Ephesians 1:17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in your knowledge of Him. 18 I ask that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know the hope of His calling, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and the surpassing greatness of His power to us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of His mighty strength BSB
In praying for revelation in verse 17, is Paul talking about new information or about insight? There are some who might claim they have new and updated knowledge (the Mormons, for example) and they may point to this verse in defense of these new disclosures from God. However in context, verses 18 and 19 clarify that Paul is talking about insight and the gaining of knowledge rather than new revelations from God.
We think of the heart as the organ of our emotions but in Biblical language, the seat of our emotions is the intestines, i.e., we feel emotions in our gut. In Biblical terms, the heart is the inner seat of action – our decisions and actions spring from our hearts. Enlightenment occurs both internally and externally as not only do we need to see and hear the Gospel message externally but we also need to be inwardly open in order to truly grasp this hope Paul is talking about. This requires the work of the Holy Spirit.
Hope is the future tense of faith as there are things that God has promised that haven’t happened yet. While may not have all the answers or be able to “prove” that all of these things will happen, we have faith in these promises because of who Jesus Christ is. As a result, our hope is not in people or political parties but in Christ.
An inheritance is things that you have been promised but don’t have them yet. Here inheritance is talking about our existence in our final state.
1Peter 1:4 to and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, reserved in heaven for you, BSB
1Corinthians 15:42 It is the same with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; NET
The wording “in the saints” in verse 18 suggests that something is happening to us. Other people will say that this is the notion that we will be in a restored relationship both with God and with each other. As saints, this promise belongs to all of us.
Acts 19:1 It happened that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul, having passed through the upper country, came to Ephesus, and found certain disciples. 2 He said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” They said to him, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” 3 He said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into John’s baptism.” 4 Paul said, “John indeed baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe in the one who would come after him, that is, in Jesus.” 5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke with other tongues and prophesied. 7 They were about twelve men in all. 8 He entered into the synagogue, and spoke boldly for a period of three months, reasoning and persuading about the things concerning the Kingdom of God. 9 But when some were hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the Way before the crowd, he departed from them, and separated the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus. 10 This continued for two years, so that all those who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks. 11 God worked special miracles by the hands of Paul, 12 so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were carried away from his body to the sick, and the evil spirits went out. 13 But some of the itinerant Jews, exorcists, took on themselves to invoke over those who had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, “I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches.” 14 There were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, who did this. 15 The evil spirit answered, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are you?” 16 The man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overpowered them all, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. 17 This became known to all, both Jews and Greeks, who lived at Ephesus. Fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. 18 Many also of those who had believed came, confessing, and declaring their deeds. 19 Many of those who practiced magical arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. They counted the price of them, and found it to be fifty thousand pieces of silver. 20 So the word of the Lord was growing and becoming mighty. NHEB
Since the synagogues didn’t receive him all that well, Paul moved from the place where Jews gather for moral, spiritual and philosophical discussions to the Gentile equivalent. Luke then relates some rather odd stories about what is happening in Ephesus once Paul arrives. He ends the chapter with the controversy involving the idol maker Demetrius.
Ephesus was famous for the occult in the ancient world and as a center of magic. The magic we are talking about isn’t pulling a rabbit out of a hat but rather the effort to control dark forces to achieve good fortune for yourself. This leads to a spiritual struggle between the powers of light and dark as people (like Demetrius) see that Paul is stamping out their power (and livelihoods) by teaching how the power of Jesus is greater than these magical powers. It is reminiscent of Moses in the court of Pharaoh with the staff and snake.
Exodus 7:8 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 9“When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Do a miracle,’ and you say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh,’ it will become a snake.” 10 When Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh, they did so, just as the Lord had commanded them – Aaron threw down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants and it became a snake. 11Then Pharaoh also summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the magicians of Egypt by their secret arts did the same thing. 12 Each man threw down his staff, and the staffs became snakes. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs. 13 Yet Pharaoh’s heart became hard, and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had predicted. NET