Ephesians 3.20b-The Father Was Exerting His Power in the Lives of the Recipients of the Epistle
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Saturday September 21, 2024
Ephesians Series: Ephesians 3:20b-The Father Was Exerting His Power in the Lives of the Recipients of the Epistle
Lesson # 187
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.” (Lecturer’s translation)
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” (Lecturer’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 noun dunamis (δύναμις) means “power” and contains the Father’s power or omnipotence.
It is the object of the preposition kata (κατά), which marks the correspondence between the exercise of the Father’s omnipotence in the lives of the church age believer and the Father’s ability to accomplish on behalf of each of them far beyond what they could ever ask from Him in prayer or imagine.
The dative first person plural form of the personal pronoun egō (ἐγώ) means “each and every one of us” because it not only emphasizes the recipients of this epistle as a corporate unit but is also used in a distributive sense emphasizing them as individuals expressing the Father’s concern and love for each of them.
This word is the object of the preposition en (ἐν), which marks the lives of each one of the recipients of this epistle as the location in which the Father performs His activity by means of the exertion of His omnipotence.
The verb energeō (ἐνεργέω) speaks of the exertion of the Father’s His omnipotence or divine power in the life of the church age believer.
The present tense of the verb is a gnomic present, which expresses the idea that the Father “as eternal spiritual truth” is working in the lives of the recipients of this epistle by means of the exercise of His omnipotence.
The middle voice of the verb is an indirect middle, which expresses the idea that the Father “for His own benefit” is working in the lives of each one of the recipients of this epistle by means of the exercise of His omnipotence.
Ephesians 3:20 is not the first time that Paul has spoken of the omnipotence of God in this epistle.
In fact, this is the not the first time he has referred to it in this second intercessory prayer because he refers to it in Ephesians 3:7 and 16.
However, he first spoke of the Father’s omnipotence in his first intercessory prayer on behalf of the recipients of this epistle, which is recorded in Ephesians 1:15-23.
Ephesians 1:15 For this reason, after I myself heard about the faith among each and every one of you in the one and only Lord Jesus as well as you are practicing divine-love, which is on behalf of each and every one of the saints, 16 I never permit myself to cease regularly expressing thanks to the one and only God because of each and every one of you. I do this while disciplining myself to make it my practice of remembering each and every one of you during my prayers. 17 I make it a habit of occupying myself with praying that God, that is, the glorious Father of the one and only Lord ruling over each and every one of us as a corporate unit, who is Jesus Christ, would cause each and every one of you to receive divine wisdom, specifically, divine revelatory wisdom provided by the one and only Spirit with respect to an experiential knowledge of Himself. 18 Namely, that the eyes of your heart are enlightened in order that each and every one of you would possess the conviction of what constitutes being the confident expectation of blessing produced by His effectual call, what constitutes His inheritance, which is characterized by glorious wealth, residing in the person of the saints. 19 Also, what constitutes being His incomparable, great power on behalf of each one of us who believe which is equivalent to the exertion of His sovereign, omnipotent power to overcome. (Lecturer’s translation)
Ephesians 3:1 For this reason, I myself, Paul, the prisoner owned by and under the authority of the one and only Christ who is Jesus for the benefit of each and every one of you as a corporate unit, who are Gentiles—2 if and let us assume that it is true for the sake of argument that each and every one of you as a corporate unit have surely heard about the stewardship, which is unique to the grace, which originates from the one and only God, which was given to me for the benefit of all of you as a corporate unit without exception. (Of course, every one of you have in fact heard about it.) 3 Namely that, the mystery was made known for the benefit of myself as revelation as I wrote beforehand in a concise manner. 4 Concerning which, that is, by each one of you making it your habit of hearing read publicly, all of you will for your own benefit become able to comprehend my insight into this incomparable mystery, which is produced by your unique union and identification with Christ. 5 This mystery was by no means made known to members of the human race in previous generations as it has now been revealed through the personal agency of His holy apostles as well as prophets by means of the omnipotence of the Spirit. 6 Namely, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs as well as fellow members of the body likewise fellow partakers of the promise because of justification by faith in and union and identification with Christ Jesus by means of the proclamation of the gospel. 7 I assumed the position and responsibility of serving this gospel according to the gift originating from the one and only God’s grace, which was given to me according to the activity produced by the exercise of His power. (Lecturer’s translation)
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. (Lecturer’s translation)
Now, the apostle Paul’s doxology in Ephesians 3:20-21 along with the contents of Ephesians 1:3-14 serve as bookends for the first three chapters of this epistle because they both praise the Father.
Ephesians 1:3 The God, namely the Father of the Lord ruling over us, who is Jesus Christ, is worthy of praise. Namely, because He is the one who has blessed each and every one of us by means of each and every kind of Spirit appropriated blessing in the heavenlies in Christ. 4 For He chose each and every one of us for His own purpose because of Him alone before creation in order that each and every one of us would be holy as well as uncensurable in His judgment. 5 He did this by predestinating each and every one of us for the purpose of adoption as sons because of His love through Jesus Christ for Himself according to the pleasure of His will. 6 This was for the purpose of praising His glorious grace, which He freely bestowed on each and every one of us because of the one who is divinely loved. 7 Because of whom, each one of us are experiencing that which is the redemption through His blood, namely the forgiveness of our transgressions according to His infinite grace. 8 This He provided in abundance for the benefit of each and every one of us because of the exercise of a wisdom, which is absolute and divine in nature resulting in the manifestation of an insight, which is absolute and divine in nature. 9 He did this by revealing the mystery of His will for the benefit of each and every one of us according to His pleasure, which He planned beforehand because of our faith in and union and identification with Himself. 10 This was for the dispensation which brings to completion the various periods of history. Namely, to unite for the benefit of Himself each and every animate and inanimate object in the sphere of the sovereign authority of the person of the one and only Christ. Specifically, to unite for the benefit of Himself those things in the heavens as well as those things on the earth in the sphere of the sovereign authority of Himself. 11 Because of whom, each and every one of us has been claimed as a possession because of having been predestinated according to the predetermined plan. Namely, the one who is causing each and every animate and inanimate object to function according to His purpose, that is, His sovereign will 12 in order that each and every one of us would belong to a particular group of people. Namely, those who are certain of possessing a confident expectation of blessing because of their faith in and union and identification with the one and only Christ for the purpose of praising His glory. 13 Correspondingly, because of whom, each and every one of you were sealed by means of the omnipotence of the one and only promised Spirit, who is holy because each and every one of you obeyed the one and only message, which is truth, namely, the proclamation of the one and only gospel, which produced your salvation. Specifically, because each one of you believed in Him. 14 The Spirit is the down payment of our inheritance until He redeems His possession for the praise of His glory. (Lecturer’s translation)