Ephesians 1:15-23

2. Thanksgiving and Supplication for the Church as the Body of Christ, who is the Head.

The Apostle naturally passes from praise to thanksgiving, on behalf of the Church, which as naturally becomes supplication. The thanksgiving is for their faith and love, and is uttered in his prayers (Ephesians 1:15-16). The petition, ever joined with it, is that God would make them ‘know the glory of their calling and inheritance as well as of His power (Ephesians 1:17-19), which He has shown and will show in the Redemption through Christ, the Head of the Church (Ephesians 1:20-23).' Braune. The closing verses present the fundamental thought of the Epistle. Stier, here as elsewhere, finds a Trinitarian division, which does not, however, seem very distinctly marked. The Apostle rather prays that they may know more and more of the great things God has wrought in His redeeming work, the crowning fact of which is ‘Christ, the Head over all things as Head of the Church, His body.'