Title, Power, and Wealth

What was the cause? It was because of his deep interest in these Ephesians. He wanted them to enter into the great truth of this dispensation, this new economy in which we live, and to experience all the riches of His grace in Christ Jesus. That was the background. That is why he inserted the parenthesis between verses 1 and 14.

Now the apostle picks up the thought he had begun in verse 1 and had interrupted with a parenthetical section on the mystery. Therefore, the words, For this reason, refer back to chapter 2 with its description of what the Gentiles had been by nature and what they had become through union with Christ. Their astonishing rise from poverty and death to riches and glory drives Paul to pray they will always live in the practical enjoyment of their exalted position.

His posture in prayer is indicated: I bow my knees. This does not mean kneeling must always be the posture of the body, though it should always be the posture of the soul. We may pray as we walk, sit, or recline, but our spirits should be bowed in humility and reverence.

Paul was not saying that God is the Father of all but rather that He is the Prototype of all fatherhood. “Father” is derived from God, not man. He is the first Father, the only One with “underived” fatherhood. Thus every human family derives its name, that is, exists as a family with a father, because of Him. It is to this Father that Paul prayed.

We cannot help but be struck by the vastness of Paul’s request: That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory. He is going to ask that the saints might be spiritually strengthened. But to what extent? Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown answer: “in abundance, consonant to the riches of His glory; not ‘according to’ the narrowness of our hearts.”20 Preachers often point out that there is a difference between the expressions “out of the riches” and according to the riches. A wealthy person might give a trifling amount; it would be out of his riches, but not in proportion to them! Paul asks that God will give strength according to the riches of His perfections. Since the Lord is infinitely rich in glory, let the saints get ready for a deluge! Why should we ask so little of so great a King? When someone asked a tremendous favor of Napoleon it was immediately granted because, said Napoleon, “He honored me by the magnitude of his request.”

Thou art coming to a King,

Large petitions with thee bring;

For His grace and power are such,

None can ever ask too much.

—John Newton

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.” The purpose of the request is that they may have power (exischysēte, “have inherent strength”), together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ. These measurements most likely describe not the thoroughness of comprehension but the immensity of the thing to be comprehended.

Interestingly once again—as in (a) 1:13–14; (b) 1:17; (c) 2:18; (d) 2:22; and (e) 3:4–5—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 V 2, p 632 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. The KJV and RSV translations, “that you may be filled with all the fullness of God,” wrongly imply that the whole fullness of God can be contained in a believer’s life. But this ignores the Greek preposition eis which denotes a goal; this is translated accurately in the NIV: “to the measure.” The fullness of the Godhead is only in Christ, and only through Him is a believer made complete (Col. 2:9–10). Though in Christ this divine fullness is ideally a believer’s already, 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.

Paul closed this prayer with a doxology. He praised God who is able to do far more than one could ask or imagine, according to the standard of His power (dynamin; cf. v. 16; 1:19) that is at work (energoumenēn; cf. 1:19) within us. No human or angel (cf. 3:10) would ever think that Jews and Gentiles could function together in one body. But with God’s power of love in each believer’s life, Paul was confident that Jewish and Gentile believers can function and love one another. This is astounding and though it is not naturally possible, God is able to accomplish it. Paul therefore ascribed to God glory which is to be manifest in the church, where the miracle of love will occur, and in Christ Jesus, who made the union of Jewish and Gentile believers possible.

Praise to Him for this accomplishment is to continue throughout eternity (cf. Rom. 11:36; 2 Tim. 4:18). This doxology serves as a fitting conclusion not only to this prayer but also to this book’s first three chapters.