The following is taken from my Commentary on Ephesians. I am posting this excerpt from the book because of its relevance to the previous blog entry.

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Therefore, "the eyes of your heart" is just another way of saying, "the understanding of your mind." Paul is thus praying for his readers to receive an intellectual understanding about spiritual things, especially the doctrines that he mentions in this same letter. As Psalm 119:18 states, "Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law." Likewise, O'Brien agrees that Paul is emphasizing a person's "thinking."

This point has tremendous implications for Christian life and development. As long as some Christians think that real spiritual wisdom depends on something "beyond" the intellectual understanding of spiritual things, they will keep on trying to grasp biblical truths with this non-mental part of their person. The problem is that this non-mental part does not exist, so that they will always be striving to accomplish something that cannot be done, with a part of their person that does not exist.

Instead of chasing after mystical fantasies, we should embrace the simplicity of the biblical model, that spiritual progress is founded on the mind – on the intellectual – and it comes from a genuine understanding of and a sincere agreement to what God has revealed in Scripture, and then a faithful obedience to what one has learned. To say it again, the biblical way consists of intellectual understanding, sincere agreement, and faithful obedience, not some nonsense about transferring knowledge from the head to the heart.

Another implication of Paul's prayer is that true spiritual enlightenment and progress depends on petitioning the personal God, and using the means that this God has ordained; it does not come from harnessing one's own abilities or manipulating impersonal or even demonic forces. In fact, Scripture rejects the idea that we have any inherent abilities to attain true spiritual enlightenment, and of course, to cooperate with impersonal or even demonic forces would only lead to spiritual disaster and bondage.

The biblical way to spiritual growth opposes all deistic ideas and tendencies, and all mystical and occult means. In other words, although God has ordained various means to help us gain spiritual knowledge and moral progress, and although all of these means are founded on an intellectual understanding of revealed propositions, this does not at all exclude the necessity of God's direct participation to render these means effective. Rejecting mysticism and anti-intellectualism does not result in deism; rather, biblical intellectualism depends on God's immanence – his grace and power at work in our lives and our minds. Therefore, while we diligently take advantage of all the means that God has provided for our spiritual progress, we also earnestly petition him for spiritual enlightenment.

Biblical intellectualism is also against the occult and counterfeit spiritual teachings and practices. Instead of practicing a type of "meditation" in which one empties his mind, repeats a mantra, or focuses on the self or the world, biblical meditation is not a practice of passive non-thinking, but it is a practice of rigorous active theological thinking, disciplining the mind to focus on God's word. The purpose is not to deify the self or to identify with God, but to abase the self and to glorify our God.

In light of these crucial differences, non-Christian attempts at spiritual enlightenment are not only absurd and ineffective, but dangerous and destructive.

One young man sought to improve his intellect and attain spiritual power through a studious lifestyle of occult study and meditation. Instead of gaining what he desired, this so crippled his mind that he at times had difficulty performing even regular mental functions.

But then, God sovereignly and suddenly converted him, and inwardly moved him to read through the New Testament from Matthew to Revelation. Although he could not understand all that he read, by the time he finished reading Revelation, his mind was completely cured, and made better than before. Since then, God has continued to grant him greater spiritual wisdom by means of his word.

The process was not mystical or spectacular, but it appeared rather intellectual and ordinary, and yet it was by this seemingly mundane practice that true spiritual power was finally unleashed in this man's life. The God-ordained means of Bible reading provided the occasion for divine power to work within, resulting in a great deliverance and true spiritual enlightenment. The damage that had accumulated over many years through intense participation in the occult was wiped out in a matter of days by just "reading a book." This is true spiritual power.

Most Charismatics and many Evangelicals have exchanged true spiritual power with counterfeit spiritual power, and true wisdom with mystical nonsense. Instead of wielding intellectual weapons inspired and energized by "divine power to demolish strongholds" (2 Corinthians 10:4), they have exchanged them for mystical practices inspired and energized by their own flesh. Scripture teaches that the strongholds we must demolish consist of intellectual "arguments" (v. 5). But some have altogether missed the nature of this spiritual conflict – that we are to "take captive every thought" – and so they spend their time screaming prayers and rebukes at demons in the sky.

In the light of Paul's prayer, we ought to examine our own priorities in prayer and in life, to see whether they are consistent with the apostle's thinking. What are our priorities in prayer? What do we emphasize in life? Where do we invest our money? How do we spend our time?

Many people are most concerned with wealth, health, comfort, popularity, and achievements that build up their pride. What about when we are praying for our friends, relatives, and children? Do we mainly focus on their jobs and prospects, and that the children may do well in sports? But whereas "the pagans run after all these things" (Matthew 6:32), we as believers must turn our attention to higher things. Like animals and infants, non-Christians primarily react to and are driven by their felt needs. Christians, on the other hand, must primarily react to and be driven by the precepts of God.

When it comes to spiritual progress, how do we pray? Do we pray for strange feelings and spectacular experiences? Do we ask for mystical divine encounters? Do we yearn to transcend our minds altogether, rather than to build it up by the teachings of Christ? Paul prays for spiritual wisdom and understanding. In addition, he expects God to answer such a prayer in conjunction with divinely ordained means, that is, the teachings of Scripture. So he is unlike those who, while they do pray for spiritual enlightenment from God, think that it will come apart from the means that God himself has ordained. Instead, they imagine that after praying for spiritual insight, just about any idea that they can come up with must be correct and biblical. This is a false conception of charismata.

We must have a proper attitude toward the means of grace, and a proper view concerning the relationship between divine power and human instruments, and the understanding that even the human instruments depend on divine power to function. That is, although it is true that God enlightens the minds of his chosen ones while human ministers preach to them, even these preachers preach only because they have been sovereignly sent (Romans 10:15). Therefore, we do not just pray "open my eyes," but we pray, "Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law" (Psalm 119:18).

Recommended:

Vincent Cheung, Commentary on Ephesians

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