15 Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints,
Paul launched into his longest prayer in the New Testament in 1:15-23. He prayed twice in Ephesians, here and 3:14-21.
Verses 15 to 23 form one sentence in the Greek; this sentence is a prayer:
Vv. 15-16a, thanks for the Ephesians
Vv. 16b-19, intercession for the Ephesians
Vv. 20-23, praise to God for His mighty power in what He has done through Christ
Therefore
“Therefore” is from the Greek words because of or for this reason. The reason for the following prayer is all that God has done for the Ephesians in verses 3 to 14. Because the believer has acquired every spiritual blessing (election, predestination, adoption, grace, redemption, forgiveness, wisdom, understanding, knowledge of the mystery of the church, the sealing of the Spirit, and an inheritance) Paul prayed that the Ephesians would know God personally.
I [emphatic] also, after I heard
Paul, on his part, ever since he had heard of the faith and love of the Ephesians, prayed for them (vv. 15-23).
of your faith in [the realm] the Lord Jesus
Paul heard of two things about the Ephesian church: (1) their faith and (2) their love. One is vertical and the other horizontal. Their faith here is operational faith, not their initial faith when they first became believers. Their day-by-day faith was impressive to Paul.
and your love for all the saints,
The Ephesian church loved “all” the church, not just most of them. True Christian love is indiscriminate; there are no exceptions. It does not single out some to love and other to hate. This is not to say that God requires us to like everyone equally, but He does require us to love everyone sacrificially.
Dynamic love comes from vibrant faith. It is not possible to have a loveless faith. We cannot love the Lord and not love those He loves (1 Jn 5:1).
PRINCIPLE:
Vertical faith will produce horizontal love.
APPLICATION:
It is possible to love with our faith:
Eph 6:23, Peace to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
If our faith does not make us more loving, then there is something wrong with our faith. This means that we love the unlovely. Some saints are not easy to love. True faith loves all the saints, not just the ones with personality or charisma. We love anyone who loves the Lord Jesus. This kind of love does not rest on personality, attractiveness, or wealth. Biblical love is not primarily feeling but a matter of our will or volition. We prove our faith by our love.
