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ib. vs. 9. ‘Whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and wonders of falsehood.’ Cf. vs. 11.

Eph. 2:2. ‘Of the spirit that now worketh in the sons of disobedience.’

Of the Ephesian passages [the first (1:11) recalls] 1 Cor. 12:6, 11 ( v. supr. ); [the next (Eph. 1:19) refers to] the active exercise of the power of God in the exaltation of Christ, [a third (3:7) shews how] the continuous working of His Power in the Apostle was a determining condition of his ministry, [another (3:20) tells us] that His power working in believers generally is the measure of that which He does. In 2:2 the Ephesians [are reminded that] resisting the Will of God lays ‘the sons of disobedience’ open to the working of a personal power of evil. [For the meaning of katj ejnergeivan in 4:16, v. note ad loc. ].

Wisdom and Revelation (Eph. 1:17).

‘These Ephesian Christians had already received Divine illumination, or they would not have been Christians at all; but Paul prayed that the Divine Spirit who dwelt in them would make their vision clearer, keener, stronger, that the Divine power and love and greatness might be revealed to them far more fully. And perhaps in these days in which men are making such rapid discoveries in inferior provinces of thought, discoveries so fascinating and so exciting as to rival in interest, even for Christian men, the manifestation of God in Christ, there is exceptional need for the Church to pray that God would grant it “ a spirit of wisdom and revelation ”; if He were to answer that prayer, we should no longer be dazzled by the knowledge which relates to “things seen and temporal,” it would be outshone by the transcendent glory of “things unseen and eternal.”’

(Dale: The Epistle to the Ephesians: Its Doctrine and Ethics , p.
133.)

‘By the inspiration which was granted to Jewish prophets they saw in the history of their nation—as their uninspired contemporaries did not see—the Divine laws which the history illustrated.

...........

The inspiration which was granted to apostles enabled them to discover what was already contained in the life, teaching, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Special revelations were given to them:........but the main substance of what
they knew about God and the Divine method of human redemption they discovered in the history and teaching of Christ. Their inspiration enabled them to see what that revelation of God really meant....The great
revelation was made in Christ; the
inspiration of the apostles enabled them to see the truths and laws which the revelation contained.

...........

And so the “spirit of wisdom” may also be called the “spirit of revelation”; for until the spirit of wisdom is given, the revelation is unintelligible. It becomes an actual revelation when it is understood.

To the apostles inspiration was given in an exceptional measure. They were appointed by the Lord Jesus Christ to lay the foundations of the Christian Church. They had authority to teach all nations in His name. Later ages were to learn His mind from their lips...........................But in kind the inspiration of the apostles was
the same as that which St Paul prayed might be granted to the Christians at


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