Ephesians 3.19b-Knowledge of Jesus Christ's Love for the Church Age Believer is Incomprehensible
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday September 12, 2024
Ephesians Series: Ephesians 3:19b-Knowledge of Jesus Christ’s Love for the Church Age Believer is Incomprehensible
Lesson # 183
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, 18 each and every one of you as a corporate unit would cause yourselves to be able to fully comprehend with each and every one of the saints what constitutes being the breadth, length, height and depth (of Christ’s love for each and every one of you as a corporate unit). 19 Ultimately, to cause each one of you as a corporate unit to know the one and only Christ’s love for all of you without exception, which in comparison is an incomprehensible knowledge, in order to cause each one of you as a corporate unit to fulfill the purpose of experiencing the absolute fullness, namely, the one and only God’s love for all of you without exception. (Lecturer’s translation)
Ephesians 3:19 is composed of the following:
(1) complementary infinitival clause: gnōnai…tēn hyperballousan tēs gnōseōs agapēn tou Christou (γνῶναί…τὴν ὑπερβάλλουσαν τῆς γνώσεως ἀγάπην τοῦ Χριστοῦ), “to cause each one of you as a corporate unit to know the one and only Christ’s love for the benefit of all of you without exception, which in comparison is an incomprehensible knowledge.” (Author’s translation)
(2) hina (ἵνα) purpose-result clause: hina plērōthēte eis pan to plērōma tou theou (ἵνα πληρωθῆτε εἰς πᾶν τὸ πλήρωμα τοῦ θεοῦ), “in order to cause each one of you as a corporate unit to fulfill the purpose of experiencing the absolute fullness, namely, the one and only God’s love for all of you without exception.” (Author’s translation)
The complementary infinitival clause advances upon and intensifies the one which appears in Ephesians 3:18.
The latter expresses Paul’s Spirit inspired desire that the recipients of this epistle would cause themselves to be able to fully comprehend with each and every one of the saints what constitutes the breadth, length, height and depth.
The former expresses his Spirit inspired desire that they know experientially Jesus Christ’s love for them.
Therefore, the advancement and intensification is between “comprehending” and “knowing experientially” Jesus Christ’s love for the recipients of this epistle.
This interpretation is indicated by the fact that in Ephesians 3:18, the verb katalambanomai (καταλαμβάνομαι) speaks of the recipients of this epistle grasping the nature, significance or meaning of the four dimensions of Christ’s love for them.
On the other hand, as we will note, in Ephesians 3:19, the verb ginōskō (γινώσκω) speaks of the recipients of this epistle “knowing experientially” Jesus Christ’s love for them.
The latter is an advancement upon the former because it requires that the believer accept by faith Jesus Christ’s love for them, which gives them the capacity to practice the Lord’s command in John 13:34 and 15:12 to love one another as He loved the church age believer.
To “comprehend” something is to grasp it with the intellect.
However, to “experience” something is to personally encounter it.
The verb ginōskō (γινώσκω) speaks of the recipients of this epistle “knowing” the Lord Jesus Christ’s love for them “experientially” in the sense of personally encountering this love through the process of experiential sanctification (i.e., fellowship) as this love is revealed in the pages of Scripture and in prayer by God the Holy Spirit.
It also involves being affected by this encounter with the Lord’s love for them resulting in the gaining of practical spiritual wisdom and more of the character of Christ.
The noun agapē (ἀγάπη), “love” does not refer to the function of human love but rather the exercise of divine-love because it originates from the character and nature of the triune God (1 John 4:8).
It is also reproduced in the church age believer by the Holy Spirit when the believer exercises faith in the Spirit inspired contents of Scripture and in context, the Ephesian epistle (Gal. 5:22-23).
This post-justification faith provides the church age believer the capacity to practice the command to love another as Christ loves them.
God’s attribute of love is experienced by the child of God and reproduced and manifested in them by God the Holy Spirit when they respond to God’s love for them by accepting by faith this love for them.
This faith is demonstrated by their obedience to the Son’s Spirit inspired command in John 13:34 to love one another as He loves and which command originates with the Father.
Obedience to this command manifests the believer’s love for God according to John 14:15 and 1 John 4:21.
Therefore, when the child of God obeys the command to love their fellow child of God, it is a love which is divine in quality and character because is resides in the character and nature of God and is reproduced in the Christian by the Spirit when they obey this Spirit inspired command.
This reproduction of the love of God in the life of the child is called “the fruit of the Spirit” by the apostle Paul in Galatians 5:22.
The proper name Christos (Χριστός), “the one and only Christ” functions as a subjective genitive, which means that the genitive substantive functions semantically as the subject of the verbal idea implicit in the head noun, which is the noun agapē (ἀγάπη).
Therefore, this construction speaks of Jesus Christ’s love for the church age believer rather than the church age believer’s love for Him.
The articular accusative feminine singular present active participle conjugation of the verb hyperballō (ὑπερβάλλω), “incomprehensible” expresses the idea that Jesus Christ’s love for the church age believer is impossible to comprehend without the aid of the Holy Spirit.
Thus, it is impossible for unregenerate human beings to comprehend.
The noun gnōsis (γνῶσις), “knowledge” speaks of the church age believer’s experiential knowledge of Jesus Christ’s love for them.
This knowledge is described here as incomprehensible.
With this word, Paul is using the figure of “oxymoron,” in which what is said at first sight appears to be foolish, yet when we come to consider it, we find it exceedingly wise.
It is a smart saying, which unites words whose literal meanings appear to be incongruous, if not contradictory; but they are so cleverly and wisely joined together as to enhance the real sense of the words.
Therefore, in Ephesians 3:19 when Paul speaks of the church age believer knowing Jesus Christ experientially and yet describes it as knowledge which is incomprehensible, it appears a contradictory statement.
However, it is exceedingly wise because this experientially knowledge of Jesus Christ’s love for the church age believer is not incomprehensible to the child of God who exercises faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ and accepts Him as Savior, which enables them to first experience this love.
It is continually experienced by the child of God who continues to exercise faith in Jesus Christ after justification, which enables them to practice the command to love one another.
Remember, the apostle John taught in 1 John 4:19 that the child of God practicing the command to love one another only because God loved us first through His Son, Jesus Christ.
1 John 4:19 Each one of us does practice divine-love because He Himself in contrast to us loved each one of us. (Lecturer’s translation)
The apostle John solemnly asserts in 1 John 4:19 that he and each one of the recipients of First John did practice divine-love because God the Father in contrast to them first loved each one of them.
It is emphasizing with the recipients of First John that God the Father took the initiative in that He loved them before they loved Him.
In fact, the Father loved them when they were His enemies because they were enslaved to sin, and Satan as Paul so eloquently states in Romans 5:6-8.
Jimmy Parks writes “The initial sounds of to know’ (γνῶναί gnōnai) are the same as ‘knowledge’ (γνώσεως gnōseōs). The similarity between the initial sounds of these words creates the wordplay.”
Now, the noun gnōsis (γνῶσις) functions as a genitive of comparison, which indicates that it is making a comparison between Jesus Christ’s love He demonstrated on the cross for all of unregenerate humanity who were His enemies and that of unregenerate humanity being unable to comprehend this act as a demonstration of God’s love.