Ephesians 1:17

17. The particular object for which Paul incessantly prayed in their behalf, namely, their elevation of view to take in this grandeur of the redeeming Christ, of which he gives a picture in Ephesians 1:20-23.

God of… Christ In the entire passage, 20-23, St. Paul describes Christ rather in his manhood raised by process to a divine exaltation, just as in Philippians 2:6-8 he describes his divinity as gradually humanized and humiliated. The reason for the former view here is to furnish basis for the parallelism in Ephesians 2:4-7, identifying our exaltation with Christ’s, produced by our divine identification with him. This exaltation of both Christ and his elect finds its glorious cause in him who is God of both. For, as Meyer says, “God hath sent Christ, given him to death, raised and exalted him.”

Father of glory See note on Acts 7:2. The glory, sometimes made visible to human eyes in the old dispensation, represented the divine splendour which our thoughts necessarily attribute to God, like the light we attribute to the sun. And such visible glory also represents that moral glory we attribute to the divine actions and character. From such glory in both kinds, the Trinity, or the Father primarily, is called from his power, God of glory, Psalms 29:3; and from his supremacy, King of glory, Psalms 24:7. As origin and generator of all this gloriousness he is now here called Father of glory, as he is called “Father of lights,” James 1:17. So, Father of mercies, 2 Corinthians 1:3. Christ is Lord of glory, 1 Corinthians 2:8; and so there are cherubim of glory, Hebrews 9:5. It is of the moral glory made visible in our redemption to the eyes of your understanding, when enlightened by this Father of glory, that St. Paul specially here speaks; the glory, glory, glory, of Ephesians 1:6; Ephesians 1:12; Ephesians 1:14. This glory can break upon their view through the mists of earthliness only by the double process of verbal revelation to them and of quickening their inner powers to behold and realize it. For this they need wisdom, revelation, enlightened eyes.

Spirit A divinely communicated spirit, by which revelation is made.