What is the meaning of Ephesians 3:19? The love of Christ Ephesians 3:19 opens with “the love of Christ.” Paul is talking about more than a feeling; he is pointing to the self-giving action of Jesus. - “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). - On the cross “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). - This love is personal: “the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). Because Christ’s love is unearned and unending (Romans 8:38-39), believers can rest secure. Paul wants readers not merely to admire that love but to be rooted and grounded in it (Ephesians 3:17). To know this love that surpasses knowledge Paul’s next phrase sounds like a paradox: how can anyone know what surpasses knowledge? He is calling us to experience Christ’s love, not just analyze it. - Like Job, who moved from hearing about God to seeing Him (Job 42:5), we move from theory to reality. - The peace of God “surpasses all understanding” (Philippians 4:7); in the same way, Christ’s love outruns the limits of human intellect yet can still flood the heart. - Jeremiah 31:3 reminds us, “I have loved you with an everlasting love”; that eternal love is what Paul wants believers to taste personally. So “know” here means a lived relationship—daily, growing awareness through worship, Scripture, obedience, and fellowship. That you may be filled with all the fullness of God The goal is staggering: God pours Himself into us until nothing is missing. - “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity dwells in bodily form, and you have been made complete in Him” (Colossians 2:9-10). - “From His fullness we have all received, grace upon grace” (John 1:16). - We become “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4), being shaped to reflect God’s character. - This filling is ongoing—“be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18)—so we keep coming back for fresh supply. Far from turning us into independent little gods, God’s fullness equips us to love, serve, and live holy lives that display His glory. summary Ephesians 3:19 invites believers to plunge into Christ’s boundless, sacrificial love, to move beyond mere information into firsthand experience, and, through that experience, to be so saturated with God Himself that His character shines through every corner of life. |
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