Prayer that God enable the Ephesians to comprehend the love of Christ
And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Petition for knowledge
Paul’s second petition for the Ephesians is that, being mightily strengthened by the Spirit in their new man, they would be able to comprehend the greatness of Christ’s love for them. Hence he continues, “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge.”
Paul is praying for people who have been “rooted and established in love.” “Rooted” involves the picture of a plant, alive and vibrant, poised to grow. “Established” suggests a different picture. Literally it means “founded upon” or “based on a foundation.” What the Ephesians are rooted in and based upon is the love that Christ has shown for them.
Paul asks the Ephesians to stop and think of Christ’s amazing love. When they were dead in transgressions and sins (2:1), God sent his Son to suffer and die for them. In this way he made them alive and by faith brought them into his church.
The Ephesians experienced that marvelous love in their own lives, but they had only begun to learn about it. Paul now prays that God would enable them to grasp or understand the full extent of Christ’s love. Paul suggests that the Ephesians think of how Christ’s love stretches out in all directions (width, length, height, depth) to embrace “all the saints,” that is, every believer who ever lived. For each believer of all time, in every place, Christ has done exactly the same as he did for the Ephesians, so great is his love for so many people who were so worthless and unworthy of being saved! God in Christ reached out to them all and brought them into the great temple he is building, the holy Christian church (2:21).
Paul admits that to fully comprehend the love God has shown to and through the church really “surpasses knowledge,” but he prays that the Ephesians would at least start grasping the greatness of Christ’s love.
Petition for fullness
Paul, however, does not pray just for abstract knowledge and understanding on the Ephesians’ part. He wants them to participate fully in God’s good gifts. Hence he continues: I pray “that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
God, of course, has total “fullness.” He created everything; he owns everything; he controls everything. And yet, he allows us, his dear children, to come boldly to him. In fact, he invites us to pray confidently, assuring us that he will hear. Paul’s prayer is a model of bold prayer. There’s nothing bashful about his request. He doesn’t ask for just a few crumbs; he asks for the whole loaf. His request is that the Ephesians “may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” We might say that he is asking that the Ephesians be filled to overflowing with all the good things that God dispenses through his church.