Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Ephesians 3:18

"may be strong to apprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth," — Ephesians 3:18 (ASV)

What Paul is praying for is not an isolated experience unique to Christians in Ephesus, but something that is shared by all God’s people. In a letter so concerned with the church and its unity, we would not expect the corporate aspect of spiritual experience to be overlooked. The verb “may have power” (related to “mighty” in 1:19) suggests a relationship between divine empowerment and personal enlightenment; “grasp” here means “to perceive” or “comprehend.” The four dimensions Paul now presents as the object of such perception are closely linked with the knowledge of Christ’s love. That love, exemplified in Christ’s magnanimity to the Gentiles, is too large to be confined by any geometrical measurements. It is “wide” enough to reach the whole world and beyond (1:9–10, 20). It is “long” enough to stretch from eternity to eternity (1:4– 6, 18; 3:9). It is “high” enough to raise both Gentiles and Jews to heavenly places in Christ Jesus (1:13; 2:6). It is “deep” enough to rescue people from sin’s degradation and even from the grip of Satan himself (2:1–5; 6:11–12). The love of Christ is the love he has for the church as a united body (5:25, 29–30) and for those who trust in him as individuals (3:17).