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In Ephesians 3:17-19 Paul writes out his prayer for the Ephesian Jesus-followers. This prayer is so important that, if and as it finds fulfillment, all things in a Jesus-follower's life will line up with the heart of God. Paul writes:
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.
Here are notes I am working with, from Ben Witherington's (BW) commentary on Ephesians.
“Established” – more literally,
“rooted and founded.”
BW – Knowing and understanding the
love of Christ requires being rooted in that love, experiencing it, indeed
being grounded in it.
BW – “One can
grasp it only through experience, and even when one experiences it one is left
groping for words to describe it. The ultimate goal of being rooted in love and
grasping its meaning is to “be filled in all the fullness of God.”” (BW, Eph,
275)
BW – “Grasping
and experiencing God’s love is the key to receiving the full presence of God
into one’s life.” (BW, Eph, 275)
As believers
are strengthened through the Spirit in the inner person, as they allow Christ
to dwell in their hearts through faith, and as they know more of the love of
Christ, so the process of being filled up to all the fullness of the life and
power of God will take place. (BW, Eph, 275)
BW – “Paul is concerned about the
audience’s continued growth and maturing and coming to completion in their
faith.” (BW, Eph, 275)
Paul wants the
Ephesian J-followers to know, to experience, the knowledge-surpassing love of Christ.
There is an
immensity here that is beyond human understanding.
This is about
knowing – experientially – something that is beyond human knowing.
Paul is so
concerned about the E – J-followers’ Christian growth that he prays that they
will be given strength to perceive the imperceptible.
The ultimate
goal of the prayer is: that the J-followers be filled with God to the full.
Here's some notes from Klyne Snodgrass's (KS) commentary on Ephesians.
KS – Here is 3:17 Paul prays that
his readers will be strengthened with Christ, who indwells them through faith,
and that by being rooted and established in love, they will come to know love.
“In love” – God’s love is the
wellspring from which believers are nourished and the foundation on which they
find stability.
Being rooted
and established in love enables them to perceive love, and from knowing love
they are filled with the fullness of God.
Love is both
the source and the goal.
When Christ
permeates people, they know they are rooted in his love. From the experience of
love they know love and are transformed.
From the
experience of love they know love and are transformed.
The Spirit strengthens by the
indwelling Christ, who enables perception. That is, we come to "see," experientially, the cognitively unknowable love of Christ.
Just as love is both the source and
the goal, Christ is the goal (v. 17) and the source of the power of God at work
in us (v. 19).
Paul’s concern for unity returns with
the mention of “all the saints” (v. 18).
While the text
is about individuals knowing, it is not about individualistic knowing. At every
turn Christianity is a corporate religion, and only as people comprehend
together can they experience what God has for them.
V. 18 – the four dimensions – wide,
long, high, and deep.
The Greek text does not have the words “is the
love of Christ.”
KS – it says,
merely – “grasp with all God’s people what is the width, breadth, height, and
depth.”
Since v. 19 is
essentially an explanation of v. 18, the goal is ore likely that they will
comprehend Christ’s love.
Paul prays that
they may know the love that is beyond knowing. This is language from someone
who has been surprised and overwhelmed with Christ’s love.
Love brings movement. Love causes
things. (KS)
KS – “To know Christ’s love is to be
transformed by love and expanded into the fullness of God.”
“In
experiencing Christ Christians experience the fullness of God, his presence,
and power. In experiencing that fullness they themselves are made full by
Christ. That is, they partake of God’s own being and are made like him. This is
an ongoing process… God’s fullness dwells in Christ and in him Christians are
made full. The implication in Ephesians is that as believers encounter God’s
love in Christ, they will be filled with love.” (KS, Eph, 182)
