Strengthened With Power
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. Ephesians 3:16.17a (NIV)
Paul prays that ‘out of his glorious riches’ God will give his readers certain gifts. Both ‘glorious’ and ‘riches’ are characteristic words in this letter (cf.1:18). Paul knows that God has inexhaustible riches at His disposal and that He will answer the prayer he is about to mention out of them. Paul’s prayer (3:16b-19) is built around four words – strength, love, knowledge and fullness. He prays that they may be strengthened by the indwelling Christ through His Spirit, that they might be rooted and grounded in love, that they might know Christ’s love in all its dimensions and that they might be filled up to the very fullness of God.
‘I pray … he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith’ (3:16,17). These two petitions belong together. Both refer to the Christian’s innermost person, his ‘inner being’ on the one hand and his ‘heart’ on the other. Although one specifies the strength of the Spirit and the other the indwelling of Christ, they both refer to the same experience. This is not the only time Paul has not separated Christ, the second person of the Trinity, from the Spirit, the third member (e.g. Romans 8:9-11). To have Christ dwelling in us and to have the Spirit dwelling in us are two ways of saying the same thing. It is by the Spirit that Christ dwells in our hearts (John 14:16-18).
If every Christian is indwelt by the Holy Spirit, why does Paul pray for the Spirit’s strength ‘so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith’ (3:16,17)? When Christ said to the church in Laodicea ‘Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me’ (Revelation 3:20), He was clearly addressing Christians. They knew Him in measure and He wanted them to know Him in greater measure. In just the same way we know Christ’s indwelling in measure; and in just the same way He wants us to know His indwelling in greater measure. Paul is praying that the Christians might ‘know the strength of the Spirit’s inner reinforcement’ (Jerusalem Bible) to lay hold ever more firmly ‘by faith’ of this divine strength, this divine indwelling.
This is confirmed by Paul’s choice of word for the ‘dwelling’ of Christ in the heart. There are two similar Greek verbs available to him. The first is weaker and means ‘to inhabit’ (a place) as a stranger (used in 2:19 of an alien living away from home). The other, and the one used here by Paul, means to settle down somewhere. It refers to a permanent dwelling and is used by Paul in Colossians 2:9 of the fullness of the Godhead abiding in Christ. Paul’s prayer, then, is that Christ by His Spirit will be allowed to settle down in their hearts. The obvious implication is that from His permanent throne in those hearts, He might control and strengthen them.
And I pray that he would pour out over you the unlimited riches of his glory and favour until supernatural strength floods your innermost being with his divine might and explosive power.
Then, by constantly using your faith, the life of Christ will be released deep inside you Ephesians 3:16,17a (The Passion Translation)