Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Psalms 103:11-12 For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.
Job 11:7-9 Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?
Ephesians 1:18-23 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his…
John 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
Psalms 103:17 But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children;
Ephesians 3:19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
Isaiah 55:9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by th…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Ephesians 3:14–end
We now come to the second part of this chapter, which contains Paul's devout and affectionate prayer to God for his beloved Ephesians. - For this cause. This may be referred either to the immediately foregoing verse, That you faint not, etc., or, rather, the apostle is here resuming what he began at the first verse, from which he digressed in those which are interposed. Observe,
I. To whom he prays - to God, as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of which see Eph 1:3.
II. His outward posture in prayer, which was humble and reverent: I bow my knees. Note, When we draw nigh to God, we should reverence him in our hearts, and express our reverence in the most suitable and becoming behaviour and…
May be able--even still further. Greek, "May be fully able."
breadth . . . length . . . depth . . . height--namely, the full dimensions of the spiritual temple, answering to "the fulness of God" (Eph 3:19), to which the Church, according to its capacity, ought to correspond (compare Eph 4:10, Eph 4:13) as to "the fulness of Christ." The "breadth" implies Christ's world-wide love, embracing all men: the "length," its being extended through all ages (Eph 3:21); the "depth," its profound wisdom which no creature can fathom (Rom 11:33); the "height," its being beyond the reach of any foe to deprive us of (Eph 4:8) [BENGEL]. I prefer to understand "the breadth," &c., to refer to the whole of th…
May be able to comprehend with all saints - Ἱνα εξισχυσητε καταλαβεσθαι. These words are so exceedingly nervous and full of meaning, that it is almost impossible to translate them. The first word, εξισχυσητε , from εξ, intensive, and ισχυω, to be strong, signifies that they might be thoroughly able, by having been strengthened with might, by God's power. The second word καταλαβεσθαι, from κατα, intensive, and λαμβανω , to take, catch, or seize on, may be translated, that ye may fully catch, take in, and comprehend this wonderful mystery of God. The mind must be rendered apt, and the soul invigorated, to take in and comprehend these mysteries.
What is the breadth, and length, and depth, and…
The Church Fathers
The height is the measure of the majesty of the Lord.… The length is the passion of the Lord's cross, by which believers are sealed. The breadth is seen in Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit is coming down upon all believers.
Since he has taught that three things tend toward maturity in Christ—faith, understanding and love—he here brings them all into a brief compass. He is now praying that God will bestow all these gifts upon the Ephesians. Note the sequence he has followed: He spoke first of faith, "that you may have Christ dwelling in the inner man in your hearts through faith." Now he speaks of understanding by saying "so that you may comprehend with all the saints the breadth, length and depth." Again he adds with regard to love, "to know the love that surpasses knowledge."
What is meant when Paul speaks of "length and breadth and depth and height?" Think of a sphere. The length is the same as the breadth and the height the same as the depth. So too all is proportional within the immeasurable infinity of God. A sphere is enclosed in a definite manner. God, being unenclosed, not only fills all things but exceeds all things. God is not confined but has everything within himself, so that he is the only one to be reckoned infinite. We cannot sufficiently thank him for the fact that, being so great, he deigned through Christ to visit human beings when they were subject to death and sin.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Dwell — Tents were in primitive times the common dwellings of men. Houses were afterwards built, the walls of which were frequently of mud (Job 24:16; Matt. 6:19, 20) or of sun-dried bricks. God “dwells in…
Fellowship — (1.) With God, consisting in the knowledge of his will (Job 22:21; John 17:3); agreement with his designs (Amos 3:2); mutual affection (Rom. 8: 38, 39); enjoyment of his presence (Ps. 4:6);…
Prayer — Is converse with God; the intercourse of the soul with God, not in contemplation or meditation, but in direct address to him. Prayer may be oral or mental, occasional or constant, ejaculatory or…
Love · 21:13; — 21:13;
Mysteries · OF RE — OF RE
Paradox · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Prayer, Intercessory · By ministers for their people — By ministers for their people
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
May be able to comprehend with all saints,.... This is the end of their being rooted and grounded in love, that they, together with the rest of the saints interested in it, might have a larger and more comprehensive view of
what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; not of God himself, who is incomprehensible by finite minds, and is not to be found out to perfection; see Job 11:7 but either of the great mystery of salvation, particularly the mystery of the calling of the Gentiles mentioned in the beginning of the chapter; or of the spiritual building, the church, the dimensions of which are given, Revelation 21:15 or rather of the love of God, which in its length reaches from o…
Ephesians 3:14-19
14. For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
14. Hujus rei gratia flecto genua ad Patrem Domini nostri Iesu Christi,
15. Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
15. Ex quo omnis cognatio in coelis et super terram nominatur,
16. That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;
16. Ut det vobis secundum divitias gloriae suae, potentia roborari per Spiritum suum in hominem interiorem,
17. That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
17. Ut inhabitet Christus per fidem in cordibus vestris, ut sitis in cha…
