Do you Pray Like Paul? Ephesians 3:14–21 by David Hacker

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Introduction

How’s your prayer life? If you were really honest with yourself, would you say that prayer is a joy for you or more of an obligation or duty? We all struggle with this. What kind of things do you pray for? It is so easy for us to get caught up in praying for our latest financial crisis, Aunt Sally’s knee, Brother Joe’s broken hip, and a host of other things, which are all good and right in and of themselves, but forget to ask for the one thing necessary for success in our Christian life—the strengthening power of the Holy Spirit. As we look at Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3:14–21, I would like us to consider whether we pray like the Apostle Paul prayed. First, we will look at the mechanics of prayer. Second, we will look at the content of prayer. And thirdly, we will consider the role of praise in prayer.

The Mechanics of Prayer

In the first half of Ephesians 3, Paul takes a brief detour to describe how he had suffered to bring the gospel to the Gentiles. He states that his suffering is actually for their glory. He now indicates that it is for this reason—so that the Ephesian believers will not lose heart—that he bows his knees in prayer to the Father.^[1]James Candlish states that the reason for Paul’s prayer is that “he feels it to be not quite a light or easy thing for them to be stedfast [sic], and therefore he assures them that he earnestly … Continue reading From this, we see that one of the reasons why we are to pray is so that we do not lose heart when we suffer and that this suffering is actually for our glory. In 2 Corinthians 4:17, Paul tells us that our “light momentary affliction [in this world] is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.”

Paul now describes how he prays and, by extension, how we should pray.

His prayers for them are mentioned, not only to testify his regard for them, but likewise to excite them to pray in the same manner.–John Calvin^[2]John Calvin, Commentaries on the Epistles of Paul to the Galatians and Ephesians, trans. William Pringle (1854; repr., Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2010), 259.

He begins with the posture of prayer (Eph 3:14): “I bow my knees to the Father.” Paul’s posture indicates reverent submission to God. However, posture is a heart matter, not a purely physical matter.

The bodily attitude is here put for the religious exercise itself. Not that prayer, in all cases, requires the bending of the knees.–John Calvin^[3]Calvin, Commentaries on Galatians and Ephesians, 259.

The position we assume for prayer, however pious, does not matter if our heart isn’t right. Our heart attitude must indicate reverence, solemnity, adoration, and submissiveness. So, on the one hand, we must avoid thoughtless formalism, and on the other hand, we must prevent carelessness in how we approach God.^[4]D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The Unsearchable Riches of Christ: An Exposition of Ephesians 3 (1979; repr., Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1998), 113.

Next, Paul states to whom we are to pray. We are to pray to the Father. He is our Father. How amazing is that! In the ESV, Ephesians 3:15 reads, “[T]he Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named.” However, this could also validly be translated as “the Father from whom the whole family, in heaven and on earth, is named.”^[5]Charles Hodge remarks, “In favour of [the whole family] are the considerations that the omission of the article, which usage doubtless demands, is not unfrequent where either the substantive has … Continue reading This brings out Paul’s emphasis better. Paul is not here talking about different groupings or families of people on earth and angelic beings in heaven, but, rather, the whole family of believers, both those alive on earth and those with the Lord in heaven. The Puritans would speak of this as the church militant—those who are still fighting the battle here on earth—and the church triumphant—those saints who have gone to be with the Lord.^[6]John Stott states, “[P]asa patria may quite properly be rendered ‘every family’. Yet there is something inherently inappropriate about this reference to a multiplicity of families, since the … Continue reading When viewed in this way, Paul is stressing the fact that he is the Father of all those who believe in him; thus, we can be sure that he will listen to us if we are one of his children.^[7]Albert Barnes concludes, “The whole ‘family of God,’ means all his children.” Albert Barnes, Notes on the New Testament: Ephesians, Philippians & Colossians, ed. Robert Frew (London: … Continue reading John 1:12 assures us that all who receive Christ and believe in his name have been given the right to become children of God. Have you received him and believed in his name? If not, Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians 6:2 that today is the day of salvation. In Hebrews 3:7–8, the author says, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as [the Israelites did] in the rebellion, ‘But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.’” If you receive him and call on his name, you too can become one of his children, and be assured that when you call out to him in prayer, he will hear you.

However, when we pray, we must remember that God has revealed his will to us in Scripture, so there are limits to what we can rightly ask God for. One commentator states:

We have no authority to pray for anything which God has not revealed to be his will. That is why Bible reading and prayer should always go together. For it is in Scripture that God has disclosed his will, and it is in prayer that we ask him to do it.^[8]Stott, Message of Ephesians, 132.

Scripture is clear: the purpose of prayer is not to change God but to align us with his will. First John 5:14 assures us that “if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.”

The Content of Prayer

We now come to the content of Paul’s prayer. Commentators are divided on the structure of the prayer and the number of petitions it contains. Some see three different petitions, or two petitions, with a final summarizing petition.^[9]Clinton Arnold sees “three principal prayer requests, each beginning with the word ‘that’ (ἵνα) and containing the content of each request.” However, he acknowledges that the requests are … Continue reading However, it seems best to see Paul as having one main prayer request that builds with intensity as he prays.^[10]See Hodge, Commentary on Ephesians, 178; and Snodgrass, Ephesians, loc. 134.

In Ephesians 3:16, Paul requests that God grant the Ephesians to be strengthened with spiritual power. What do you pray for? Do you ask God, who is rich in glory, to grant you spiritual power? Or do you run through a list of ‘things’ you would like God to do but never stop to ask him to give you the power to be used in whatever way he sees fit? Maybe most important of all, do we ask God to grant us the power and energy to pray, and pray as we ought to pray? We all have those times when it is hard even to begin to pray. In Romans 8:26, Paul tells us that “the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” In our passage, Paul reminds us to ask God, who is rich in glory, to grant us power in our inner being so that we might pray as we ought.

Observe that Paul requests that this strengthening be in the “inner man.” Here, inner man is synonymous with “heart” in the next verse. The inner man or heart is “the controlling center from which life is comprehended and choices are made.”^[11]Snodgrass, Ephesians, loc. 135. If, as Scripture teaches, man’s whole being, both in body and soul, is affected by the fall and original sin, then a radical supernatural change communicated by the Spirit of God in the “inner man” or soul of a person is the only hope for true and lasting change.^[12]Hodge, Commentary on Ephesians, 181–82. This is not something that man can do by self-help or moral improvement.

This strengthening, [Paul] tells us, is the work of the Spirit; so that it does not proceed from man’s own ability.–John Calvin^[13]Calvin, Commentaries on Galatians and Ephesians, 261.

Elsewhere, in 2 Corinthians 4:16, Paul tells us that, for the believer, the outer man is wasting away, but the inner man is renewed by the Spirit day by day.^[14]Lloyd-Jones, Exposition of Ephesians 3, 127; Hodge, Commentary on Ephesians, 183. Pray that God would strengthen your inner man.

Next, in Ephesians 3:17, Paul restates the request in a parallel manner by asking that Christ would dwell in the Ephesians’ hearts by the means of faith. The verb translated as “dwell” in the ESV is a compound word consisting of “down” and “to live or dwell.” The sense can best be rendered “that Christ may settle down and be at home” in your heart by means of faith.^[15]Louw-Nida defines κατοικέω as “to live or dwell in a place in an established or settled manner” Johannes P. Louw and Eugene Albert Nida, eds., Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: … Continue reading Paul is here speaking to the church at Ephesus, so he is speaking to believers who have already been indwelt by the Holy Spirit at salvation. He is not talking about conversion here but about Christ settling down and making their hearts his permanent abode and permeating their whole being rather than paying them a visit in some general sense. These Christians have spiritual life, but it is in a frail and immature condition.^[16]Lloyd-Jones, Exposition of Ephesians 3, 144–45; Snodgrass, Ephesians, loc. 135. So, the question is, if you are a believer, have you committed to having Christ settle down and make his home in your heart and take control of every aspect of your life? Or are you content to remain an “infant” in Christ “fed with milk, and not [the] solid food” of the word of God, as Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 3:1? 1 Peter 2:2 tells us that we are to be like “newborn infants” longing for “pure spiritual milk” so that we may grow up into salvation. Paul is here telling us to pray that the Spirit would strengthen us to desire that Christ might dwell in our hearts in a permanent, ongoing manner. If we are not attending to the means of grace—hearing the word preached, reading the word daily, and interceding with God to grant us power—we cannot expect to grow in Christian maturity. John Calvin sums up well the results of Christ dwelling in our hearts by means of faith when he states:

Most people consider fellowship with Christ, and believing in Christ, to be the same thing; but the fellowship which we have with Christ is the consequence of faith. In a word, faith is not a distant view, but a warm embrace, of Christ, by which he dwells in us, and we are filled with the Divine Spirit.–John Calvin^[17]Calvin, Commentaries on Galatians and Ephesians, 262.

In Ephesians 3:17b, Paul tells us that the result of being strengthened with power by the Spirit and Christ taking up residence in our hearts is that we will be rooted and grounded in love. Here, Paul uses both an agricultural and an architectural metaphor to show that the consequence of being strengthened and having Christ dwell in our hearts is that we will be immovable, like a deeply rooted tree or a house built on a solid foundation.^[18]Calvin, Commentaries on Galatians and Ephesians, 263; Snodgrass, Ephesians, loc. 135.

In Ephesians 3:18, Paul tells us that being thus rooted and grounded in love, we will be strengthened to comprehend, with all the saints, the vastness of the knowledge of the surpassing love of Christ and filled with the fullness of God. There has been much speculation about what the “breadth and length and height and depth” refers to. The text leaves the object unspecified.^[19]Snodgrass, Ephesians, loc. 136. Some commentators think that it points back to “the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God” in Ephesians 3:9.^[20]Brooke Foss Westcott, Saint Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians: The Greek Text with Notes and Addenda, ed. John Maurice Schulhof, 3rd ed. (New York: Macmillan, 1909), 52; Calvin, Commentaries on … Continue reading However, it is more likely that it is pointing forward to “the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge” in the next verse (Eph 3:19).^[21]See Barnes, Ephesians, Philippians & Colossians, 62; Candlish, Ephesians, 79; and Hodge, Commentary on Ephesians, 188–90. The various dimensions are given to express the vastness and incomprehensibility of Christ’s love for us.^[22]Albert Barnes sees this as referring to “the love of Christ towards us.” Barnes, Ephesians, Philippians & Colossians, 63.

Having thus been rooted and grounded in love and then enabled to comprehend the vastness of Christ’s love, Paul prays that the Ephesians would be filled with the fullness of God (Eph 3:19).^[23]Hodge describes this fullness as “the plenitude of the divine perfection.” Hodge, Commentary on Ephesians, 190. Calvin says that this one phrase summarizes what is meant by the various dimensions that Paul just mentioned:

He who has Christ has everything necessary for being made perfect in God; for this is the meaning of the phrase, the fulness of God.–John Calvin^[24]Calvin, Commentaries on Galatians and Ephesians, 265 (emphasis original).

The Role of Praise in Prayer

After Paul comes to the crescendo of his prayer for the Ephesians, he bursts out in praise to God. Here, in Ephesians 3:20, Paul heaps up words for power and then intensifies them with multiple adverbs.^[25]Harold W. Hoehner, Ephesians: An Exegetical Commentary (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2002), loc. 454, ATLA eBooks. It’s as if the level of God’s ability and willingness to do even beyond what his children ask surpasses expression in mere words. Charles Hodge, the nineteenth-century Princeton theologian, captures the intensity of Paul’s doxology in this way, “Now to him who is able to do more than all things; exceeding abundantly above all we ask or think.”^[26]Hodge, Commentary on Ephesians, 192–93. Do you praise God when you pray? Do you praise him for the mere fact that he is willing to not only hear your prayers but answer them and even give us beyond what we ask? What is the ratio of requests to praise in your prayer? Have you ever even considered that? If I am honest, there are days when I spend all or most of my time asking God for ‘things’ but never praising him for who he is and what he is able (and willing) to do. Here, Paul demonstrates the proper attitude of praise in prayer. First, he acknowledges that God is able to do not just more than we ask but even more than we would ever consider asking.

God is not only unlimited in himself, but is unrestricted by our prayers or knowledge. No definite bounds, therefore, can be set [as] to what they may expect in whom Christ dwells, and who are the objects of his infinite love.–Charles Hodge^[27]Hodge, Commentary on Ephesians, 192–93

Whatever expectations we form of Divine blessings, the infinite goodness of God will exceed all our wishes and all our thoughts.–John Calvin^[28]Calvin, Commentaries on Galatians and Ephesians, 266.

This is a remarkable thing to consider! Next, Paul tells us that the power of God is at work in us to accomplish what we ask and more (Eph 3:20b). It’s not just that God’s power is vast and great, but the fact that it is available to us by his Spirit, which dwells in us, that causes Paul to burst out in praise.^[29]Frank Thielman, Ephesians, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2010), loc. 318, ATLA eBooks; Hoehner, Ephesians, loc. 453.

Finally, Paul gives glory to God for his work in the church and in and through Christ (Eph 3:21).^[30]Hodge, Commentary on Ephesians, 194. Giving glory to God can mean either praising him or making his glory known. Both the church and Christ will bring glory to God forever and make his glory known in the world. Paul is here emphasizing the unity of Christ and the church.^[31]Thielman, Ephesians, loc. 316; Snodgrass, Ephesians, loc. 137. Again, Paul heaps up phrases to make the point that the church and Christ will give glory to God “for all the generations of the age of the ages.”^[32]Arnold, Ephesians, 220. Do you praise God for the work that he is doing in his church, both locally and around the world? Do you praise him for the work that he has done in and through Christ in bringing salvation into the world for every sinner who will call on the name of Christ? Do you praise him continually? Paul indicates that the church, and by extension, each of us as members of the church, are to glorify God constantly. In 1 Thessalonians 5:17–18, Paul tells us to “pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” Luke 18:1 tells us that Jesus “told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.” So, we see that prayer is to be ongoing. It is also trinitarian. Prayer here is made to God the Father through the power of the Holy Spirit in praise of his work through the Son.

Concluding Application

So, what can we take away from this? There seems to be an apparent problem. Paul prays for God to grant power and strength to believers and says that God is at work in them and is able to do beyond all that they ask. So, why do we often feel as though we do not experience this power? Why do we, as believers and as the church, frequently seem so ineffective? There are only two possible answers: Either Paul’s theology is wrong, and God is not really able or at work in us, or his theology is correct, but we short-circuit the process. The first answer is obviously false, as Paul’s words are inspired by the Holy Spirit. So, that leaves only one option: the problem, in some way, lies with us, not God. Either we are not praying and asking for God to strengthen us and work in us, or we are not being patient and waiting for God to complete his work on his timetable. Some are not concerned enough to pray for God to grant them the power to accomplish his will in their lives and the church, and others, perhaps, just haven’t been taught to pray Scripture.

Expand for more information on praying Scripture

For a helpful discussion on how to pray Scripture, see How Do I Pray the Bible? by John Piper at Desiring God. This episode is also available to watch on YouTube.
For those interested in a more detailed book-length treatment of the topic, you can read “A Method for Prayer” by Matthew Henry or listen to it.

Often, we are only moved to earnest prayer when we face some difficulty that affects us personally. Sadly, we frequently do not feel the daily pressure and anxiety for the church that Paul expresses in 2 Corinthians 11:28. So what is the solution? We must pray that God would give us the desire to implore him earnestly for strength and pray that he would work in us mightily. We must learn to prioritize prayer and worship, both in public and in private.^[33]Snodgrass, Ephesians, loc. 140.

Conclusion

If we claim to be God’s children, but our lives are not being transformed day by day into the likeness of Christ by him taking up residence in our hearts and taking control of our lives, we must question whether he was ever genuinely present, to begin with. Paul urges us in 2 Corinthians 13:5 to examine ourselves to see whether we are in the faith. Do you have a hunger for God’s word and communion with him through prayer? If not, you must ask yourself if you are truly in the faith. It is not too late! Call on him today. If you are in the faith but weak, pray that God would grant you strength to pray and ask him to increase your desire for his word and communion with him in prayer.^[34]Snodgrass, Ephesians, loc. 142.

If we are God’s children, we have the glorious privilege to access our heavenly Father in prayer. If we ask him, he will give us spiritual strength, and Christ will dwell in our hearts so that we can be more and more filled with the fullness of God’s presence. This will result in praise and glory to God for doing more than we can ask or imagine, both in us and the church.

640200cookie-checkDo you Pray Like Paul? Ephesians 3:14–21 by David Hackerno