Ephesians 3:14-19 (WEL) For this reason, I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 Of whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner being, 17 That Christ make His home in your hearts by faith, so that you might be rooted and grounded in love, 18 So that you may be able to understand with all the saints what is the breadth, length, depth, and height, 19 And to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God.
V14 For this reason, I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Bowing the knees refers to recognizing the authority, kingship, supremacy of a leader. Paul willingly does so. The Lord Jesus did the same when He prayed “(Luke 22:42) “Father, if You are willing, take this cup from Me. Yet not My will, but Yours be done.”
Bowing down before God is proper; bowing down to idols is evil. We are not to give our submission to any other being except the God of the Bible.
V15 Of whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,
God is the creator of all the universe, its objects, and its living creatures. Also, it refers to all humans being equal in humanness. God owns everything.
V16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner being,
Since God is the supreme leader of everything, He owns everything and can give anything He wishes. Paul prays that God would give strength to live the Christian faith. This is possible due to the indwelling Holy Spirit who resides in each individual who believes the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
V17 That Christ make His home in your hearts by faith, so that you might be rooted and grounded in love,
Make our heart His home is the idea of settling in a home, feeling comfortable in a home, etc. He wants a clean house to live in, so let us strive with the assisting grace of God to have a clean conscience, sins confessed, and living by God’s rules. Sin confessed is not to name each and every sin for no human knows all their sins. We should just recognize we have sinned and pray, “Please forgive my sins.”
Rooted and grounded in love carries the idea of stability and commitment. Our love for God should reflect in our lives by obeying the Law of Christ as taught in the New Testament.
V18 So that you may be able to understand with all the saints what is the breadth, length, depth, and height,
We have much to learn about the great love God has for each believer in Christ. The longer we know Him, the more of His love we will experience.
V19 And to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God.
No one knows how much love God has. No one can imagine how much God loves us. Knowing how much God loves us in joy or tribulation increases our spiritual strength.
Joseph Benson writes:
“Macknight, who applies this clause to the church at Ephesus, collectively considered, rather than to the individuals of which it was composed, observes, “Having told the Ephesians, (Ephesians 2:21-22,) that the Jews and Gentiles were formed into a holy temple, for a habitation of God by the Spirit, he prays that this great temple might be filled with all the fulness of the presence of the true God, inhabiting every part of it by the gifts and graces of the Spirit, chap. Ephesians 4:6. For in that respect the Christian Church far exceeded the temple at Ephesus, which had nothing in it pretending to divinity, but the lifeless image of an idol placed in a corner of it.” The apostle, however, rather intended this, as he evidently did all the preceding clauses of his prayer, to be applied, not so much to that or any other church in general, as to each individual believer therein in particular. He therefore prayed that the mind and heart of each might be enlarged more abundantly, so as to admit larger communications than ever of divine light, love, wisdom, holiness, power, and glory, till at length they should arrive in the heavenly state, to full perfection in the knowledge, image, and enjoyment of God, where that which is perfect being come, they should know even as they also were known, and possess love in proportion to their knowledge.”
We learn:
- The importance of recognizing God’s authority and having and living under it.
- How much God loves us.
Questions:
- Do you pray to be forgiven?
- Have you stopped to think about God’s love for you?