Context No. 3186 of 4322 · Ephesians

Ephesians 3:14-21: in context

14For this cause, I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, that you may be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner person, 17that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, to the end that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18may be strengthened to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and height and depth, 19and to know Christ’s love which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, 21to him be the glory in the assembly and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Paul bows his knees before the Father and prays, not for the Ephesians' comfort or circumstances, but for their inner strengthening: that God would strengthen them by his Spirit in the inner being, that Christ would dwell in their hearts through faith, and that, rooted and grounded in love, they would grasp with all the saints the breadth and length and height and depth, and know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, and be filled with all the fullness of God.

This is one of the great prayers of the New Testament. Paul asks that Christ would dwell deeply in them and that they would grasp the immeasurable love of Christ, its breadth, length, height, and depth, a love that surpasses knowledge. It is a beautiful paradox: he prays that they would know a love that is beyond knowing. And the goal is nothing less than to be filled with all the fullness of God. Then it rises into doxology: God is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think. Paul's great desire for them is not ease but the deep knowledge of Christ's boundless love.

Do I long, and pray, to grasp more of the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, more than I long for comfortable circumstances?

Sources

Ephesians 3:19: "And to know Christ's love which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."
Ephesians 3:20: "Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think."
Ephesians 3:17: "That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, to the end that you, being rooted and grounded in love."