May 20
10
New Testament Reading: Ephesians 3:14-21
“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” (Ephesians 3:14–21, ESV)
*****
[Please excuse any and all typos and misspellings within this manuscript. It has been published online for the benefit of the saints of Emmaus Reformed Baptist Church, but without the benefit of proofreading.]
Introduction
This passage that is before us today brings the first half of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians to a conclusion. As I have said before, Ephesians is divided neatly into two sections. In the first half Paul teaches. In the second half he makes application based upon the doctrines that he has taught. The application will begin in 4:1 with the word, “therefore”. And so here sin 3:14-21 we have the conclusion to the doctrinal portion of Paul’s letter.
And please notice that Paul brings this doctrinal portion of his epistle to a conclusion with prayer. Just as he did in 2:15-23, Paul reports the content of his prayer to the Ephesians, saying, “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named” (Ephesians 3:14–15, ESV). Paul is here describing prayer, and then he goes on to reveal to us the content of his prayers for the redeemed in Ephesus.
It is only right for to begin by making this simple observation: Paul was a man of prayer. Yes, he was a gifted leader within the early church. Yes, he was a great missionary and church planter. Yes, Paul was a skilled writer — a theologian par excellence. But notice this: Paul was a man of prayer. He was devout. He was pious. And when I say “pious” I do not mean to suggest that he was in any way prideful or self righteous. I understand that the word “pious” has taken on a negative meaning over time. Instead, I mean that Paul was religious, reverent and God-fearing in all the best ways. He was a humble and deeply devoted servant of God. This is what I mean when I say that Paul was pious.
Friends, I think we need to resurrect that word within the church today. We should not be afraid to pursue piety in the Christian life. Never should the Christian be self-righteous, proud or aloof. But the Christian should be humble and reverent — deeply devoted to God and to the things of God. And perhaps nothing is more revealing concerning one’s piety than consistency in private prayer. If we really believe what we say we believe, we will pray. If our love for God is sincere, we will pray. If our love for others is true, we will pray. Paul — the great Apostle of the early church, the great missionary and theologian — was, like his Savior, a man of prayer. His habit was to “bow [his] knees before the Father.”
Notice that Paul here in verse 14 refers to the Father as being the one, “from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named.” What is the meaning of this? Well, in fact, there is a bit of difficulty associated with translating this phrase from Greek into English. If you were to compare modern English translations you would notice some differences of opinion. Again, the ESV says, “from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named.” The NKJV says, “from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named.” And the NIV84 says. “from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name.” I actually think that the NIV is the best of the three translations that I have cited. Paul is not here saying that every family in heaven and on earth bears God’s name, which I suppose would in a sense be true, given that God is Creator of all. But rather Paul is here emphasizing that in heaven and on earth there is one family of God that bears God’s name. God the Father, by his mercy and grace, has set his name upon those he has redeemed in Christ. He has adopted these as sons, remember? And these are all one. These are members of one household. They are brothers and sisters, who bear God’s name. They are unified as one — Jew and Gentile, rich and poor, male and female, slave and free — for they all sons of God through faith in the Beloved Son of God. This is the “Father” to whom Paul prayed. As Paul said, “For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name” (Ephesians 3:14–15, NIV84).
Notice also that our passage for today begins with the words, “For this reason…” We should probably pause to ask the question, for what reason, Paul? And when we pause to ask that question we must remember that the answer will not be found in the previous passage (3:1-13), for that passage was a digression of thought. Instead, the answer will be found in the passage before the previous one, that is to say, Ephesians 2.
Paul presented some marvelous truths in Ephesians chapter 2. He spoke of the fact that though we were worldly, rebellious, fleshly, children of wrath by nature and dead in our sins, God has made us alive in Christ. All of this is by his grace, and received by faith. And he also spoke of how for a long, long time prior to the resurrection of the Christ, the Gentile nations were “separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12, ESV), but that God has brought them near through Christ. The Gentiles being “no longer strangers and aliens, but… fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord…” (Ephesians 2:19–22, ESV).
It is “for this reason…” — or, because of these marvelous truths previously presented — that Paul bowed his knees “before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name” (Ephesians 3:14–15, NIV84). ” This family is the family that the Father has graciously redeemed by the shed blood of Christ. He has adopted these children — both those who are alive today on earth, and those who have gone to glory and are with God in heaven — in Christ, the eternal Son of God come in the flesh. When Paul blowed his knees to the Father, he was mindful of this family — the heavenly, Spirit filled, new creation family of God — that bears the Father’s name.
So when Paul prayed to the Father on behalf of the Ephesians, for what did he pray? In verses 16 through 21 we will find three petitions followed by a doxology. The three petitions, or things for which Paul prayed, are marked off in the Greek text by the conjunction ἵνα, which means “that…”
*****
That You Would Be Strengthened In The Inner Being (3:16-18)
First of all, Paul prayed for the Ephesians that they would be strengthened in the inner being. And this is also my prayer for you, that God would strengthen you spiritually, in the inner being. That you would grow in faith and in you love for God and one another.
It is in verse 16 thatPaul reported to the Ephesians that he bowed his knees before the Father and prayed “…that according to the riches of [God’s] glory he may grant [them] to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in [their] inner being, so that Christ may dwell in [their] hearts through faith… being rooted and grounded in love…” (Ephesians 3:16–17, ESV).
The core thing for which Paul prayed was that the believers in Ephesus would be “strengthened with power… in [their] inner being.” You are aware of this, I am sure, that there is an outer man, and there is an inner man. As Paul says elsewhere, “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16, ESV). Man is composed of body and soul. And while it is important that we take care of our bodies as good stewards of all that God has given to us, an even greater priority is to be given to the care of the inner man, or the soul. This is why Paul wrote to Pastor Timothy, saying, “train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come” (1 Timothy 4:7–8, ESV). Here in Ephesians Paul reports to have prayed for the strengthening of the inner man.
And I wonder, are you growing stronger in the inner man? Are you training yourself for godliness? Godliness does require effort, friends. We must put off the old man, and put on the new. We must fight against temptation. We must develop discipline. You know these things to be true regarding physical training, and it is no different with the soul. Strength in the inner man does not just happen. We must set our minds upon it and strive after it, with God’s help. Yes, this means we must examine ourselves to see if there is anything lacking. And we must learn to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which we have been called.
Notice a few things about Paul’s prayer for strength in the inner being:
One, he prays that God would “grant” this strength to the believer “according to the riches of his glory”. God is glorious. He has all power. And Paul here prays that the Father would “grant” or “gift” the Christian with strength in the inner man. While it is true that we must make effort in the Christian life, this does not nullify the fact that we are always and ever dependent upon God’s grace. When we strive, we are to strive in God. We are to toil — not as independent and self-sufficient creatures, but as creatures who are always and forever dependent upon God for all things. And this was in fact the way that Paul spoke of his own strivings. Concerning his gospel ministry he said, “For this I toil, struggling with all [God’s] energy that he powerfully works within me” (Colossians 1:29, ESV). Notice this: Paul toiled, but he toiled with God’s energy, and so should we.
When we pray for ourselves and others that we be strengthened in the inner man, we should pray as Paul did, beseeching the Father that he would graciously grant us this strength according to his power and glory. And having prayed for this gift from God, we should then rise up from prayer to strive after him with “all [God’s] energy that he powerfully works within [us]”, exhorting our brothers and sisters in Christ to do the same.
Two, Paul says that this power from God the Father is worked in the believer through his Spirit. The Spirit of God is our Helper. He convicts us of sin. He leads us in paths of righteousness. He strengthens the believer with the power of God. Again, Paul prayed for the Ephesians, “that according to the riches of [God’s] glory he may grant [them] to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in [their] inner being…”
Three, Paul’s prayer to the Father was that the Ephesians would be strengthened through the Spirit so that “Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith…” You’ll notice the Trinitarian structure of this passage, I’m sure. Paul’s prayer was to the Father that he would strengthen the believer through the Spirit so that Christ the Son would dwell in their hearts.
Pay careful attention to word “dwell”. You have probably noticed a theme developing in Ephesians, and that is the theme of “temple”. Earlier in this epistle Jewish and Gentile believers were said to be stones in God’s temple, with the Apostles and Prophets being foundation stones, and Christ himself being the cornerstone. And what is a temple except a “dwelling place” for God — a place where man enjoyes communion with God. Here Paul’s prayer is that by God’s grace we would be strengthened in the inner man through the Spirit so that “Christ would dwell in our hearts through faith”. He prayed that we would be strengthened in the faith to function as a temple of Christ.
And how is it that Jesus the Christ dwells in the heart of the believer given his human nature? Well, he dwells in us not according to his humanity, but according to his divinity and by the agency of the Holy Spirit. This is what Christ taught when he spoke of sending the Holy Spirit in John chapters 14 through16. Take, for example, what Christ said to his disciples in John 14:15-16: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you” (John 14:15–17, ESV). So how does Christ “dwell” in our hearts? Not according to his humanity, of course, but according to his divinity, and through the agency of the Holy Spirit, who is the Helper whom the Father and Son have sent.
Notice that Christ is said to dwell in our hearts “by faith”. Faith is the instrument by which Christ is received. And faith itself is a gift from God. Christ is not received by works, but by faith alone, so that no one may boast.
And notice also that Christ is said to dwell in the hearts of the one who has faith, “being rooted and grounded in love.” To have faith in Christ is to love Christ. And to love Christ, is to keep his commandments. That, after all, is what Christ himself said in the passage that I read just a moment ago regarding the Holy Spirit. Jesus began by saying to his disciples, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” And then Christ said, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you” (John 14:15–17, ESV).
So when all is considered, what did Paul pray for when he prayed that the Ephesians would be strengthened in the inner being? Well, his prayer was that God, by his grace would strengthen the faith of the believer by the power of the Holy Spirit; that God would enable the believer to love God and love one another; that they would keep God’s commandments, living in obedience to Christ, walking with him, so that Christ would dwell in their hearts, by the agency of the Holy Spirit.
And there are few points of application that I might draw from this.
One, I ask, are you daily being strengthened in the inner man? Are you growing in faith? Is your love for God and Christ increasing? Are you living in obedience to to his commandments? Are you walking in Christ, and is he dwelling in you? As I have said before, this is something you must pursue. Spiritual growth will not happen automatically. You must be in God’s word. You must read it and listen to it preached. You must be in prayer. And you must daily choose to put off the old self and to put on the new in Christ Jesus.
Two, I ask, are you praying for yourself in this regard? Are you praying that “God by His grace, would make [you] able and willing to know, obey, and submit to His will in all things, as the angels do in heaven” (Baptist Catechism, 110). If you are daily praying through that prayer which is commonly called the Lord’s Prayer, then you will certainly pray for this under the third petition, which is “thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”. Given that our growth in faith is itself a gift from God, then it is only right that we regularly petition the Father for that gift. We should pray to the Father, saying, refine me. Strengthen me. Increase my faith. Teach me your law. Make me willing and able to keep it. Father, increase my love for you.
And three, I ask, do you pray this way for others? Do you pray for others as Paul prayed, that God, by his grace would strengthen them in the inner being? Parents, do you pray this way for your children? If they do not yet have faith in Christ, then we should pray for their salvation. But if they have faith, then we should pray continually that their faith be strengthened. Husbands, do you pray for your wife in this regard? Wives, do you pray for your husband that they would be strengthened in the inner man. Elders, are we praying for the member of this congregation as Paul prayed? And members, are we praying for one another, “that according to the riches of [God’s] glory he may grant [us] to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in [our] inner being, so that Christ may dwell in [our] hearts through faith… being rooted and grounded in love…” Once more, if we are praying according to that prayer that Christ taught his disciples, which is commonly called The Lord’s prayer, then we will pray for others in this way, for Christ did not teach us to pray saying my Father, but “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven…” (Matthew 6:9–13, ESV). In the Lord’s Prayer we are taught to pray, not only for ourselves, but for others also.
*****
That You Would Comprehend The Love Of Christ (3:18-19a)
Let us now move on to the second of Paul’s three petitions which are marked off in this text by the Greek conjunction, ἵνα, which means “that”. In the ESV the “that” is found in the middle of verse 17, but it goes with the petition found in verses 18 and 19. There Paul prays that the Ephesians would “have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge…” (Ephesians 3:18–19a, ESV). And this is my prayer for you, that you too would comprehend the love of Christ for you.
I should say before moving on that these three petitions of Paul are interrelated. In other words, one of the ways that we grow strong in the inner man is to grow in our comprehension of the love of God for us in Christ Jesus. Comprehension is important, friends. It is important that we understand what God has done for us in sending the Christ. It is vital that we grasp the depth of his love for us. When we comprehend God’s love for us in Christ we are then moved to love and obey him more and more out of gratitude for his grace.
Here Paul prays that we would have the strength to comprehend the love of Christ. To comprehend is to grasp. And we should remember that the Paul bowed his knees before the Father and prayed as he did “for this reason”, which referred back to what Paul had written in Ephesians chapter 2. That text would be a wonderful text to return to, therefore, to contemplated the marvelous love that has been shown to in Christ. For in that text Paul does tell us all about our helpless and hopeless condition apart from Christ, and God’s gracious intervention.
Paul’s prayer for us that we would comprehend the love of Christ with all the saints. The Christian religion is not an individualistic religion — it is corporate. When we come together has God’s people we are to contemplate the love of God that has been shown to us in Christ Jesus. We are remember our former way of life. We are to testify to the mercy of God that has been shown to us. We are together to reflect upon the glories of the gospel, and to give God thanks. This ability to grasp or comprehend the love of Christ for us is not reserved for a few within the church, but is for all of the saints. Paul’s prayer is that all Christians would comprehend God’s love for them.
Notice that Paul piles up terms to describe the greatness of Christ’s love for us. He prays that we would be able to wrap our minds around the width and length of it, the hight and the depth. I suppose Paul could have simply chosen one of these terms to describe greatness of Christ’s love. He could have simply said that his love for us immeasurably high, or very deep or extremely wide. But by calling our attention to the breadth of Christ’s love, and to the length of it, and also the height and depth, he moves us to contemplate carefully the richness of Christ’s love — the multifaceted affect of it. Everywhere we look — be it up or down, before us or behind us, or to this side or that, we see evidence of Christ’s love. His love is all about it us. He has surrounded us with hi love. He has hemmed us in on every side. Indeed, we are swimming in deep within an ocean of his love, and Paul is here praying that we would have the strength to comprehend it.
And then Paul adds this in verses 19: that we would “know the love of Christ that surpassesm knowledge…” (Ephesians 3:19, ESV). His prayer is that we would know something that is beyond knowledge. How is this possible? Well, it is possible to know something truly without knowing it exhaustively. It is possible to grasp something but to at the same time acknowledge that the thing is deeper still. Many things pertaining to God and our redemption in Christ are like this. In Christ we know God truly, but we do not know him exhaustively. Though we know him truly and even call him by the name Father, he is beyond us still. And so it is with the love of Christ. With God’s help we can grasp it. But the true “breadth and length and height and depth” is beyond our ability to fully comprehend.
I wonder, Christian, have you paused to contemplate the love that the Father has lavished upon you in Christ Jesus? Have you slowed down to reflect upon your helpless condition and that grace that God has shown to you? Have you considered how rich you are in Christ — how blessed you are to have your sins washed away, to be reconciled to the Father and how marvelous your inheritance is? Ephesians 2 would be a great place to go to reflect upon these truths, for it is there that Paul presented them, and here he prays that you would have the strength to comprehend what he has written.
*****
That You Would Be Filled With All The Fullness Of God (3:19b)
Thirdly, and lastly, in verse 19 Paul prayed for the Ephesians that “…that [they] may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:19b, ESV). And this is also my prayer for you — that you too would be filled with all the fulness of God.
Again, we must remember the theme of “temple” that has developed within Ephesians. You have been redeemed by the Father to function as God’s temple. And just as the tabernacle in Moses’ day, and the temple in Solomon’s, was filled with the glory of God upon completion, so too the Christian individually, and the church corporately, is to be filled and overflowing with all the fullness of God — and this is Paul’s prayer.
You will notice the Trinitarian structure of Paul’s temple talk. In Ephesians 2:22 Paul said, “In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.” In 3:17 Paul reported to pray that “Christ may dwell in [our] hearts through faith…” And here in 3:19 Paul reports to pray that the Christian be filled “with all the fullness of God.” We have been redeemed by the blood of Christ so that God the Father, Son and Spirit might dwell with us and in us by the agency of the Spirit, for we are his temple.
This temple imagery, and all of this talk of God the Father, Son and Spirit dwelling within the redeemed should not surprise us. This is not Paul being innovative. Instead, this is Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, showing how the Christ has brought to completion God’s original design for man, and has ratified the Covenant of Grace, which has this promise of God at the core of it — I will be their God, and they will be my people, and I will tabernacle in the midst of them.
Friends, you were created to know God and to enjoy sweet communion with him, and this is what Christ has accomplished. He has reconciled you to God so that Father, Son and Holy Spirit dwell with you and in you. And this is why Paul prayed for the redeemed, that they would be filled with all the fulness of God.
Tell me friends, do you sense God’s presence with you? Do you know that he is near? Do you “know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” (1 Corinthians 6:19–20, ESV)
*****
Doxology (3:20-21)
In verses 20 and 21 Paul concludes this passage with a doxology. In the Greek it is has the form of a song. What better way for Paul to conclude this passage — and the whole first half of his epistle — than to give glory to God on behalf of all the redeemed, Jew and Gentile alike, saying, “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen” (Ephesians 3:20–21, ESV).
