John Calvin Commentary Ephesians 1:17

"that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him;" — Ephesians 1:17 (ASV)

That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ. But what does Paul wish for the Ephesians? The spirit of wisdom, and the eyes of their understanding being enlightened. Did they not possess these? Yes, but at the same time they needed increase, so that, being endowed with a larger measure of the Spirit, and being more and more enlightened, they might more clearly and fully hold their present views. The knowledge of the godly is never so pure that some dimness or obscurity does not still cloud their spiritual vision. But let us examine the words in detail.

The God of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Son of God became man in such a way that God was His God as well as ours.

He says, “I ascend to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God” (John 20:17).

And the reason He is our God is that He is the God of Christ, whose members we are. Let us remember, however, that this relates to His human nature, so that His subjection takes nothing away from His eternal Godhead.

The Father of glory. This title springs from the former, for God’s glory as a Father consists in subjecting His Son to our condition, so that, through Him, He might be our God. The Father of glory is a well-known Hebrew idiom for The glorious Father. There is a way of punctuating and reading this passage, which I do not disapprove, and which connects the two clauses in this manner: That God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, may give to you.

The Spirit of wisdom and revelation is here used, by a figure of speech (metonymy), for the grace which the Lord bestows upon us by His own Spirit. But let it be observed that the gifts of the Spirit are not the gifts of nature. Until the Lord opens them, the eyes of our heart are blind. Until the Spirit has become our instructor, all that we know is folly and ignorance. Until the Spirit of God has made it known to us by a secret revelation, the knowledge of our Divine calling exceeds the capacity of our own minds.

In the knowledge of Him. This might also be read, In the knowledge of Himself. Both renderings agree well with the context, for he who knows the Son knows also the Father; but I prefer the former as more natively suggested by the Greek pronoun, ἐν ἐπιγνώσει αὐτοῦ.