Ephesians 3:18 kjv

May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;

Ephesians 3:18 nkjv

may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height?

Ephesians 3:18 niv

may have power, together with all the Lord's holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,

Ephesians 3:18 esv

may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,

Ephesians 3:18 nlt

And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is.

Ephesians 3 verses

Ephesians 3 18 Meaning

Ephesians 3:18 is a prayer by the Apostle Paul for believers to collectively grasp the immeasurable dimensions—breadth, length, height, and depth—of God's grand redemptive plan and, more specifically, the boundless love of Christ. This understanding is not merely intellectual but an experiential, spiritual apprehension enabled by the Holy Spirit, enabling them to comprehend the vastness of the truth revealed in Christ alongside all other believers.

Ephesians 3 18 Context

Ephesians chapter 3 builds on the profound theological truths of chapters 1 and 2, which detail God's eternal plan of salvation and the inclusion of both Jews and Gentiles into one new body, the Church, through Christ. Paul, often reflecting on his own unique apostleship to the Gentiles from a position of imprisonment, reveals this "mystery of Christ" (Eph 3:4-6) to be unveiled for all to comprehend. Leading into verse 18, Paul is midway through an earnest prayer for the Ephesian believers (Eph 3:14-21). He kneels before the Father (Eph 3:14), desiring that they be strengthened by His Spirit in their inner being, with Christ dwelling in their hearts through faith (Eph 3:16-17). This foundation of inner strength and Christ's indwelling love is presented as the necessary precursor to being able to grasp the "breadth and length and height and depth," the immeasurable reality of God's love and ultimate purpose. The historical context reflects a multicultural early church grappling with new spiritual realities, necessitating a robust understanding of Christian truth to navigate pagan influences and maintain unity.

Ephesians 3 18 Word analysis

• may be able: From the Greek verb dynamai (δύνασθαι), signifying ability, capacity, or power. This ability is not inherent human strength but a spiritual enablement. It implies a dynamic strength given by God, allowing believers to engage with deep spiritual truth.
• to comprehend: From the Greek katalabein (καταλαβεῖν). This word suggests a grasping, seizing, or apprehending. It's more than intellectual understanding; it implies taking firm hold of something, an experiential embrace of the truth, similar to a deep, personal realization or insight, rather than mere factual knowledge.
• with all the saints: Greek syn pasin tois hagiois (σὺν πᾶσιν τοῖς ἁγίοις). This phrase is crucial. It emphasizes the communal aspect of Christian understanding and spiritual growth. The revelation of God's truth, especially His boundless love, is meant to be apprehended not in isolation, but in fellowship with the entire body of Christ. It suggests that collective insight provides a more complete understanding, fostering unity and mutual edification. No one saint comprehends fully alone; together, they approach its fullness.
• what is the: The Greek particle ti (τί) refers to "what," serving to introduce the dimensions as the object of comprehension. It implicitly asks what these dimensions reveal about the "love of Christ" which is made explicit in the following verse.
• breadth and length and height and depth: Greek to platos kai mekos kai hypsos kai bathos (τὸ πλάτος καὶ μῆκος καὶ ὕψος καὶ βάθος). These four dimensions (breadth, length, height, and depth) symbolize ultimate immeasurability and vastness. While some interpretations connect them to architectural metaphors (a building, the Cross, or the temple), the immediate context (Ephesians 3:19) clearly points to these dimensions as describing the love of Christ. This quad-dimensional language powerfully conveys the limitless, all-encompassing nature of divine love. It suggests a love that extends horizontally to all people (breadth and length), reaches infinitely towards God (height), and profoundly descends into humanity's fallen state (depth), encompassing all aspects of reality and human experience. It is a rhetorical device for communicating complete inclusiveness and infinitude.

Ephesians 3 18 Bonus section

The concept of knowing God's dimensions in this prayer, particularly "breadth, length, height, and depth," stands in contrast to common Greco-Roman philosophies of the time, such as Stoicism, which often sought knowledge through rational inquiry and human logic alone. Paul presents a "knowledge" (gnosis) that is not solely intellectual, nor limited to a secret elite (as in some burgeoning Gnostic ideas), but one revealed by God through His Spirit, apprehended through faith and love, and made accessible to all believers within the communal body of Christ. This challenges any notion of self-sufficiency in attaining divine wisdom. Furthermore, the selection of exactly four dimensions might also subtly reflect classical Greek geometrical concepts, but here it's recontextualized for a spiritual, rather than purely physical or mathematical, understanding of God's ultimate attribute: His unfathomable love, the "surpassing knowledge" that makes the mystery of salvation known and experienced.

Ephesians 3 18 Commentary

Ephesians 3:18 articulates a profound spiritual aspiration: for believers to grasp the infinite scope of Christ's love. This is not an ordinary understanding; it's a deep, Spirit-enabled apprehension that transcends human intellectual capacity, made possible through spiritual empowerment (Eph 3:16) and a life "rooted and grounded in love" (Eph 3:17). The prayer emphasizes that this comprehension is a communal experience, attained "with all the saints," underscoring the necessity of corporate worship and fellowship in discovering the fullness of God's truth. The four dimensions—breadth, length, height, and depth—are metaphorical, describing the absolute boundlessness and all-encompassing nature of God's love manifested in Christ. This love reaches across humanity (breadth and length), ascends to the heavens in glory (height), and penetrates the deepest human depravity and suffering (depth), making it accessible to every aspect of human life. This realization of love leads to being "filled with all the fullness of God" (Eph 3:19), transforming believers to live out the truth they apprehend. Practically, it encourages seeking deep spiritual knowledge in community, embracing the overwhelming reality of Christ's love, and allowing it to shape one's identity and actions.