As the apostle Paul writes to the church at Ephesus, we find him thankful for the genuine work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of his fellow Christians there. One might think that there is nothing left to pray for people who have received every spiritual blessing. Yet despite his unceasing gratitude for them, Paul is yet not satisfied with their spiritual condition – so he asks for that which would be befitting of a mature Christian. He does not ask for them to be converted; neither is it for them to receive some second blessing that he petitions God for; nor does he pray for them to increase more and more in their interest in God and heaven. But the main thing he prays for is that they would appreciate to the fullest possible extent the implications of the blessings which they have already received in Christ. Paul prays for that which is the highest and best thing he could pray for; the essence of Paul’s prayer for them is that they might know (v. 18). The knowledge which Paul prays for is not merely knowledge as the Greeks understood it – as wisdom and understanding – but according to Hebrew thinking, knowledge was experiential. There is no other knowledge that is higher than knowing God himself. And such knowledge is impossible apart from revelation. In other words, unless God reveals Himself to man, knowledge of Him cannot be attained. So Paul asks God to grant them the spirit of wisdom and revelation toward the end that they might know Him.
