What does Paul want believers to know according to Ephesians 1:18?
Paul petitions that the eyes of their understanding be enlightened so they may know the hope of His calling and the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints. This inheritance is not Christ as believers' inheritance but God's inheritance in the saints, a truth beyond human understanding.
Les explains that Ephesians 1 contains Paul's prayer on behalf of the Ephesian believers, and Ephesians takes teaching concerning the Body of Christ into a deeper realm than Romans or 1 Corinthians. In verse 17 Paul asks the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, to give them the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. Then in verse 18 he prays that the eyes of their understanding be enlightened, so they may know the hope of His calling and the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints. Les emphasizes these are prayer requests, not mere statements. He also notes that believers normally speak of Christ as their inheritance and as co-heirs with Him, inheriting what He has and is. But here Paul presents the opposite: God's inheritance in the saints, which Les says is hard to comprehend and past human understanding.
The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
More Questions
What does Paul pray about the eyes of our understanding in Ephesians 1?
Among Paul's prayer requests in Ephesians 1 is that the eyes of the believers' understanding would be enlightened.
Why is Ephesians 1:18 the opposite of saying Christ is our inheritance?
The statement in Ephesians 1 about His inheritance in the saints is the opposite of the usual idea of Christ being our inheritance.