Ephesians 1:15Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Nevertheless, one must thank God for all that He has done for the human race, both before this and after it. One must also thank Him for the faith of believers.

“Having heard,” he says, “of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love toward all the saints.” Everywhere he joins and brings together faith and love as a wondrous pair.

He speaks of their love not only toward their fellow countrymen, but toward all Christians.

“Having heard,” he says, “of your faith in Christ Jesus.” And not only of faith, but also of love, that is, of a merciful and brother-loving disposition.

It is even a love for mankind, since it extends to all, not only to the local saints, that is, to poor believers.

Everywhere he joins love with faith, since love gives birth to a virtuous life. Without it, faith is useless, faith without works and life. Likewise, life is useless without faith.

“Remembering you in my prayers.” Notice how many he has in his mind, and how many he remembered in his prayers. But we do not even remember ourselves as we ought.

The further words, “and enlightened the eyes of your heart” (cf. Eph 1:18), may be rendered by transposition in this way.

Seeing your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ in the knowledge of Him, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to pray for you.

I make supplication for you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him (cf. Eph 1:17).

Then, “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Father of glory” must be understood in this way.

As our Lord Jesus Christ Himself is the Word, Wisdom, Truth, Peace, Righteousness, and Power, so also He is Glory.

This accords with what is said elsewhere: “And the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people” (Lev 9:23).

In almost the whole Old Testament it was written that the Glory of God was seen over the people (Num 9). And again: “Arise, my glory, arise!” (Is 6:3).

This Glory, sanctifying the world by its radiance, was fashioned by God as a temple from a virginal body.

Where Christ is Glory, there alone is He called Father. Where He is Jesus, God names Him without any addition.

In the Synodal rendering: “the whole earth is full of His glory!”

By choosing and establishing such a reading for all such occasions, Christ’s Church, our universal nurturer and teacher, wishes to express the following thought.

The highest and final goal of every form of learning must be the knowledge of the Lord God, drawing near to Him, and the striving of the human spirit toward that unearthly realm.

There, a truly rational and blessed life awaits man in communion with the source of all knowledge, the Lord God, glorified in the Trinity.

All other goals are lower and subordinate. The Church does not bless any science or instruction that forgets this highest goal of its own.

Nor does she in any way take it under her protection.

Concerning the naming of the Father as the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, Blessed Theodoret observes: “The Apostle called one and the same One both God and Father of Jesus Christ.

He is His God as man, and His Father as God. After the Incarnation, the God-man could not fail to know Himself as man, while being God at the same time.”

Concerning the naming of God as the Father of glory, Bishop Theophan says that this Eastern expression means “most glorious, glory itself.”

Taken together with what precedes, it will mean: “the God of our Lord, most glorious, exceedingly great, unbounded, and ineffable in His perfections.

For the glory of God is the fullness of divine majesty” (cf. Acts 7:2; Ps 23:7).

According to John Chrysostom, “The Apostle cannot find a word that could fully depict the blessings prepared by God.

Everywhere he calls them glory, as a word that signifies for us every kind of greatness.”

Explaining why the Apostle prayed for the gift of the Spirit of wisdom and revelation to the Ephesians, the same father says: “To understand spiritual things and see hidden things, spiritual wisdom is needed.

The Spirit reveals all things and explains the very mysteries of God. The vision of the mysteries of God belongs to the Spirit alone, Who searches even the depths of God (1 Cor 2:10).

Neither angel, nor archangel, nor any other created power will bestow this gift.”

“Whose word, for example, can set forth the glory of which the saints will one day be deemed worthy?

To understand this, the human mind truly needs grace. It needs to receive at least a ray of spiritual light.”

“In the work of conversion to faith, divine power is also needed. To awaken faith in souls is much harder than to raise the dead.

The reason is that God desires us to become good voluntarily. Thus the Apostle rightly sees the surpassing greatness of God’s power in us who believe.

When the prophets accomplished nothing, and when angels and archangels proved unable to help mankind’s salvation, then God Himself was well pleased to appear.

By this He showed that divine power is needed in the work of conversion to faith.”

He prays that the Spirit of God received by the believing Ephesians may act among them chiefly as the Spirit of constantly manifested wisdom, σοφίας.

He also prays that He may act as the Spirit of revelation, άποχαλύψεως, which comes at times and gives the Christian the guidance needed in various circumstances.

The actions of this Spirit must concern the knowledge of God, εν έπιγνώσει αύτοΰ. That is, the Spirit must enlighten us in all that concerns God’s divine economy for our salvation and God’s relation to us.

A firm beginning has already been laid for this. You have already become partakers of these blessings through your faith and through life according to faith, which is expressed in love for all the saints. For this I thank the Lord.

"For this reason." For what reason? If one considers only what immediately precedes, it is because they have been sealed with the Holy Spirit and have received in Him the pledge of hope. But since this last point stands in the Apostle in unbroken connection with what came before, as the summit of all blessings in the Lord, one may say that it is also because of everything the all-bountiful God was pleased to do for our salvation.

Saint Chrysostom says: "For this reason, that is, because of the future blessings which await those who believe rightly and live piously. Yet one must equally thank God for everything He has done for the human race before this and for what He will do afterward. Therefore one must thank Him also for the faith of believers."

Saint Paul gives thanks not generally for these blessings, but because the Ephesians were deemed worthy of them. Since they were deemed worthy of this through faith assisted by love, he sets their fullness in these things as the cause that awakens his thankful feelings for them.

"Having heard," he says, "of your faith and love, I do not cease to thank God." "For, having believed, you were sealed with the Spirit. In Him you received the pledge of future blessings and of perfect deliverance, and you are to obtain what has been laid up for those who believe rightly and live rightly" (Theophylact).

"Having heard of your faith and love." "Everywhere Saint Paul joins and unites faith and love, as a kind of wondrous pair" (Saint Chrysostom). If he had heard only of faith, perhaps he would not have hastened to give thanks. For although faith brings one to God, when it is united with Him in the heart, it no longer proceeds from Him alone, but mingled with love.

True faith is never alone, just as neither is love. Faith is one foot, love the other. As one cannot walk on one foot, so one cannot live in a Christian way and be deemed worthy of Christian blessings without faith and love.

Love for all the saints means love for all Christians, not only for the Ephesians or those around them. The love poured into the hearts of Christians by the Spirit loves all men. Yet it loves Christians as members of one body, in a family way, feeling a living union with them in Christ.

However natural this love may be in Christians, it can still be weakened and quenched by egotistical strivings. Therefore its presence together with faith is a sign both of the reasonable ordering of believers and of a special grace of God, for everything comes from it.

For this reason Saint Paul also says: "in Christ Jesus," which must be referred both to faith and to love. The Lord Jesus Christ is the inexhaustible source of both faith and love for all who have cleaved to Him. Faith here is the feeling of a heart that rests in Christ and is assured of every help and every protection from Him. It is faith resting on the bosom of Christ.

He had heard of faith and love, but he gives thanks not for faith and love, but for what is given for faith and love: "because, on account of them, they are evidently among those being saved, and will undoubtedly be deemed worthy of the blessings appointed for those who believe and love" (Oecumenius).