Healing through Ephesians, Eph. 3:14-21

Healing through Ephesians: Eph. 3:14-21

So far in the book of Ephesians, Paul has reminded the Ephesian believers in 1:1-14 of the truth of the Gospel, that they are saved by grace. He prays for them in 1:15-23 that God would fill them with all the riches of His grace. Paul lays out for the Ephesians that salvation is all of grace in chapter 2:1-10. In 2:11-22 Paul describes how both Jews and Gentiles are one people under the grace of God. Paul begins in 3:1-13 describing how the OT was always about God creating new a people from all the peoples in the earth. There’s a mystery that’s now revealed on this side of the cross that God was always working toward. In v. 13 Paul also reminds the Ephesians that what he is suffering is for their glory.
v.14-15
Paul picks up his train of thought from 3:1 “For this reason” What reason? That the Gospel is for Gentiles the same way it is for Jews. That we’re one body in Christ. Paul writes a bit of a pun in using “Father” and the Greek word for “family” here is patria which Pater is related. Another way to put it is, “I bow my knees before the Father from whom all fatherhood in heaven and on earth is named.” Paul launches into another prayer in this section as he’s bringing the doctrinal section of the book to a close and fixing to move into the practical implications of the doctrine of salvation by grace he’s just described. So often, we want to skip all the “head stuff” and go to “just tell me what to do.” Paul doesn’t let us do that, and by the grace of God, let’s not either. Sit under the awe of God and His amazing grace. That He would save a wretch like me. That I, a member of the nations of the OT, would be saved to inherit Christ and His kingdom along with the rest of God’s people is enough to blow anyone’s mind. Any contemplation of God’s grace should result in thanksgiving. Paul is asking God to empower the Ephesians in the way that to see in the next several verses. I confess, I don’t pray for my brothers and sisters like that on a consistent basis. God grant that we would be a praying people.
Paul is also making a statement about the nature of God Himself. He’s not a mere tribal deity. In Greek and Roman paganism the gods are just extra powerful humans to some degree. They have limits to their ability. If a god is over the sea, they’re useless on land. They’re beset by wrong desires (looking at you, Zeus) and fight amongst themselves. Paul is describing God in VERY different terms from that. God is the God of all the peoples of the earth. Not that everyone is saved through faith, but that there’s nowhere on the globe that God in his immanence is not.
V. 16 – 17a
Paul prays that the Ephesians would be empowered at the same level of power that God’s glory is. Back in Ephesians 1, Paul writes about the riches of God’s grace, about the glorious inheritance of the saints and how He’s working at that level in our lives. Paul is not referring to material riches, but spiritual richness of God Himself that we get by the empowering Holy Spirit in our “inner being.” Where does this power come from? And what is this power for? This power comes from God as a gift, it’s by grace. And it comes in order that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith. Some may object, “Aren’t we already saved? Aren’t we already believers?” Yes. Paul is praying that they would have more – that they would go deeper. The same Gospel that saves is the same Gospel that sanctifies. We should pray for more of the Spirit, to know Christ more. That Christ Himself would dwell in our hearts, that He would increase our faith.
John 15:1-11
V.17b – 19
Our root and foundation is always and only the love of Christ. If it’s anything else, we’ve missed the boat. This is the point of power from v. 16. Paul prays that the Ephesians would be strengthened, not for their own aggrandizement, not so the Ephesian church would be a “great church”, or that they would accomplish lots for God’s kingdom, or give tons of money away, or attract a huge crowd, or turn away a huge crowd. The power Paul is praying for is an inner power to love and understand the Gospel through Christ’s indwelling. What you’re rooted in matters. What your foundation is built on matters. A plant is only as good as the soil it’s planted in. Amy has a lot of houseplants, some of them need this kind of soil or that kind. The plant that needs a dry, sandy soil won’t do well if she were to plant it in moist peat moss. Or vice versa. Some plants thrive in rocks and little bit of water. Others wouldn’t last 5 minutes like that. A building is only as good as its foundation. If cracks appear in the wall and they’re caused by foundation problems, filling the crack and painting only does so much. The house is still shifting.
This knowledge that Paul prays in v. 18 for doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Paul prays that the Ephesians would be strengthened to comprehend the “breadth and length and height and depth.” Where does this strength come from to understand all these things? I would argue that Paul is writing about knowledge of God and His Word. That as we know God and His Word more fully, we are changed to know and love Him. God must grant this. He alone can empower us to take His Word and He roots it deep into our lives. Paul doesn’t say “just use your reason, or feelings, or a great teacher, or a pastor, or a commentary.” All those are good tools, but there’s something different that Paul is referring to – the illumination of the Holy Spirit. God must reveal Himself in His Scripture for our lives to be changed. Paul prayed that for the Ephesians and, by extension, us. We can pray that same prayer for ourselves and one another. That we would be empowered by the Holy Spirit to love God’s Word and the God Who reveals Himself in it, and that we would have fellowship with all the saints through that.
How do you know this love? How do you deepen your fellowship with other believers? How do you commune more deeply with Christ and be filled with the Spirit? Know your Bible. Dig deep into Scripture. There’s an embarrassment of riches in the Western world to help you further your study of Scripture. Study Scripture in community. “Knowledge puffs up” as we know from 1 Corinthians, but Scripture studied in community gives an outlet for knowledge of Scripture. The love of Christ surpasses knowledge, but rather than despair that Christ’s love is unknowable, let’s dive into that pool and drown in the knowledge of His love. We can’t figure out all of God and Who He is. Even the study of one attribute of God is just scratching the surface of the knowledge of God Himself.
V. 20-21
Paul ends his prayer with a benediction, summing up what he just wrote in the preceding verses. May God be glorified in our sanctification. May He look marvelous to a watching world when they see how He is working in us through His Spirit. May we, as we preach the Gospel to each other and the lost, make much of God and His glory that it would always and only be able to be attributed to God. May God heal us from our past hurts and sin and use us as willing vessels to carry the light of Christ to the world. Remember from v. 16 how much power that God has empowered us with? “According to the riches of his glory.” God has empowered us to the level of His own glory, and He’s glorifying Himself in the worship of his saints in all times and places and in the work that Jesus has accomplished and is accomplishing in His people.
Application
God wants us to know Him in His Word. Drink deeply from the fountain of His revealed Word. There’s so much treasure there. The Bible isn’t a magic book that “a chapter a day keeps the Devil away.” I’m praying for us a body that we would be filled with such a love for Christ that we would be so enamored with God’s Word that we would become what Paul prays for in this section. That we would study Bible and have such a love for the Bible that it would change us to love one another and abide in Christ.