“For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom every family in the heavens and on earth is named, in order that He may give you according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power by His Spirit in the inner man; that the Christ may dwell, through faith, in your hearts, being rooted and founded in love, in order that ye may be fully able to apprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height; and to know the love of the Christ which surpasses knowledge; that ye may be filled even to all the fullness of God.
“But to Him that is able to do far exceedingly above all which we ask or think, according to the power which works in us, to Him be glory in the assembly in Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of ages. Amen” (JND).
In chapter 1 The apostle speaks of his prayers that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, would give to the saints at Ephesus the spirit of wisdom and revelation in full knowledge of Him, having the eyes of their heart enlightened.
Here in chapter 3 we have another prayer, answering to the second title in the first chapter—the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Both prayers have Christ as foundation and center, but He is regarded in wholly different points of view. In the first prayer He is viewed as man, and one who calls God His God; in the prayer we now find Christ regarded in His still more intimate relationship as Son, who therefore brings before us the Father. We too have communion with God in both respects; we have to do with Him as God and as Father.
The prayer of chapter 1 has been called the prayer of glory, because that is its character; the main thought in the prayer; that of chapter 3 has with equal appropriateness been termed the prayer of love. There is not a word in the second prayer about Christ’s being exalted “above every principality and authority and power and dominion,” for the subject is not glory at all, nor what God has done, nor anything conferred or Christ, but Himself and His love, the sum and substance of our blessing.
In verses 14 to 21 we are on different ground then, than we were in chapter 1; on higher ground too. It has been truly said that, wonderful though it is that we are to share Christ’s glory, it is yet more wonderful that we are loved by the Father as He loves His Son (John 17:2323I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. (John 17:23)).
“Every family in the heavens and on earth” naming the Father includes all the creation, whether Jews or Gentles, principalities and powers, angels or the church of God. The church has a very special place before God, as we learn from the Scriptures—a place which none can share, not even an angel. But “every family” necessarily takes in the despisers of His grace for whom there awaits the sinner’s eternal doom.
For those who will share the very special place, the peculiar place nearest to the heart of God, this prayer of the apostle seeks that the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ may give them according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power by His Spirit in the inner man; that the Christ may dwell, through faith, in their hearts, being rooted and founded in love, in order that they may be fully able to apprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height.
The prayer in the first chapter asked for a deep and real apprehension on the part of the saints of their standing before God; in the third chapter the prayer is for practical inward power by the Holy Spirit, that Christ might have His place in their hearts by faith. It is a question here of actual state, of the affections having Christ within, of being rooted and grounded in love, that they might be thoroughly able to apprehend that which is indeed beyond measurement. The apostle does not say what it is, leaving the sentence without an ending. He brings us into infinity. What then is the meaning? Certainly not the love of Christ, mentioned immediately afterward. It is in relation to the heavenly counsel of God the Father, once a secret, now disclosed. All things were for the glory of His Son—the whole creation, both heavenly and earthly, and the saints are to have the very highest place with Him over it all.
We continue (verse 19): “And to know the love of the Christ, which surpasses knowledge; that ye may be filled even to all the fullness of God” (JND). We shall never know His love fully, but as has been remarked by another, there may be the knowing more and more of what surpasses knowledge. It was for the saints now, in this world, that the apostle thus prayed; and he continues “but to Him that is able to do far exceedingly above all which we ask or think, according to the power which works in us, to Him be glory in the assembly in Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of ages. Amen” (JND, verses 20-21).
Young Christian, meditate deeply upon these closing verses; indeed, upon the entire chapter; think of what God has done, and what He has in prospect for His heavenly saints, for His church, and make use of the invitation plainly included in the twentieth verse—to ask for more of the Father “according to the power which works in us.” That power is God’s—the Holy Spirit who dwells in every believer.
How blessed we are! Yet to our shame be it said, How little we think of these things!