There is little doubt that the Apostle Paul is experiencing a theological adrenaline rush in the book of Ephesians. He is coming out of his sandals with excitement. This soteriological energy drink doesn’t cause him to sit back with a fat head but rather to get busy praying for other believers. Specifically he prays that the matchless and incomprehensible power of Jesus may work sanctification into the life of believers.
Power is an interesting thing. In the presence of power there is boldness an confidence. And likewise with the absence of power there is timidity and fear. Here in Ephesians 3 the Apostle Paul prays, asking God for grace, (knowing that what comes is wholly a result of divine blessing and kindness) that believers would “be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man” (3.16).
What does it mean to be strengthened in the inner man? Simply it is to be spiritually fortified with a genuine love for Christ and a desire to do his will. It is to be growing in maturity. This maturity is expressed in our affections and our actions (what we love and what we do). Even though this is a prayer for other believers, it is still truly God-centered prayer. The goal here is for God to be glorified through the Spirit-enflamed, Bible-Saturated, Sin-Mortifying Christian who is ever growing in Christian maturity.
In connection with Paul’s petition for this gracious endowment of strength, we read of how this growing maturity plays itself out:
Ephesians 3.17-19 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.
A result of the believer’s growing maturity is the delightful dependence upon Christ the Lord. Christ is literally “at home” in the hearts of believers. Therefore sin is not at home. When we are strengthened and fortified by the Spirit we are enflamed with a captivating understanding of the beauty of Jesus and so therefore the despicable nature of sin. No doubt you know in your own life something of this corollary; as your love for and value of Jesus is high, your hatred of and devaluation of sin is high. The converse is true as well. You and I will only hate sin as much as we love Christ.
What is the tool that God uses to enflame a passion for the supremacy and sufficiency of Christ in all things?
How does he cause believers to begin to comprehend the incomprehensible love of Christ (3.18)?
God uses his word in conjunction with his Spirit to distinguish Jesus as unrivaled and worthy of all devotion and praise. It is the Word of God as illumined and applied by the Spirit of God that causes the child of God to be fortified and strengthened in the inner man. This is God’s means of sanctifying his children; this is his personal growth plan for the Christian.
What does it say about our agreement with God’s wisdom when we shelf or neglect his plan? Can we really say we are committed to what God’s committed to? Are we really committed to our growth and God’s glory when we are sloughing off the prescribed means of attaining these things? Can we really say we worship the all-wise God when we question his plan for growth by ‘secretly’ neglecting or replacing it?
In this passage we see the apostle praying for the best for Christians, that we would be strengthened to maturity, that Christ would be valued supremely, and that we would be forever amazed and impressed with the incomprehensible love of God in Christ. This comes through the Spirit of God and by the Word of God. Let’s relentlessly cling to both as we pursue our chief end of glorifying God and enjoying him forever.
(repost from 2007)
