Our weakness, meanness, sinfulness, despair, make one factor of the measurement. I prefer "the breadth," etc., to refer to the whole mystery of free salvation in Christ for all, Gentile and Jew alike, just spoken of (Ephesians 3:3-9), which he now prays they may comprehend in all its vastness. “I have loved thee with an everlasting love.” Coeval then with Deity itself is the love of Deity towards its chosen ones. 1. 3. (d) Boundless love, in length exceeding our length of sin, suffering, backsliding, age, or temptation. It is very fully described in three parts. ὑμῶν. Chandler supposes there is an allusion in all this to the temple at Ephesus. The Apostle Paul does not propose that the new convert should at once be able to measure the breadth and length and depth and height of the love of Christ; he knows that this is not within the range of his infant mind; for the newborn spirit has a time of growth to go through before it can enter into the deep things of God. 2. ἐν ἀγάπῃ ἐῤῥιζωμένοι καὶ τεθεμελιωμένοι, "breadth, and length, and depth, and height;", "And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. By height we are taught the infinite superiority of his nature over ours: (Psalm cxii.) elect, in all ages, places, and nations; and in its depth to (c) As never to be fully comprehended throughout the ages. Paul prays that the inward might or virtue may issue in ability to grasp. I'm going to ask you to take chapters one, two, and three and read them through and find out what is the breadth of the purpose of God and the length and the depth and the height. He desired that the object of study may be evermore before them: “that Christ may dwell,” etc. in the beginning of the chapter; or of the spiritual building, The inspired writer then shews us how the Almighty is incomprehensible; for says he, "God is higher than the heavens; and what wilt thou do? Baker.). In explaining these terms of mensuration we would not say with an old commentator quoted by Wolf—“The church has length, that is, it stretches from east to west; and it has breadth, that is, it reaches from the equator to the poles. Ephesians 3:18. “To have full strength” (Robertson p. 533). But height and depth, according to the RV. The indication of “dwell” then means to be at home in. That the terms indicate the measurement of God's love to men, is the view advocated partly by Chrysostom, and by Erasmus, Bodius, Vatablus, Grotius, Rollock, Dickson, Baumgarten, Flatt, and von Gerlach. May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; That being rooted and grounded — That is, deeply fixed and firmly established, in love. It all comes because this heaven-descended Christ has come down the long staircase of Incarnation, and has brought with Him into the clouds and oppressions of our terrestrial atmosphere a germ of life which He has planted in the heart of the race, there to spread forever. If men can get you within range they mean no good to you. They were to be builded up a heavenly house, a habitation of God through the Spirit; and this must have its latitude or breadth, its longitude or length, its altitude or height, and its profundity or depth. Oh the breadth, the length, the depth, the height! We carry the instruments of our saintly art, and the object of our devout contemplation within ourselves. He saw us in past ages. How deep is the love of Christ? Exodus 29:27. Harless adopts the view of Chrysostom and Theophylact, and regards the clause as a condition—“Christ dwells in their heart, since they had been rooted in love.” But the clause, so changed, becomes a species of independent proposition, giving a marked prominence to the sense, and connected at once with the preceding context as its result, and with the following context as its starting idea-the perfect being used with propriety, and not the present. 2. Comp. For this reason, too, he does not insert a genitive, as the substantive is so remote, nor did he reckon it necessary to repeat the noun itself. That the apostle has this architectural image still in view is clear from the fact that, “Unless your roots and foundations are in, you will never really be able to understand the far reaching effects of Christ’s love!!! I'm beyond being saved.". Christ dwelling in their hearts-they are supposed, as the effect of this inhabitation, to have been now rooted and grounded in love; and as the design of this confirmation in love-they are then and thus qualified to comprehend with all saints, etc. Ephesians 4:10; Ephesians 4:13 as to "the fullness of Christ"). Поскольку же почти все страдают общей болезнью: гореть усердием к бесполезным вещам, – увещевание сие весьма полезно. Such a supplement is, however, the more arbitrary, inasmuch as there is already a definition by ἐν; consequently the reader could not light upon the idea of supplying such in thought. ii., and the intervening verses which precede the prayer are, as already stated, a parenthesis. These terms were not, perhaps, intended to convey each of them a distinct idea, but generally to represent the vastness of the Divine love; yet we may make use of these various expressions to classify what we have to say on the matter. (Newman Halt, LL. могли постигнуть Верующий не может понять полноту Божьей любви вне подлинной любви, которую Дух привносит в его собственную жизнь. Now don't leave all the digging to me—you do some digging. De Wette, on the other hand, is wrong in appealing to Colossians 2:7, where, indeed, in the case of ἐῤῥιζωμένοι the having received Christ appears as having already preceded. Before the foundation of the world, He chose that everyone who should accept His Son would be holy and without blame. You will never find a man preeminent in astronomy unless astronomy has become the lord of mind, and holds a sway over his mind even in his dreams. 2. We apprehend that this exegesis has been borrowed from the following clause—“and to know the love of Christ,” which Ellicott says is practically the genitive. I say spiritual, as distinct from intellectual, perception. cxx. Yes, the grace of God can reach them. Вне же любви нет ничего прочного, ничего полезного, ничего правого и здравомысленного. Nor can we say, with Meyer, that the substantive standing without the article has almost the force of a participle—“in amando.” But the entire context proves that the love referred to is the grace of love. (E. Now the second thing is the length of it. May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height. What is the length of the love of Christ? In breadth, boundless : in length, endless: in depth, fathomless, exhaustless: in height, measureless. ), the love of God (Chrys., Erasm., Grot., etc. p. 541; Buttmann, neut. Spurgeon.). You would see me sit down again and maybe even take a nap. Besides, these architectural terms lead us to the same conclusion, as they are so applicable to a building. Could I couple with that a verse from the Psalm and then Hebrews chapter ten. Evidently Paul’s petition is applicable to all who believe in Christ. ix. Spurgeon.). It is never so with the love of Christ: it is tong, and without a break from beginning to end; it is a chain without a single broken or feeble link. ), now at St. Petersburg, published in facsimile type by its discoverer, Tischendorf, in 1862. But I do not see that there is clear evidence that there is allusion here to the temple at Ephesus. There, the focus is on the greatness of God which exists in Jesus, clearly labelling Jesus as divine. Lachmann): in order that, rooted and grounded in love, ye may be able, etc. It might relate to the weight lifter coming along in the grocery store and his ability to pick up a ten-pound bag of sugar for an old lady that is struggling with it. Rooting and grounding are consequences of the strengthening of the Spirit and of Christ's indwelling. In this verse, Paul says a prayer for the Ephesians. Ephesians 3: 18 Frederick William Grant This expression does not refer to the dimensions of the love of Christ, which the apostle immediately after represents as "passing knowledge," whereas he prays that they may be "able to comprehend what is the breadth and length and depth and height." Now just like in chapter one, his prayer for knowledge had reference to what he had just taught with respect to the Father and the Son and the Spirit in our redemption and that we might know the call of God and the purpose of God and the power of God. Grounded or founded, from θεμέλιον foundationThe dwelling in Ephesians 3:17would naturally suggest the foundation. 3:18 That being rooted and grounded - That is, deeply fixed and firmly established, in love. The way to measure the height is to begin at the Cross and the foul abysses of evil, and go up to the Throne. Redemption, calling, perseverance. They can understand that it is deep enough to rescue both kinds of people from sin"s degradation and from Satan"s grip. The love of Jesus Christ does not surround our favoured island alone, but, like the ocean, it washes every shore. 5. The deeply affected mind with its poeticoimaginative intuition looks upon the metaphysical magnitude as a physical, mathematical one, σωματικοῖς σχήμασι (Chrysostom) extending on every side. Let me come to the very words of our text, and point out to you their order. Filled with the fulness of God. Now, then, shall we continue. 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. That they might form correct views of the freeness of God’s love (2 Timothy 1:9). Paul prays, not that Christ may dwell in their hearts, but that he may dwell in their hearts as confirmed in love. 4. ), The more we know the more are we conscious of our ignorance of that which is unknown, or, as Dr. Chalmers used to put it in his class--borrowing an illustration from his favourite mathematics--“The wider the diameter of light, the greater is the circumference of darkness.” The more a man knows, he comes at more points into contact with the unknown. 2. Webster suggests that it is the width of a subject, or how wide a table is from side to side while one is looking at it. And because of the marvelous revelation of that, the purpose of God in the church, I maintain that this is what He is talking about. What are the unsearchable riches of Christ? To pray for the indwelling of Christ would be to pray for their regeneration. is quite in keeping with the Pauline doctrine of the πίστις διʼ ἀγάπης ἐνεργουμένη, Galatians 5:6; 1 Corinthians 13. 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