3:14–21 Paul’s prayer-report completed and a doxology Paul now takes up and completes the sentence broken off at v 1, and leads into the final part of his prayer-report which he began in 1:17. The theme here complements what has so far been said. In 1:17–23 the basic prayer was for the readers’ deepened spiritual understanding of the central mystery of God’s will; specifically that they may have a joyful grasp of the Christian hope, and a confident trust in God’s saving, reconciling power in them, beginning to bring all things together into unity in Christ. Here the prayer is for the power to understand (and to know in reality) the fullness of the love of Christ. The more deeply that is known in the church, the more intensely will it reflect the unity, harmony, and vibrant Messianic peace that will finally be restored by God in the new creation. This final part of Paul’s prayer-report forms its climax. 14 Here we see Paul prostrating himself before God, on his knees with head bowed to the ground, as one making obeisance and bringing a matter of utmost urgency to a powerful king (the more usual position for prayer was standing). Paul certainly wanted to convey the impression of God’s power. If he is called Father (see the comments on Mk. 14:36; Lk. 11:2; Rom. 8:14–17) we must remember this is not only a term of intimacy. In the east the father is the ruler over the family, the one to whom all questions of importance are related, and to whom the children (however old they may be) are expected to defer in obedience. When Jews spoke of God as a Father, they meant he ruled the world which owed him its obedience. 15 This sense of God’s power is heightened by the addition ‘from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name’ (correctly NRSV, REB, GNB.) The NIV, by translating ‘from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth’, makes this a reference to the one family, the church (including past saints), but this would require a definite article in the Greek which is missing. ‘Every family’ rather than ‘the whole family’ is to be preferred, so v 15 is basically an affirmation of God as Creator of all groups of living beings (cf. 3:9; 1 Cor. 8:6; Col. 1:15–18), and as the one who sovereignly gives each its individual ‘shape’ and role. In Hebrew tradition, for God to give creatures their names is not merely to provide them with a label, but to determine what they are. The English reader may wonder why Paul uses the word ‘family’ here at all (Gk. patria; against NIV mg.; NJB and Bruce it cannot mean ‘fatherhood’), but its appropriateness would be evident to the Greek reader as a word-play on pater, ‘father’. The word means all those derived from a single ancestor, or (when applied to angelic beings) all of related kind. 16–19 Paul’s prayer is made up of two (or perhaps three) requests. The first, in vs 16–17, is for God’s mighty empowering by the Spirit in the inner being (the heart of v 17; see on 1:18 above). This is spelt out not in terms of charismata of one kind or another, but as Christ dwelling (more fully) in the readers, so that they will be rooted in and founded on love. By beginning v 17 with the words so that, NIV and NJB give the impression that Paul is saying the readers must first be strengthened by the Spirit so that then (subsequently) Christ may dwell in their hearts—but this is misleading. 17 rather explains the request: i.e. ‘that is, that Christ might dwell in your hearts’. This is not a prayer for mystical experience—far less that our human selves should be abolished so that we become ‘channels only’. Paul’s prayer is that Christ should dwell in us by or through faith; that is, that we should live our lives with fuller loving trust in him, being more and more deeply moulded by the Christ-event (as in Gal. 2:20; where the first part of the verse is explained in the second). It is this indwelling of Christ that strengthens the believer’s life, and keeps him or her on a firm foundation—especially in times of trial (cf. Col. 1:11; Phil 4:12, and supremely in 2 Cor. 11:21b–12:10). The second request comes in vs 18–19a. It is a prayer for deep spiritual comprehension and a real knowledge of the love of Christ, which paradoxically is great beyond any human knowing. It is worth noting that the phrase together with all the saints is significant—Paul seeks not solo virtuoso knowledge of Christ’s love, but the love that is known corporately and unites. Strictly speaking too, the wording of Paul’s prayer in v 18 is not quite that we should grasp the four dimensions of Christ’s love (as in NIV, REB, GNB). That may ultimately be what he means, but it simplifies what he says namely, ‘to comprehend … what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and [or ‘that is’] to know the love of Christ’ (so NRSV; cf. NJB). In v 18, he does not actually specify what the four dimensions are of. In Judaism, the dimensions could be used to speak of God’s unfathomable wisdom (see e.g. Job 11:5–9 for the four, and cf. Rom. 11:33–34, where it leads to a doxology as here; Col. 2:2–3), and that may be what Paul means here (cf. 3:10). But even if this is the case, the wisdom of God comes to focus in his uniting love in Christ, so the close connection with v 19a is assured. Alternatively (as NIV etc. assume) Paul may simply have missed out ‘of the love of Christ’ in v 18 because it would become explicit through the elaboration provided by v 19a. 19b either provides a third request, or (more probably) it provides the result of a full comprehension of Christ’s love. For the sense of ‘to fill’ here see on 1:23. Where Christ’s love is deeply known, there he is already exercising his rule, uniting the cosmos in himself in new-creation harmony with God. The doxology formally closes and rounds off the first half of the letter with an invitation to thankful worship, just as it began (1:13–14). It provides a transition between Paul’s prayer and teaching section and his consequent direct exhortations (chs. 4–6; cf. Rom. 11:33–36 which has a similar function). This doxology serves once again to remind the readers of God’s immense and gracious power at work in them (cf. 1:19–2:6)—not to encourage selfish requests, but to promote confident hope in his new creation, and petitions that correspond with God’s intent for the church in the present age. The doxology is strikingly unusual in bidding that glory be given to God through the church (21); but this is appropriate given the vision of the church in God’s cosmic plan that Paul has given us. It is also an implicit invitation to the readers to ensure (insofar as in them lies) that the church will be of such character as to reflect God’s glory. New Bible commentary: 21st century edition. 1994 (D. A. Carson, R. T. France, J. A. Motyer & G. J. Wenham, Ed.) (4th ed.) (Eph 3:14–21). Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Jun 2013 05:40:13 +0000
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