THE KING’S BUSINESS
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John 1:18). But not only is He “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ,” He is also “the Father of glory” (cf. Acts 7 :2), not merely as being glorious Himself, but also as being the source of all glory (cf. 2 Cor. 1:3), and especially of that glory that shines in the face of Jesus Christ (cf. 2 Cor, 4:6). In the Old Testament we had the Shekinah “glory,” but Jesus is the true Shekinah, the Old Testament cloud and fire were but the symbol. Paul’s prayer for the saints in Ephesus was that the God whom he has described might “give unto” them “the Spirit of wisdom and the revela tion in the knowledge of Him.” The Revised Version reads, “a spirit of wis dom and revelation.” In this case the Authorized Version'is right. It is true the definite article is not found in the Greek text, but the definite article is often omit ted in the New Testament with well known words, as God and Christ’, (and in other passages also with “Spirit,” where the Holy' Spirit is plainly meant). This phrase, “the Spirit of wisdom and revelation” is a name of the Holy Spirit, and it is plainly an allusion to a name of the Holy Spirit given in Isa. 11:2, “The Spirit of Jehovah shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding” (note the whole; passage, and the other names of the Spirit given in that passage). In the passage in Isaiah beyond a doubt it is the Holy Spirit Who is meant, and in the Greek version of the Old Testament (the Septuagint, LXX) the definite article is wanting just as it is here. The Holy Spirit is called “the Spirit of wisdom and revelation” because He imparts wisdom and reveals truth (John 14:26; 16:12-14; 1 Cor. 2:10). The Holy Spirit has already been given to the saints in Ephesus as a seal and earnest (vs. 13, 14), but there are in Christian experiences many successive givings and icomings of the Holy Spirit. We are often told that we must not ask God to give us the Spirit, as we already have Him, He is already come. But this is unscriptural. We may have Him, we may have the whole per son of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, and yet there will be new and larger manifes
tations of His presence and His power, and these are a new giving of Himself, new comings of the Spirit. Even in regen eration we are not to think of the coming of the Spirit as a literal passage through space from a locality where He was before to one where He was not before, for the Holy Spirit is a Divine person and every where present, and in that sense is in the unregenerate man (e. g., sustaining him in his physical existence). But the new man ifestation of His presence and' power in regeneration is à new coming, and “the gift of the Spirit,” which may be long after regeneration, as it was in the case of the apostles and the Samaritan believers (Acts 8:12, IS, 16), and the Ephesian church (Acts 19:2), is another coming, and there will be many more comings (cf. Acts 2:4 with 4:8; 4:31; Eph. 3 :14, 16).' The Holy Spirit has been abiding in me many years, but He. is constantly coming to me again and again. The receiving of the Spirit as “the Spirit of wisdom and revela tion” would result, on the part of the Ephesian saints, “in the knowledge of Him,” i. e., Christ (there is no “the” before the word knowledge. We have here another illustration of what we mentioned above, the omission oftefitimes in Greek of the definite article,-where we would insert it). The Holy Spirit’s testimony all centers in Christ (cf. John 15:26; 16:14),'and it is only as we receive the Holy Spirit as “a spirit of wisdom and revelation” through the operation of the Holy Spirit on our spirits, that we have! a true knowledge of God as revealed in Christ. The word for “knowledge” used in this verse is a very strong word and means "full knowl edge,” or “thorough knowledge.” It is the word used in Rom. 3:20; 10:2; Col. 3:2, and the related verb is used in the second and third “know” of 1 Cor. 13:12 (see R. V.'margin). By the revelation of the Spirit we come to a “full knowledge” of God as revealed in Christ, and that knowledge is eternal life (John 17:3). Wednesday, June ig. Eph. i:l8. This verse continues the thought of the
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