Week Six
Ephesians 3:14-21
The Prayer for the Church
Establishing Your Bearing
In case you hadn’t noticed, the previous section of our study, Ephesians 3:1-13, was essentially an incomplete sentence. He began one thought, got caught up in another thought, and eventually just gave into the moment and led his readers and listeners in a little praise meeting. Even a master of his language and an accomplished writer allows himself to break the rules when the stakes are high and Spirit leads.
Now Paul returns to his original purpose in this larger section regarding the church in Christ. Earlier in the letter, he had exhorted us to pray for each other. In this passage, he tells us what he is praying for his fellow believers. What kind of prayer does Paul believe will assist God’s people to be His church?
Setting Your Course
We’re going to treat this prep a little differently. Rather than pulling a point out of every verse in the passage, let’s concentrate on the main points of Paul’s message. This is also different in this way: when we compare Bible studies, commentaries, sermons, and general thoughts from biblical scholars on how to outline this paragraph, we discover that there are no fewer than four different ways to organize the material. Now there are at least five because I’m about to introduce the way I see Paul’s thoughts playing out.
To Be Strengthened
Ephesians 3:14-18
Ephesians 3:14-18 (NASB)
14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
Paul introduces his prayer for the Ephesians with a reminder that God controls and ordains everything. He bows his knees to God to make his petitions and supplications for God’s people.
For me, the first request Paul makes is that they “be strengthened with power through His Spirit.” Admittedly, this is not a unique take on the prayer. Every article I read places this as the first of Paul’s petitions to the Father. As I read this, however, I think the strengthening for which Paul asks results in what he writes.
The strengthening provided by the Holy Spirit allows Christ to dwell in our hearts. This is not a redundant request, since all believers have Christ in their hearts. Paul has established this already in his ministry and in this letter. Rather this is a true “dwelling,” someone who is provided full access to every area. Nothing is off-limits.
Paul also reveals that being strengthened by the Spirit is responsible for rooting us and grounding us as followers of Jesus in love. Remember that Paul puts the delivery of these requests completely on God. This is the love in which he wants followers of Jesus to be rooted and grounded. The Holy Spirit gives us the strength to build our entire lives around God’s love. Added to this is Paul’s prayer that the Holy Spirit also help us to comprehend how meaningful this love is in our lives.
Essentially, Paul petitions God to make the Holy Spirit so integral in the lives of the Ephesians that they are completely sold out to Him as Lord.
The Holy Spirit strengthens us to live out and understand the love of God.
To Know the Love of Christ
Ephesians 3:19-21
Ephesians 3:19-21 (NASB)
19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.
20 Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, 21 to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.
The second petition Paul makes in his prayer is that the church members in Ephesus “know the love of Christ.” This is a companion request to being strengthened by the Spirit. It seems like Paul is asking for us to better understand the love of God, and then gain a knowledge of the love of Christ. It sounds like praying the same prayer.
Paul wants his fellow believers to know Christ’s love in same way he wants Christ to dwell in them. They have accepted the work of Christ on their behalf, and they are members of God’s family as a result. however, Paul prays that they will also know the love that motivated Christ to be the atoning sacrifice, brining us into God’s family. This understanding of the interaction between the love of God that provided the plan to redeem us and the love of Christ that provided salvation for those who believe is the growth Paul desires to see in the Ephesians.
The last two verses of our passage form a doxology, a closing statement of praise to God for who He is, what He has done, and how He continues to work in our lives.
Knowing the love of Christ that brought us salvation promotes our continued growth in God.
Refreshing Your Bearing
Paul turns his attention to praying for the Christians in Ephesus. He prays that they would be strengthened by the Holy Spirit and that they would know the love Christ. All three persons of the Trinity are called to act in the lives of these believers for the purpose that they would be “filled up to the fullness of God.” Paul prays that the people in the church at Ephesus would completely experience God in their lives.
Continuing Your Journey
Week Seven
Life in the Church
Read: Ephesians 4:1-6
Read. Meditate. Pray.