Prayer for the Holy Spirit.
The Ephesian saints had already received the Spirit, for they had been sealed by him; but the apostle wishes the Spirit to become a spirit of wisdom and revelation, for further enlargement in a spiritual sense can only be realized in the direction of new knowledge. Some persons say it is wrong to pray for the Holy Spirit, as it seems to imply that he has not already come. The apostle here expressly prays for the Spirit. Our prayers always acknowledge the Spirit as already come, and already operating with power in the Church, and what we desire from time to time is the individual application of his blessings to our hearts. Similarly, the apostle wishes grace and peace to Churches which already rejoiced in the experience of both blessings. "Ye have received an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things." Jesus is the Holy One; his Spirit is the unction; the knowledge of all things the result. This unction imparts the germ and substance of all knowledge.—T.C.