Paul Prays a second Time for these Ephesian
Believers Part 3
Ephesians
3:18-19 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth,
and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which
passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. KJVPaul having prayed for Christ to dwell in the hearts of each one of these Ephesian believers by faith now prays that this reality of knowing that Christ is in our inner man or inner woman is the way that they and us today will truly be able to get a grasp or grip on how much we are truly loved (agape) by our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul starts the very next sentence of his prayer with the English phrase “May be able” and these words are translated by one Greek word exischuo meaning to have or exercise force; to have full strength, that is, be entirely competent: - be able. In other words, Paul is here expounding or enlarging what he began this prayer with when he said, “That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man;” (Ephesians 3:16). It is Paul increasing the intensity of his prayer for these Ephesians and all of us by climbing higher and higher stretching and reaching further and further with the limited human language he can use to let them and us know that the work of God the Holy Spirit in the inner man or inner woman is the only way we can experience on a regular basis how much our Lord, Master, and Savior Jesus Christ loves His Own Blood bought children.
This part of Paul’s prayer ties into or plugs into or connects directly with what was said by our Lord Jesus Christ with these words in His Prayer to God the Father, “I have made Your Name known to them {and} revealed Your character {and} Your very Self, and I will continue to make [You] known, that the love which You have bestowed upon Me may be in them [felt in their hearts] and that I [Myself] may be in them.” (John 17:26). Note: To know the Love of Jesus Christ cannot be explained or taught to another soul, but that soul must experience His Love for themselves in their own inner man or inner woman. The love our Lord Jesus Christ has for each one of us individually can be known in one sense by our recounting what we were (before we met or encountered Christ) seeing what we have become and are continually becoming since we have this intimate union with Him being made a partaker of His Divine Nature (2 Peter 1:4). He could have left us in our filth to rotten further and then perish eternally, but LOVE that cannot be fully grasped reached down into the deepest darkest sewer pit with merciful compassion to pull out His enemy from corruption and receive His enemy into His bosom as His child.
Paul then prays that these Ephesians and us today would “comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height” (Ephesians 3:18) of this love that has been so lavishly poured out on us by our Lord Jesus Christ. The English word Paul uses to comprehend is translated by the Greek word katalambano which means to take eagerly, that is, seize, possess, etc. (literally or figuratively): - apprehend, attain, come upon, comprehend, find, obtain, perceive, (over-) take. In other words, it is Paul’s prayer for these Ephesians and for every born again believer in Jesus Christ to possess in our inner man or inner woman by strength given to us by the Holy Spirit a literal experience of this love from Christ to us as if we were wrapped up in His love for us as one would wrap themselves in a large blanket to keep warm from the cold temperatures. When Paul uses the words breadth, depth, length, and height, he is trying with the inadequate and incompetent human language to express the greatness, the immense, the vast, the endless, or boundless or uncontainable capacity of Christ love to His own children as this very Apostle Paul discovered on many occasions during the years of his sojourn down here on the earth through many hard trials as he expressed on one occasion in closing his letter to Brother Timothy with these words, “At my first defense no one supported me, but all deserted me; may it not be counted against them. But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that through me the proclamation might be fully accomplished, and that all the Gentiles might hear; and I was rescued out of the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed, and will bring me safely to His Heavenly Kingdom; to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.” (2 Timothy 4:16-18).
Paul knew this love that our Lord Jesus Christ had for him experimentally and so he desperately prayed for these Ephesian believers “to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:19). Now this may sound like Paul is contradicting himself when he says that Christ love to us passes knowledge or understanding, but this is not the case, Paul is simply revealing a paradox or contradiction in terms that is, however, absolutely factual. God cannot be fully understood by man His creation as the Book of Job declares with this question, “Can you discover the depths of God? Can you discover the limits of the Almighty? (Job 11:7), the answer is of course no, for He is infinite and we are finite, therefore, Christ who is God in Bodily form as Paul wrote in this manner to the Colossian believers, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” (Ephesians 1:15), His love can be known by us experimentally, but we will never understand the depths of such in-human love as the Apostle John was overwhelmed when he wrote these words, “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.” (1 John 3:1).
The English phrase the Apostle John uses in this verse “what manner” is translated by one Greek word potapos meaning interrogative whatever, that is, of what possible sort: - what (manner of). In other words, the Apostle John declares God’s love, Christ’ love to be in-human, that is, Divine Holy Supernatural Love that cannot be explained by those of us who are the recipients of said love. Paul’s prayer for them to be filled with all the fullness of God is realized when they and we abide in the Lord Jesus Christ staying completely connected to Him and being devoted fully to Him overflowing with Him our first love and only true love as Paul writes of Christ Jesus our Lord to the Colossians describing Him in this manner, “For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him” (Colossians 1:19), therefore, if all the fullness of God is in Christ and we are in Him (without disconnection by disobedience and sin) then we too will then be filled with all the fullness of God (Matthew 5:48).
“We love Him, because He first loved us. In order to this he prays, for their experimental acquaintance with the love of Jesus Christ. The more intimate acquaintance we have with Christ’s love to us, the more our love will be drawn out to Him, and to those who are His, for His sake: That you may be able to comprehend with all saints, that is, more clearly to understand, and firmly to believe, the wonderful love of Christ to His, which the saints do understand and believe in some measure, and shall understand more hereafter. Christians should not aim to comprehend above all saints; but be content that God deals with them as He uses to do with those who love and fear His name: we should desire to comprehend with all saints, to have so much knowledge as the saints are allowed to have in this world.” Matthew Henry
“The love of Christ to His own, to His church and people, is special and peculiar; free and Sovereign; as early as His Father’s love, and is durable and unchangeable; the greatest love that ever was heard of; it is matchless and unparalleled; it is exceeding strong and affectionate, and is wonderful and surprising: the instances of it are, His engaging as a surety for them; His espousing both their persons and their cause; His assumption of their nature; His dying in their room and stead; His payment of their debts, atoning for their sins, and bringing in for them an everlasting righteousness; His going to prepare a place for them in Heaven; His intercession for them there; His constant supply of all their wants, and the freedom and familiarity He uses them with. The saints have some knowledge of this love, some tastes of it; their knowledge is a feeling and experimental one, fiducial and appropriating, and what influences their faith, and love, and cheerful obedience, but it is but imperfect; though the knowledge they have of it is super eminent, it exceeds all other knowledge, yet this love passes knowledge; not only the knowledge of natural men, who know nothing of it, but the perfect knowledge of saints themselves, in the present life, and of angels also, who desire to look into it, and the mysteries of it; and especially it is so as to some instances of it, such as the incarnation of Christ, His becoming poor who was Lord of all, being made sin, and a curse, and suffering, the just for the unjust. Now the Apostle prays that these saints might know more of this love; that their knowledge, which was imperfect, might be progressive.” Dr. John Gill
If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...
Sincerely in Christ,
Clifford D. Tate, Sr.
Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reade, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…
No comments:
Post a Comment