In Ephesians 3:14–19, Paul, writing to Christians, reveals his
prayer for them and then reveals the strangest purpose statement in verse 17:
"So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through
faith." The obvious question is, "I thought He was?" Does Christ not indwell every
Christian? Here's is the entire prayer:
14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from
whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according
to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power
through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that
you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to
comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and
depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge,
that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. [Emphasis mine]
In a recent Bible
Study on PRAYING
WITH PAUL, we discussed this prayer and in the end I was dissatisfied with
even my own understanding of the prayer.
With deep concern and humility, I want to take another run at this. I'm reminded that this is the second prayer[1] of Paul
recorded in this letter to the Ephesian Christians. Unlike some of Paul's letter there does not
appear to be a specific problem or problem people that he is addressing. "Ephesians
articulates general instruction in the truths of the cosmic redemptive work of
God in Christ; the unity of the church among diverse peoples; and proper
conduct in the church, the home, and the world. Unity and love in the bond of
peace mark the work of the Savior as well as Christians’ grateful response to
his free grace in their lives."[2]
The structure of this prayer is difficult
to grasp. How many petitions is Paul
praying? I would suggest three based upon
the Greek text. The Greek text gives us
a clue by the use of the Greek ἵνα clause. For example:
Introduction: 14 Τούτου χάριν κάμπτω τὰ
γόνατά μου πρὸς τὸν πατέρα, 15 ἐξ οὗ πᾶσα πατριὰ ἐν οὐρανοῖς καὶ ἐπὶ
γῆς ὀνομάζεται,
First prayer: 16 ἵνα δῷ ὑμῖν κατὰ τὸ πλοῦτος τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ δυνάμει κραταιωθῆναι
διὰ τοῦ πνεύματος αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸν ἔσω ἄνθρωπον, 17 κατοικῆσαι τὸν
Χριστὸν διὰ τῆς πίστεως ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ὑμῶν ἐν ἀγάπῃ· ἐρριζωμένοι καὶ
τεθεμελιωμένοι,
Second prayer: 18 ἵνα ἐξισχύσητε καταλαβέσθαι σὺν
πᾶσιν τοῖς ἁγίοις τί τὸ πλάτος καὶ μῆκος καὶ ὕψος καὶ βάθος, 19 γνῶναί
τε τὴν ὑπερβάλλουσαν τῆς γνώσεως ἀγάπην τοῦ Χριστοῦ,
If this be the case, the first prayer is
verses 16 and 17: “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.”
The phrase "the
riches of His glory" has already been used by Paul[4] and
clearly speaks of the Gospel. This
relates directly to his introduction, "for this reason". The reason he is praying for them is the
overflow of his previous instruction in the marvels of the Gospel[5]. So as an outflow of this Gospel, Paul prays
that they would be "strengthened with power, through his Spirit, in your
inner being". " The verbal form "strengthen" (καταλαβέσθαι) is the opposite of "be
discouraged" (enkakein) in v. 13. It
is a common expression in LXX and occurs four times in the NT. The agent of
this enablement is the Holy Spirit."[6] So Paul is praying that the Holy Spirit might
encourage these believers, in the riches of the Gospel, into the very depths of
their being. "The preposition
"in" (eis literally, "into") suggests
the depth of the Spirit's penetration."[7]
So then we come to the difficult phrase
"so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith."
The Gospel encouragement of the Spirit, in the inner man, then
produces the desired affect: Christ dwelling in their hearts through faith. The
two participles ‘rooted’ (“evrrizwme,noi”)
and ‘grounded’ (“teqemeliwme,noi”) (v
17b) are probably best taken as temporal adverbial participles modifying the
verbal idea in "Christ making home".
The architectural phrase "dwell" corresponds to the
agricultural phrase "rooted". "It
is not difficult to realize that love will result from Christ's indwelling
presence."[8] I find it helpful to think elsewhere where
the notions of dwelling and loving coexist in the same passage. Notice Christ's teaching found in John 15:
"4 Abide in
me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides
in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me . . . 9 As the
Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love."
What does it mean to abide in Christ's love? Answer: “If you
keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my
Father’s commandments and abide in his love.” (John 15:10, ESV). Clearly we are taught that to abide in Christ
and He in us, means to continue in obedience to him. The flow of vitality and
life is maintained by obedience.
In Paul's letter to Ephesus he seems to suggest
another means by which union with Christ is maintained – that being the Spirit-empowered
application of the Gospel to our inner being.
The result is vital union and communion with Christ, grounding us in His
love.
So my paraphrase of Ephesians 3:16-17 would be, I pray "that the
Holy Spirit will encourage your heart through the truths of the Gospel, to this
end that you will remain in vital union with Christ, with established, resolute love – love for Christ; love for
others."
This inadvertently provides a test for
genuine faith and Christianity. The evidence
of whether Christ is abiding/residing/at home, by faith in our hearts is
whether we are becoming increasingly more established/entrenched/stabilized/invested
in love.
[2] Crossway Bibles. (2008). The ESV Study Bible (p. 2258). Wheaton,
IL: Crossway Bibles.
[3] Holmes, M. W. (2011–2013). The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition
(Eph 3:14–19). Lexham Press; Society of Biblical Literature.
[4] “To me, though I am the very least of
all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the
unsearchable riches of Christ,” (Ephesians 3:8, ESV)
[5] “This mystery is that the Gentiles are
fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ
Jesus through the gospel.” (Ephesians 3:6, ESV)
[6] Expositor's Bible Commentary, The, Pradis
CD-ROM:Ephesians/Exposition of Ephesians/II. Doctrine: The Implications of
Christian Faith (1:3-3:21)/F. Knowledge and Fullness (3:14-21), Book Version:
4.0.2
[7] Expositor's Bible Commentary, The, Pradis
CD-ROM:Ephesians/Exposition of Ephesians/II. Doctrine: The Implications of
Christian Faith (1:3-3:21)/F. Knowledge and Fullness (3:14-21), Book Version:
4.0.2
[8] Expositor's Bible Commentary, The, Pradis
CD-ROM:Ephesians/Exposition of Ephesians/II. Doctrine: The Implications of
Christian Faith (1:3-3:21)/F. Knowledge and Fullness (3:14-21), Book Version:
4.0.2
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