Eph. 3:14-21
Intro
3:17b–19. Paul continued his prayer by repeating his request that Christ be the center of believers’ lives. He stated this in a mixed metaphor of biological and architectural terminology: being rooted (like a plant) and established (like a building) in love. The participles “being rooted and established” are in the perfect tense, indicating a past action with continuing results. They could be translated “having been rooted and established.”
These measurements most likely describe not the thoroughness of comprehension but the immensity of the thing to be comprehended.
Paul spoke of the Trinity: the Father (v. 14), the Spirit (v. 16), and the Son (v. 17).
The content of this comprehension is to know experientially the love of Christ that supersedes all knowledge (cf. Phil. 4:7). The more a Christian knows about Christ, the more amazed he is at Christ’s love for him.
The final purpose is that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Paul prayed that it might be experientially realized in each one (cf. Eph. 4:13). Experiencing God’s moral excellence and perfection causes Jewish and Gentile believers to love each other. Positionally they are one in Christ; experientially they are to love each other as one in Him.
The prayer has three uses of hina (‘in order that’) that tie the whole request together. In this verse hina gives the content of the prayer. The other two uses, in verses 18 and 9b, give the goals of this strengthening in a kind of cascading sequence, with one goal feeding the other.
Paul is praying for them to be enabled and strengthened to face what is in the world. This power comes through the Spirit working deep inside the person.
Just as riches were noted in the earlier prayer, so was might, or ‘power’ (1:19).
This is about God giving enablement that otherwise would not exist. That is why the means of this enablement is the Spirit of God. They already possess the Spirit, who sealed their salvation (Eph. 1:13–14). So the request is about drawing on what God has already provided (Phil. 4:19; Col. 1:11).
Chapter 1 contained the prayer to grasp the power, while here we have the request to be able to apply it. The inner man is not merely a psychological description but a reference to all that makes us who we are to be in thought and action. In Christ we are given the means and capability to be what we previously could not be.
Paul desires that they might reflect the presence and character of Christ in their lives. Their faith will energize them to draw on the strength and mirror the character of God. The resource to get there is the strength God has given them in the Spirit. It is Christ dwelling in them, being at home in the person, that is another goal. Here Paul calls for his effective presence. The term for dwell (katoikeō) refers to a residing, a habitation, not a temporary stay. This picture of dwelling is a variation of what was said about the community in 2:21–22. They are a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
So the faith here is not the initial faith alone, but also its continuing character. To trust Christ to save is to set the stage for trusting him in that subsequent walk of life.
The context for this activity is in love being rooted and grounded. The word order of the Greek is reflected in my translation here to show that the emphasis is on love, as it comes at the start of the expression.
Our identity and security come from grasping the depth of God’s love for us and drawing on it for spiritual solidity.
18. A result of all of this strengthening in understanding and action is [that] you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth.
2901. κραταιόω krataiŏō, krat-ah-yŏ´-o; from 2900; to empower, i.e. (pass.) increase in vigor:—be strenghtened, be (wax) strong.
3194 κραταιόω (krataioō), κραταιόομαι (krataioomai): vb.; ≡ DBLHebr 2616; Str 2901; TDNT 3.912—1. LN 23.134 (dep.) become strong, healthy, vigorous (Lk 2:40+); 2. LN 76.10 (dep.) become powerful, be strong, have force (Lk 1:80; 1Co 16:13; Eph 3:16+), note there may be overlap in these entries and verses
2015 ἐξισχύω (exischuō): vb.; ≡ Str 1840—LN 74.10 be fully able, have power, be strong enough (Eph 3:18+)
1840. ἐξισχύω ĕxischuō, ex-is-khoo´-o; from 1537 and 2480; to have full strength, i.e. be entirely competent:—be able.
ἐξισχύω (exischyō), VB. be strong enough. fut.act. ἐξισχύσητε; aor.act. ἐξίσχυσεν.
Verb Usage
1. to be able — to be or become sufficient to meet a need or task. Sense
The verb exischyō means ‘to be able to do something’ and appears only here in the New Testament. It is connected to the infinitive katalabesthai, which means ‘to capture information’, ‘to comprehend something’. The word pictures a process by which knowledge is gained.
All of this suggests that we are talking about appreciating the limitlessness of all we have. That certainly includes knowing God’s love in Christ, but other elements may also be in the mix.
19. An experiential goal concludes the prayer. The ultimate goal in all of this is that they might know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fulness of God. The reality of Christ’s love is to so overwhelm them that it penetrates beyond understanding into life.
that God’s love and wisdom and strength might so permeate them that they become mature as a people.
Paul’s prayer is for a vibrant spiritual life. This requires God’s strength, an appreciation and embrace of God’s wisdom, a living faith, resting in the security and stability that come from God’s love, and an appreciation of the vastness and endless supply of all of these. God’s Spirit supplies these things, and our faith opens the door to them.