The Riches of His Glorious Inheritance- Ephesians 1:18

As we continue in our examination of Paul’s prayer for believers in Ephesians 1, we will recall that Paul prayed that all believers would comprehend and grow to experience three things. The first is the “hope of His calling”, which we saw means that he prayed that each believer would comprehend who we are and what we are to become, and that God calls every ome of us to be what we are created to be and do what we are called to do. The second is that each believer would understand and experience the “riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints”. The Greek word riches here is ploutos, the root of which means to “be full or satisfied”. It is as we live out the hope of His calling that we discover true riches, it is only in this that we will be truly fulfilled, it is only in this that the human heart can be truly satisfied. True riches are not found in material things, but in discovering who we truly are and what we are created and called to do. This calling is described here as a “glorious inheritance”. The Greek word inheritance is kleronomia, from a root word meaning “lot”, as in lots being drawn, as in one’s “lot” in life, a place and position which have been determined by another and which are to be filled by the heir. As believers, our inheritance is determined by God, and is to be discovered and lived out by us. Our inheritance is our place in God’s kingdom, it consists of what God has determined our possibilities are, and it is our responsibility to discover our inheritance and devote our lives to fulfilling it, to finding it and living it out. Our “lot”, both in this life and in eternity, is determined by God, and each of us find true fulfillment and satisfaction as we discover and fill our place in God’s kingdom, as we live in the fullness of our inheritance. This inheritance is referred to here as “glorious”, the Greek word doxa. The root of this word describes an opinion, one’s doxa was the opinion others had of them, their reputation, what others thought of them. Paul’s use here, however, would be more in line with the Hebrew understanding of glory, the Hebrew word chabod. The root of this word describes something which is “weighty”, it is that character within someone or something which makes an impression upon others and demands recognition. So we find here that Paul uses the term glory not in reference to the subjective opinions of others, but to something which is inherent in the one who is glorious, and to be recognized and acknowledged by others. The glory mentioned here belongs to God, only God is truly “glorious”. Any glory seen in any of God’s creation is seen merely because it is a reflection of Him. God created all things for His glory, and anything He created brings glory to Him by doing what He created it to do. The same is true here of every human being. Each of us was created by God for a specific purpose (here as called to an inheritance), and we bring God glory when we do what He created us to do. Doing so then brings us true riches, for it is only as we discover and do what we are created and called to do that our souls will find true fulfillment. These true riches are only available, however, to the “saints”, to those who have accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. It is only those who are in Christ who are able to fulfill their true purpose, to find true riches, to live out their glorious inheritance in the saints. So what we find Paul prays for here is that each and every believer would understand exactly what his or her “possibilities” are, and would respond to God’s invitation to discover and live out those possibilities, for it is in doing so that the we discover true riches. He prays also that we would all find our ultimate satisfaction in finding and fulfilling our purpose and place in His kingdom, for it is only as we do so that we will ultimately bring glory to God and live in the fullness of His blessing, both here and now and for all eternity.