ealth of the fulness of "understanding" means
an abundance of conviction, both intellectual and moral, that Christianity
is what it claims to be, and that the Christian life is the perfect
satisfaction of all the different parts of man's nature. He prays that
they may "rise to the whole wealth of the full exercise of their
intelligence" (Moule). Just as we find elsewhere "the fulness of faith"
(Heb. x. 22), "the fulness of hope" (Heb. vi. 11), and "much fulness" (1
Thess. i. 5), so here the Apostle desires them to enjoy to the full the
intelligent grasping of assurance of Christian truth which was theirs in
Christ.

In the same spirit Luke writes to Theophilus: "That thou mightest know the
certainty of those things wherein thou hast been instructed." A firm
conviction of the understanding is one of the greatest needs, as it is
also one of the greatest blessings, of the Christian life. If a Christian
cannot say, "I know," "I am persuaded," he is lacking in one of the prime
essentials of a vigorous experience. Let us ponder, then, this remarkable
phrase, "the whole wealth of the fulness of intelligence," and see in it
one of the absolute necessities of daily experience.

But how does it come? It is the result of the foregoing "comfort" and
"love." Hearts made strong mean minds fully assured. Hearts full of love
mean intellects full of knowledge and conviction. Let no one say that love
is blind: on the contrary, it is love that sees and knows. It was the
Apostle of love who was the first with spiritual insight to say, "It is
the Lord," on that memorable early morning on the Lake of Galilee. It is
the Christian with a heart strong and full of love who will have the
"wealth of the fulness of intelligence." The same is true of a Church, for
when it is strong and united in love, there will come such an influx of
conviction and certitude that the world will be impressed by the
demonstration of the truth of the Christian Gospel.

He asked for spiritual _knowledge_: "To the full knowledge of the mystery
of God and the Father, even Christ" (not as A.V.). Here, again, we have a
favourite word of these Epistles, "full knowledge," that is, ripe, mature
experience; and it means the experience of all that is summed up in the
one word "Christ." In view of the dangerous errors, then rife and
increasing, of a special knowledge confined only to a few, to an
intellectual aristocracy, the Apostle lays stress upon the possibility of
every C