17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power (Ephesians 1:17–19, NKJV)
The Holy Trinity:
The Father
The Lord Jesus Christ
The Spirit
Give:
Wisdom, knowledge, understanding, enlightenment, Hope of a calling, riches of glory, an inheritance, exceeding power
To Believers!
Help me receive My Lord! Amen!
MAGISTERIUM
In Catholic teaching, the phrase in **Ephesians 1:17**—"that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him" —does not mean that the Father is the "God of Jesus" in the sense of Jesus lacking divinity or being a lesser god. Instead, it expresses the **intratrinitarian relationship** between the Father and the Son, where the Father is the principle without origin (the "Father of glory"), and the Son, while eternally God and consubstantial with the Father, addresses the Father as his God in his incarnate humanity and in the economy of salvation (e.g., as in Jesus' prayer in John 20:17). This interpretation harmonizes with the Church's doctrine of the Trinity, as affirmed in creeds like Nicaea-Constantinople.
### Scriptural Context in Ephesians
St. Paul invokes this title for the Father while praying for the Ephesians to receive wisdom and revelation, linking it to the Apostle's desire for believers to grasp divine mysteries. The epistle emphasizes the **unity of the Church as the body of Christ**, built on apostles and prophets, with charisms serving this unity rather than autonomous structures. The "God of our Lord Jesus Christ" underscores the Father's sending of graces through the Son and Spirit, without implying subordinationism.
### The Church's Authoritative Interpretation
The provided sources stress that Scripture must be interpreted by the Church's Magisterium to ensure **accordance between biblical meaning and Catholic doctrine**:
- The Council of Trent and Vatican councils affirm the Church's sole right "to judge the true sense and interpretation of the sacred scriptures," preventing private interpretations that contradict tradition.
- **Dei Verbum** (Vatican II) entrusts authentic interpretation "only to those charged with the Church's ongoing teaching function," exercised in Christ's name, while serving the Word of God.
- Exegesis requires harmony with doctrine, the Church Fathers, and the analogy of faith—the coherence of truths within Revelation.
- As Pope Benedict XVI notes in *Verbum Domini*, Scripture is the Church's book, interpreted in her faith and life by the same Spirit who inspired it.
This "principle of accordance" is shared across Christian traditions, presuming no disjunction between what Scripture teaches and what the Church holds. Modern methods (e.g., historical-critical) are valid only when guided by these criteria, avoiding gnostic autonomy.
### Addressing Potential Misreadings
Some might read the verse through a subordinationist lens (e.g., Arianism), but the sources rule this out by insisting on interpretation within the **living tradition** and the Church's rule of faith. The epistle's broader context—Christ as head of the body, with ministers like apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers building unity (Eph 4:11)—reinforces Christ's divine preeminence.
The sources do not provide a verse-specific commentary resolving every nuance of Ephesians 1:17's Trinitarian implications, but they uniformly direct us to the Magisterium for fidelity to Catholic teaching, where this phrase affirms relational distinctions within the one Godhead.
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