The verse is addressed to the saints at Ephesus and the faithful in Christ Jesus, and it sets forth part of the privileges of the Christian. It reports that after hearing of the believers' faith in the Lord Jesus and love unto all the saints, there is thanksgiving for them and remembrance of them in prayer. That faith in the Lord Jesus and love for all the saints are the marks of the believers for whom thanks is given, and they are the grounds and starting point of the prayer that follows for wisdom and revelation in knowing God. The verse thus joins trust in Christ with love for fellow believers as united marks of Christian life. It places practical godliness in a daily relationship of faith in Christ and love for fellow believers.
The verse belongs to inspired words that give assurances again and again for acceptance with God. The whole chapter is to be studied to grasp those assurances, so that the truly converted may claim its divine promises in depth and fulness through faith in the power of God rather than leaning on the arm of the law and trusting worldly powers. The verse stands in a chapter that gives the Lord's order for how His work is to be done. That order requires full zeal, fervor, and energy in saving souls ready to perish, but forbids consuming all time and means in one line of work for one class while the work for God's vineyard as a whole is neglected, since such one-sided work brings disproportion, sways the work into wrong lines, and fails to represent the refined, elevated character of the truth.
The verse belongs to the chapter's message of commendation to the Ephesian church. That commendation contrasts with the condemnation of the lukewarm Laodicean church and shows the difference between a humble, sanctified child of God and those rebuked by Christ. The faith in the Lord Jesus and love unto all the saints stand among those chosen before the foundation of the world to be holy and without blame before Him in love, predestinated unto adoption by Jesus Christ according to His will, made accepted in the Beloved, and redeemed through His blood with forgiveness of sins according to riches of grace. They stand also among those given wisdom and prudence and knowledge of the mystery of His will to gather all things in Christ, given an inheritance according to His purpose, and called to be to the praise of His glory as those who first trusted in Christ.
Prayer and Christian Living
Faith in the Lord Jesus and love toward all the saints is the condition God desires in those connected with His work and placed in His churches and institutions, who seek Him with the whole heart with His promise to be a present help in every time of need. That faith and love are the starting point that calls forth continual thanksgiving and prayer for wisdom, revelation, enlightenment, and understanding of God. They are grounds for thanksgiving and prayer, accompanying the hope of sharing Christ's inheritance.
The prayer asks that the God of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, with the eyes of the understanding enlightened to know the hope of His calling and the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints. It asks also to know the exceeding greatness of His power toward believers according to the working of His mighty power which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places far above all principality and power and every name. Christ has power over every authority, and believers can trust Him as the divine Physician for healing of physical and spiritual infirmities.
Believers need this experience to blend with faith and make it earnest and effectual for pulling down the strongholds of Satan and for making straight paths amid the perils of the last days. It calls for a contrite and humble heart, a personal connection with Jesus Christ the Fountain of knowledge and wisdom, and the deep movings of the Holy Spirit pervading mind and heart with the bright beams of the righteousness of Christ. So knowledge of the truth is rightly used to prepare to stand as sheep in the midst of wolves in the day of God's preparation. This thanksgiving and prayer belongs to professed believers now in trying times who must humble themselves, be zealous and repent, and be transformed in spiritual awakening with hearts aglow with the love of Jesus Christ.
The verse with the following verses is God's word addressed to believers so they may see themselves in a different light and be God's workmen by learning lessons from Him. It means the Master would have them work as Christ worked so that their efficiency may be of God and not of self. This is the will of God, even their sanctification.