When was the last time you prayed for the
spiritual growth and well-being of another Christian? I wonder how many of us would even think to
pray for one another that the Holy Spirit would give them wisdom and revelation
in the knowledge of God? There are some things we can pray for each other and
never have to wonder if we are praying for a legitimate need or not. For
instance, I can pray verse 18 - that “the Lord will enlighten the eyes of your
heart, so that you may know what is the hope of His calling, and what are the
riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the
surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe;” I can pray that the
Lord will give you an ever greater hunger for His word, and that He will use
your study to draw you ever closer to Himself, and that as you grow in the
grace and knowledge of Him you will be used of Him to illuminate the world
around you”… How many of us pray that kind of prayer for one another? When we
pray this way, we’re asking God to give us and give our fellow believers
something that is only available to those who have the Holy Spirit of God.
The point is this; Man in his natural mind cannot begin to comprehend God. In fact, one basic truth that the scriptures teach us from beginning to end, is that apart from the Spirit and spiritual birth, God is infinitely and eternally out of man’s grasp. “Man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (1st. Cor. 2:14)
Paul is, in effect, repeating Jesus’ teaching when He told the Pharisee, Nicodemus, “...unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Man cannot have the knowledge of God apart from God’s Spirit. The wisdom, the teaching, and the understanding of the things of the Spirit.
I want to finish today by giving you an excerpt from D. Martin Lloyd-Jones’ commentary on this verse. I enjoyed what he said and I want to share it with you;
“We have been considering one of the most important doctrines of the Christian faith. The Protestant Reformers used to tell their hearers that there is a double action of the Holy Spirit. There is the ‘Testimonium Spiritus Externus’ - the Spirit that is in the Word, as it were, the Spirit that inspired the men who produced the Word. That is essential. But it is not enough. Before I know that this is God’s Word and God’s truth, before I can read the Bible and discover health and food for my soul, something additional is necessary - the ‘Testimonium Spiritus Internus’. The Spirit in the reader! And without the Spirit in him no man will be able to understand the meaning of the Word. The two operations are absolutely essential.”
In other words we have seen that the Apostle Paul prays for the Ephesian believers that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give them ‘the Spirit of wisdom (the Spirit in the Word) and ‘the Spirit of revelation’ (the Spirit in the believer) taking the Word and from it revealing a knowledge of God in all His glory.
The point is this; Man in his natural mind cannot begin to comprehend God. In fact, one basic truth that the scriptures teach us from beginning to end, is that apart from the Spirit and spiritual birth, God is infinitely and eternally out of man’s grasp. “Man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (1st. Cor. 2:14)
Paul is, in effect, repeating Jesus’ teaching when He told the Pharisee, Nicodemus, “...unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Man cannot have the knowledge of God apart from God’s Spirit. The wisdom, the teaching, and the understanding of the things of the Spirit.
I want to finish today by giving you an excerpt from D. Martin Lloyd-Jones’ commentary on this verse. I enjoyed what he said and I want to share it with you;
“We have been considering one of the most important doctrines of the Christian faith. The Protestant Reformers used to tell their hearers that there is a double action of the Holy Spirit. There is the ‘Testimonium Spiritus Externus’ - the Spirit that is in the Word, as it were, the Spirit that inspired the men who produced the Word. That is essential. But it is not enough. Before I know that this is God’s Word and God’s truth, before I can read the Bible and discover health and food for my soul, something additional is necessary - the ‘Testimonium Spiritus Internus’. The Spirit in the reader! And without the Spirit in him no man will be able to understand the meaning of the Word. The two operations are absolutely essential.”
In other words we have seen that the Apostle Paul prays for the Ephesian believers that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give them ‘the Spirit of wisdom (the Spirit in the Word) and ‘the Spirit of revelation’ (the Spirit in the believer) taking the Word and from it revealing a knowledge of God in all His glory.
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