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Studies in Ephesians

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Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Apr 15, 1913

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 40, No. 15.

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Studies in Ephesians

A Prayer for the Fulness of Blessing

Chapter 3, Verses 14-21

Questioning the Text

1. For what does the apostle pray?
“For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father.” Verse 14. Note 1.
2. How extensive is this fatherhood of God?
“From whom every family in heaven and on earth is named.” Verse 15. Note 2.
3. What did he pray that God would grant?
“That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, that ye may be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inward man.” Verse 16. Note 3.
4. What intimate relation with Christ did he desire?
“That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.” Verse 17. Note 4.
5. What was the object of this indwelling?
“To the end that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be strong to apprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge.” Verses 17-19. Note 5.
6. And how is his prayer summed up?
“That ye may be filled unto all the fulness of God.” Verse 19. Note 6.
7. What is God able to do for His children?
“Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.” Verse 20. Note 7.
8. What does he ascribe to this wonder-working God?
“Unto Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus unto all generations forever and ever. Amen.” Verse 21. Note 8.

Notes

1. “For this cause.”—Not the tribulations referred to in the verse previous, but the great plan of God, the revelation of the unsearchable riches of Christ, the bringing of all men to the great, eternal purpose of God. “For this cause” embraces all this wonderful revelation which the apostle has been giving, and because of this it is that he bows to the great Father of all in pleading for his disciples. Our Common Version has “the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,” and so has the Syriac, but the best Greek copies omit this. Whether it belongs to the text or not, does not make any change in the theology. God is called elsewhere “the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,” emphasizing the brotherhood of man with Him. But it is to the Father, in either way, that the apostle bowed his knees, and that we would do well to bow ours, and plead that the same prayer which he prays may be fulfilled in our behalf.
2. “Every family.”—The margin reads “every fatherhood.” God’s great universe is one. There are not various universes and various gods; but there is one God, the Father of all, the One from whom all things come, the One who rules over all; and every other community of sentient, rational, responsible creatures in all His universe had their origin and being in Him. Just now there is a break in His plan, seemingly, because of sin. Families in heaven and earth seem not to be united. Earth is separated from the great continent of heaven by its gulf of rebellion. Nevertheless this has all been bridged by Jesus Christ, and sometime it will be fully restored. And then the fatherhood of God as regards the entire universe will be seen in the fulness and clearness of which men can only dream now.
3. “That He would grant,”—grant not according to our poor needs, or our poor conceptions, or the little faith that we may have. The apostle’s prayer reaches out beyond all this, and prays that God may grant according to “the riches of His glory,” grant according to an inexhaustible fount from which to draw. Giving does not impoverish God. The mighty creative power which is in Himself is an all-supply at all times for all that He bestows; and God would have our faith grasp that thought,—that He gives according to His riches in glory, and out of these riches of glory, to strengthen God’s children with His power through the mighty Spirit in the inward man. We may not look elsewhere for the fulfilment of this prayer. We may not expect that it will be carried out through worldly organizations, or political schemes, or plans of men. It comes by His Spirit, “the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead.” Rom. 8:11. See also Eph. 1:20, 21. It is infinite power for which the inspired prayer petitions.
4. “That Christ may dwell.”—The Spirit is the Spirit of Christ, and the indwelling of the Spirit in the inward man is the indwelling of the Christ; but it is faith which opens the door, it is faith which bids the Saviour come in, it is faith which holds Him there. The Syriac connects the last clause of verse 16 with verse 17. After praying that God’s children might “be strengthened with might by His Spirit,” this follows the semicolon: “That in your inner man the Messiah may dwell by faith, and in your hearts by love, while your root and your foundation waxeth strong.” The thoughts are in a way parallel,—the Spirit in the inner man, and Christ dwelling in the heart. The heart is the seat of the affections. Christ dwelling in the heart gives us the love of Christ. The Spirit is the life and the power; and that, dwelling in the inner man, gives us power over sin.
5. “To the end.”—There is a purpose in Christ’s dwelling in our hearts. It is not simply for the joy and comfort of God’s children. It is not simply to make it easy or pleasant. But it is that the child of God may be rooted and grounded in love, may sink the great pillars of his faith down to the solid rock, may strike roots through all surface desert, and take hold upon the very springs of unseen life and love, that his heart may be established in God, and thus rooted and established, may be strong to apprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth of His goodness and power. The Syriac has, instead of “apprehend,” “explore.” It is a beautiful thought. Exploring expeditions are always of interest to the live, healthy soul; and God wants His children to be ever exploring the breadth and length and height and depth of His great love. They will never reach the end. They will never find limitation in any direction. And He would also have them apprehend, not comprehend. To comprehend is to understand on all sides, be able to examine all around. We comprehend human things, because we can encompass them, but not so the love of God and the power of God; but we may apprehend, lay hold upon it. We may make it ours; we may seize it in the strong grasp of simple faith, and hold it with us. And this embraces the love of Christ which passeth knowledge. The prayer is an inspired prayer. It is designed for fulfilment. It prays that we may search the unsearchable, that we may know the unknowable, that which passeth knowledge,—not that we may know of it, not that we may know all there is in it, but that we may truly know it. Jesus says, “My sheep hear My voice.” They know His voice. They do not know all its possibilities, all its depths, all its beauty; but they do know it so as to know its character and what it means. Christian men know the love of Christ, know it so that they will never be swerved from it. Never will they comprehend it until eternity is past.
6. “May be filled.”—This is the climax. It is the summing up of the prayer,—that God’s children “may be filled unto all the fulness of God.” That does not mean that the human soul can include all the wisdom and the knowledge and the power of God; but it does mean that all that there is of him will be filled to its fulness with the divine. As much as he is capable of receiving, God designs that he shall receive; and not only that, but the reception of these divine things will enlarge heart and mind, and enable him to grasp more and more. The power over sin will be complete. The fulness of God will enable him to meet all the temptations of the enemy, and rise victor over all the power of sin. Such is the inspired prayer which God has given for His children.
7. “Him that is able.”—All that He has promised directly or impliedly, He is able to perform,—nay, beyond our poor asking, because we can only ask for what we see, and we can not see the infinite things which God has for us. We can ask only what we would think, but the human thought is exceedingly limited. It can not think the great, infinite things of God, only in the most limited way, while God is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think; and all this which God is able to do for us He will do according to the power that works in us, which is the power that raised our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead.
8. “Unto Him.”—Unto the One who has loved with an infinite love, who has sacrificed even life itself, who has given us all things that we enjoy,—“unto Him be the glory in the church”—not only in the church militant, but in the church triumphant—“and in Christ Jesus unto all generations forever and ever,” or, as the margin reads, “all the generations of the ages.” Surely to all this we can respond, with the apostle, “Amen.”