John Calvin Commentary Ephesians 3:17

"that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; to the end that ye, being rooted and grounded in love," — Ephesians 3:17 (ASV)

That Christ may dwell. He explains what is meant by “the strength of the inner man.” As it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell (Colossians 1:19), so he who has Christ dwelling in him can lack nothing.

It is a mistake to imagine that the Spirit can be obtained without obtaining Christ, and it is equally foolish and absurd to dream that we can receive Christ without the Spirit. Both doctrines must be believed.

We are partakers of the Holy Spirit in proportion to the communion we maintain with Christ, for the Spirit will be found nowhere else but in Christ, on whom, for that reason, He is said to have rested. For He Himself says by the prophet Isaiah, The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me (Isaiah 61:1; Luke 4:18). But Christ cannot be separated from His Spirit either, for then He would be considered dead and to have lost all His power.

Therefore, Paul justly affirms that those who are endowed by God with spiritual vigor are those in whom Christ dwells. He points to that part in which Christ peculiarly dwells, in your hearts—to show that it is not enough if the knowledge of Christ dwells on the tongue or flutters in the brain.

May dwell through faith. The method by which so great a benefit is obtained is also expressed. What a remarkable commendation is bestowed here on faith: that by means of it, the Son of God becomes our own and makes his abode with us! (John 14:23). By faith we not only acknowledge that Christ suffered and rose from the dead on our behalf, but, by accepting the offers He makes of Himself, we possess and enjoy Him as our Savior.

This deserves our careful attention. Most people consider fellowship with Christ and believing in Christ to be the same thing, but the fellowship we have with Christ is the consequence of faith. In a word, faith is not a distant view, but a warm embrace of Christ, by which He dwells in us, and we are filled with the Divine Spirit.

That you may be rooted and grounded in love. Among the fruits of Christ’s dwelling in us, the apostle enumerates love and gratitude for the Divine grace and kindness shown to us in Christ. Hence it follows that this is true and solid excellence, so that whenever he treats of the perfection of the saints, he views it as consisting of these two parts.

The firmness and constancy that our love ought to possess are pointed out by two metaphors. Many people are not wholly destitute of love, but it is easily removed or shaken because its roots are not deep. Paul desires that it should be rooted and grounded—thoroughly fixed in our minds, so that it resembles a well-founded building or a deeply-planted tree.

The true meaning is that our roots ought to be so deeply planted, and our foundation so firmly laid in love, that nothing will be able to shake us. It is futile to infer from these words that love is the foundation and root of our salvation. Paul does not inquire here, as anyone may perceive, on what our salvation is founded, but rather with what firmness and constancy we ought to continue in the exercise of love.