Ephesians 1:8

Ephesians 1:8. Which he caused to abound toward (lit, ‘into') us. ‘Which' is preferable to ‘wherein,' or, ‘wherewith'; the grace itself was made to flow abundantly to us, in fact into us as the subjects of it

In all wisdom and prudence. This phrase can scarcely be applied to God, for ‘all wisdom' does not mean the highest wisdom, but every kind of wisdom; and ‘prudence' is rarely thus applied. The parallel passage (Colossians 1:9) favors the reference to Christians, and this explanation agrees better with the sweep of the thought. Some join the phrase with ‘having made known' (Ephesians 1:9), but this makes the next clause unnecessarily involved. It is best to join it with the preceding phrase, as indicating the sphere in which the abounding of grace towards us is manifested. ‘All' is to be joined with both nouns; ‘wisdom' is the more general term, ‘prudence' is the resulting intelligence. ‘Wisdom grasps God's doings, perceives and understands His counsels of grace; prudence is directed to what we have to do, looks at our problem and how to solve it; the former sees the relations ordered by God, the latter regulates our conduct accordingly' (Braune). But ‘wisdom' is not purely theoretical, since it is the basis of the more practical ‘prudence.'