The Transcendent Love Of The Lord Jesus – Part 12

We have seen how Paul, having in Ephesians 2 stressed the equality of Jew and Gentile in the Lord Jesus, felt constrained to speak of his special mission to the Gentiles. He then proceeded to offer a prayer (Eph 3:14-21) on behalf of his read­ers, a prayer that must have moved them, as it should move us. In reading this prayer, we ponder the wonder of this great man of God, one who was so utterly devoted a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. The prayer is effectively a resumption of the prayer just barely started in Ephesians 3:1 (notice the incomplete thought and sentence there).

“I bow my knees…”

The posture in prayer can vary. Thus in Luke 18, in the Lord’s parable, both sup­plicants stand, the Pharisee enveloped in his self-righteousness but the despised publican beating his breast, asking for God’s mercy. Here Paul bows his knees in reverence (Eph 3:14), conscious as he is of the majesty and holiness of the Father of glory.

There are situations in life where prayer posture can be the expression of deep emotion and affection. When Paul and his party were in Tyre on the way to Jeru­salem, as they took leave of the local disciples, they knelt together on the beach and prayed (Acts 21:5). The Lord, in the agony of decision in Gethsemane, fell on his face to pray (Mat 26:39).

“…unto the Father”

The One to whom Paul offers his prayer is the Father, “from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named” (v 15).

It is rightly pointed out that the two words in Greek, father-pater and family­patria, are closely related. This relationship is lost in English, with pater corresponding to “father”, and patria to “family”. But who are the members of God’s family? Primarily, the term must refer to God’s children by adoption, and to the angels in heaven.

But there is a possible second application: Adam is called “the son of God” (Luke 3:38); Paul himself declared to the Athenians, “for we are also his offspring” (Acts 17:28), and when, after the Flood, God was instructing Noah, He said to him, “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man” (Gen 9:6). Although people are too often woefully ignorant of the fact, man occupies a unique place on earth, and the gap between man and the highest forms of animal life is unbridgeable. We are answerable to God in a way that is unique.

“The riches of his glory”

The first part of this petition is that the Lord God, as an expression of “the riches of his glory”, may powerfully strengthen Paul’s readers “in the inward man” (v 16). It is the inward man that counts. Appearances can be deceptive, but our God reads the heart:

“There is no creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and laid open before the eyes of him with whom we have to do” (Heb 4:13).

Paul has the highest estimate of God’s glory in all its aspects, as we already have had occasion to observe. Consequently a superficial faith, for the apostle, is meaningless — and how right he is. If the Lord Jesus is a living force within us, then indeed we may hope to be conformed to his image, and in the process to that of the Lord God Himself. No outward show is of any significance. We can be far too concerned with impressing our fellow men, and acquiring some hollow fame that will perish with time. The source of our rejoicing should be that our names are written in heaven (see Luke 10:20). The fault of the Pharisees was to perform their deeds to be seen of men. God has the power to transform us, if we humbly submit to him. As Paul wrote to the Philippians:

“For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure” (Phi 2:13).

We achieve transformation by allowing Christ to dwell in our hearts by faith (v 17). We need a humble and grateful response, and a conviction that we can be transformed. If we do this, then we can be rooted and grounded in love. It is no accident that this same exhortation, with a slight variation, appears in Colos­sians:

“As therefore ye received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and builded up in him, and established in your faith, even as ye were taught, abounding in thanksgiving” (Col 2:6,7).

So to be rooted in love is the equivalent of being rooted in Christ Jesus. Roots are enormously important in any process of growth. In one of his parables, the Lord spoke of the disciple who was like a plant without roots: he may initially show much enthusiasm, but when trials come, he stumbles, sometimes never to recover (Mat 13:21). The moral is clear: no casual acquaintance with the Lord and his teaching and example is sufficient. As he declares in his own allegory of the vine:

“I am the vine, ye are the branches: he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit: for apart from me ye can do nothing” (John 15:5).

These are challenging words, and we all need to heed them; they show clearly it is not our earthly record that counts, but what treasure we have laid up in heaven.

There is a detail in Paul’s words, the implication of which we could miss; we refer now to Colossians 1:6,7. In these verses the apostle refers obliquely to the good work of Epaphras, who had been so active in the Lycus valley. In the first of these verses, the apostle refers to the teaching the Colossians had received from Epaphras, and in the second, he likewise refers to the instruction the Colossians had received, and Paul clearly endorses it. Here is a lesson for all preachers of the Gospel in all ages: it is not a matter of numbers, of making converts ourselves; rather, the aim should be to bring all to an appreciation of what life in the Lord Jesus requires.

The dimensions of love

So what is the thrust of the prayer Paul offers for his readers? That they may be granted the strength to understand, with all other believers, “what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge” (Eph 3:18,19), so that they might be filled with all the fullness of God. Thus, in one sense, Paul is calling on his readers to attain what is unattainable, and we may then enquire whether the exhortation is pointless. Far from it! Paul speaks of the fullness, the completeness, the perfection of the Father’s love — and then of our grasp of this quality. In doing so, he follows in the footsteps of the Lord himself, who instructed his disciples:

“Ye therefore shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mat 5:48).

What has characterized the children of God is their appreciation of their Father’s majesty and power, evidenced so conspicuously in nature. As a young shepherd, David had gazed at the sky, and his sense of wonder is embodied so beautifully in Psalm 8:

“When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained; what is man, that thou art mindful of him? And the son of man that thou visitest him?” (Psa 8:3,4).

Our urban civilization seems to have blotted out the heavens. We notice less of the wonders of God’s universe, and we think less of God’s love.

Now we remind ourselves of Paul’s immediate concern: that his readers should acquire insight into the love of Christ, that love which is four-dimensional, pos­sessing breadth, length, height and depth. What thought is the apostle endeavoring to communicate when he writes in these terms? He appears to be striving to tell us that our Lord’s love is all-embracing.*

It is a profitable and rewarding exercise to take note of the great variety of situa­tions in which the Lord found himself, and his reactions in word and deed. The four Gospel records are a wonderful help in this matter. To engage in that exer­cise is beyond the scope of this present study. However, we can at least remind ourselves of the Lord’s sublime prayer upon the cross: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). If indeed we are to be conformed to the image of our Lord, our Lord’s love should be a constant preoccupation. So often what was true of Peter can apply to ourselves: “You do not realize now what I am doing; but later you will understand” (John 13:7, NIV). Then again, in the upper room, he put the question to all the apostles: “Do you understand what I have done for you?” (v 12, NIV). This surely is the fundamental question we must constantly ask ourselves.

“Filled with all the fullness of God”

Developing a proper appreciation of the Lord’s love is necessary to being filled with all the fullness of God (v 19). This appears to be an echo of John 1: the Lord Jesus was full of grace and truth (John 1:14). Then John proceeds to say: “For of his fullness have we all received, and grace for grace” (v 16). This indicates a process: like our Lord, we must empty ourselves (see Phi 2:7, RV) of our natural thoughts and cares, so that we can be progressively filled with grace.

The chapter concludes with rapturous praise:

“Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus unto all generations for ever and ever. Amen” (Eph 3:20,21).

The apostle pours out his soul here, as at the end of Romans 11:34-36. He knew from personal experience what the Lord God and His beloved Son had done for him, and through what trials he had been sustained. We must ever remember that Paul’s theology was not something learned at university, brilliant student as he had been at the feet of Gamaliel, but something experienced through the pouring out of God’s grace in overflowing measure. It is this sense that the apostle, and especially through this glorious letter, can help us to develop: we must open our hearts to our God and to our Lord. There is ever the danger that we stand in the same need as the Corinthians: Paul says to them, in the rather colorful language of the AV:

“Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels… be ye also enlarged” (2 Co 6:12,13).

Briefly, they were deficient in love, thus contrasting with the unfailing affection Paul bore to them.** Our affection for our fellows in the Lord should constantly grow, for, as the apostle wrote to the Thessalonians, they were taught by God to love one another (1Th 4:9). The Thessalonians, at least, responded to the exhortation, for in his second letter to them, he states: “We are bound to give thanks to God for you, brethren, for that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the love of each other all toward one another aboundeth” (2Th 1:3).

In conclusion, we remind ourselves that so many of the great themes in Ephesians appear also in Colossians: the two letters serve to reinforce each other. There is this difference, though: while Colossians 2 makes a frontal assault on the heresy assailing the ecclesias in the Lycus valley, no such polemical note appears in Ephe­sians. This serves to impart a unique character to the letter. However, Ephesians proclaims the all-sufficiency of the Father’s work in the Son.