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Does Christ dwell in your heart? (Ephesians 3:17-19) The “Amen” in the prayers of Paul (Ephesians 3:20-21)
Ephesians 3:17-21
3:17 “…that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height – to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:17-19).
Paul continued his prayer while in prison. The apostle had asked for the power of the Holy Spirit for the saints in Ephesus, as well as for all Christians among the godless nations. The Spirit of God was to create living church fellowships, where the primeval power of the Father in heaven could work mightily.
The petitioning prayer warrior recognized that the Spirit of the Father is also the Spirit of the Son. The place where this Holy Spirit sinks into one of Christ´s believers is also the place where Jesus comes to indwell him. One can nearly lose his breath if he truly grasps this astonishing faith declaration! The Savior of the world, the King of all kings, the One who was despised and crucified and the Lord of all glory desires to indwell you and me – for all eternity! This comprehension requires silence, contemplation, faith and thanksgiving. Who are we that the Son of God should desire to indwell us? To be sure, He is the one who cleansed us with His blood and sanctified us by His Spirit, that we might be able to receive Him. Nevertheless, the recognition and confession nearly comes to our lips: “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” (Luke 5:8). Yet Jesus enters, with His love and His faithfulness, all who are of a contrite spirit. He remains in them and incorporates them into His spiritual body. It remains for us only to thank and worship Him for His, as far as our part is concerned, undeserved coming! His grace is greater than our understanding.
The Holy Spirit creates in us faith and trust so that we can receive Jesus. The Spirit of the Father and of the Son is the eternal life of God. For that very purpose Christ died, that we might inherit this life. Our sins have, to be sure, caused us to deserve our death and our condemnation, yet the blood of Jesus Christ has brought about light in us, and bestowed upon us His holy life (John 3:15-16, 36; 5:24-25; 10:27-28). The indwelling of Christ in a justified sinner marks the beginning of eternal life in him. Such a person begins to spiritually breathe, to pray, and to really start to live. Without Jesus a person is spiritually dead; with Jesus, however, he has risen from the dead (1 John 5:11-13).
This faith is not just theoretical, but realizes itself in practical ways. Where the Spirit of Jesus enters into a person, there the love of God begins to lead, motivate and stir him. Paul wrote: “…because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Rom. 5:5b). Every Christian needs to memorize this sentence and practice it in daily life. We should dream no more of some distant love of God; much more, this love has taken up bodily presence in every person who loves and trusts Jesus, and who eat His word just as they do their daily bread.
Paul wrote to the house church leaders in Ephesus that they should remain rooted in the love of God, just as a tree does to good earth. They should remain firmly fixed in the faithfulness of Christ, just like a house that is built on rock. In the end it is not theoretical theology or Biblical knowledge that are the proof and the fruit of correct faith; rather, it is the service of practical acts of love that, with few words, are carried out in the power of Christ.
Whoever lives, love and praises within this sphere of spiritual practice, begins to consider the expanse and greatness of the church of Jesus. Strangely enough, neither the Lord Jesus nor His apostles ever planned a church building. They never took up a collection for such a project, nor did they ever materially construct a cathedral. Instead they founded many churches, both small and large, and established the spiritual temple of the Triune God. The width, length, depth and height of this spiritual edifice stood before the eyes of Paul as he worshipped the Father of Jesus Christ, and while he was interceding in prayer for the responsible church leaders in the province of Asia.
This spiritual temple is never to grow according to measuring stick or gold adornment, and it never stays empty. Rather, it is filled with people in whom the love of Christ has been realized. In this way the Lord of all lords brought about a legal revolution, one in which He decreed a “new law”: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35). Whoever reads through the discourses of Jesus in the New Testament will find more than one thousand imperatives and four thousand legally binding statements. The Lord summarized all of these laws and commandments in one sentence when He said: “Love one another, as I have loved you”. In so doing He made His own love the measuring stick for our life and our existence. This command can fully break us, for who is it that loves his relatives, his friends and his enemies as Jesus loved His disciples, as well as His stubborn and obstinate people? By nature we are egoists, where everything needs to rotate around us. Yet the one who follows Jesus is transformed into a loving servant or a faithful maidservant, one in whom inborn pride becomes increasingly smaller, all the while divine mercy in him is increasing. All the more we practice what Jesus commanded us to do all the more we come to recognize Him and His endlessly great love that passes all understanding.
Beyond that, whoever goes on to consider the last request the kneeing apostle made – that the entire fullness of God should indwell those responsible for the churches – will find occasion to again become restless. Who ventures to say that God, with all of His holiness and glory, indwells him? In the Swabian dialect of southern Germany one is inclined to say: “Such a one is cracked!”
Yet Paul knew what he had asked for the church. The entire attributes of the Father in heaven dwell in His Son Jesus Christ, who in His high-priestly prayer prayed: “And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine!” (John 17:10). In that regard He later went on to further reveal: “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth” (Matt. 28:18). He had previously confessed: “All things have been delivered to Me by My Father” (Matt. 11:27; John 3:35). Without reservation He could testify: “He who has seen Me has seen the Father!” (John 14:9). Later still He revealed: “The Father is in Me!” (John 14:10-11). This revelation confirms His word: “I and My Father are one!” (John 10:30). These avowals of Jesus testify that the entire fullness of deity can bodily indwell human form (Col. 2:9-10). Therefore it is both thinkable and justified for the apostle to ask that the attributes of the Father in heaven also indwell and be realized in His children. To that end we read crystal clear testimonies of the apostles in their letters:
“The love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Rom. 5:5b). “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:7). “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God” (Rom. 8:14; 5:9). “For the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you” (1 Pet. 4:14). “We commend ourselves as ministers of God: by the power of God, in the joy of God” (2 Cor. 6:4, 7; Rom. 5:11). “For the kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Matt: 5:3, 10; Rom. 14:17). “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27). “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him” (John 14:23).
Whoever contemplates this short selection of verses, believes them and gives thanks for them, in the end has to say: If Christ lives in our hearts, then with Him dwells the entire fullness of deity - in bodily form! In and of ourselves we are not a temple of God, but rather, it is the presence of Christ in us that is our treasure and gain.
Our hearts and minds have to nearly explode at the reality of Jesus and His Father together dwelling in us. We are small nobodies, yet the humble triune God loves us so much that He once again counteracts the futility and transitoriness of man. In Spirit and in faith He overcomes us, allowing us to become His children.
The Lord is not about the business of creating spiritual egoists. The prayer of the Apostle Paul was not just written for a single church leader, but put in the plural form – for all of us. The fullness of deity in Christ is not realized, in the first place, in individual believers, but in the communion of the saints, in the consoling joy of a church, and in acts of love, practiced without many words. In some Jewish schools it is taught that all of the attributes of God together make up His glory. Every one of His names, titles or emotions is a ray of His unending great glory. This would mean: Wherever His love, His joy, His pleasure, His patience, His power and His truth become visible in an individual or in a church, there is where the fullness of deity starts blinking. The place where some of these attributes become visible over a longer period is the place where the air is no longer just earthly, but heavenly. For the most part such an atmosphere is bound up in a respective regularity of Bible reading, along with the prayers of both individuals and the fellowship. It is accompanied by the acknowledgement of mistakes and sin, along with a willingness to mutually forgive one another. The spiritual life, love and praise of “believers in Christ” is a “lighting up” of the present fullness of the grace of God. The Apostle John formulated this mystery in an ingenious sentence: “And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace” (John 1:16). In the quietness of his imprisonment, Paul could do nothing other than to pray that the entire fullness of God might become real and visible in both the church leaders and the churches of Ephesus. This intercessory prayer also includes the church of every single believer who begins his prayer with “our Father”.
The “Amen” in the prayers of Paul (Eph. 3:20-21)
3:20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen” (Eph. 3:20-21).
Paul knew and confessed that all of our doing and thinking is imperfect, and the knowledge we have is sometimes restricted as if encased in a heavy fog (1 Cor. 13:9-12). This honesty, however, did not keep him from trusting in the glorious Jesus, and believing that He would hear and answer his prayer and go on to do so much more than language could express. “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God” (Rom. 8:26-27). It was in this sense that Paul believed and confessed in his prayer that the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ was also working with His power in the weakness, limitations and imprisonment of His apostle. Through God´s working in him, the entire fullness of deity was being practically established in the church leaders.
Because of this assurance he prayed that the Father would be glorified in the church at Ephesus, as well as in the house churches scattered throughout the province, for then faith, love and hope would increase in all the saints. And should, in spite of all intercession and trust, individual churches become weak, persecuted or even cease to exist, the imprisoned apostle kept clinging to Jesus. He prayed that the Father be glorified in His Son, for His being glorified by man alone was not sufficient. Furthermore, the mystery of salvation and of the church is not bound to time or conditions, but reaches far out into eternity. The glory of the love of God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in His children will never end, but remains throughout eternity.
At the end of his “Lord´s Prayer”, the apostle attached one short word - “Amen” - just as if he were setting a seal to the prayer. In Semitic language this word means so much as “security, certainty, peace and a guarantee for its implementation!” In this way the imprisoned apostle clung to the authority, omnipotence and faithfulness of “the Father of glory” and of “our Lord Jesus”, who continue on in their radiant majesty. The prison and its guards constituted the earthly reality; the greater reality, however, was the indwelling of his heavenly Lord in his heart, which made every outward distress pale in comparison. The Spirit was whispering to him: “The Lord lives and is doing more than you can ever ask or understand. Amen!”
Questions:
- How can Christ indwell the hearts of believers?
- How can the fullness of deity take up residence in man?
- What does the word “Amen” mean at the close of the Paulinic form of the “Lord´s Prayer?
- Please learn the “Lord´s Prayer” of the Apostle Paul by heart and pray it with him:
'''For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height – to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen''' (Eph. 3:14-21)
Test two:
Test your knowledge following these meditations over the letter to the Ephesians by answering these questions:
1. What do we learn from the intercession of Paul for the church in Ephesus?
2. How can we correctly recognize God?
3. What does the term mean: “Father of glory”?
4. Why should we not trust every world view or inspiration?
5. What constitutes the saint´s inheritance in Christ?
6. Why is our hope glorious?
7. What is the mystery of the power of God?
8. How is the power of God made mighty in our churches?
9. When was the power of God especially visible in Jesus? What does this fact teach us?
10. To what extent is Christ the Lord of all lords, even when His messengers are being tortured and killed?
11. What does the promise of Psalm 110:1 signify?
12. How is the Lord Jesus the head of His church?
13. What is the significance of the indwelling of the fullness of God in the church of Jesus Christ?
14. Who is spiritually dead in our day and age?
15. Why does man often sin indifferently?
16. How can we protect ourselves from Satan´s cunning and lies?
17. How did Jesus deliver us from the dominion of evil?
18. How corrupt is man?
19. What can save us from the wrath of God?
20. How can a person be freed from his sin?
21. What is the difference between the fact of objective salvation and the subjective appropriation of this salvation?
22. How do we recognize that God loves all sinners?
23. What does the resurrection and ascension of Jesus to heaven mean for His followers?
24. Why is it that no man can be saved through his so-called “good deeds”?
25. How can Paul say that the “good works” of the saints were planned and carried through by God in advance?
26. How is it that we can confess that “Jesus is our peace?
27. What is it that separates superficial thinking Jewish and Gentile Christians until today?
28. How did Jesus bind these two groups together?
29. What were the hidden mystery and the resolution of the almighty God?
30. How did God carry through and realize His plan of salvation?
31. How is it that we can we call the almighty God our Father?
32. What power did Paul request in prayer for his churches?
33. How can Christ indwell the hearts of believers?
34. How can the fullness of deity take up residence in man?
35. What does the word “Amen” mean at the close of the Paulinic form of the “Lord´s Prayer?
36. Please learn the “Lord´s Prayer” of the Apostle Paul by heart!
Whoever can answer 28 of the above questions correctly will receive, free of charge, one of our books designed for spiritual growth and encouragement. For those in Europe please use the following address:
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