Comparing the Two Prayers in Ephesians

Ephesians 1:15-23 vs 3:14-21

When I prep for our Sunday series on Ephesians, I regularly visit this old Ephesians commentary by Walter Leon Tucker, who was a big influence on J.C. O’Hair.

He pointed out that the first prayer request in Ephesians 1 is characterized by the word WHAT but this prayer request in chapter 3 is characterized by the word THAT.

In chapter 1, we are given three whats. (1) “What is the hope of His calling?” (2) “What is the riches of His inheritance in the saints?” and (3) “What is the exceeding greatness of His power?”

Then, in his prayer request in chapter 3, Paul gives us four that’s. (1) “That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man;” (2) “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith” (3) “That ye being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge” (4) “That ye might be filled with all the fullness of God.”

Why does the prayer request in chapter 1 contain whats and the prayer request in chapter 3 contains thats? Because the first prayer request is more knowledge oriented. The second prayer request is more practical oriented. The first prayer request was all about spiritual illumination – that you might know those three essential truths -the hope of His calling, the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and the immeasurable greatness of His power toward those who believe, which was supremely demonstrated in Christ’s resurrection and exaltation. This prayer request in chapter 3 is all about the practical application of all that you know and how this spiritual knowledge strengthens you within. Your position before God is perfect, but the inner strength you possess is conditional based your degree of spiritual illumination.

In other words, how strong you are inside depends upon how much you know about the Father and about the love of Christ.

The prayer in chapter 1 asks for the eyes of the heart to be opened to what God has done and who we are in Christ. The prayer in chapter 3 asks for the inner man to be strengthened to live out the grace life, anchored in knowing the Father, having the attributes of the Father alive in you, knowing Christ’s love, which results in the believer potentially being filled with all the fulness of God.

Ephesians 1 looks upward: Paul wants believers to see the glory of their position in Christ.

Ephesians 3 looks inward: Paul wants believers to realize and live out that glory by the Spirit’s power.

The first prayer deals with our standing – what God has made us in Christ. The second with our state – what God produces within us as we grow.

The first emphasizes what God has done for us; the second emphasizes what God does in us.

The first prayer is about illumination; the second is about application.

The first prayer culminates in Christ’s headship over all things to the Church; the second culminates in the believer being filled with all the fulness of God.

So, to strip everything down to a simple soundbyte, the gist is this: Paul spent the first three chapters of Ephesians saying, “Look at how amazing the Father is, how overwhelming His grace is.” Then he turns around in this prayer request in chapter 3 to basically say, “I want as much of the Father inside each of you as possible.”

Yet, both prayers are filled with gratitude to God and they both conclude with a recognition of God’s limitless power. In chapter 1, all that knowledge establishes the believer securely in the faith, but in chapter 3, all this knowledge produces inner strength inside the believer to such a degree that it is possible to be filled with the fulness of the Father.

This means that this a process that produces a desired result. The first three that’s in this list are interwoven and they together produce the desired result inside the believer of the fourth that – That ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. This prayer is all about God the Father. Having Him inside of you, knowing Him intimately, Christ also, but the Father primarily, and all this is so the believer can be filled with all the fulness of God the Father. Everything leads to that result. This prayer is about your relationship to the Father, you gaining strength and riches by knowing the Father better, being strengthened through spiritual knowledge, gaining more spiritual illumination through the Word, which results in you being filled with all the fullness of God the Father.