MAY BE ABLE TO COMPREHEND WITH
ALL THE SAINTS: hina exischusete (2PPAAS) katalabesthai (AMN) sun pasin tois
hagiois: (Eph
3:19;
1:18-23;
Job 11:7-9;
Psalms 103:11,12,17;
139:6;
Isaiah 55:9;
John 15:13;
Galatians 2:20;
3:13;
Philippians 2:5-8;
3:8-10;
1 Timothy 1:14-16;
3:16;
Titus 2:13,14;
Revelation 3:21)
(1:10,15;
Deuteronomy 33:2,3;
2 Chronicles 6:41;
Psalms 116:15;
132:9;
145:10;
Zechariah 14:5;
2 Corinthians 13:13;
Colossians 1:4)
Hina (2443)
introduces a purpose clause but is left untranslated in the NAS. The
Amplified translates it "that you have the power..."
Eadie
explains hina writing that this...
conjunction expresses the design
which these previous petitions had in view. Their being strengthened,
their being inhabited by Christ, and their “having been rooted and
grounded in love,” not only prepared them for this special study, but
had made it their grand object. By a prior invigoration they were
disciplined to it, and braced up for it—“that ye may be fully
able”—fully matched to the enterprise. (John Eadie, D., LL.D. The
Epistle of St Paul to the Ephesians)
May be able
(1840)
(exischuo from ek = an intensifies + ischuo
= to be strong, able - see related word
ischus) means to be
eminently able, to have strength enough, to be quite able to do, to be
in full strength, to be fully able. This compound word is one of the
strongest Greek words for strength and signifies one completely capable
of doing or experiencing something.
In the English
rendering it is easy to pass over the may be able which is brought
out more graphically in other translations like the Amplified which
renders it...
That you may have the power
and be strong to apprehend and grasp
The point is that
the preface asking for power to grasp implies that divine
enabling is essential. It conveys the ability to attain an objective, in
this case to lay hold of.
Vincent
writes that exischuo
occurs only here. The preposition
ex has the force of fully or eminently. Ischus is strength
embodied; inhering in organized power. Hence it is an advance on dunamei
or might in Eph 3:16. Paul prays that the inward might or virtue
may issue in ability to grasp. Compare Lu 14:30; 16:3; Acts 27:16; Jas.
5:16, and see notes.
Comprehend
(2638)
(katalambano from katá = intensifies + lambáno =
take <> English - catalepsy = condition characterized by a
trance or seizure and of suspended animation and loss of sensation and
of voluntary motion in which the limbs remain rigidly in whatever
position they are placed) means literally to take eagerly or to seize and thus to
make something one's own or to hold as one's own. Katalambano can mean to gain control of someone through
pursuit. In secular Greek katalambano was employed to describe a
fight against a strong opponent or sacking an acropolis, where strength
was required to accomplish both tasks.
Figuratively, as used in this verse katalambano means to
"seize", grasp or apprehend with the mind, and thus to perceive or
comprehend. The idea is of grasping mentally.
Our English word
comprehend carries the idea of mentally grasping something, while
apprehend suggests laying hold of it for yourself. In other words, it is
possible to understand something but not really make it your own. Paul’s
concern is that we lay hold of the vast expanses of the
love of God. He wants us to live supernaturally in four
dimensions. When God gave the land to Abraham, He told him to
“walk through the land in the length
of it and in the breadth of it” (Genesis 13:17).
Abraham had to
step out by faith and claim his inheritance. A similar principle is seen
in Joshua, in which Jehovah states that..
"Every place on which the sole of
your foot treads, I have given it to you, just as I spoke to Moses." (Joshua
1:3) (Comment: Did you see the principle? God had already
bequeathed it to Joshua, but Joshua would not fully realize the reality
of what was his promised possession without obedience to God's call to
step out. In
Ephesians 1:3 [see notes]
Paul declares God's promise to
believers that they have been blessed with "every spiritual blessing in
the heavenly places in Christ Jesus". Beloved, has the "sole of your
foot tread" on these promised spiritual blessings? Step out by faith,
remembering that genuine faith equates with Spirit enabled, grace
saturated obedience. What is it in which you repeatedly willfully refuse
to obey God?)
Warren Wiersbe
adds that...
The English words “comprehend”
and “apprehend” both stem from the Latin word prehendere which means “to
grasp.” We say that a monkey has a “prehensile tail.” That is, its tail
is able to grasp a tree limb and hold on. Our word comprehend carries
the idea of mentally grasping something; while apprehend suggests laying
hold of it for yourself. In other words, it is possible to understand
something but not really make it your own. Paul’s concern is that we lay
hold of the vast expanses of the love of God. He wants us to live in
four dimensions. When God gave the land to Abraham, He told him to “walk
through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it” (Ge
13:17). Abraham had to step out by faith and claim his inheritance. But
we today have an inheritance in four dimensions: breadth, length, depth,
and height. God’s fourth dimension is love! (Wiersbe,
W: Bible Exposition Commentary. 1989. Victor)
A believer cannot
understand the fullness of God’s love apart from genuine,
Spirit-empowered love in his own life.
With all the
saints - Wuest says
that this phrase indicates...
that this spiritual capacity is not
limited to a few select saints, but is the common property of all those
saints who are the recipients of the strengthening fulness of the Holy
Spirit.
(Wuest,
K. S. Wuest's Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: Eerdmans)
Saints
(40)
(hagios)
(Click
word study on
hagios) is literally holy one and
refers to one set apart (sanctified) for a special purpose. Hagios
describes every saint's position in Christ as set apart from that which
is secular, profane, and evil and on the other hand dedicated to worship
and service of God. We are holy ones both in character and
conduct set apart by God to be exclusively His, dedicated to Him and
manifesting holiness of heart and conduct.
Hagios was
used throughout the NT to speak of anyone or anything that represents
God’s holiness: Christ as the Holy One of God, the Holy
Spirit, the Holy Father, holy Scriptures, holy
angels, holy brethren, and so on.
The Gentiles
understood this term because among the pagans, hagios signified
separated and dedicated to the idolatrous gods and carried no idea of
moral or spiritual purity. The manmade gods were as sinful and
degraded as the men who made them and there simply was no need for a
word that represented righteousness! The worshipper of the pagan god
acquired the character of that pagan god and the religious ceremonies
connected with its worship. The Greek temple at Corinth housed a large
number of harlots who were connected with the "worship" of the Greek
god. Thus, the set-apartness or holiness of the Greek worshipper was in
character licentious, totally depraved, and sinful.
WHAT IS THE BREADTH AND LENGTH
AND HEIGHT AND DEPTH: ti to platos kai mekos kai hupsos kai bathos : (Romans
10:3,11,12)
Although it does
not specifically state what these measurements represent, from the
context many commentators interpret this as a reference to the love of
Christ, which is immeasurable.
Expositor's
Bible Commentary interprets this passage as...
The apostle is simply telling us that
the love of Christ, exemplified in his 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 (Eph 1:9, 10, 20). It is long
enough to stretch from eternity to eternity (Eph 1:4-6, 18; 3:9). It is
high enough to raise both Gentiles and Jews to heavenly places in Christ
Jesus (Eph 1:13; 2:6). It is deep enough to rescue people from sin's
degradation and even from the grip of Satan himself (Eph 2:1-5; 6:11,
12). The love of Christ is the love he has for the church as a united
body (Eph 5:25, 29, 30) and for those who trust in him as individuals
(Eph 3:17). (Gaebelein,
F, Editor: Expositor's Bible Commentary 6-Volume New Testament.
Zondervan Publishing)
Barnes
agrees writing...
The apostle evidently meant to
express the strongest sense of the greatness of the love of the
Redeemer, and to show, in the most emphatic manner, how-much he wished
that they should fully understand it. (Albert Barnes. Barnes NT
Commentary)
The Stoics
resorted to these terms to express the totality of the universe and the
astrologers utilized them in their calculations. Such applications,
however, are not reflected here.
Breadth
(4114)
(platos from platus = broad) is a measurement of width or
extent from side to side and is used figuratively to refer to great
expanses. Breadth means something of full width or of comprehensive
quality.
Length
(3372)
(mekos) means the longer dimension of something and is used
figuratively.
Height
(5311)
(hupsos from húpsi = high, aloft) means elevation.
Depth
(899)
(bathos) from bathus = deep) means a part that is far from
the outside or surface and metaphorically in this verse conveys the
senses of profoundness, inscrutability or abstruseness.
Take the World, but Give Me Jesus
by Fanny Crosby (Play
hymn)
O the height and depth of mercy!
O the length and breadth of love!
O the fullness of redemption—
Pledge of endless life above!
O'Brien
notes that...
Paul asks first that his readers
might comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth, length,
height, and depth (v.18b). This request is made without any
mention of an object of these four dimensions. Does this formula stand
for the dimensions of the cosmos? Or the inexhaustible greatness of some
object? And what is the relationship of this formula to the second
element of the petition, namely, that the readers might know the love of
Christ?... (after surveying the major contenders for the object of this
phrase O'Brien writes that) Although it is not possible to be certain,
on contextual grounds a reference to the love of Christ is preferable.
(O'Brien,
P. T. The Letter to the Ephesians. W. B. Eerdmans. 1999
or
computer version)
A T Pierson
once wrote that Paul...
treats the love of God as a cube,
having breadth and length, depth and height. The reason is that the cube
in the Bible is treated as a perfection of form. Every side of a cube is
a perfect square, and from every angle it presents the same appearance.
Turn it over, and it is still a cube—just as high, deep, and broad as it
was before. (Comment: As someone has also noted the Holy of
Holies was cube-shaped, so is the New Jerusalem, and so is the love of
God!)
F. B. Meyer
writes that...
There will always be as much horizon
before us as behind us. And when we have been gazing on the face of
Jesus for millenniums, its beauty will be as fresh and fascinating and
fathomless as when we first saw it from the gate of Paradise.
Morris
comments that...
The love of Christ is thus
four-dimensional, with "depth" and "height" considered as
separate dimensions. Since the height of the universe is also
infinite (Isaiah 55:9), this suggests the time dimension. "Yea, I have
loved thee with an everlasting love," God says, "therefore with
lovingkindness have I drawn thee" (Jeremiah 31:3). (Morris,
Henry: Defenders Study Bible. World Publishing)
Ryrie
expresses these dimensions as follows...
The love of Christ includes all,
extends from eternity to eternity, seats us in the heavenlies, and
reaches down to our alienated position. (The
Ryrie Study Bible: New American Standard Translation: 1995. Moody
Publishers)
Boice
offers the following illustration writing that...
In the last century, when Napoleon’s
armies opened a prison that had been used by the Spanish Inquisition
they found the remains of a prisoner who had been incarcerated for his
faith. The dungeon was underground. The body had long since decayed.
Only a chain fastened around an anklebone cried out his confinement. But
this prisoner, long since dead, had left a witness. On the wall of his
small, dismal cell this faithful soldier of Christ had scratched a rough
cross with four words surrounding it in Spanish. Above the cross was the
Spanish word for “height.” Below it was the word for “depth.” To the
left the word “width.” To the right, the word “length.” Clearly this
prisoner wanted to testify to the surpassing greatness of the love of
Christ, perceived even in his suffering. (Boice,
J. M.: Ephesians: An Expositional Commentary)
Elisabeth Barrett
Browning wrote
“How do I love thee? Let me count the
ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can
reach....”
However only God
loves us with infinite dimensions and to an endless degree!
The Love of God
by Frederick M.
Lehman (Play
Hymn)
The love of God is greater far than
tongue or pen can ever tell,
It goes beyond the highest star and reaches to the lowest hell,
The guilty pair, bowed down with care, God gave His Son to win:
His erring child He reconciled and pardoned from his sin.
When years of time
shall pass away and earthly thrones and kingdoms fall,
When men, who here refuse to pray, on rocks and hills and mountains
call,
God’s love so sure shall still endure, all measureless and strong:
Redeeming grace to Adam’s race—the saints’ and angels’ song.
Could we with ink
the ocean fill and were the skies of parchment made,
Were ev’ry stalk on earth a quill and ev’ry man a scribe by trade
To write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry,
Nor could the scroll contain the whole tho stretched from sky to sky.
(see note below regarding this stanza)
O love of God, how
rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure—
the saints’ and angels’ song.
The story behind the words in this
famous hymn is as follows...
The lyrics are based on the Jewish
poem Haddamut, written in Aramaic in 1050 by Meir Ben Isaac Nehorai, a
cantor in Worms, Germany; they have been translated into at least 18
languages. (As the story is told)
One day, during short intervals of
inattention to our work, we picked up a scrap of paper and, seated upon
an empty lemon box pushed against the wall, with a stub pencil, added
the (first) two stanzas and chorus of the song…Since the lines (3rd
stanza from the Jewish poem - beginning "Could we with ink the ocean
fill...") had been found penciled on the wall of a patient’s room in an
insane asylum after he had been carried to his grave, the general
opinion was that this inmate had written the epic in moments of sanity.
><> ><> ><>
F B Meyer writes the following
devotional entitled "The Dimensions of God's Love" in "Our Daily Walk"
THE DIMENSIONS of the Love of Christ!
It is broad as humanity, "for God so loved the world";
the length God's
love had no date of origin, and shall have none of conclusion. God is
Love, it continueth ever, indissoluble, unchangeable, a perpetual
present tense.
Its height--as the Flood out-topped the highest
mountains, so that Love covers our highest sins. It is as high as the
heaven above the earth.
Its depth--Christ our Lord descended into the
lowest before He rose to the highest. He has touched the bottomless pit
of our sin and misery, sorrow and need. However low your fall, or lowly
your lot, the everlasting arms of His love are always underneath.
The Apostle talks by hyperbole, when he prays that we may attain to a
knowledge of the knowledge-surpassing love of Christ. We cannot gauge
Christ's love, but we can enjoy it. Probably the only way to know the
love of Christ is to begin to show it. The emotionalist, who is easily
affected by appeals to the senses, does not know it; the theorist or
rhapsodist does not know it, but the soul that endeavours to show the
love of Christ, knows it. As Christ's love through you broadens,
lengthens, deepens, heightens, you will know the love of Christ, not
intellectually, but experimentally (1John 4:11, 1John 4:12; 1John
4:20-21).
But you say, "there are people in my life whom I cannot love." Granted,
but you must distinguish between love and the emotion or feeling of
love. You may not be able to feel love at the outset, but you can be
willing to be the channel of Christ's love. I cannot love, but Christ is
in me, and He can. Is it too much to ask that all this should be
realized in ourselves and in others? No, because God is already at work
within us by His Holy Spirit, and He is able to do infinitely beyond all
our highest requests or thoughts. Ask your furthest, think your highest,
and the Divine Love is always infinitely in advance.
PRAYER - We thank Thee, O God, for the infinite love which Thou
hast given us in Jesus Christ. We have no measure for its heights and
depths, its breadths and lengths. Teach us with all saints to know more
because we love more. AMEN.
><> ><> ><>
The Puritan
Thomas Brooks
writes devotional thoughts on
Ephesians 3:18-19 ...
Stand still and admire and
wonder at the love of Jesus Christ to sinners—that Christ would rather
die for us than for the angels. They were creatures of a more noble
extract and in all probability might have brought greater revenues of
glory to God; yet that Christ should pass by those golden vessels and
make us vessels of glory—what amazing and astonishing love is this! This
is the envy of devils and the admiration of angels and saints.
The angels were more honorable and
excellent creatures than we. They were celestial spirits; we, earthly
bodies, dust and ashes. They were immediate attendants on God; we,
servants of his in the lower house of this world and remote from his
glorious presence. Their work was to sing hallelujahs, songs of praise
to God in the heavenly paradise; ours, to dress the Garden of Eden,
which was only an earthly paradise. They sinned only once and only in
thought, as is commonly thought, but Adam sinned in thought by lusting,
in deed by tasting, and in word by excusing. Why didn’t Christ suffer
for their sins as well as for ours? Or, if for any, why not for theirs
rather than ours? We move this question not as being curious to search
your secret counsels, O Lord, but that we may more admire the love of
Christ, that surpasses knowledge.
The apostle, in admiration of
Christ’s love, affirms it to surpass knowledge—that God, who is the
eternal Being, should love the human when it had scarcely a being (Pr
8:30-31), that he should be enamored with deformity, that he should pity
us when no eye pitied us. Such was Christ’s transcendent love that our
extreme misery could not abate it. The deplorableness of our condition
only heightened the flame of Christ’s love. It is as high as heaven—who
can reach it? It is as low as hell—who can understand it? Such is his
perfect, matchless love to fallen people. That Christ’s love should
extend to the ungodly, to sinners, to enemies who were in rebellion
against him (see notes
Romans 5:6;
Romans 5:8;
Romans 5:10)—yes,
not only so, but that he should hug them in his arms, lodge them in his
bosom, dandle them on his knees—is the highest refinement of love (Isa
66:11-13).
That Christ should come from
the eternal bosom of his Father to a region of sorrow and death (John
1:18); that God should be made flesh, the Creator made a creature (Isa.
53:4); that he who filled heaven should be cradled in a manger (John
17:5); that the God of strength should be weary; that the judge of all
flesh should be condemned; that the God of life should be put to death
(John 19:41); that he who had the keys of hell and death should lie
imprisoned in the sepulchre of another, having in his lifetime nowhere
to lay his head nor, after death, to lay his body (John 19:41–42)—and
all this for fallen, miserable human beings—is beyond the thoughts of
created natures. The sharp, the universal, and the continual
sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ, from the cradle to the cross, above
all other things speaks out the transcendent love of Jesus Christ to
sinners. That matchless wrath of an angry God that was so terribly
impressed on the soul of Christ quickly sapped his natural strength, yet
all this wrath he patiently underwent that sinners might be saved and
that he might bring “many sons to glory” (Heb. 2:10).
Oh, wonder of love! Love is
submissive, it enables to suffer. So it was love that made our dear Lord
Jesus lay down his life to save us from hell and to bring us to heaven.
Oh, love unspeakable!
Christ’s love is like his name, and
that is Wonderful (Isa. 9:6), so wonderful that it is above all
creatures, beyond all measure, contrary to all nature. It is above all
creatures, for it is above the angels and therefore above all others. It
is beyond all measure, for time did not begin it, and time shall never
end it; place does not bound it, sin does not exceed it, understandings
cannot conceive it. And it is contrary to all nature, for what nature
can love where it is hated? can forgive where it is provoked? can offer
reconciliation where it receives wrong? What nature can heap up kindness
on contempt, favor on ingratitude, mercy on sin? And yet Christ’s love
has led him to all this, so that well may we spend all our days in
admiring and adoring this wonderful love and be always captivated with
the thoughts of it.
