Christ Himself (Danny Walters)

Praying “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him(self).” (Eph. 1:17).

I like so much the way this verse is written in the original, however, it wouldn’t read well in English if written as stated in the original; you could get the impression that God the Father is wanting to give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation of Himself. But it is the Himself of Christ, and the Himself of the Father in Christ, for which Paul is praying a spirit of wisdom and revelation.

 

The reason I like the way the original uses the word ‘Himself’ is that this verse brings things home very personal to us, speaking of the Self of Christ, which we then are able to look to in relation to our self. And one of the things so prominent in the expression of the Himself of Christ is His complete submission to His God, the Father. He says in one place: “the Father abiding in Me does His works”. (John 14:10). There’s a humble submission to the Person of His Father that lived within Himself; an example of the passive matter of Himself in the Life of the Spirit of the Father abiding in Him. “So Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of His own accord, but only what He sees the Father doing.’” (John 5:19 ESV). There is the sense revealed that as the Father is doing, the Son gives full cooperation of Himself over to that, that what is seen are the doings of the Father.

 

But as well I think there is an example of the effect of the Father’s inner-working. For the Father abiding in Me is doing His works, and you could finish that statement with ‘in me’, and not just ‘through me’. As He submitted Himself to the Spirit of the Father in Him, the Father was doing His works in Him; perfecting Him through the things which He suffered, or the things He suffered through. And He was able to say of a truth, “he who has seen Me, has seen the Father” (John 14:9). The result of a complete submission to the Spirit of the Father abiding within was a full expression of the Father coming forth, from the Son – ‘as He is, in this World.’ And so we hear our Lord say: “learn of Me”.

 

May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ Himself. Amen.