14 For this reason I bow my knees
before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth
takes its name. 16 I pray that, according to the riches of his
glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power
through his Spirit, 17 and that Christ may dwell in your hearts
through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. 18 I
pray that you may have the power 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, so that you may be filled with all the
fullness of God.
20 Now to him who by the power at work
within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or
imagine, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all
generations, forever and ever. Amen.
The
theme of Ephesians 3:14-21 a prayer for the church. The author at last returns
to the prayer he began back in 1:16-17, thus definitively closing the first
praise and proclamation portion of this epistle before the exhortative
remainder of the letter. The writer's
exponentially increasing assortment of spiritual gifts is typical of the
writing style. The letter has a poetic
power in proclaiming God's intention to re-create and reconcile the entire
creation. Paul does not want any person in the church to "lose heart"
over his suffering (3:13). He invites the reader to begin to comprehend the
vastness of God's perspective (v. 18). The author's concern is for those in the
church to maintain their faith and to maintain the vitality of their community,
even as imprisonment becomes a reality and persecution becomes a distinct
possibility. Paul encourages the reader to begin to fathom the reality that
something larger than meets the eye is unfolding. The burden of the prayer is that the strength
of God should become that of the readers, mediated through the love of Christ
that already grounds them.[1]
Verses 14-19 are one long
compound sentence. When he begins with 14
for this reason, the natural consideration is what that reason might
be. In the immediately preceding context, the author explained the chief
mystery of his revelatory proclamation — the Gentiles have become fellow-heirs
of the promises of God. This context illuminates verse 14. I bow my knees, gentile practice, before the Father (pater).
This may mean as in the Lord’s Prayer, Abba or our Father. It may have the
sense of cosmic significance, as in the father of a family. Father can be the
biological origin of a family, the head of the household (including slaves and
spouses), and the origin of the universe in the sense of willing into
existence. In the Christian sense, God as Father has
its basis in the intra-Trinitarian relationship of the Father to the Son.[2] Yet,
the author stresses that God is Father in the sense that 15 from whom every family (patria kinship or family group) in heaven and on earth takes its name. The prayer is for a church
made up of Jew and Gentile before the Creator who made them all. This appeal to
God as Creator of all may seem to us to be the best, most natural justification
for making no distinction between Christians based on whether they were
originally Jews or originally Gentiles. Ironically, however, earlier Scripture
did not always appeal to God as Creator this way. In keeping with the theology
of Deuteronomy 32:8, which implies that God allowed lesser gods to have
dominion over other nations but kept the best nation, namely Israel, for
itself, much of Hebrew scriptural tradition implies that Gentile nations, if
not the actual creations of other gods, were, nonetheless, the children of
other gods and not of Yahweh. One clear statement to this effect, used as an
argument for the exclusion of Gentile converts in the Jewish community, is one
we find in Malachi 2:10-11.[3]
Here the prophet exhorts the people to refrain from marrying outside the Jewish
group with the argument that God is the Father of the Jewish people and has
created them. He then asks why they are faithless to each other. Therefore, by
making an appeal to the fact that God created and named all nations, the author
of Ephesians is reversing this earlier, narrower understanding of God as father
only of the Jews. God’s mysterious inclusion of the Gentiles into God’s own
family causes the author to drop to his knees in prayer. This hearkens back to
the letter’s opening, where the author declares that a relationship to God as
parent occurs through the inclusive act of God that makes “adoption” (1:5)
available. Before the pivotal revelation in Christ, humanity divided itself
into groups based on genealogical lineage; but now “the dividing wall” has come
down (2:14) and there is “one new humanity in place of the two” (2:15). So what
caused the author’s genuflection? The answer is the mystery of a unified
humanity. The universality of God's love sets the tone of the prayer and is
immediately evident. The issue of the relationship between Jew and Gentile is
central to this and many other letters. However, no longer should Jews or
Gentiles struggle over who is included in the kingdom, for it is not, according
to Paul, their struggle. There is more going on than a kind of sibling rivalry
about who gets the parent's affection. God, "the Father," is the one
who names every family of the earth, and so all must bow the knee before God.
It is no longer an "us vs. them" but an all-inclusive "we."
Furthermore, those who are included as parts of the family of God are not even
limited to humanity - heavenly beings are included as well. Hence, Paul begins
the prayer reminding his readers that matters of inclusion, imprisonment, and
even suffering are relatively inconsequential compared to the universal and
timeless perspective of God.
It can be discouraging to
see how divided human beings have become. The news about 9/11 this past week
has been a powerful reminder of the depth of those divisions. I suspect many of
us have gotten discouraged over the religious divisions of this world, as they
often turn to violence. Arab and Jew in the Middle East and Islamic
fundamentalists throughout the world have lately caused us much concern. Humanity
has one Father. This unity is something that we already have. We refuse to
acknowledge it. In our rebellion and sin, we deny it. Yet, when Christians
pray, we affirm this grand view. No matter how bitterly divided the world
appears, the Christian can approach the world with a different view, and
therefore a different power. We have one Father!
Verses 16-19 offer the
content of the prayer. These verses form the main body of the prayer and
include three petitions. The prayer has three petitions, all concerned with
protecting the community. The mood of Ephesians is triumphant and upbeat and
does not decline into a suspicious and sectarian view. The prayer has a
Trinitarian dimension. Paul reminds us that the context of prayer is not simply
what we want or in accord with our ability, but rather, 16 I pray according to the riches of divine glory. What would happen if the content
of Christians who pray were more like what Paul offers here?
First, God may grant that you receive strength in your
inner being (esw anqrwpon literally, “inner person,” a
goal rather than a possession) with power
through the Spirit. Barth
believes it refers to Christ. It
presupposes a "spiritual anthropology." Paul deals with the inner life of the
person. This is mystical; if by that one
means that something greater is at work than human intelligence can grasp, it
is beyond the cult, and people receive judgment in deeds of God beyond human
understand. The concept of "inner
being” is not new to Ephesians. Paul has used this language before. In Romans,
"the inmost self" describes the highest part of human nature that
"delight[s] in the law" (7:22). Likewise, in the Corinthian letters,
Paul writes that it is the "inner nature" that is renewed "day
by day," allowing the believer to see things "which cannot be
seen" (II Corinthians 4:16, 18). One should understand this to mean the
“godly or immortal” part of the human nature. This contrasts elsewhere in
Paul’s writings (II Corinthians 4:16) with that which is the “outward being” (exw anqrwpon
literally, “outer person”), or one’s physical and mortal nature.[4] Most plainly, the inner being is that which
does not waste away but renews and grows. The author further chooses the twin
metaphors of planting and building, as does Paul in I Corinthians 3:9. Here,
in Ephesians, Paul urges the believer to have faith in this higher vision and
deeper perspective; those who have such faith do not need to be afraid. It is
through strengthening this inner being, through which one understands oneself
to be immortal, that one can let go of old divisions between Christian factions
and form the church universal, bound together by love through the Spirit of
Christ which is dwelling within everyone. Paul then goes on to pray that “with
all the saints,” namely with all those who are already resurrected with Christ
and so now no longer look through a “glass darkly,” this new church may
understand the whole of the gospel of Christ. Essentially, he prays that God
might give a post-resurrection perspective and wisdom to the church still at
work in the world. We who pray are to have faith in this higher vision and
deeper perspective. The challenges of life are not fearful from this
perspective. Most importantly, one can let go of the old divisions of humanity
generally and even the divisions within the church.
Second, 17 that Christ may dwell (taking up permanent residence) in your hearts through faith, as you are
being rooted and grounded in love. The indwelling Christ is decisive. Only the doctrine of the Trinity could
clarify the question of union and tension between transcendence and immanence.
The New Testament raises the issue with greater sharpness here when it
discusses the indwelling of the exalted Christ.[5] Christians do not grope toward the
stars. Christians find true humanity in
reliance upon God. It is also ecumenical
theology, in that the gaining of knowledge is a social event, community. Christ's love surpasses knowledge. Paul uses
agricultural and, some would add, architectural images ("rooted" and
"grounded") to describe how the power of the gospel takes hold within
a person. Certainly, the historical Jesus used similar images in his parables.
Both Jesus and Paul seek to drive home the connection that a faith that is
firmly rooted or grounded will not be blown or swept away by the wind of
imprisonment or the tide of tribulation. Yet, the believer is not merely a
passive recipient of the rooting and the grounding. The one who desires to be
so grounded must accept and believe this reality. Hence, through faith, the
believer allows for the tilling and seeding to occur and to dig the foundation.
Third, 18 I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with
all the saints, what are the breadth,
length, height, and depth, stressing the vastness of that which the saints
are to comprehend.[6] One can
refer to the doxology of Romans, in which Paul ponders the “depth of the
riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!” (Romans 11:33). In Romans, Paul had
just delineated at length the mystery of Gentile inclusion into God’s eternal
purpose (Romans 9-11). Perhaps here in Ephesians, the author uses spatial
imagery to proclaim awe before the same mystery (expressed in Ephesians 2-3).
The second part of this petition is tautological and thus captures well the
mystical or transcendent character of the author’s prayer. He asks for them 19 to know the love of Christ
that surpasses knowledge. He wants them to know something that surpasses
knowledge. He has already said that Christ dwells in their hearts in love. They
will know the love of Christ through a mystical union, not by one thing knowing
another, but by two things becoming one. The final petition becomes inevitable:
so that the fullness of God may fill you.
Comprehension in this context speaks of the new orientation of the believer
that allows her or him to know the truth and believe it even if the full
details of the truth are not fully knowable, or the evidence of the current
situation suggests something contrary. There is no contradiction here between
comprehension and knowledge. One can comprehend the reality that the sun rises
without precise scientific knowledge of why or how it raises. Faith is the same
way; one can comprehend one's experience of grace, even if the knowledge of how
and why are beyond understanding. All that matters to the author is this: When
the inner mind and heart become open in this way, it enlarges the perspective
of the believer, catching a vision of the grand unfolding of God's Spirit
moving throughout all of creation.
Thus, another focus of
prayer is for spiritual maturity. When Christians pray, they need to have in
mind the vastness of the divine perspective, even if they can never attain it.
Christians gain knowledge that is beyond knowledge in community with others.
Such love is, after all, so vast that no human being can comprehend it. One can
“know” such love only if Christ truly takes up residence in our hearts through
love. This type of relationship is a union that moves beyond external knowledge
and moves toward interpersonal connection of heart, mind, and soul. Believers
receive a new orientation that allows them to know the truth and believe it,
even if the full details of the truth are not fully knowable and even if the
circumstances suggest something to the contrary. Such firmly rooted faith is
not something that every wind of circumstances will blow away. When God opens
the inner mind and heart, believers enlarge their perspective, and they can
capture a vision of the grand unfolding of the Spirit of God moving throughout
all creation. Something larger than the meets the eye unfolds before us.
The concluding doxology
after this prayer in v. 20-21 is also unique in style and content to the
Ephesians writer. This writer goes to
grammatical extremes to communicate that God is able to do superabundantly
beyond what we ask or think, and then some on top of that. These verses contain the closing ascription. 20 Now, to him who by the power
at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask
or imagine, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to
all generations, forever and ever. Amen. The doxology that ends this
passage again stresses the major theme of Ephesians, namely the centrality of
the church universal in the plan of God. Gone is the idea that we must simply
hang on in some sort of worldly holding pattern until Christ returns. Here we
see that God’s glory is to be extolled in the church and in Christ Jesus, to
all generations. In other words, the church is not just a temporary community
of Christians who wait for the end of this earthly life, but rather an eternal
institution that reveals God’s glory in partnership with Christ. This high
theology of the church is Ephesians’ greatest gift to us. Unlike Romans 11,
which is a useful text for acknowledging that divisions between groups in the
church still exist and must be overcome, Ephesians is a perfect text for
holding out a clear vision of a universal church in which former divisions have
been overcome by faith in the resurrected Christ.
The prayer concludes with an
ascription of praise to God. Even though Paul has invited the reader into an
expansive and universal view of God's purposes, he is quick to point out that
God is far grander than anything a human can imagine or ask for. Hence, the
believer stands before the Almighty in awe, not in fear; in praise, not complaint;
in wonder, not in cynicism; in faith, not in futility.
This passage is an awesome
description of God's grand design. It places all the issues of church and
society within a divine context. Moreover, this prayer in Ephesians sets all
the puny concerns of human beings in the light of God's redemptive plan and
inclusive intention to reconcile all created order.
One of the reasons we can
pray in this way is that the church, in partnership with Christ, extols the
glory of God throughout history and in all places. Believers need a clear
vision, in which they visualize that faith in the resurrected Christ overcomes
former divisions. The divine design for humanity and for the church is grand. Believers
need to place all the issues of church and society within this divine context.
The concerns of humanity often seem rather slight in the light of the
redemptive plan of God for reconciling the created order.
The movie Grand
Canyon is a story of a group of strangers in Los Angeles meeting and
becoming friends through providence. Simon and Mack are sitting in front of the
gas station the morning after a gang confronted them. Both discuss how bad
society has gotten. Simon asks Mack if he had ever been to the Grand Canyon. Simon
says something like the following. It is beautiful. What got me was sitting on
the edge. It took such a long time for the Grand Canyon to get that way. When
you sit on the edge, you realize what a joke we are, what big heads we got. Our
time here does not matter that much. The canyon was here long before us. Our
time here is little more than a second in comparison to the rocks of the
canyon. It is just a split second to them. Mack responds, Are you trying to
cheer me up? Simon says, Yeah. Those rocks are laughing at me and my problems.
I felt so small. My worries are pretty small in comparison to the Grand Canyon.
The movie contains some examples of how bad life can be in Los Angeles, with
racial tension and violence. However, at the end, when Simon and Mack bring
their families to see the Grand Canyon, Simon says, “What do you think?” Mack
says, “I think … life is not so bad.” The movie ends with a grand sweep of the
Grand Canyon.
[1] (Ernest Best,
Ephesians [ICC; Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1998], 335). In chapter 3, “the burden of the
prayer is that God’s strength should become that of the readers, mediated through
the love of Christ in which they are already grounded.”
[2] (Barth 2004, 1932-67) I.1 [10.2] 393.
[3] “Have we not all one Father? Has not
one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another … Judah has
profaned the sanctuary of the LORD, which he loves, and has married the
daughter of a foreign god.”
[4] (see Joachim Jeremias, “Anthropos/anthropinos,”
Theological Dictionary of the New Testament G. Kittel, ed. [Grand Rapids, Mi.:
Eerdmans] vol. 1, 365).
[5] (Pannenberg 1998, 1991), Volume 1, 415.
[6] (Markus Barth, Ephesians [AB; Garden City,
N.Y.`: Doubleday, 1974], 397). Commentators have struggled to interpret the four dimensions of measurement
in verse 18. They are confusing, first because they are fourfold, whereas the
ancient minds could agree with ours that space exists in three
dimensions. Furthermore, what do these dimensions measure? The breadth and
depth of what? After reviewing manifold interpretations of the object of these
dimensions, Markus Barth concludes, “the point is not thoroughness of
comprehension but the vastness of the thing to be comprehended.”
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