For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Ephesians 3:14 – 19

I love this conclusion to chapter 3 of Ephesians.  Paul, we recall, was a Pharisee in his earlier life, committed to full obedience to the law as summarized by the rabbis.  Those who had arrived at this level of obedience were convinced that they can please God entirely by obedience.   Paul as one of their young leaders, held to this dogma and so looked down on all others.

Now, having been found by Jesus, he realizes that God, the Father, has given his name to every group of human beings.  That revolutionized Paul’s thinking!  He is writing to Ephesian believers, Jews and Gentiles, and in effect to all mankind.  He is opening the door of the salvation of Jesus Christ to all people of all times.

Paul’s prayer for them was based on the assurance that the Spirit of the Lord is in each one of them, Jew or Gentile. He prayed that out of his glorious riches (Christ’s) he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.  The prayer culminated in the wonderful fact that Christ Jesus dwells in the hearts of all the believers thus giving them faith!

That faith in God enables them to send their roots down into the rich soil of Christ’s love.  They learn that they are God’s holy people, from all backgrounds, now believers.   This is all love!  They live in the cusp of discovering how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.