The Berean Table

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A narrated teaching walk through Ephesians 3:14–21 — about 40 minutes. Press Begin the lesson and the slides advance with the narration; or explore silently with the arrow buttons.

1Ephesians 3:14–21

Ephesians 3:14–21 · A Teaching Walk Through the Passage

Filled with All the Fullness of God

Paul kneels before the Father, asking that Spirit-strengthened believers, indwelt by Christ and rooted in love, be filled with all the fullness of God.

2Ephesians 3:14–21

Opening Prayer

Do among us beyond our asking

Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, we bow our knees before you. What Paul asked for the churches of Asia, we ask for ourselves: strengthen us with power through your Spirit in our inner being; let Christ dwell in our hearts through faith; root and ground us in love. Give us strength to comprehend with all the saints the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that we may be filled with all the fullness of God. Our asking is small, but you are able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think — so do among us beyond our asking, to your glory in the church and in Christ Jesus. Amen.

3Ephesians 3:14–21

Timeline Context

The sentence finally arrives

  • “For this reason” (v. 14) resumes the sentence interrupted at 3:1 — the digression is over; the prayer begins.
  • The prayer’s function: to convert position into experience — that the church would feel and live what chapters 1–3 declare it to be.
  • It is the letter’s second great prayer: 1:15–23 asked for knowledge; this one asks for strength, love, and fullness.
  • The doxology (vv. 20–21) seals the doctrinal half; the very next verse begins the practical half — “walk worthy” (4:1).
  • A chained man kneels in rented lodgings: 3:12’s “boldness and access” put to use.
4Ephesians 1:15–23 · 3:14–21

The Shape of the Letter

First sight, then strength

The two prayers of Ephesians: 1:15–23 asks that believers may know — hope, riches, power; 3:14–21 asks that believers may be — strengthened, indwelt, rooted, filled Prayer one · Ephesians 1:15–23 “that you may know” the hope to which he called youthe riches of his glorious inheritancethe immeasurable greatnessof his power toward us the eyes of the heart enlightened — a prayer for sight Prayer two · Ephesians 3:14–21 “that you may be” strengthened in the inner beingindwelt — Christ at home in the heartrooted and grounded in lovefilled with all the fullness of God knowledge become experience — a prayer for strength and love Both prayers grow from the letter’s doctrine: what God has declared his people to be, Paul prays they experience first the eyes opened, then the heart filled — and after the “Amen,” the walking begins (4:1)
5Ephesians 3:14–16

Ephesians 3:14–16 (ESV)

Knees, the Father, and the inner being

14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being,

6Ephesians 3:17–19

Ephesians 3:17–19 (ESV)

Indwelt, rooted, filled

17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith — that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

7Ephesians 3:20–21

Ephesians 3:20–21 (ESV)

The doxology

20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

8Ephesians 3:16–19

Ephesians 3:16–19

The staircase of petitions

The ascending petitions of Ephesians 3:16–19: strengthened by the Spirit, Christ dwelling in the heart, rooted and grounded in love, comprehending with all the saints, knowing the love that surpasses knowledge, filled with all the fullness of God each petition stands on the last Strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner being (v. 16) Christ at home in the heart katoikēsai — settled resident, through faith (v. 17) Rooted and grounded in love tree and foundation — stability underground (v. 17) Comprehending with all the saints breadth · length · height · depth (v. 18) Knowing the love beyond knowledge truly known, never fully measured (v. 19) Filled with all the fullness of God the summit of the prayer (v. 19) One Greek sentence, vv. 14–19 — funded “according to the riches of his glory” (v. 16)
9Ephesians 3:14–21

Expanded Outline

Five movements

  1. Kneeling Before the Naming Father (vv. 14–15)
  2. Strengthened with Power in the Inner Being (v. 16)
  3. Christ at Home in the Heart (v. 17)
  4. Knowing the Love That Surpasses Knowledge (vv. 18–19a)
  5. The Doxology: Him Who Is Able (vv. 20–21)
10Ephesians 3:14–15

Section 1 — Key Insight · Ephesians 3:14–15

Kneeling before the naming Father

  • Jews ordinarily prayed standing; kneeling marked extraordinary urgency — Solomon, Ezra, Daniel, Jesus in Gethsemane (Luke 22:41).
  • “For this reason”: doctrine, truly seen, bends knees — the wonder of chapters 2–3 drives Paul down.
  • The wordplay: every patria (family) is named from the Patēr (Father) — human fatherhood is the copy; God’s is the original.
  • Naming is the Creator’s prerogative — he names stars, days, and every family in heaven and on earth (Isaiah 40:26).
  • Paul’s nerve in asking enormous things rests on the address: he is asking a Father, whose riches set the scale (v. 16).
11Ephesians 3:14–15

Section 1 — Application · Ephesians 3:14–15

Let doctrine drive you down

  • End every study of Scripture by turning its truths into petitions — theology that never becomes prayer has not landed.
  • Let the body teach the soul: occasional literal kneeling preaches humility in a way words do not (Psalm 95:6).
  • Measure your earthly father by God, never God by your father — “Father of the fatherless” is his chosen name (Psalm 68:5).
  • A warning: every family is named from the Father, but God is redemptive Father only of those adopted in Christ (John 1:12).

Ask yourself: What does your prayer life do with new theology — and what one truth from Ephesians 2–3 could you turn into sustained petition this week?

12Ephesians 3:16

Section 2 — Key Insight · Ephesians 3:16

According to the riches of his glory

  • “According to the riches of his glory”: God gives proportioned to his wealth, not out of it in token amounts (Philippians 4:19).
  • Paul asks first not for changed circumstances but for strengthened people — the inner being over the outer situation.
  • The “inner being” is the renewed self — “renewed day by day” while the outer self wastes away (2 Corinthians 4:16).
  • The agent is the Spirit: the prayer’s first trinitarian movement — the Father grants, the Spirit strengthens, Christ indwells.
  • The strength has a purpose: the inner man is reinforced to bear a greater resident (v. 17).
13Ephesians 3:16

Section 2 — Application · Ephesians 3:16

Reorder the prayer list

  • Audit your prayers: most lists tilt heavily outer (health, logistics); Paul’s recorded prayers tilt almost entirely inner (Colossians 1:9–11).
  • Pray Ephesians 3:16 by name — for your children, fellow members, pastors, yourself.
  • In depletion, ask according to God’s riches, not your reserves — “he gives power to the faint” (Isaiah 40:29–31).
  • A warning: inner strength is not felt vigor — it often looks like endurance, “all endurance and patience with joy” (Colossians 1:11).

Ask yourself: Where is your inner being currently running on empty, and what would it mean to ask “according to the riches of his glory” rather than according to your reserves?

14Ephesians 3:17

Section 3 — Key Insight · Ephesians 3:17

Christ at home in the heart

  • Katoikēsai = to settle down as permanent resident — not that Christ would enter (he has), but that he would be at home.
  • It is the verb-cognate of 2:22’s “dwelling place”: what the church is corporately, each heart is to be personally.
  • The heart is the control center — mind, will, affection — so his residence means lordship at the springs (Proverbs 4:23).
  • The instrument is “through faith“: at-homeness deepens by daily trust, not technique (Colossians 2:6).
  • “Rooted and grounded in love“: a tree and a building — two images agreeing that stability lives underground.
15Ephesians 3:17

Section 3 — Application · Ephesians 3:17

Give him the keys; sink the roots

  • Inventory the house: the study, the office, the cellar, the safe — name the locked room and open it deliberately (Psalm 139:23–24).
  • His at-homeness grows through faith, so the means are ordinary: the word believed, promises leaned on, lordship consulted in real decisions.
  • Sink roots in love received, not performance — roots in achievement produce anxious Christians who wilt at failure (Jeremiah 17:7–8).
  • A warning: this is the deepening of one reality, not a second blessing for elite Christians — every believer is indwelt (Romans 8:9).

Ask yourself: Which room of your life would be most uncomfortable for Christ to enter as resident master — and what would opening it to him actually involve this month?

16Ephesians 3:18–19

Section 4 — Key Insight · Ephesians 3:18–19a

Knowing the love that surpasses knowledge

  • Comprehension requires strength: some truths are hard the way lifting is hard — they need the strengthened inner man of v. 16.
  • The four dimensions measure the love of Christ — and the letter supplies the measurements:
  • Breadth: Jew and Gentile, far and near, one body (2:11–22) · Length: from before the ages to all generations (1:4; 3:21).
  • Height: raised and seated in the heavenly places (2:6) · Depth: reaching the dead in trespasses (2:1–5).
  • “To know what surpasses knowledge“: truly known, never fully measured — and known “with all the saints,” together.
17Ephesians 3:18–19

Section 4 — Application · Ephesians 3:18–19a

Take the measure — together

  • Pursue this knowledge in company: older saints, rescued prodigals, and believers unlike you each hold a measurement you lack.
  • Use the four dimensions as a meditation grid — one unhurried, Scripture-fed sitting per dimension (Psalm 63:5–6).
  • Pray each dimension into your own biography — whom it embraces, when it chose you, where it found you.
  • A warning: “surpasses knowledge” means study never ends, not that it never starts — the verse forbids the empty head and the cold heart alike.

Ask yourself: Which dimension of Christ’s love — breadth, length, height, or depth — do you know least by experience, and which fellow saints could help you take its measure?

18Ephesians 3:20–21

Section 5 — Key Insight · Ephesians 3:20–21

Him who is able

  • After asking for “all the fullness of God,” only worship can follow — the doxology crowns the prayer.
  • Verse 20 climbs: what we ask → what we think → all of it → more → abundantly more → hyperekperissou — “far more abundantly,” a word Paul coined.
  • Prayer’s ceiling is never God’s ability; it is our asking and imagining — and he exceeds even those.
  • The anchor: “according to the power at work within us” — the operating present is the pledge of the exceeding future (Philippians 1:6).
  • “Glory in the church and in Christ Jesus” — the congregation named beside the Savior, “throughout all generations, forever and ever.”
19Ephesians 3:20

Section 5 — Ephesians 3:20

Far more abundantly

The ascending scale of Ephesians 3:20: able to do what we ask, what we think, all we ask or think, more, abundantly more, far more abundantly — hyperekperissou “Now to him who is able to do…” (v. 20) what we ask our worded prayers what we think desires too large or vague to word all that we ask or think every request and imagination together more than all beyond the total abundantly more overflowing excess far more abundantly hyperekperissou — “beyond-exceedingly- abundantly,” a word Paul had to coin Prayer’s ceiling is never God’s ability — it is our asking and imagining, and he exceeds even those anchored, not unbounded: “according to the power at work within us” — the resurrection power already operating (1:19–20)
20Ephesians 3:20–21

Section 5 — Application · Ephesians 3:20–21

Pray large; honor the gallery

  • Resume the requests you trimmed to “realistic”: the hopeless conversion, the cold congregation, the incurable sin (Jeremiah 32:17).
  • The down payment argues the balance: the power that will do the exceeding thing is already at work within us (Philippians 1:6).
  • Honor the gallery: speak of your congregation honorfully and serve to make God’s glory more visible there (Psalm 87:3).
  • A warning: the exceeding is God’s to define — he surpasses our requests and is not commanded by them (2 Corinthians 12:8–9).

Ask yourself: What request have you trimmed down — or stopped praying altogether — because it seemed unrealistic, and what would it mean to resume it in the light of verse 20?

21Ephesians 3:14–21

The Throughline

Every petition lands on Christ

  • Access to kneel comes “in whom” — through Christ (3:12, 14)
  • The Spirit strengthens so that Christ may dwell in your hearts (vv. 16–17)
  • The love to be known is “the love of Christ” (v. 19)
  • The fullness of God dwells in Christ and fills his body (v. 19; Colossians 2:9–10)
  • The glory is “in the church and in Christ Jesus” — head and body, one gallery (v. 21)

The prayer begins at the Father’s knee and ends at the Father’s glory — and every step between is Christ: the door that admits, the resident who indwells, the love that surpasses, the fullness that fills, and the name in which the church shines.

22Ephesians 3:14–21

Application Questions for Discussion

Questions to take into the week

  1. What does your prayer life do with new theology — and what one truth from Ephesians 2–3 could you turn into sustained petition this week?
  2. How has your experience of your earthly father shaped your instincts toward God — and what would change if you measured your father by God rather than God by your father?
  3. What does the balance of your recent prayers reveal about whether you value the outer man or the inner being more — and how will you rebalance this week?
  4. Where is your inner being currently running on empty, and what would it mean to ask “according to the riches of his glory” rather than according to your reserves?
23Ephesians 3:14–21

Application Questions for Discussion

Questions to take into the week

  1. Which room of your life would be most uncomfortable for Christ to enter as resident master — and what would opening it to him actually involve this month?
  2. What are your roots actually drawing on — love received, or performance, approval, and usefulness — and how can you tell the difference under pressure?
  3. Which dimension of Christ’s love — breadth, length, height, or depth — do you know least by experience, and which fellow saints could help you take its measure?
24Ephesians 3:14–21

Application Questions for Discussion

Questions to take into the week

  1. When did you last meditate — unhurried, Scripture-fed — on the love of Christ itself, rather than reading about other things? What will you do with the four dimensions this week?
  2. What request have you trimmed down — or stopped praying altogether — because it seemed unrealistic, and what would it mean to resume it in the light of verse 20?
  3. Does the way you speak about and serve your local church treat it as a place where God’s glory is displayed — and what one change would bring your practice in line with verse 21?
25Ephesians 3:14–21

Closing Prayer

To him be glory in the church

God of all power and love, we thank you for what this prayer has shown us: a Father who names every family, a Spirit who strengthens the inner being, a Christ who dwells in hearts by faith, a love that surpasses knowledge, and a fullness you intend for your people. We confess prayers aimed at circumstances rather than souls, contentment with a Savior we barely know, and expectations far smaller than your ability. Forgive us for Christ’s sake. Grant us grace to kneel often, to pray for strength and depth for one another, and to expect great things from a great God. Now to you be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

26Ephesians 3:20

Ephesians 3:14–21

Far more abundantly

The Father who names every family strengthens his children by the Spirit, settles Christ in their hearts, and fills them toward his own fullness — and he is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think.

The full study, the summary handout, and more passages are at thebereantable.com — examine the Scriptures daily (Acts 17:11).

About 40 minutes, narrated · open without narration
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Keyboard: ← → slides · space play/pause · T transcript. Scripture quotations are from the ESV®.