In Verses 1-13
the Holy Spirit deals with Paul’s “knowledge in the mystery of Christ” (verse 4). These thirteen verses make up a division of this chapter which opens and closes with a suggestion that Paul was suffering for the cause he represented. In verse 1, he refers to his imprisonment and in verse 13, he speaks of his tribulations.
During his Acts period ministry, Paul was bound with a chain for “the hope of Israel” (Acts 28:20), but immediately following his proclamation to the Jews in Acts 28:28, he was in bonds for “the mystery of the gospel” (Ephesians 6:18-20). This means that from the beginning of Paul’s ministry (Acts 9:20) to the setting aside of national Israel (Acts 28:28), a period of about twenty-one years, he suffered for Israelites; but after he had delivered God’s final appeal to Israel, as a nation, he became a prisoner for the “Gentiles” (verse 1).
Even though Paul was in prison, he was always “the Lord’s prisoner” (Ephesians 4:1). He was just as active and useful in the Lord’s service while in prison as when out of prison (Acts 16:25-34 and 28:30-31 with II Timothy 4:6-8).
In the second verse of this chapter, Paul calls attention to the fact that the “dispensation of the grace of God” was given unto him. The word dispensation means stewardship, or period of ministry. He also emphasizes the fact that this particular dispensation leads him in service toward the Gentiles.
A short time before Paul wrote the book of Ephesians, he declared himself to be an able minister of the “new testament,” (II Corinthians 3:6). The new testament is certainly a covenant which was promised to the house of Israel and the house of Judah in the days of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 31:31-34 with Hebrews 8:7-13). As a minister of the new covenant, Paul was not preaching a message “which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men,” but he was confirming “the promise which was made unto the fathers” (Acts 13:26-43). However he clearly sets forth in this third chapter of Ephesians that by a special revelation God made known unto him the truth concerning “the mystery” (verses 2-7).
Men of other ages were privileged to see that God would “justify the heathen through faith” (Galatians 3:6-9) and that they would be made to rejoice “with his people” (Romans 15:10), but no prophet of God, prior to the apostle Paul, was permitted to see “that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel” (verses 3-7).
The word mystery, as used in this chapter, means “a sacred secret.” The same word is used in connection with the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 13:10-11). Paul uses it again in Romans 11:25in connection with the duration of Israel’s blindness. The same word is used again and again in the Scriptures. However, this mystery which was revealed unto Paul was different from all other sacred secrets in that it was “unsearchable” or untraceable in the writings of all the inspired men prior to the apostle Paul. He was the first man whom God called upon “to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ; to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord” (verses 9-11).
“The churches of Asia” seemed to be standing with Paul when he wrote I Corinthians 16:19, but about seven years later he reminded Timothy that “all they which are in Asia” were turned away from him (II Timothy 1:15). It seems that the churches of Asia accepted Paul’s message when he was an able minister of the new covenant, but turned away from him when he began to preach “the mystery.”
Paul’s experience along this line was no different to that which the present day preacher meets when he dares to preach the truth concerning the mystery without a mixture of works which were associated with the old and new covenants.
In Verses 14-21
we have the second prayer of the Holy Spirit, through the Apostle Paul, which is related in this Epistle. The first prayer we have already dealt with in chapter 1, verses 15-23. Both prayers have to do with the “spiritual blessings” mentioned in the third verse of the opening chapter.
The deep underlying cause that brought Paul to his knees before the “Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” is clearly set forth in the following verses: “That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God” (verses 16-19).
The “inner man” alone can be strengthened with might by God’s Spirit. The some Spirit that strengthens the inner man slays the outer man. The “outward man” must perish, but the “inward man is renewed day by day” (II Corinthians 4:16). As we “reckon” ourselves “to be dead indeed unto sin” the inner man grows stronger in the life of God, which is imparted through Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 6:11). It is the inner man whom God admonishes in Colossians 2:6-7, saying, “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him: rooted and built up in Him, and established in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.” The outward man can never walk in Christ Jesus, neither can he be rooted and built up in Him. He can never be established in the faith, neither can he abound in Christ with thanksgiving. Indeed he must be crucified before the inward man can do these things.
The strengthening of the inner man is to be accomplished by the Holy Spirit (verse 16). He alone can guide the believer into “all truth” (John 16:13), thus nourishing and strengthening the inner man. As believers, we must meet a personal enemy, who is too strong for the outward man. “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” Wherefore, we must take unto ourselves “the whole armour of God, that we may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand” (Ephesians 6:12-13).
Even “Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil” dared not to bring a railing accusation against him, but said, “The Lord rebuke thee” (Jude 9). If the archangel could not meet the enemy in his own strength, surely we cannot successfully contend with him without the strengthening power of the Holy Spirit in the inner man. However, through the power of the Holy Spirit the present day believer can confidently say with the Apostle Paul, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:13). Just as the Lord spoke unto Zerubbabel, saying, “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts;” so God speaks through His Word to His present day church urging them to lean upon the Holy Spirit and not upon the arm of flesh. And just as God caused the great mountain to become a plain before His servant, Zerubbabel, so will He remove mountain high opposition from before the onward march of any individual believer or group of believers in the church which is the body of His dear Son.
The apostle is burdened for the believers at Ephesus, and elsewhere, that we may be “able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge,” that we “might be filled with all the fullness of God” (verses 17-19).
The breadth of God’s love in Christ is boundless, the length of His love is endless, the depth of His love is fathomless, and the height of His love is measureless, says the author of the Companion Bible. Such love “passeth knowledge.”
The love of God makes it possible for every believer to be “filled with all the fulness of God” (verse 19). This does not mean that our capacity is equal to that of God. A thimble can be filled with all the fulness of the ocean. A believer can be filled with the fulness of God. Some believers are able to contain more of His fulness than others, yet all may be full. As we empty ourselves of self and the things pertaining to self, we make increasing room for His fulness. This is why the outward man must be gotten out of the way in order that the inner man may be filled with the Spirit, who alone is able to strengthen us and make us able to comprehend the breadth, and length, and depth, and height of God’s love.
The closing words of this prayer are heart strengthening. “Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.”
We can neither ask for nor think of anything that our God is not able to do for us. We often think of things and ask for things that He does not see fit to grant unto us. This is because we so often think and ask outside of His divine will and purpose for us. We ask, and receive not, because we “ask amiss,” that we may consume it on our lusts (James 4:3). However, “If we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us: And if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him” (I John 5:14-15). So it is not a question of God’s ability and power to work in us and “do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think,” it is a question of yieldedness on our part to His perfect plan which He hath ordained for us, even before the foundation of the world.
As we yield ourselves and allow Him to accomplish through us far more than that which we ever thought of asking for, we say with Paul, “Unto Him be glory in the church by Jesus Christ throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.”
