Currently in Ontario there is a great controversy over the cancelation of a Mississauga power plant. It seems that the cancelation of the contract, cost Ontario taxpayers over $190 million dollars with nothing to show for it. Many have speculated that this was a political move to secure votes in a particular volatile riding. At a time of ever increasing power demands, the source of a sustainable power is an issue that effects every homeowner, business and visitor. (http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/07/19/liberals-made-190m-decision-to-scrap-power-plant-when-behind-in-polls-ontarios-finance-minister-admits/)
Power is also central to the life of every Christian. In Ephesians 1:1—3:13 Paul gives the basic truths about the Christian life—who we are in Christ and the great, unlimited resources we have in Him. From 3:14 through the rest of the letter we are exhorted to claim and to live by those truths. In 3:14–21 Paul gives his prayer requests on behalf of the Ephesian believers. In sharing his requests with them, he urges them to live in the full power and effectiveness of “every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ” (1:3). This second prayer in the book of Ephesians (see also 1:15–23) is a prayer for enablement. God not only is the provider but is also the initiator and motivator. Paul calls on God to activate believer’ power so that they can become faithful children and thereby glorify their heavenly Father.
In this great prayer of request to God and exhortation to His children, Paul prays specifically for 1) The Spirit’s Power (Ephesians 3:14-16) 2) The Son’s Power (Ephesians 3:17a), 3) The Power to Grasp & to Know (Ephesians 3:17b–19a), 4) The Power to be Filled with God’s Fullness (Ephesians 3:19b), 5) Doxology: Praising the Empowering God (Ephesians 3:20–21). Each element builds on the previous ones, making a grand progression of enablement.
1) The Spirit’s Power (Ephesians 3:14-16)
Ephesians 3:14–16 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, (ESV)
For this reason, (that our new identity makes us the dwelling place of God Ephesians 3:2–13,), Paul prays for the Ephesians to use the power that their great status in Christ provides. Because God’s power is in those believers, Paul prays that God would enable them to employ the fullness of that power. Because believers are the habitation of the triune, all–powerful God of the universe, Paul prays that their unlimited energy from Him would be manifested.
Paul approaches the Father with boldness and confidence, knowing that He is more willing for His children to come to Him than they ever are of going to Him. He knows that God has been waiting all the while with a Father’s heart of love and anticipation.
But, in saying, I bow my knees, Paul is not prescribing a required posture for prayer. He did not always pray while kneeling, and Scripture tells of God’s faithful people praying in many different positions. As he prayed for the Ephesians while writing this letter to them, the apostle felt led to bow [his] knees before the Father on their behalf, not because that position or any other is especially sacred, but because it spontaneously reflected his reverence for God’s glory in the midst of his passionate prayer (cf. Ps. 95:1–6).. There does seem to be a theological purpose intended in the position of prayer here. The mention of the posture of kneeling in the terminology for prayer is significant, since the more usual Jewish and early Christian practice was to pray standing (cf. Mark 11:25; Luke 18:11, 13). Kneeling in the ancient world could signify subordination, servility, or worship….( Lincoln, A. T. (1990). Vol. 42: Ephesians. Word Biblical Commentary (201). Dallas: Word, Incorporated.)
“Before” (pros) is a face-to-face preposition applicable to an intimate relationship (Wood, A. S. (1981). Ephesians. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 11: Ephesians through Philemon (F. E. Gaebelein, Ed.) (50). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.)
Poem: What then should we ask of the one to whom we come before? John Newton said:
Thou art coming to a King, Large petitions with thee bring; For His grace and power are such, None can ever ask too much. (as recorded in MacDonald, W. (1995). Believer’s Bible Commentary: Old and New Testaments (A. Farstad, Ed.) (Eph 3:16). Nashville: Thomas Nelson)
The reference in verse 15: From whom every family in heaven and on earth is named/derives its name does not teach that God is the spiritual Father of every being in the universe. Scripture clearly teaches two spiritual fatherhoods, God’s and Satan’s. God is the heavenly Father of those who trust in Him and Satan is the spiritual father of those who do not (Jn. 8: 39-44).
In ancient thought a name was not just a means of distinguishing one person from another; it was particularly the means of revealing the inner being, the true nature of that person (cf. Gen. 25:26; 1 Sam. 25:25). So for God to give creatures a name was not simply to provide them with a label, but signifies his bringing them into existence, exercising dominion over them (cf. Ps. 147:4; Isa. 40:26), and giving each their appropriate role. The verse thus affirms that the Father is the Creator of all living beings (cf. Eph. 3:9; 1 Cor. 8:6; Col. 1:15–18), so that their existence and significance depend on him (O’Brien, P. T. (1999). The letter to the Ephesians. The Pillar New Testament Commentary (256). Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.).
Every family in heaven and on earth refers to the saints of every age—those now in heaven and those still remaining on earth. Every family of believers is a part of the one spiritual family of God, in which there are many members but only one Father and one brotherhood. In this case, however, Father is more a term of respect than of intimacy. It expresses the recognition that all families in the cosmos, in heaven as on earth, owe their existence to God and are under his authority (Neufeld, T. R. Y. (2001). Ephesians. Believers Church Bible Commentary (156). Scottdale, PA: Herald Press.).
Please turn to Colossians 1(p.983)
Paul’s first and central request for this divine family in verse 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,. The is a difference between giving according to, rather than simply out of, riches. For a millionaire to give fifty or a hundred dollars would be simply to give out of his wealth, but to give twenty–five thousand dollars would be to give according to his wealth. The greater a person’s wealth, the greater his gift must be to qualify for giving according to his wealth. The first is a portion; the second is a proportion (Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Eph 3:16). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.).
Colossians 1:9-11 [9] And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, [10] so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. [11] May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy,(ESV)
To the spiritual believer, the riches of His glory are rich indeed. From the beginning of the letter Paul has been exulting over those divine riches—God blessing us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places (1:3), His choosing us for Himself before the foundation of the world (1:4), His redemption and forgiveness (1:7), His making known to us the mystery of His will (1:9), His giving us an inheritance with His Son, Jesus Christ (1:11), and so on throughout the first two and a half chapters. The phrase of His glory testifies that these riches belong to God because of who He is. They belong innately to His Person, which is to say, His glory (cf. 1:17, where Paul calls God, “the Father of glory” and Ex. 33:18ff., where God reveals His personal attributes as glory).
Those, and many others, are the riches that every believer already has in Jesus Christ. Paul is not praying for God to give these riches to believers, but that He may/would grant believers
to be strengthened by God according to the riches they already possess. He wants them to live lives that correspond to the spiritual wealth they have in Christ. The aorist “that He may/would grant” is effective, it is an actual great gift (Lenski, R. C. H. (1937). The interpretation of St. Paul’s Epistles to the Galatians, to the Ephesians and to the Philippians (492). Columbus, O.: Lutheran Book Concern.).
The first step in living like God’s children is to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in your inner being/man. God sent the Holy Spirit to be with and within his followers after Christ had returned to heaven. The Spirit would comfort them, guide them to know his truth, remind them of Jesus’ words, point out when they did not obey, give them the right words to say, and fill them with power to do good (John 14–16). After Pentecost (Acts 2:1–4), God made the Holy Spirit available to all who believed in Jesus. We receive the Holy Spirit when we believe in Jesus Christ as Savior (Barton, B. B., & Comfort, P. W. (1996). Ephesians. Life Application Bible Commentary (68). Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.).
Only God can reach and cure the inner being/man, and that is where He most wants to work. His work begins with salvation, and after that His main field of work is still the inner being/man, because that is where spiritual life exists and where it must grow. The “divine nature,” imparted to the believer at salvation (1 Pet. 1:3), is at the core of the inner being/man and is the base from which the Holy Spirit changes the thinking of the believer. Although the outer, physical person becomes weaker and weaker with age, the inner, spiritual being should continually grow stronger and stronger with power through His Spirit. Only God’s Spirit can strengthen our spirits. He is the one who energizes, revitalizes, and empowers us (cf. Acts 1:8). In Romans 7:22–23 we hear Paul expressing the strong desire of a regenerated man to do the will of God but being hampered by the sin that dwells in his fleshly body, whereas in chapter 8 we hear him express the truth that victory in this conflict is in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:5-13).
When the in inner being/man is fed regularly on the Word of God and seeks the Spirit’s will in all the decisions of life, the believer’ can be sure they he or she will be strengthened with power through His Spirit. Spiritual power is not the mark of a special class of Christian but is the mark of every Christian who submits to God’s Word and Spirit. Like physical growth and strength, spiritual growth and strength do not come overnight. As we discipline our minds and spirits to study God’s Word, understand it, and live by it, we are nourished and strengthened. Every bit of spiritual food and every bit of spiritual exercise add to our strength and endurance (2 Cor. 4:8–12, 16,).
Illustration:( “The Sawmill”)
Bible teacher F. B. Meyer once had a firewood factory that employed prisoners. Meyer would give them a job to do, good wages, a place to live, and, when possible, spiritual encouragement. In exchange, he expected them to render good employment. They didn’t, and he lost money. Finally he fired them all and purchased a circular saw powered by a gas engine. In one hour, it turned out more work than the combined efforts of all the men covered in the course of a whole day. One day, Meyer had a little conversation with his saw. “How can you turn out so much work?” he asked. “Are you sharper than the saws my men were using? No? Is your blade shinier? No? What then? Better oil or lubrication against the wood?”
The saw’s answer, could it speak, would have been, “I think there is a stronger driving power behind me. Something is working through me with a new force. It is not I, it is the power behind.” Meyer later observed that many Christians are working in the power of the flesh, in the power of their intellect, their energy, their enthusiastic zeal, but with poor effect. They need to become linked to the power of God through the Holy Spirit (F. B. Meyer, The Christ Life for Your Life (Chicago: Moody Press, n.d.), 86.).
2) The Son’s Power (Ephesians 3:17a)
Ephesians 3:17a 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith (—that you, being rooted and grounded in love,) (ESV)
So that translates hina, a Greek word used to introduce purpose clauses. The purpose of our being “strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man” is that Christ may dwell in [our] hearts through faith. Katoikeō (dwell) is a compound word, formed from kata (down) and oikeō (to inhabit a house), In the context of this passage the connotation is not simply that of being inside the house of our hearts but of being at home there, settled down as a family member. Christ cannot be “at home” in our hearts until our inner person submits to the strengthening of His Spirit. Until the Spirit controls our lives, Jesus Christ cannot be comfortable there, but only stays like a tolerated visitor. Paul’s teaching here does not relate to the fact of Jesus’ presence in the hearts of believers but to the quality of His presence.
Jesus said:
John 14:23 [23] (Jesus answered him), “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.(ESV)
This all comes through faith,” which opens the door of the heart to Jesus (Jn 3:20). It is not enough that He be on the tongue, or flit through the brain (Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Eph 3:17). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.)
Illustration: In his booklet My Heart Christ’s Home, Robert Munger pictures the Christian life as a house, through which Jesus goes from room to room. In the library, which is the mind, Jesus finds trash and all sorts of worthless things, which He proceeds to throw out and replace with His Word. In the dining room of appetite He finds many sinful desires listed on a worldly menu. In the place of such things as prestige, materialism, and lust He puts humility, meekness, love, and all the other virtues for which believers are to hunger and thirst. He goes through the living room of fellowship, where He finds many worldly companions and activities, through the workshop, where only toys are being made, into the closet, where hidden sins are kept, and so on through the entire house. Only when He had cleaned every room, closet, and corner of sin and foolishness could He settle down and be at home.
3) The Power to Grasp & to Know (Ephesians 3:17b–19a)
Ephesians 3:17b–19a [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). (ESV)
Being made strong inwardly by God’s Spirit leads to Christ’s being at home in our hearts, which leads to love that is incomprehensible. The result of our yielding to the Spirit’s power and submitting to Christ’s lordship in our hearts is love. When Christ settles down in our lives He begins to display His own love in us and through us. When He freely indwells our hearts, we become rooted and grounded in love, that is, settled on a strong foundation of love. The participles “being rooted and grounded/established” are in the perfect tense, indicating a past action with continuing results. They could be translated “having been rooted and grounded.”( Walvoord, J. F., Zuck, R. B., & Dallas Theological Seminary. (1985). The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Eph 3:17). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)
The words “rooted and grounded” suggest a twofold metaphor: that of a tree and that of a building. To insure the stability of the tree roots are required, roots that will be in proportion to the spread of the branches. Similarly, as a guarantee for the solidity of a building a foundation is necessary, one that will adequately support the superstructure. Thus firmly rooted the tree, which represents all those who love the Lord, will flourish and bear the indicated fruit. Thus solidly founded the building will continue to grow into a holy sanctuary in the Lord, and will achieve its purpose (Hendriksen, W., & Kistemaker, S. J. (1953-2001). Vol. 7: Exposition of Ephesians. New Testament Commentary (172). Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.).
Believers are to be rooted and grounded in love. Love is an attitude of selflessness. Biblical agapē love is a matter of the will and not just a matter of feeling or emotion, though deep feelings and emotions almost always accompany love. God’s loving the world was not a matter simply of feeling; it resulted in His sending His only Son to redeem the world (John 3:16). Love is self-less giving, always self-less and always giving.
1 Peter 1:22 [22] Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, (ESV)
Through the strengthening of the inner person by Gods Spirit and Christ’s indwelling in their hearts, the readers are to be established in love so that they will comprehend the greatness of the love of Christ (O’Brien, P. T. (1999). The letter to the Ephesians. The Pillar New Testament Commentary (260). Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.).
When we are rooted and grounded in love, we then have as verse 18 notes: strength to comprehend with all the saints. This term is always PLURAL, (except in Phil. 4:21, which also has) a corporate context. To be a Christian is to be in community (Utley, R. J. (1997). Vol. Volume 8: Paul Bound, the Gospel Unbound: Letters from Prison (Colossians, Ephesians and Philemon, then later, Philippians). Study Guide Commentary Series (103). Marshall, TX: Bible Lessons International.).
God has both charged and equipped His corporate body, the saints of God. Just as an engine part is made to function in an engine and not on its own, so the saints of God are made to function as a body, together. They are called, members, one to another; those who publically commit to one another and agree to stand by one another (Rom_12:4; Rom_12:5; 1Co_6:15; 1Co_12:12; 1Co_12:18; 1Co_12:25; 1Co_12:27; Eph_2:19; Eph_3:6 Eph_4:25; Eph_5:30)
what is the breadth and length and height and depth of love. We cannot comprehend the fullness of love unless we are totally immersed in love, unless it is the very root and ground of our being. To comprehend/grasp/appropriate and comprehend/know can be practiced only by those who are rooted and founded in love, it is clear that the reference is not to an activity that is purely mental. It is experiential knowledge, heart-knowledge, which Paul has in mind (Hendriksen, W., & Kistemaker, S. J. (1953-2001). Vol. 7: Exposition of Ephesians. New Testament Commentary (172–173). Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.)
Instead of saying only, “in order that you may grasp,” Paul draws in the idea of our being strengthened to grasp: “in order that you may be made strong to grasp.” He thus harks back to v. 16 where he uses the two words “to be strengthened with power.” The two words match: it takes ἰσχύς, Staerkebesitz, to grasp or hold as our own (this is the idea of the middle), to comprehend the great reality (Lenski, R. C. H. (1937). The interpretation of St. Paul’s Epistles to the Galatians, to the Ephesians and to the Philippians (496–497). Columbus, O.: Lutheran Book Concern.).
Quote: When someone asked the famed jazz trumpeter Louis Armstrong to explain jazz, he replied, “Man, if I’ve got to explain it, you ain’t got it.” In some ways that simplistic idea applies to love. It cannot truly be understood and comprehended until it is experienced.
Love is available to every Christian because Christ is available to every Christian. Paul prays that we will have strength to comprehend with all the saints. Love is not simply for the even–tempered Christian or the naturally pleasant and agreeable Christian. Nor is it for some supposed special class of Christians who have an inside spiritual track. It is for, and commanded of, every Christian—all the saints.
To comprehend … what is the breadth and length and height and depth of love is to understand it in its fullness. Love goes in every direction and to the greatest distance. It goes wherever it is needed for as long as it is needed. I do not think that breadth and length and height and depth represent four specific types or categories of love but simply suggest its vastness and completeness. In whatever spiritual direction we look we can see God’s love. We can see love’s breadth reflected in God’s acceptance of Gentile and Jew equally in Christ (Eph. 2:11–18). We can see love’s length in God’s choosing His saints before the foundation of the world (1:4–5) for a salvation that will last through all eternity. We can see love’s height in God’s having “blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ” (1:3) and in His raising us up and seating us “with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus” (2:6). We can see love’s depth in God’s reaching down to the lowest levels of depravity to redeem those who are dead in trespasses and sins (2:1–3). God’s love can reach any person in any sin, and it stretches from eternity past to eternity future. It takes us into the very presence of God and sits us on His throne.
In what may at first seems a self–contradiction, Paul says in verse 19 to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. To speak of knowing something that “surpasses knowledge” is to be deliberately paradoxical; but however much one comes to know of the love of Christ, there is always more to know: it is inexhaustible (Bruce, F. F. (1984). The Epistles to the Colossians, to Philemon, and to the Ephesians. The New International Commentary on the New Testament (329). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.).
Knowing Christ’s love takes us beyond human knowledge, because it is from an infinitely higher source. Paul is not speaking here of our knowing the love we are to have for Christ but the love of Christ, His very own love that He must place in our hearts before we can love Him or anyone else. We are commanded to love because we are given love. God always gives before He commands anything in return, and love is one of Christ’s greatest gifts to His church (1 John 4:9–12, 19).
The world cannot comprehend the great love that Christ gives because it cannot understand Christ. Worldly love is based on attraction and what it perceived it will first gain, and therefore lasts only as long as the attraction, and it believes it is still first receiving. Christ’s love is based on His own nature and therefore lasts forever. Worldly love lasts until it is offended or rebuffed. Christ’s love lasts despite every offense and every rebuff. Worldly love loves for what it can get. Christ’s love loves for what it can give. What is incomprehensible to the world is to be normal living for the child of God.
Illustration: In the last century, when Napoleon’s armies opened a prison that had been used by the Spanish Inquisition they found the remains of a prisoner who had been incarcerated for his faith. The dungeon was underground. The body had long since decayed. Only a chain fastened around an anklebone cried out his confinement. But this prisoner, long since dead, had left a witness. On the wall of his small, dismal cell this faithful soldier of Christ had scratched a rough cross with four words surrounding it in Spanish. Above the cross was the Spanish word for “height.” Below it was the word for “depth.” To the left the word “width.” To the right, the word “length.” Clearly this prisoner wanted to testify to the surpassing greatness of the love of Christ, perceived even in his suffering (Boice, J. M. (1988). Ephesians: An expositional commentary (111). Grand Rapids, MI: Ministry Resources Library.).
John Stott said that “the love of Christ is ‘broad’ enough to encompass (Jew and Gentiles), ‘long’ enough to last for eternity, ‘deep’ enough to reach the most degraded sinner, and ‘high’ enough to exalt him to heaven.”(John Stott, God’s New Society, 137.)
4) The Power to be Filled with God’s Fullness (Ephesians 3:19b)
Ephesians 3:19b [19] (and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge),that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. (ESV)
The inner strengthening of the Holy Spirit leads to the indwelling of Christ, which leads to abundant love, which leads to God’s fullness in us. To be “filled” (Plēroō) means to make full, or fill to the full, and is used many times in the New Testament. It speaks of total dominance. A person filled with rage is totally dominated by hatred. A person filled with happiness is totally dominated by joy. To be filled with/up to all the fullness of God therefore means to be totally dominated by Him, with nothing left of self or any part of the old human nature By definition, then, to be filled with God is to be emptied of self. It is not to have much of God and little of self, but all of God and none of self. This is a recurring theme in Ephesians. Here Paul talks about the fullness of God; in 4:13 it is “the fullness of Christ”; and in 5:18 it is the fullness of the Spirit.
Please turn to Colossians 2 (p.984)
By knowing the love of Christ, and only so, is it possible to be filled up to the measure of God’s own fullness. This, one may say, is the language of hyperbole: how can the finite reach the infinite? But the Christ whose love is to be known is the Christ in whom:
Colossians 2:9-10 [9] For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, [10] and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.(ESV)
Even to begin to grasp the magnitude of that truth, we must think of every attribute and every characteristic of God. We must think of His power, majesty, wisdom, love, mercy, patience, kindness, longsuffering, and every other thing that God is and does. That Paul is not exaggerating is clear from the fact that in this letter he repeatedly mentions the fullness of God’s blessings to those who belong to Him through Christ. He tells us that the church is Christ’s “body, the fulness of Him who fills all in all” (Eph. 1:23). He tells us that “He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things” (4:10). And he tells us that God wants every believer to “be filled with the Spirit” (5:18).
Illustration: J. Wilbur Chapman often told of the testimony given by a certain man in one of his meetings:” I got off at the Pennsylvania depot as a tramp, and for a year I begged on the streets for a living. One day I touched a man on the shoulder and said, “Hey, mister, can you give me a dime?” As soon as I saw his face I was shocked to see that it was my own father. I said, “Father, Father, do you know me?” Throwing his arms around me and with tears in his eyes, he said, “Oh my son, at last I’ve found you! I’ve found you. You want a dime? Everything I have is yours.” Think of it. I was a tramp. I stood begging my own father for ten cents, when for 18 years he had been looking for me to give me all that he had”.
• That is a small picture of what God wants to do for His children. His supreme goal in bringing us to Himself is to make us like Himself by filling us with Himself, with all that He is and has.
5) Doxology: Praising the Empowering God (Ephesians 3:20–21)
Ephesians 3:20–21 [20] Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, [21] to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
In culmination of all he has been declaring about God’s limitless provision for His children, Paul gives this great doxology, a proclamation of praise and glory, introduced by Now to Him.
When the Holy Spirit has empowered us, Christ has indwelt us, love has mastered us, and God has filled us with His own fullness, then He is able to do far more/exceeding abundantly (beyond) than all that we ask or think. Until those conditions are met, God’s working in us is limited. When they are met, His working in us is unlimited. God’s ability is “beyond everything.” πάντα is indefinite and hence does not refer merely to all the things that exist but to “all things” in any sense whatever. His power has no limits, is not exhausted by anything he puts forth. It is literally infinite. Thus in his limitless ability he is able “to do (aorist, actuality) beyond what we ask or think” (present, at any time) (Lenski, R. C. H. (1937). The interpretation of St. Paul’s Epistles to the Galatians, to the Ephesians and to the Philippians (499). Columbus, O.: Lutheran Book Concern.).
Please turn to John 14 (p.901)
There is no situation in which the Lord cannot use us, provided we are submitted to Him. As is frequently pointed out, Ephesians 3:20 is a pyramid progression of God’s enablement: He is able; He is able to do; He is able to do far more/exceeding abundantly; He is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask; He is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think. There is no question in the minds of believers that God is able to do more than we can conceive, but too few Christians enjoy the privilege of seeing Him do that in their lives, because they fail to follow the pattern of enablement presented in these verses. We tend to think of prayer more as a means of setting our requests before God than as the means by which God accomplishes his work (Liefeld, W. L. (1997). Vol. 10: Ephesians. The IVP New Testament Commentary Series (Eph 3:14). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.).
John 14:12-14 [12] “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. [13] Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. [14] If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. (ESV)
When by our yieldedness God is able to do far more/exceeding abundantly (beyond) all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, only then are we truly effective and only then is He truly glorified. The English terms dynamic and energy are reflected in the Greek: To the one who is able (dunamenos) according to the power (dunamis) that works (energoumenē) within us (cf. energeia and dunamis together in 3:7; 1:19). The phrase within us holds particular interest because in Eph. 1:19–20 God’s power is at work in Christ, but for us. That such power is now at work in us shows the extent to which the church has taken an exceedingly prominent place (Neufeld, T. R. Y. (2001). Ephesians. Believers Church Bible Commentary (163). Scottdale, PA: Herald Press.).
As He deserves, verse 21 concludes: glory in the church and in Christ Jesus, not only now, but throughout/to all generations forever and ever. The Amen confirms that worthy goal.
The location of the doxology of 3:20–21, after a lengthy recitation of God’s gracious intervention in Christ (chap’s. 1–3) and immediately before the exhortation (chap’s. 4–6), carries some significant lessons. First, any recitation of God’s grace appropriately results in grateful worship. A deep awareness of God’s love and grace should make a hearty “Thanks be to God!” a constant in the lives of believers. The second lesson follows from this and is related to the doxology’s location as a preamble to the exhortation. Worship, however much shaped by gratefulness, is not complete or true without a life in which “obedience” is experienced, not as compulsion, but as the free expression of gratitude to God. …This text is intended to instill in readers a disposition of active gratitude, regardless of how costly and struggle-ridden it might be (Neufeld, T. R. Y. (2001). Ephesians. Believers Church Bible Commentary (168). Scottdale, PA: Herald Press.).
(Format Note: Outline from Neufeld, T. R. Y. (2001). Ephesians. Believers Church Bible Commentary (156). Scottdale, PA: Herald Press. Some base commentary from MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (1986). Ephesians. MacArthur New Testament Commentary (99–115). Chicago: Moody Press.)
