Ephesians 3.17b-Through the Post-Justification Faith of the Church Age Believer Christ's Power Will Dwell in Their Hearts
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday August 27, 2024
Ephesians Series: Ephesians 3:17b-Through the Post-Justification Faith of the Church Age Believer Christ’s Power Will Dwell in Their Hearts
Lesson # 176
Ephesians 3:14 For this reason, I make it my habit of bending my knees in the presence of the Father 15 from whom each and every family located in the heavens as well as located upon the earth is designated a name. 16 I make it a habit of occupying myself with praying that according to the wealth produced by His glory He would cause each and every one of you as a corporate unit to be given strength by means of power through the personal intermediate agency of His Spirit for the benefit of your inner being. 17 Namely that the one and only Christ’s power would dwell in your hearts through your faith …because each and every one of you are firmly rooted, yes specifically, because of all of you without exception are firmly established by means of the practice of divine-love. (Lecturer’s translation)
Ephesians 3:17 is composed of the following:
(1) complementary infinitival clause: katoikēsai ton Christon dia tēs pisteōs en tais kardiais hymōn (κατοικῆσαι τὸν Χριστὸν διὰ τῆς πίστεως ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ὑμῶν), “namely that the one and only Christ’s power would dwell in your hearts through your faith” (Author’s translation)
(2) causal participial clause: en agapē errizōmenoi kai tethemeliōmenoi (ἐν ἀγάπῃ ἐρριζωμένοι καὶ τεθεμελιωμένοι), “because each and every one of you are firmly rooted, yes specifically, because of all of you without exception are firmly established by means of the practice of divine-love.” (Author’s translation)
Now, the reader must be aware of the fact that the conjunction hina (ἵνα), which appears in Ephesians 3:18 introduces the assertion exischysēte katalabesthai syn pasin tois hagiois ti to platos kai mēkos kai hypsos kai bathos (ἐξισχύσητε καταλαβέσθαι σὺν πᾶσιν τοῖς ἁγίοις τί τὸ πλάτος καὶ μῆκος καὶ ὕψος καὶ βάθος), “you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth.” (NET)
The thought from this assertion in Ephesians 3:18 is completed in Ephesians 3:17 with the causal participial clause en agapē errizōmenoi kai tethemeliōmenoi (ἐν ἀγάπῃ ἐρριζωμένοι καὶ τεθεμελιωμένοι), “because you have been rooted and grounded in love.” (NET)
This is indicated by the fact that both of these assertions form a single thought which are being introduced by the conjunction hina (ἵνα).
As we will note, the participial clause which completes Ephesians 3:18 is causal for emphasis.
Therefore, the translation of the conjunction hina (ἵνα) should be translated before the causal participle clause in Ephesians 3:17 rather than to begin Ephesians 3:18.
The complementary infinitival clause in Ephesians 3:17 parallels the infinitival clause direct object clause dynamei krataiōthēnai dia tou pneumatos autou eis ton esō anthrōpon (δυνάμει κραταιωθῆναι διὰ τοῦ πνεύματος αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸν ἔσω ἄνθρωπον), “to be given strength by means of power through the personal intermediate agency of His Spirit for the benefit of your inner being,” which appears in Ephesians 3:16.
In fact, the infinitival clause in Ephesians 3:17 explains the one in Ephesians 3:16.
Now, the infinitival clause here in Ephesians 3:17 contains the articular accusative masculine singular form of the proper name Christos (Χριστός), which contains the figure of metonymy which means that the person of Christ, who is Jesus of Nazareth, the incarnate Son of God, is put for His power or omnipotence.
The articular dative feminine plural form of the noun kardia (καρδία), which means “hearts” and refers specifically to the hearts of the recipients of this epistle who were Gentile church age believers living in the various cities and towns in the Roman province of Asia.
The verb katoikeō (κατοικέω) in Ephesians 3:17 is used in a figurative or spiritual sense in relation to Jesus Christ and is used of the power of Christ living in the hearts of the recipients of the Ephesian epistle.
It is used in the context of the spiritual growth of church age believers while in fellowship with the triune God.
Specifically, as we noted, it speaks of the power of Christ living in the hearts of these believers when they exercise faith in the Spirit inspired contents of this letter.
This verb speaks of the power of Christ indwelling the hearts of the recipients of this epistle in the sense of taking possession of every aspect of their heart.
Namely, it speaks of the power of Christ taking possession of their thoughts or mental activity, their frame of reference and memory center as well as their vocabulary and classification of thoughts, including their conscience and subconscious and lastly, their volition.
That this verb katoikeō (κατοικέω) does not refer to the permanent indwelling of Christ but rather it is related to their fellowship with God is indicated by the fact that here in Ephesians 3:17 Paul is speaking to those who are already believers.
Now, the infinitive conjugation of the verb katoikeō (κατοικέω) functions as a complementary infinitive which means that it is completing the thought of the third person singular aorist active subjunctive conjugation of the verb didōmi (δίδωμι), “he may grant,” which appears also in Ephesians 3:16.
This verb thus parallels the verb krataioō (κραταιόω), which appears in Ephesians 3:16.
This is indicated by the fact that the latter also functions as a complementary infinitive because it too is completing the thought of the third person singular aorist active subjunctive conjugation of the verb didōmi (δίδωμι), “he may grant.”
Both verbs are complementary infinitives because they identify for the reader what Paul is asking the Father in prayer to grant the recipients of this letter.
The complementary infinitival clause in verse 17 explains the one in verse 16 rather than presenting a second prayer request.
This is indicated by the fact that to be strengthened by means of power through the personal intermediate agency of the Spirit requires that the recipients of this letter exercise faith in the Spirit inspired teaching of the apostle Paul, which appears in this epistle.
Secondly, in 1 Corinthians 1:24, Paul asserts that Christ is the power of God.
Thirdly, Paul in Ephesians 3:16 asserts that he prayed that the Father would grant the recipients of this epistle to be given strength by means of power through the personal intermediate agency of the Spirit for the benefit of their inner being i.e., the indwelling nature of Christ.
Thus, because Paul wants the recipients of this letter to be strengthen spiritually by receiving the omnipotence provided by the Spirit, when Paul asserts he wants Christ to indwell them, he is referring to the power of Christ.
This power is received by the church age believer when they appropriate by faith the Spirit inspired power of the Scriptures and in context, the Spirit inspired contents of Ephesians.
Thus, this infinitival clause in Ephesians 3:17 speaks of the recipients of this epistle appropriating by faith the Spirit inspired contents of this letter, which contain the omnipotence of God since Hebrews 4:12 asserts that God’s Word is power.
Therefore, the recipients of this letter would possess the omnipotence of Christ dwelling in their hearts as a result of appropriating by faith the Spirit inspired contents of this letter.
This would cause their indwelling nature of Christ to have more power over their hearts than the indwelling old Adamic sin nature.
The former gets fed through the truth communicated by the Spirit inspired Scriptures whereas the latter is strengthened by the lies from Satan’s cosmic system and old Adamic indwelling sin nature.
Consequently, they would be strengthened spiritually to do the Father’s will.
By appropriating by faith the Spirit inspired contents of this epistle and possessing the omnipotence of Christ in their hearts, the recipients of this letter would have the capacity to practice the Lord Jesus Christ’s command in John 13:34 and 15:12 to love one another as He has loved them.
Thus, they would be able to comprehend the breadth, length, height and depth of Christ’s love for them.
This is because they were firmly rooted and grounded spiritually because of their obedience to this Spirit inspired command to love one another.
The noun pistis (πίστις) we noted does not refer to justifying faith but rather to the post-justification faith in the Spirit contents of this epistle by the recipients of this epistle.
This is indicated by the fact that Paul is writing to those Gentile sinners who have already been declared justified by the Father through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ.
The articular construction of this noun functions as a possessive pronoun and is thus expressing possession indicating that this post-justification faith is “the possession of” the recipients of this epistle.
This noun is the object of the preposition dia (διά), which means “through” or “by means of” since the word functions as a marker of means.
This would indicate that the post-justification faith of the recipients of this epistle is “the means by which” the power of Christ dwells in their hearts.
So therefore, when Paul asserts that he desires that the recipients of this epistle have the power of Christ dwelling in their hearts, he wants the Lord’s omnipotence affecting every aspect of their soul, namely that which circulates thought or mental activity as well as their frame of reference and memory center.
He wants the Lord’s power to affect their vocabulary and the classification of their thoughts as well as their conscience where their norms and standards reside.
The apostle wants the subconscious of these Christians to be affected where various categories of things that shock or impress them as a result experiencing adversity, sin, failure or disappointment are located in the sense that it will empower them to overcome these things.
Lastly, Paul wants their volition, which enables them to make decisions, to be affected in the sense that they exercise faith in Paul’s Spirit inspired teaching, which appears in this letter, in order to appropriate the power of Christ, which enables them to obey the various commands, prohibitions and requests, which appear in Ephesians 4-6.
