Characteristically the Apostle has expressed his prayer in Ephesians 3 with an extreme economy of language and for this reason it is more than ordinarily necessary to consider the words in the fuller context of the whole Scriptures and especially of Paul’s other epistles. When we do this it becomes clear that there are at least three leading ideas present in the Apostle’s words.

The statement with which Paul concludes his prayer in Ephesians 3 is so remarkable that it is undoubtedly true to say, as Dr Lloyd-Jones has said, that ‘there is no more staggering statement in the whole range of Scripture than this’. It may be described accurately as the ‘climax of all prayer’. ¹ It is this very grandeur that makes it so difficult for us to grasp the essence of the Apostle’s thought. The profundity of the statement is clearly of such a character that it would be presumptuous to imagine that we can fathom its depths. However, following the analogy of Scripture we are able to trace out something of the significance of these tremendous words.

Characteristically the Apostle has expressed his prayer with an extreme economy of language and for this reason it is more than ordinarily necessary to consider the words in the fuller context of the whole Scriptures and especially of Paul’s other epistles. When we do this it becomes clear that there are at least three leading ideas present in the Apostle’s words.

The Believer’s Conformity to God’s Fullness

We learn from the Apostle that in Christ all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily (Col. 2:9), that he is the image of the invisible God and that he is in the form of God (Col. 1:15; Phil. 2:6). The Apostle has also shown us that it is the determination of grace to conform us to the likeness of Christ (Rom. 8:29; 1 Cor. 15:49; 2 Cor. 3:18; Phil. 1:21). If these two strands of truth are brought into conjunction with our text we will find that to be indwelt by and conformed to Christ is, in one respect, to be filled with the fullness of God. We may make the equation: ‘If Christ dwells in my heart by faith, the fullness of the Godhead dwells in me by faith’. ²

As we confess this truth we must also be alert to the uniqueness that belongs to Christ and not allow our understanding of this promised conformity to encroach upon his uniqueness. There is a totality belonging to the fullness of God dwelling in Christ that is never to be the believer’s possession. Our full conformity to Christ will glorify us but it will not deify us. We must be conscious of the disparity between the fullness of God that will, through conformity to Christ, inhere in us and that fullness which is exclusively his. The filling of the believer with all the fullness of God through conformity to Christ is, for this reason, to be seen as an element of Paul’s prayer but it is not representative of its total significance.

Two further considerations enforce the point that we should look further for the precise significance of the Apostle’s words. First, the ‘architecture’ of the prayer. The petitions are patently progressive and climactic in character. Already Paul has prayed that Christ may dwell in their hearts by faith (v 17) and so to confine this culminating statement to that particular petition would be to produce an unlikely tautology. Second, Paul’s terminology needs to be noted with care. When Paul intends to express the precise thought of a divine indwelling he makes his purpose clear by the use of that particular term (Col. 1:19; 2:9):³ By the use of a different word in Ephesians 3:19b it is reasonable to assume that he intends to convey a different meaning. And nothing in the context conflicts with this assumption. To be filled with all the fullness of God expresses an experience distinct from being indwelt by all the fullness of God. Some of the implications of this will be considered below.

For these reasons it appears that the Apostle is praying for a blessing which includes conformity to Christ but which, in certain respects, transcends even that glorious prospect.

The Believer’s Reception of God’s Fullness

Our conformity to Christ is a part, a facet, of the complete salvation we receive through the grace of God. It is the purpose of God to donate to the believer such a fullness of his grace that the Scriptures use the most stupendous terms in which to describe this divine purpose. They speak of our inheritance as one in which we are blessed with every spiritual blessing (Eph. 1:3), Christ becoming our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption (1 Cor. 1:30). By Christ we receive reconciliation and from him we receive the Spirit of adoption whose specific task it is to enable us to know the richness of the things that are freely given us of God (1 Cor. 2:12). Having given us his Son, the Father assures us that with him he will freely give us all things (Rom. 8:32; Rev. 21:7). A generosity of such lavishness moves the church to exclaim with joy and amazement: ‘Of his fullness have we all received’ (Jn. 1:16).

It will be noted that there is a slight but significant difference present in the wording of John 1:16 and Ephesians 3:19b and this difference may seem to indicate that these thoughts are not strictly parallel. What John writes is that believers receive ‘of his fullness’, whereas Paul speaks of them being filled with’ all the fullness of God’. The apparent discrepancy is explained by understanding that Paul’s expression implies a filling with respect to all the fullness of God. Dr Richard C. H. Lenski seems to catch the significance of the phrase more helpfully than most commentators. ‘The idea in eis is not, “filled with all the fullness of God” (A.V.), nor “unto”, i.e., up to the limit or measure of God’s fullness; but, “with respect or with regard to” all the fullness of God’. The thought expressed seems to be that God’s grace is of such singular generosity that he holds back from his people nothing of himself that will be to their spiritual advantage. It is no less than all the fullness of God that is brought to us in the covenant of the gospel. The entire spectrum of the divine attributes contribute to our salvation and blessedness. Each of the three Persons of the blessed Trinity is profoundly involved and active in the donation of grace, the accomplishment and application of redemption.

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