<p>1:15 <i>For this cause, I also, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which is among you and the love which you show toward all the saints</i>- Paul felt warmly towards all others who had really believed in Jesus as their Saviour and were rejoicing in sure hope of salvation because of the confirmation they had received from the Spirit (see on :12-14). This is indeed the 'basis of our fellowship' rather than some intellectual commonality on some theological issues. That faith and hope elicits love; hence faith, hope and love indeed go together in Paul's thinking. We take the step of faith in response to God's grace in calling us; we have a sure hope in salvation, confirmed by the gift of the Spirit; and the wonder and joy of it all has to be shown forth quite naturally in love. We are given fellow believers as a particular outlet for that love; hence the reference to &quot;the love... toward all the saints&quot;.</p><p>Paul heard of the spiritual development of the Ephesians (1:15-19), therefore he prayed that God would grant them more knowledge and understanding (:16,17). The dynamic in this Divine confirmation of their freewill effort was God's Spirit power.&nbsp;&nbsp; Paul repeats the prayer in Eph. 3:14-21: &quot;...be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man; that... (ye) may be able to&nbsp;&nbsp; comprehend... to know... to be filled with all the fullness of God&quot;. It is thus by God's Spirit acting on our &quot;inner man&quot; that this greater comprehension of our glorious calling is achieved. He tells them later to be &quot;renewed in the spirit of your mind&quot; (Eph. 4:23), alluding to the Ezekiel passages which speak not only of Israel making themselves a new heart / spirit / mind, but of <i>God</i> giving this to them (Ez. 18:11; 36:26), in confirmation of their efforts. There are examples galore of God acting on the minds of men to give them a certain attitude which they would not otherwise have had (consider how He gave Saul another heart, or gave Israel favour in the eyes of the Egyptians so that they lent to them, Ex. 12:36).</p>