More Than Sufficient
“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” (Ephesians 3:20-21 NKJV)
Paul was somewhat of a, “train-of-thought,” writer, prone to rabbit trails and digressions of logical thought. That doesn’t mean his writings are any less inspired. God uses each of His vessels in the manner which best fits them. Paul’s writings appeal to many of the same folks who would find the weightier tomes of C.S. Lewis a good read.
Take, for instance, the first sentence of Ephesians 3, which fills the first seven verses of the chapter. Paul begins the sentence with a dependent clause (“For this reason, I Paul,”) and then throws in a brief descriptive phrase (“the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles – “) followed up with a lengthy parenthetical expression to explain that phrase. He started with a subject (“I Paul”), but felt it necessary to explain his qualifier (prisoner of Christ for the Gentiles), and he took seven more verses to get to his verb. Diagramming sentences is very useful skill in figuring out what Paul was saying.
In verse 14, Paul finally gets back to, “For this reason, . . .” with which he started back in verse 1. Yes, his sentence is once again lengthy, going all the way through verse 19. He says,
“For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:14-19 NKJV)
This, then, is the context in which he made the powerfully declarative statement in verse 20 and 21. As we are, “rooted and grounded in love,” we begin to see fully the three-dimensional nature of the love of Christ. So wide, long, deep and high is His love that His plans for us are beyond our mortal comprehension. Don’t be hesitant to ask what you need of Him; the greater failing is generally having too little faith in what He can do.
(If you’re interested, there’s a great discussion on the use of parentheses, dashes, etc. here – https://www.dailywritingtips.com/parenthetical-phrases/. Granted, only grammar nerds will care, but I thought it was good.)
Related Scriptures