Ephesians 3:14-21·~1 min

Paul’s Prayer for the Ephesians

Paul says that he bows before the Father, from whom every family receives its name, and asks that the readers be strengthened with power through the Spirit in their inner being. He prays that Christ may dwell in their hearts through faith and that, rooted and grounded in love, they may grasp the immeasurable dimensions of Christ's love and be filled with all the fullness of God.

.¹⁴.. for this reason I bow my knees before the Father, ¹⁵from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. ¹⁶I ask that out of the riches of His glory He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, ¹⁷so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. Then you, being rooted and grounded in love, ¹⁸will have power, together with all the saints, to comprehend the length and width and height and depth ¹⁹of the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Paul then turns to praise, saying that God is able to do beyond all asking and imagining according to the power already at work within his people. To this God belongs glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever.

²⁰Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, ²¹to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Section summaryPaul bows before the Father and prays that, out of the riches of his glory, the readers may be strengthened through the Spirit in their inner being and that Christ may dwell in their hearts through faith. Rooted and grounded in love, they are to comprehend the vastness of Christ's love and be filled with all God's fullness, and the section ends in doxology to the God whose power works beyond all that can be asked or imagined.

Role in the chapterThis closing section turns revealed mystery into prayerful desire. It asks not merely that the church know doctrine, but that it be inwardly strengthened and filled by the reality of Christ's love.