Ephesians 3:14-21 A prayer for the Ephesians
14 For this reason I kneel before the Father,
15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.
16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being,
17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,
18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,
19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,
21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
In considering this passage we will look at: The reasons for Paul’s prayer The content of Paul’s prayer The audacity of Paul’s prayer
The reasons for Paul’s prayer
v1 For this reason
Compare v1
For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles –
In v 1 this reason refers back to what he has been saying in Ch. 2 where he talks about:
The wonderful change that has been made in our lives by the grace of God
The fact that God has a plan for our lives and has prepared in advance good things for us to do
The fact that in Christ Gentile believers are now united with Jewish believers and that, through the new humanity he has made out of the two, God is building a holy temple in which he lives by his Spirit
In vv 2-13 he develops this theme (as we saw last time).
Looking back at this passage we can see 5 reasons why Paul was praying for the Ephesians and from today’s passage we can see another 2.
Seven reasons why Paul praying for them:
The Gentiles are now fellow-heirs with the Jews
6 This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.
He has a special responsibility for Gentile believers
8 Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ
God has a wonderful purpose for the church
10 His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms,
11 according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.
He knows he (and they) can approach God with freedom and confidence
12 In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.
He knows they are in danger of being discouraged
13 I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.
To these we can add a further two reasons from today’s passage:
The fatherhood of God
14 For this reason I kneel before the Father
The power of God that is at work in us
20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us...
The content of Paul’s prayer
14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, (pater)
15 from whom every family (patria) in heaven and on earth derives its name.
God is our Father
He has a family – in heaven & on earth
God is the source of all fatherhood
Fatherhood in heaven existed before fatherhood on earth
16 I pray that out of his glorious riches (the glorious riches of his Fatherhood)
he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith and I pray that you, being rooted and established in love…
God wants to reproduce his Son in us
He’s a rich Father!
But Paul does not pray that we might be materially rich
Rather that we might be strengthened with power…
and that Christ may dwell in our hearts…
‘Dwell’ here (κατοικειν) implies not just visit but abide
Christ is God’s Son.
He’s exactly like his Father (Hebrews 1:3)
If Christ lives in us, we will be like the Father
How? By faith and by love
17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith and I pray that you, being rooted and established in love…
Through faith
Christ already lives in our hearts because of our initial faith in Christ as Saviour
But the Christian life is a life of faith from start to finish
Paul is praying that the nature of Christ will increase and grow in us as we go on trusting him
Through love
We have been rooted and established in love
I pray that you, being rooted and established in love…
Our faith in Christ is rooted in God’s love
We didn’t love him, but he loved us
We now love him because he first loved us
God wants us to grasp the greatness of his love
I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,
18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,
God wants us to know this love
I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,
18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,
19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
The audacity of Paul’s prayer
God wants us to be filled with all the fulness of God
19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God
This is not the same as being ‘filled with the Spirit’ (Acts 2:4, Eph. 5:18)
which relates primarily to gifts. This relates to fruit, esp. love.
Is this possible?! Yes, because of his power that is at work within us
20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us
21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
God is glorified when we love like Jesus.
