Paul, in his prayers “for the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus” ( Ephesians 1:1, NIV ), asks God to “give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation, that you may know him better” ( verse 17).
Prior to his prayer for the spirit of wisdom and revelation, Paul reminds the Ephesian believers of the blessings God has bestowed upon them ( Ephesians 1:3 ), their adoption as sons through Christ (verse 4), the wisdom and insight given to them (verse 8), and “the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ” (verse 9). He also reminds them that they have been “set on him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is the security deposit of our inheritance” (verses 13–14). He now he wants to give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation.
Since Christians receive the promised Holy Spirit at salvation (John 14:17), the spirit of wisdom and revelation that Paul prays for cannot refer to the initial gift of the Holy Spirit. Paul’s reference could just as easily be to an attitude or state of mind (although the NIV and ESV spell Spirit, other translations like the NASB and BSB translate it as “a spirit,” and the NLT simply has “spiritual wisdom and insight”). If not the Holy Spirit, then what does Paul ask for in his request for a “spirit of wisdom and revelation”? The key is in the phrase that follows, “in the knowledge of him” (NIV), or “that you may know him better” (NIV).
Paul had praised the Ephesians for their faith in the Lord Jesus and their love for all the saints ( Ephesians 1:15 ), but now he is asking God to give them a deeper and greater understanding of the mysteries of his character and will, to get to know him more thoroughly and intimately. Now that they have the Holy Spirit in their hearts, Paul wants Him to give them more understanding and insight. “Wisdom” is a better understanding of God’s doctrines, and “revelation” is a clearer picture of God’s character and will. In the NLT, the prayer is that believers have “spiritual wisdom and insight that they may grow in their knowledge of God.” The AMP translation has Paul asking God to “grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation of the true knowledge of Him.”
God is infinite, and finite creatures can never fully know him. We all need wisdom from above. No matter how far we advance in our understanding of God, there is an unfathomable depth of knowledge that remains to be explored. Scripture is full of admonitions to grow in our knowledge of Christ ( 2 Peter 3:18 ; 1 Peter 2:2 ; Ephesians 4:15 ).
Paul describes some of the mysteries that he wants the Ephesians to understand through this spirit of wisdom and revelation. He wants them to lay hold on “the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance” (Ephesians 1:18). This is the hope of eternal life, which Paul refers to as the “high calling of God in Christ Jesus” ( Philippians 3:14, NIV). We inherit the riches of eternal life through the One who saved us and called us to holiness in Christ before time began ( 2 Timothy 1:9 ). Paul also prays for the Spirit to reveal “incomparably great power to us who believe” ( Ephesians 1:19 ), a power so great that it raised Jesus from the dead. It is a power that we can only understand if we possess the spirit of wisdom and revelation.
The spirit of wisdom and revelation is not some mysterious blessing given to a special few, and it is not the ability to speak as a prophet. Rather, it is the work of the Holy Spirit to help God’s people understand the things of God more fully and completely.