How does Ephesians 3:18 connect with John 3:16 on God's love? The Call to Comprehend an Immense Love Ephesians 3:18: “may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.” • Paul assumes the love of Christ is so vast it requires divine empowerment to understand. • This comprehension is communal—“together with all the saints”—showing every believer is invited to explore it. • The four dimensions picture an inexhaustible, all-embracing love: nothing is left outside its reach. John 3:16—Love Expressed in a Single, Saving Act John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” • God’s love is not abstract; it is demonstrated in the giving of His Son. • “So loved” points to intensity; “gave” points to action. • The purpose is life—eternal, unending fellowship with God. How the Two Passages Interlock • Ephesians 3:18 describes the dimensions; John 3:16 displays the dimensions. – Width: “the world” (John 3:16) shows love extending to every nation and person. – Length: from eternity past (Jeremiah 31:3) to eternity future (“eternal life,” John 3:16). – Height: lifting believers to heavenly places with Christ (Ephesians 2:6). – Depth: descending to the cross, bearing sin and death (Philippians 2:6-8). • Paul prays we grasp what John proclaims: the boundless love manifested in Christ’s sacrifice. • The cross is the measuring rod; its span matches the “breadth and length and height and depth” Paul lists. Further Scriptural Echoes • Romans 5:8—“But God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Proof and power meet. • 1 John 4:9-10—Love defined by sending the Son as propitiation, paralleling John 3:16’s gift. • Psalm 103:11-12—God’s love “as high as the heavens” and His forgiveness “as far as the east is from the west” echo the spatial language of Ephesians 3:18. Living Inside These Dimensions • Stand secure: no sin, circumstance, or spiritual force can outrun or outlast this love (Romans 8:38-39). • Share freely: because the love is wide, no one is beyond its invitation. • Worship deeply: comprehension leads to adoration—“to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge” (Ephesians 3:19). • Walk confidently: the same love that saved you empowers daily obedience (2 Corinthians 5:14). Together, Ephesians 3:18 and John 3:16 reveal a love too vast to be measured yet clear enough to be trusted—eternity-wide, cross-shaped, and personally yours in Jesus Christ. |
    |