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DIVINE ENERGY

By John Skepp

CHAPTER 1.

And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe.
EPHESIANS 1:19

THESE words in their coherence are a part of the apostle’s prayer and repeated request at the throne of grace, on the behalf of these believing Ephesians; as you will easily perceive by casting your eye upon the three preceding verses. In the first of which he tells them, that he not only gave thanks daily to the Father on their behalf, for what he had already graciously bestowed upon, and wrought in them; but being truly desirous of their spiritual growth and proficiency in grace, knowledge, expedience, and solid judgment, he was their constant remembrancer at the throne of grace; imploring for them the further aids and assistances of the Holy Spirit, as "the spirit of wisdom and revelation." By which he doth not mean the extraordinary gifts of the holy and blessed Spirit, but a receiving of him as the "spirit of truth," John 16:13; and as the "unction from the Holy One," 1 John 2:20, whose peculiar office it is to guide believers into the mystery of gospel-truth, both doctrinal and practical, so far as is necessary and conducive to their stability and consolation in faith and holiness. And now, this wisdom and knowledge of Him, i.e. the Father, not exclusive of Christ, as revealed and communicated by the Holy Spirit himself, under gospel-means, is not to be understood of the first gospel-knowledge necessary to conversion, and true saving faith, for this they had already received, it being part of that for which he gave thanks; but is intended of a further degree of experimental knowledge and acquaintance with God and Christ. It is to know more and more of this God and our Saviour, by way of daily communion and fellowship, so as to enjoy more of the fruits and effects of eternal love and grace in their excellency, and efficiency upon the heart. It is to know those truths more certainly, clearly, distinctly, and exactly, than they had yet attained. And furthermore, it is a knowing to such a degree and capacity, as to be able to acknowledge the mystery, and be ready to "render a reason," 1 Peter 3:15, of their gospel-faith and hope, and so to explain and vindicate the blessed doctrines of grace and mysteries of Christianity, as that themselves and others might be profited thereby. And this is further manifest in the 18th verse, where he suggests the benefit of receiving the Spirit under’ the character of the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation; and that was, that the eyes of their understandings or minds being thereby enlightened, they might discern more clearly, and understand more distinctly, the things belonging to so great salvation. Eyes indeed they had, and the seeing eye too, but as yet they were in some measure weak and dark, and needed the further application of the true "eye-salve," Revelation 3:18, to clear and strengthen them. It is to be noted, that the apostle, here and in other places, attributes eyes to the understanding, as if that noble faculty, which is the mental eye itself, had eyes placed in it, as distinct from it; but this as I take it, is but a Hebraism common to the New Testament: and so the eyes of the mind are no more, but the mind or soul of man, as endowed with the powers of understanding and reason; and thus the mind or soul hath eyes; but more especially the regenerate; for together with the intellect or reason, such have the eye of faith, which is superior to reason as to its present use and importance, both as it discerns spiritual things, and also as its office is to help, guide, and regulate reason, by subjecting it to revelation. And therefore I will venture to say, the spiritual and enlightened Christian hath two eyes, whereas all the world besides hath but one, and that not clear. And now to have both these eyes, i.e. faith and reason, more enlightened and cleared by the further work of the Holy Spirit through the word upon their minds, is what the apostle chiefly aims at, in this his prayer, for a greater measure of the Spirit, as the spirit of wisdom and revelation to be given to them; that being thus privileged and capacitated, they might experimentally discern and judge of these spiritual mysteries; as,

First, "What is the hope of his calling;" and, secondly, "what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints;" and, thirdly, as in the words of my text, "what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe." Now as to the first, by hope here, is not meant hope as a grace, or gracious act; nor Christ as hope’s object; nor, as I take it, the things otherwise hoped for; but hope’s ground, i.e. the free promise of grace and eternal life, as revealed and published in the Gospel, both to Jew and Gentile; who, as he says, "are called in the hope of their calling;" Ephesians 4:4. that is, they are both called and saved upon the same common bottom of covenant-love and free grace, as given to the elect part "in Christ, before the world began," 2 Timothy 1:9: But for as much as the Gentiles knew nothing of this "mystery, kept secret from the beginning of the world," until it was "now made manifest, and preached for the obedience of faith, Romans 16:25, 26; and Ephesians 3:6-9; therefore they, till then, were said to have been without Christ, as "being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world," Ephesians 2:12. But if any will have it that by hope, here, are intended the things hoped for, and which they were to enjoy in this and the other world, I will not contend, but proceed.