Lesson for April 25, 2021
The Book of Ephesians
Chapter 3:14-21
“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us,to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.”
Verses 14 and 15 indicate that Paul was actually beginning his apostolic prayer. I bow my knees indicates one of the most basic principles of prayer – the principle of humility. God is everything, we are nothing without Him. We address prayers to God the Father because He is totally capable, and we are totally incapable. Many people think you have to get on your knees to pray but that is ridiculous. You do not have to get on your knees. Prayer requires concentration. Posture is not important. Paul was dramatizing the importance of doctrine in effective prayer function. God the Father is the only recipient of prayer from the royal priesthood. The phrase “of our Lord Jesus Christ” in some translations is not found in the original.
The whole family refers to the Royal Family of God. The Royal Family of God is made up of Church Age believers only. Some members of the Royal Family of God were already in Heaven and some were still on earth. The Royal Family of God derives its name from God the Father. The Greek word for Father is “pater,” and the Greek word for family is “patria.” Both are from the same root word.
That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory. The Greek word for riches is “ploutos,” which is something that most believers do not understand. It is very simple. “Ploutos” means that the source of all money, wealth, materialistic things and all spiritual blessings is God, that God has limitless supplies that He is trying to give us but there must be a place for it to go within the royal family. This is because the only members of the royal family who receive these greater blessings are those who have the capacity to receive them. The principle is that God has greater blessings to give and wants to bless us while we are here on earth. But these blessings would be meaningless without the capacity to enjoy them and the capacity to enjoy them is based on spiritual growth. The more doctrine you take in the greater becomes your capacity for life and your capacity to receive God’s blessings. God is glorified in pouring out blessings to you. His glory refers to the essence of God. And we are members of the Royal Family of God and God wants us to have those things related to royalty, whether spiritual or material. God can trust those who have the spiritual capacity with greater blessings because they will not forget the Source. And God receives all the glory because He is the One pouring out the blessings.
To be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.Strengthened is the Greek word “krataioo,” which means to become strong. The Greek word for power is “dunamis,” which refers to inner power from Bible doctrine in the soul. Power is doctrine in the soul through the filling and teaching ministry of God the Holy Spirit which provides the strength to live the super-natural Christian Way of Life. God the Holy Spirit indwells and empowers the believer to overcome any issue in life.
At the moment of salvation, every believer becomes indwelt by the second Person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ, for a specific purpose. Christ indwells the believer in order to make evident His glory in us. This is accomplished in the life of the maturing believer as he exhibits the character of Jesus Christ. Our objective as Christians should be to allow God the Father to glorify His Son by pouring out fantastic blessings on us. As we move through the spiritual life on our way to spiritual maturity, our capacity to receive blessing from God increases. This increase in capacity sets up the potential for glorifying Christ, as He provides encouragement, motivation, and confidence. (John 14:18-21; Ephesians 3:14-21; Colossians 1:27)
Jesus Christ indwells the believer in order to glorify Himself in the life of the believer. As with the indwelling of the Father and the Holy Spirit, we must allow Christ to glorify Himself through our lives. We do this as we abide in Him (fellowship) and His Word abides in us. The word for abide in Greek is “meno” and means to dwell, to remain, to continue in, or to tarry. Abide means “to be at home with.” When Bible doctrine is dwelling in you and you are in fellowship with Christ, the potential exists to glorify Him through your life. (John 15:1-14)
The indwelling of Christ also provides motivation for living the Christian life. Our personal love for Jesus Christ should motivate each of us to do our best to bring glory to Him. The unmotivated life dishonors our Savior and brings shame to us at the Judgment Seat of Christ. (II Corinthians 10:17) For human beings there is no greater motivation than love. It was love that motivated the humanity of Jesus Christ to die in our place, paying the penalty for our sin. It was love that motivated God the Father to send Christ. It is love for God that should be our motivation for wanting to please Him. (John 3:16, 15:13; II Corinthians 5:14-15) Christ “pours out” His love in our souls as we advance in our spiritual lives. Knowing and understanding the love of God is our motivation for serving Him. Spiritual advance reflects God’s glory that dwells in us. (Romans 5:5; II Corinthians 3:16-17)
Being rooted and grounded in love. This has to do with doctrine being in your soul. The Greek word for rooted is “rhizoo,” which means to be firmly planted or established. The Greek word for grounded is “themelioo” meaning to lay a foundation. Having a foundation means that Bible doctrine is in your soul and becomes building material for the construction of the Edification Complex of the Soul. The first floor in the building in the soul is grace orientation. No soul except the soul of the believer, based upon Bible doctrine, can have this building complex. The second floor is mastery of the details of life. The third floor is relaxed mental attitude. The fourth floor is capacity for virtue-love. The top floor is sharing the happiness of God and occupation with the Person of Christ. This is where we begin to enter into the super-grace life. So here is a structure that does not exist in the soul except through Bible doctrine in the human spirit.
May be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth. Able is the Greek word “exischuo,” which means to be thoroughly strong, to be fully able, to have complete ability, to have unusual strength or to have a total ability in some field. The Greek word for comprehend is “katalambano,” which means to seize, to grasp, to light upon, to truly understand, to overtake, to attain a definite goal, to seize something and make it your own. So, it means to grasp mentally and make it your own. In other words, total comprehension. With all saints means that this comprehension does not take place apart from a local church situation where you have privacy for your priesthood and a pastor-teacher to teach you accurate Bible doctrine. What is refers to what God wants us to know as believers.
The breadth is the Greek word “platos,” can represent the mystery doctrine of the Church Age. This doctrine is our union with Christ by means of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. It can also represent becoming Royal Family of God, the permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit, which is the sign or badge of royalty, and the sealing of the Holy Spirit which is the security for royalty.
Length is the Greek word “mekos,” can represent all categories of Bible doctrine found in the New Testament epistles. These include our 40 spiritual assets received at salvation. We classify this as Categorical Storage in the soul.
Depth is the Greek word “bathos,” which can represent the advanced doctrines (deep things of God).
Doctrines such as doctrines pertaining the Trinity, divine decrees, Christology, Soteriology, Theology and Pneumatology. (I Corinthians 2:10)
Height is the Greek word “hupsos,” which can represent the advance of believers to spiritual maturity and super-grace. Reaching great heights in the Christian life means a believer has greatly advanced through the consistent study and application of accurate Bible doctrine over a period of time.
“And to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.” Know is the Greek word “ginosko,” which means to know, to come to know, to learn, to ascertain by concentration, to comprehend, to perceive, and to realize. The original meaning was intelligent comprehension. We are Royal Family and God, and we are here to learn doctrine, to advance spiritually and to part of the resolution of the Angelic Conflict. Everything else is secondary and everything else we do in life must depend on learning and applying doctrine. The love of Christ is virtue-love developed in the soul of a believer as he advances to spiritual maturity and on into super-grace. Virtue-love is unconditional love, impersonal love.
That you may be filled up to all the fullness of God is a reference to reaching spiritual maturity with a great deal of Bible doctrine in your soul. Fullness is the Greek word “pleroma,” which means completeness. In John 1:16, “pleroma” refers to the fulness of Christ being received by grace to those who believe in Him. Positionally, believers become complete in Him as a result of faith at salvation. Experientially, believers become complete in Him when they execute the Christian Way of Life. Both are grace functions of God.
Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us,to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. God’s omnipotence acts in His own interest to provide spiritually mature believers even greater blessings. God wants to provide each one of us with greater blessings, which are beyond anything that we could ask from God or anything we could imagine would be a blessing from God. God is not limited by our finite minds. All advancing believers have two power options that work within us: the filling of the Holy Spirit and Bible doctrine.
To Him is God the Father. He is the Author of the divine plan. He is the One Who authorized in the divine decrees the Royal Priesthood. He is the One Who decided what each one of us would receive by way of blessings. God is glorified when we assemble and learn doctrine. By Christ Jesus means you glorify God by being in union with Christ. Every Church Age generation must do it the same way, it hasn’t changed since the day of Pentecost. The principle is true through all generations: the filling of the Spirit plus the consistent study and application of Bible doctrine will result in the entrance into the super-grace life. This is the tactical victory of the intensified stage of the Angelic Conflict. Therefore, two things are necessary: 1) union with Christ at the point of salvation, and 2) the assembly of the local church for learning doctrine. We reside in Christ forever. It is the amount of time we spend learning and applying doctrine that determines how quickly we reach super-grace.