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Articles, Bible studies, and sermons that contain Ephesians 3:14:
Ephesians 3:14-21
Excerpted from: The Paradox of Terror and RejoicingSo according to the apostle Paul, now that the Ephesian Christians have been "rooted and grounded in love," they "may be fully able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge."
Here in this section of his epistle, Paul is not dealing with our love for God, Christ, and one another, but with His love for us. But before we examine the nature and character of that knowledge, we must consider the knowledge itself and find out what can be known about the love of God.
Here (in Ephesians 3), Paul sets this before us in an extraordinary manner. The terminology used by Paul in and of itself suggests vastness. And there is no doubt that he chose to describe it in this four-dimensional manner to give that very impression. It is interesting to speculate why he decided to do this.
He probably still had in mind what he had been saying at the end of the second chapter of Ephesians before he began on the digression in the 13 verses of this chapter. There, he had been describing the church as a holy temple in the Lord, as a great building that God uses as His dwelling place, and it is probably still in his mind at this time. And as he thought about the vastness of the church as an enormous temple, he saw it as a good way of describing the love of Christ to the brethren. It is similar to the width, the length, the depth, and the height of such a great building.
So Paul was certainly concerned about highlighting the vastness of Christ's love. In doing so, he almost contradicts himself by using a figure of speech known as an oxymoron.
He prays that we may know the love of Christ which passes knowledge. How can you know something that cannot be known? How can you define something so vast that it cannot be measured? What is the point of discussing measurements if it is immeasurable and eternal?
But of course, there is no contradiction here.
What Paul is saying is that, although this love of Christ is beyond all calculation and comprehension and can never be fully measured, it is still our duty to learn as much as we can and to receive as much of it as we can hold.
Therefore, it is fitting and essential for us to examine this description of Christ's love that Paul provides, and we are about to explore something so glorious and infinite that it will be the focus of all the saints' contemplation, not only in this world but also in the world to come. We will spend eternity in all of it. Yet it is our duty to begin trying to understand it here and now, in this life.
The word "comprehend" here is significant when compared with the English word "apprehend." Both comprehend and apprehend stem from the Latin word prehendere, which means "to grasp." We say that a monkey has a prehensile tail and that is its tail can grasp a tree limb and hold on.
Our word comprehend carries the idea of mentally grasping something, while apprehend suggests laying hold of it for yourself. In other words, it is possible to understand something but not really make it your own.
And Paul's concern is that we lay hold of the vast expanses of the love of God. He wants us to think and live in four dimensions.
But there is a paradox here. Paul wants us to know the love of Christ personally, which passes knowledge. There are dimensions, but they cannot be measured. "The love of Christ which passes knowledge" parallels "the unsearchable riches of Christ," mentioned in Ephesians 3:8. We are so rich in Christ that our spiritual riches cannot be calculated even with the most sophisticated computer.
No Christian ever has to worry about having inadequate spiritual resources to meet the demands of life. If we pray for spiritual strength and spiritual depth, we will be able to apprehend, that is, get our hands on all the resources of God's love and grace.
Paul recognizes, of course, that he is trying to measure the unmeasurable and therefore paradoxically prays that the … . . .
Ephesians 3:14-19
Excerpted from: Four Views of Christ (Part 1)It is beautiful! Here is the purpose for what God has written. Some of it is right on the surface. A great deal of its beauty is hidden. Actually, I think most of its beauty is hidden. It is something that has to be dug for. But its purpose is that Christ may dwell in us. This book, the Bible, is a revelation of His mind as He participated in this creation and as He directs it toward the conclusion of His purpose.
Most of this paragraph that I just read to you is written in the present, continuous tense. So what Paul is showing is what we are involved in is a process. Education, whether it be with God or in this world, is not something that comes all at once. It is something that is progressive. It has a beginning. It has a purpose. As we mature, as we begin to look in deeper and deeper, what we find adds to what we already have. So it is cumulative in its effect. That is what Paul is saying here.
The glory that is being spoken of is the revelation of His perfection. You may not understand or think that this is very important, but it is very important to you and me. What God is gradually revealing of Himself to you and me is a clearer, brighter, more beautiful focus on His image, which we need if we are going to be conformed or transformed from the glory of man to the glory of God.
This salvation process in which we are involved is not one-sided. God is not doing everything. God is requiring things of you and me, and part of the requirement is that we make effort to dig into the beauties of His Word. As we do these things, the image keeps coming clearer and clearer and we have a better vision of what we are to yield to and become.
This paragraph also tells us that we are enabled to do this by the Holy Spirit. What we are enabled to do is, unfortunately in most English Bibles, called, "comprehend." "Comprehend" means, in English, something a little bit different from the Greek. In English, "comprehend" means "understand." But the Greek word means "lay hold on." It means to "seize." It means to "grasp!" Can you see what Paul is getting at here? We are enabled by the Holy Spirit to grab on to the glory of God! He is showing that it requires effort on our part. God is not going to force it on us. We have to cooperate with Him in it. The way we cooperate is studying His Word and coming to appreciate this beauty. That expands, broadens, deepens, clarifies, sharpens, and details the beauty of what God is.
Paul was telling us that the Holy Spirit enables us to seize, or take possession of, or make as our own, the glories of God. He tells us in verse 18, "That we may be able to comprehend with all the saints." That little phrase, "all the saints," is very interesting in that it is showing that it is not something that is limited to a select few, but is something that is available to anybody who has the Spirit of God.
Remember I told you earlier this is not something that requires a great deal of intellect. What it requires is persistence, perseverance, a willingness to put oneself and one's time at the disposal of learning by searching into and giving ourselves over to, because we love it! This is so important!
Gradually what occurs is that we begin to be transformed into the image of what we are reading, what we are studying, because it becomes part of our thinking processes. We are what we think. We are what we eat spiritually. This is why the manna is so important, why Christ is identified as the manna of the New Testament and why the Word of God is identified as the true manna of the New Covenant. But He is warning us that not everything is right on the surface. There are things that have to be dug for. So this, that He wants us to grasp, is the common property of anyone who has the Spirit of God.
Another way of looking at this, as to why it is important, is because every one of us is capable of understanding something without grasping the full implications of what it is we understand. For example, we … . . .
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