Ephesians 3.20a-The Father's Ability to Accomplish Infinitely Beyond What the Believer Could Request in Prayer or Imagine
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday September 19, 2024
Ephesians Series: Ephesians 3:20a-The Father’s Ability to Accomplish Infinitely Beyond What the Believer Could Request in Prayer or Imagine
Lesson # 186
Ephesians 3:20 Now, on behalf of the one who for His own glory possesses the ability to accomplish infinitely beyond anything that we at any time could urgently request for the benefit of ourselves or at any time could imagine corresponding to His power, which for His own glory is working within each one of us. (Lecturer’s translation)
Now, Ephesians 3:20 is composed of the verb dunamai (δύναμαι), which is modified the complementary infinitive clause hyper panta poiēsai hyperekperissou hōn aitoumetha ē nooumen (ὑπὲρ πάντα ποιῆσαι ὑπερεκπερισσοῦ ὧν αἰτούμεθα ἢ νοοῦμεν), “to accomplish infinitely beyond anything that we at any time could urgently request for the benefit of ourselves or at any time could imagine.”
This complementary infinitive clause is modified by the prepositional phrase kata tēn dynamin tēn energoumenēn en hēmin (κατὰ τὴν δύναμιν τὴν ἐνεργουμένην ἐν ἡμῖν), “corresponding to His power, which for His own glory is working within each one of us” (Author’s translation)
Therefore, Ephesians 3:20 describes God the Father as one who for His own glory possesses the ability to accomplish infinitely beyond anything that the church age believer at any time could urgently request of the Father in prayer for the benefit of ourselves or at any time could imagine.
Paul describes this ability of the Father as corresponding to His power, which for His own glory is working within each one of us.
The verb dunamai (δύναμαι) in this verse pertains to the Father’s “capacity” or “ability” to exercise His divine omnipotence on behalf of each one of the recipients of the Ephesian epistle, who we noted were Gentile church age believers residing in the Roman province of Asia.
Therefore, this verb dunamai (δύναμαι) expresses the idea that the Father “possesses the capacity or power” to accomplish far beyond what they could ask the Father in prayer or imagine corresponding to the power that is working within them.
The participle conjugation of this verb dunamai (δύναμαι) functions as a dative of interest or advantage, which expresses the idea that Paul’s doxology or declaration of praise in Ephesians 3:21 is “for the benefit of” or “on behalf of” the Father.
The present tense of the verb dunamai (δύναμαι) is a gnomic present, which expresses the idea that the Father “as eternal spiritual truth” is able to accomplish far beyond that which they could ask Him in prayer or imagine.
The middle voice of the verb dunamai (δύναμαι) is an indirect middle, which expresses the idea that the Father “for His own benefit” is able to accomplish far beyond what they could ask Him in prayer or imagine.
In other words, the Father “for His own glory” is able to accomplish far beyond what they could ever ask Him in prayer or imagine.
The accusative neuter plural form of the adjective pas (πᾶς), “anything” pertains to a totality of kinds or sorts but is also used in a distributive sense emphasizing no exceptions.
In context, the referent of this word is used in relation of the church age believer presenting urgent prayers to the Father in prayer as indicated by Paul’s use of the verb aiteō (αἰτέω).
It is also used of the church age believer “imagining” the fulfillment of a seemingly impossible prayer request, which is indicated by Paul’s use of the verb noeō (νοέω).
Therefore, this adjective encompasses every minute thing the church age believer might ask or imagine.
It is the object of the preposition hyper (ὑπέρ), which means “beyond” because it functions as a marker of degree which is beyond that of a compared scale of extent.
Therefore, the prepositional phrase hyper panta (ὑπὲρ πάντα), “beyond all” (NET) expresses the idea of the Father possessing the ability to accomplish “beyond anything” the church age believer could urgently request of Him in prayer or imagine.
The verb dunamai (δύναμαι) is modified by the aorist active infinitive conjugation of the verb poieō (ποιέω), which pertains “to causing something to be accomplished, to cause something to be executed” because it pertains to causing something to be carried out fully, to cause something to brought about by effort, i.e., a result.
The referent of this verb is of course the Father and used in relation to blessing the church age believer.
This is indicated by the fact that in Ephesians 3:14-19, Paul’s Spirit inspired intercessory prayer for the recipients of this epistle is that the Father would bless them by means of the Spirit inspired contents of this epistle in knowing experientially the Lord Jesus Christ’s love for each one of them.
The verb poieō (ποιέω) functions as complementary infinitive which means that it is completing the thought of the verb dunamai (δύναμαι), which indicates that the former dentifies what the Father is able to do on behalf of the church age believer.
Therefore, this verb poieō (ποιέω) expresses that the Father is able “to accomplish” far beyond what the church age believer could ask the Father in prayer or imagine.
In context, this would be the church age believer experiencing the blessing of knowing experientially the Lord Jesus Christ’s love for them, which is infinitely beyond what they could ever ask the Father in prayer or even imagine.
The verb poieō (ποιέω) is modified by the adverb of degree hyperekperissou (ὑπερεκπερισσοῦ), which means “far, infinitely, exceedingly” because it pertains to an extraordinary degree, involving a considerable excess over what would be expected.
Therefore, hyperekperissou (ὑπερεκπερισσοῦ) expresses the idea that the Father is able to accomplish “infinitely” what the church age believer could ever ask Him in prayer or imagine in the sense of being do something to an extraordinary degree for them and involving a considerable excess over what they could ever expect.
In context, this again would be the church age believer experiencing the blessing of knowing experientially the Lord Jesus Christ’s love for them, which is infinitely beyond what they could ever ask the Father in prayer or even imagine.
The verb aiteō (αἰτέω) means “to ask for” or “request” something with urgency, thus it speaks of an urgent request.
The referent of first person plural form of this verb is Paul and the recipients of this epistle and every church age believer.
Therefore, this verb expresses the idea of Paul and each one of the recipients of this epistle “urgently requesting from” the Father in prayer a blessing.
The present tense of the verb aiteō (αἰτέω) is a gnomic present, which expresses the idea that the Father is able to accomplish on behalf of the church age believer infinitely beyond what they “at any time” could ever ask Him in prayer.
The middle voice of this verb is an indirect middle, which expresses the idea that it is “for the benefit of” Paul and the recipients of this epistle that they present this hypothetical urgent prayer request to the Father in prayer.
The indicative mood of this verb is a potential indicative, which expresses a hypothetical “desire” presented to the Father by the church age believer.
The particle ē (ἤ), “or” expresses the alternative between the church age believer urgently requesting in prayer a particular desire be fulfilled by the Father and that of the church age believer imagining this desire being fulfilled by the Father.
The verb noeō (νοέω) pertains to a mental image of something that is not present or that is not the case.
The referent of first person plural form of this verb is Paul and the recipients of this epistle.
Therefore, this verb expresses the idea of Paul and each one of the recipients of this epistle “imagining” a particular desire being fulfilled by the Father.
The present tense of the verb noeō (νοέω) is also a gnomic present, which expresses the idea that the Father is able to accomplish on behalf of the church age believer infinitely beyond what they “at any time” could ever imagine.