Bowing the Knees: Strengthened in the Inner Man (Ephesians 3:13–17)

Eph. 3:13. Wherefore I ask you not to lose heart “at my tribulations on your behalf, which are your glory.”

This is said as if in passing. The goal of the Apostle’s discourse in this section is not to console the Ephesians, but to persuade them to remember the greatness of the divine benefaction shown to them in calling them to faith. Above, he inclined them toward this through the greatness of the blessings received by them through faith (Eph. 2:11, 12). In this chapter he likewise inclines them toward it through the rareness of the mystery of their calling—of which until now no one knew, either on earth or in heaven—yet in its beneficence and wisdom it fills even the minds of Angels with wonder (Eph. 3:1–12). In explaining this, he also brought forward the fact that God had chosen him as an instrument for bringing them into the reception of such blessings. And since for this reason he was now in bonds, and had previously suffered so much in Ephesus itself and in Asia, he adds one word—in case any should be troubled by his sufferings: see how many blessings have been granted to you, and this through my preaching to you. Let me suffer for it—but do not be troubled; rather look to what is being given you through these sufferings. Looking at this, you ought not to be troubled, but to rejoice, for you see what glory comes to you from it.

Were there those among the Ephesians who were troubled by this? — Blessed Jerome finds this very probable. Everyone, he says, is troubled by the fact that sinners are for the most part prosperous while the righteous suffer. Even holy David says of himself that his feet nearly slipped, “seeing the prosperity of sinners” (Ps. 72:3). And how much did the Apostle Paul suffer? This is evident from the Acts and even more from the epistles to the Corinthians—one of which was written in Ephesus, the other immediately after his departure from it. He says he fought with wild beasts (1 Cor. 15:32), that they were “pressed out of measure, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life” (2 Cor. 1:8). The Ephesians could well have been troubled by all this, and the Apostle did well to speak this word of comfort, lest their faith fail at the sight of such afflictions of the Apostle (summarized from Jerome). Holy Chrysostom likewise supposes there were those who were troubled. “How were they losing heart when another was the one who suffered? — This means they were becoming fearful, confused. He writes the same to the Thessalonians, saying: ‘that no one should be shaken by these tribulations’ (1 Thess. 3:3). For we ought not only not to grieve, but to rejoice. We endure tribulations here because God has so commanded.”

Why are the Apostle’s tribulations the glory of the Ephesians? — One can answer thus: because they are the glory of the Apostle, and the reflection of this glory falls also upon those who believed through him. It is fitting for disciples to boast of their teacher, saying: see what a teacher we have! And that the tribulations were the glory of the Apostle followed from the fact that he remained unconquered under them. It is not a diminishment of honour when a person endures attacks and hardships for the good he does; it would be a diminishment if he collapsed under their weight. To stand firm under hardships is to conquer them, and this victory is the glory of the one who stands firm (Jerome). Thus the tribulations gloriously endured by the Apostle are his glory—and through him, the glory of the Ephesians.

But more directly, these tribulations are the glory of the Ephesians on account of the glory they receive through the gospel—for the sake of which holy Paul suffered and was put in bonds. As holy Chrysostom says: “Why are his tribulations their glory? — Because God so loved them that He gave His Only-begotten Son for them and delivered His servants—the Apostles—to suffering. Indeed, Paul too was in bonds so that they might receive such great blessings. So great is God’s love for them!”

VI. And he concludes once again with a prayer that the Ephesians may remain partakers of the blessings of salvation, and through this may be raised still higher in their understanding of the greatness of the mysteries of salvation (Eph. 3:14–21).

As the Apostle began by introducing the Ephesians to the contemplation of the economy of salvation by praying that a spirit of wisdom might be given to them for its knowledge, so now, in conclusion, he prays for the granting of understanding of the mystery of salvation and of God’s great love for us. Such was the Apostle’s aim—to lead the Ephesians to the contemplation of the whole economy of salvation. For this purpose he led all the preceding discussion, and he now prays for the same, desiring above all that the power of salvation might dwell in them, live and act in them. “For what the holy Apostle prayed at the beginning, he asks now as well. At the beginning he prayed: ‘that God… the Father… may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him’ (Eph. 1:17). And now he says the same: ‘that you may be able to comprehend with all the saints’ (Eph. 3:18)” (Chrysostom).

Eph. 3:14, 15. For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named.

“For this reason.” Having called to mind all that was said about the mystery of the economy of salvation and about the calling of the Gentiles to participation in it, the Apostle says: since you have been called to participation in such blessings, I therefore pray fervently that you may truly receive them and always possess them.

“‘For this reason…’ — because you are so beloved by God” (Oecumenius). “Since you are so beloved, since the blessings you have been found worthy of and shall yet be found worthy of are incomprehensible, I pray, he says, that the grace of the indwelling Christ may be given to you—to understand this and to comprehend how greatly you are loved” (Theophylact).

“I bow my knees”—not at the very moment of writing, but every time I offer prayer, he says, I make special prostrations for you, or I never fail to include in my prayer for all things a prayer for you as well. He said “I bow my knees” and not simply “I pray,” thereby “expressing his intensified intercession for them… showing that he asks blessings for them with persistence” (holy Chrysostom). “With compunction and contrition” (Theophylact). Or in saying “I bow my knees,” he is saying the same as: I always pray earnestly, I always lift to the merciful God a warm and reverent prayer. Kneeling is a symbol of reverent fear and humble confession of mercies.

“To the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Since he is praying for blessings, he has employed the most tender name of God the Father—which is the sign of all loving care—adding to it the most sweet name of Jesus Christ our Lord, for whose sake the Father is ready to give everything that anyone asks in His name. He prays to God the Father, who did not spare His own Son and who—“how will He not with Him also freely give us all things?” (Rom. 8:32)!

“From whom every family in heaven and on earth is named.” More than one thought may be joined to these words. They may mean: I pray to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Father of Angels and of human beings. He has fatherly care for both Angels and people; and on the other hand, both Angels and people find in Him alone their true Father.

One may suppose that the holy Paul had in mind the relations of fatherhood and sonship which it pleased God to establish among creatures. The world is so ordered that the higher and elder care for the lower and younger and set them in good order. The former are in this respect fathers to the latter. The higher angelic orders, who transmit to those below them the light they receive from God, are in this respect their fathers. Among human beings, those who exercise the most attentive care for the lesser—natural fathers, grandfathers, patriarchs, then kings, rulers, and in the spiritual realm, shepherds of the Church—are called fathers by people, not only those of the first kind but also those of the last. This fatherhood is attributed to them on the model of the Heavenly Father’s, because they manifest in themselves His providential care for all—He grants them a share of it. He also deigned to yield His name to them and to bestow that for the sake of which He Himself deigned to receive such a name. Just as God alone essentially IS, yet deigned to grant others both the name and very being, so also with regard to paternal providence—He is essentially the Father, yet was pleased to establish among creatures such relationships by which some are called and in reality are fathers in relation to others (the thought of blessed Jerome). Blessed Theodoret writes: “God is Father in the proper and genuine sense. For He was not first a son and then became a father, but He is always the Father, and Father by nature. Other fathers, both carnal and spiritual, have borrowed this name from on high. The Apostle calls ‘fathers on earth’ those who are fathers by nature, and names as ‘fathers in heaven’ the spiritual fathers. Such was the blessed Apostle himself. He made this clear when writing to the Corinthians, for he says: ‘For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel’ (1 Cor. 4:15). Thus he declares: asking and imploring, I bow my knees and pray to the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, who truly is the Father, who did not borrow fatherhood from another, but Himself communicated it to others.”

Eph. 3:16. That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man.

In verses 16–19 the objects of the holy Apostle’s prayer and good wishes for his disciples are set forth. In these few words is contained everything a Christian can desire and seek.

“That He would grant.” What God does not give can be found and obtained nowhere. “Every” “good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (Jas. 1:17). A mark of spiritual wisdom is to know where to turn for the needs of the spirit, and to ask from the Source of all good what is worthy of Him. “The Apostle asks for great things, in keeping with the greatness of the Giver, teaching us to ask of God what is worthy of His glory—not earthly things, but heavenly ones” (holy Damascene).

“According to the riches of His glory.” If by “glory” we understand the boundless perfections of God in their inexhaustible fullness, then “according to the riches of His glory” means: in proportion to the overflowing abundance of the divine attributes. According to St. Gregory the Theologian, this was a motive for the creation of the world. Indeed, God created all things and provides for all, because He is immeasurably rich in all things and loves to enrich all. Or “according to the riches of His glory” defines the measure in which the Apostle desires spiritual blessings to be granted to them. From a small giver it is fitting to be content with small gifts; from a greater giver it is fitting to expect greater ones. The Apostle prays that God grant them what he asks in a measure as great as His glory—that is, abundantly. “That He would grant you”—“as one who is rich and desires to be glorified” (Theophylact)—that is, so that the gift would not fall short of His glory.

“With power.” Various interpretations are given: some say “powerfully, mightily, strongly”; some say “with supernatural power given by the Holy Spirit”; others say “with moral strength raised up by the Holy Spirit.” The last two can be combined, and this may more directly express the Apostle’s thought. “The riches of glory” would point to the sources of God’s mercies, while “power through the Holy Spirit” would be the manner of their outpouring. “The Holy Spirit gives power” (Theophylact). “One cannot become established in good in any other way than by the power of the Holy Spirit, with the assistance of God’s grace” (Chrysostom). For all is from God, who “has both inexplicable wealth and immeasurable power” (Theodoret).

“To be strengthened by His Spirit in the inner man.” This is the first object of prayer—the very thing with which life in Christ Jesus truly begins. “To be strengthened” — κραταιωθηναι, from κρατος — dominion—from which comes autocrator, meaning sovereign: the sense is to take sovereign power into one’s hands, and since this is within the inner man, to take sovereignty over oneself, to become a self-ruler within, to establish inner sovereignty. What is this sovereignty and why is it desired above all? — Let us call to mind the structure of human nature.

Having fashioned the lower part of human nature in a manner distinct from His creation of other creatures, God breathed into man’s face the breath of His own divine life. This is the human spirit—the higher side of our nature—where consciousness and rational freedom reside, together with the impulses of the fear of God, conscience, and dissatisfaction with anything created. The spirit is appointed to dwell in God and to draw all things to God—everything in man and around man. For this purpose it was given authority over the lower parts of human nature. Receiving strength from God, in whom it lives, it draws into that same life the soul with its reason and its intellectual works—the fruits of its labor; with its will and its endeavors—the expressions of that will; with its taste and the arts—its productions; and with its lower faculties of imagination and memory; and likewise the body with its needs. It also casts the reflection of that life over all its external affairs. When this is the condition of a man, he is a true human being, a man answering to his norm and his idea. He is evidently lord over himself and over all that is in him and around him. Yet it is equally evident that he receives this sovereign power from God, through self-surrender to God and life in Him, characterized by the fear of God, sincere conscientiousness, and detachment from all that is created.

If the spirit separates from God, this power is taken away. Then it can no longer govern the impulses of the soul, the needs of the body, or the demands of external circumstances. It is given over to the pull of soul-and-body desire and to outward worldly vanity, though always in pursuit of self-gratification. Compare these two orders of life and you will see that the first lives entirely within itself before God, while the second lives entirely outward in forgetfulness of God. This latter order of life is greatly worsened by the passions, which, rooting themselves in self-love, penetrate the entire soul-and-body life and give everything there an evil direction—contrary to the spirit, to the fear of God and to conscience—a direction not of building up but of destroying, which makes man yet more outward.

This last is the man in the fall—outside the order for which he was set in creation. God did not wish to leave the fallen in their fall, and He arranged for them a means of rising from it. The Son of God became incarnate, suffered, died on the cross, rose on the third day, and, ascending into the heavens, sat at the right hand of the Father. By this ascent He opened the way for the descent to us of the Holy Spirit, who, having descended through the Apostles, came to dwell in the Church of God through the Holy Sacraments. The Spirit of grace passes everywhere and awakens all human spirits to the spiritual life. The rays of awakening grace fall directly upon the spirit of man and revive within it its natural movements—the fear of God, conscience, and dissatisfaction with the created. Through this action a man comes to himself for the first time and enters his inner house from the wandering in which he had strayed until then. This action causes him to reflect. With a favorable turn of affairs, having reflected, he resolves no longer to give himself over to distractions but to live within himself according to the promptings of the fear of God and conscience, with self-denial. In response to this resolve, the grace of God—which had hitherto acted from without—enters within through the sacraments, and makes the spirit of man, which was weak, strong. Consciousness and freedom pass entirely over to this side, and the man begins an interior life before God—a life truly free and rationally self-directing. The needs of soul and body and the demands of outward circumstances no longer distract him; on the contrary, he begins to direct them, as the Spirit gives. Like a sovereign he sits upon the throne of his heart and from there gives commands as to what should be and how things should be done.

This sovereignty begins with the first moment of inner transformation and the indwelling of grace; but it does not appear in its fullness all at once. Former masters often break through and not only create disturbance in the inner citadel but sometimes even lead the ruler of that citadel away into captivity. Such occurrences are frequent in the beginning; but the strength of earnest zeal, constant attention to oneself and to one’s task, and wise patience in its labors—aided by God’s grace—make them ever less frequent. At last the spirit becomes so strong that the assaults of former adversaries upon it are like a speck of dust against a granite wall. The spirit abides within itself without withdrawing, standing before God, and rules with divine power—untroubled and firm. And it is precisely this that the Apostle desires for the Ephesians, praying that God grant them to be strengthened by His Spirit in the inner man.

Eph. 3:17. That Christ may dwell through faith in your hearts; being rooted and grounded in love.

The indwelling of Christ in the heart is simultaneous with being strengthened in the inner man. They begin together, increase together, and appear in perfection together. One may understand it thus: “to be strengthened in the inner” “man” means “that Christ would dwell in your hearts.” Yet since the interior life has its own aspects, these may be discerned in these two expressions. Being strengthened in the inner man is the preparation of a dwelling within us for Christ the Lord. When someone is strengthened in the inner man, it is as though the master of the house has set everything in order, has cleaned, consecrated, and perfumed it with fragrance, and awaits his guest. And the Lord is glad to come to such a person, and the master is joyful and ready to meet and receive the Lord. For the one strengthened within is he who, having mastered himself, has overcome and driven out the passions and become established in every virtue. Of such a person the Lord Himself says: “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and reveal Myself to him” (Jn. 14:21). And somewhat further: “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him” (Jn. 14:23). “From these words understand,” says holy Chrysostom, “in what manner Christ dwells in hearts.” Blessed Theophylact writes: “He desires for them not only ‘to be strengthened,’ but that which is greater and higher than this—‘that Christ would dwell’ in their inner man, that is, in their hearts, dwelling not superficially, but in the depths of the heart. He desires two goods for them—to be strengthened by the Spirit and that Christ would dwell in their hearts; or he desires that they be strengthened so as to become capable that Christ might take up His dwelling in their inner man”—“that they might be a temple of God,” Oecumenius adds. The words “in the inner” “man” and “in the hearts” indicate a deep indwelling, as it were a growing together.

The Lord Himself likens His communion with believers to the joining of branches to grapevines, concluding from this comparison that no one can either truly live or bear true fruit unless he is so united with Him. Therefore He adds: “Remain in Me, and I in you” (Jn. 15:1–8). This is the law of life in Christ Jesus. As soon as one is baptized, he is clothed with Christ (Gal. 3:27). In baptism the grace of the Holy Spirit regenerates to new life; but this new life exists only under the condition that one be “in Christ” (2 Cor. 5:17). At the moment when the grace of the Spirit raises up our spirit, its union with Christ and Christ’s union with it takes place. The indwelling of Christ is the very strengthening in the inner man. Our spirit lives in Christ, breathes Christ.

Let us look a little higher and we will see that the Apostle prays that the Father would be pleased to strengthen the Ephesians by the Holy Spirit in the inner man, and that Christ would dwell in them. The three Persons of the Most Holy Trinity work inseparably for the salvation of all and each. To the Corinthians too the Apostle expressed his good wishes from the Most Holy Trinity, saying: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (2 Cor. 13:13). The same we see in the Apostle Peter, who wishes grace and peace to multiply among the Jews scattered everywhere, “according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling with the blood of Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 1:2). The spiritual life in all persons comes by the good will of the Father; its norm is Christ the Lord; its producer is the Holy Spirit. Therefore, when we pray “Our Father,” or “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God,” or “Spirit of Truth, come and dwell in us”—let us not in our spirit divide the unity of divine action, but let us lift up the one work of salvation to the One God in Trinity of Persons, who, undivided in nature, inseparably works our salvation through the threefold action of the one saving grace.

Christ the Lord dwells in hearts through faith, when those hearts are rooted and grounded in love. “That Christ may dwell,” he says, “through faith in your hearts, you being rooted and grounded in love.” “He prays,” it is said, “that you too might attain this—that your souls might be made, by the goodness of the Spirit, a dwelling of Christ who saved you. At the same time he shows what they must contribute from themselves toward the building of this temple. Faith and love are needed, he says, so that you might flourish in them, having immovability as though on a certain foundation and root” (Theodoret). For “Christ the Lord dwells only in the hearts of believers who are established and do not waver in love for Him” (holy Chrysostom), “who are not pulled and carried this way and that” (Theophylact).

It should be noted that the words “rooted and grounded in love”—all our commentators place alongside faith as a condition for Christ’s indwelling in hearts, so that in the following words “that you might be able to comprehend,” this comprehension flows from Christ’s indwelling and not from being rooted in love, as those would have it who arrange the text thus: “that you, rooted and grounded in love, might be able to comprehend.” The grammatical structure of the sentence is restored by this arrangement, but the manifestations of the spiritual life are disturbed and presented without their proper order. The holy fathers paid no attention to this (the grammatical structure) and interpreted these words as though they stood: “‘that Christ might dwell through faith in the hearts’ of those who are ‘rooted’ and grounded” in love, as holy Chrysostom in fact paraphrased it.

Christ dwells, on account of faith, in those who are rooted in love. This is what the holy Paul proclaims in all his epistles as the indispensable condition of salvation—faith working through love. Faith is the beginning; love is the end, or the summit. Faith denotes such conviction of the truths of the Gospel as that with which we are assured of our own existence. Only such faith is firm and steadfast and provides a firm foundation for life. Without such faith, to live is like walking on a swamp or being tossed by waves. Everything is confusion, disorder, and fear. In such a condition, how can one do any good, still less become established in a good life?

Faith does not at once become so strong, but grows from weak beginnings to the full stature of the perfect man; yet even from its first beginnings it illumines the whole path of life and shows what is required of man and how he can attain it. Though all this in the beginning is seen as one sees objects in a light we describe as barely glimmering, still it is visible and intelligible. The poverty of nature and the ruin of sinfulness are visible; the riches of Christ are visible, along with the fact that no one is forbidden to possess them. This evokes the resolve to turn and cleave to Christ. And Christ the Lord is generous in sharing Himself. As soon as one takes a step toward Him, He gives Himself entirely to the one who approaches. In the sacrament of baptism or repentance, the grace of the Holy Spirit effects the union of Christ the Lord with the human spirit, which from that moment becomes vital and self-governing, receiving from Christ’s grace the strength to master itself and all that is in man and around him. Having made a covenant in union with Christ to walk in His commandments and to do the will of the Heavenly Father in all things, the spirit, now strengthened within, begins to direct everything there and to bring under this yoke all the actions of the soul, all the needs of the body, and all the affairs of external life—rejecting all that is wrong and compelling itself toward what is right alone, through struggle with all the inward resistances arising from the passions, which have already been struck at their root by self-denial. This entire labor is the laborious walking in works of love. So are things ordered within, by the principle and spirit of faith. But the spirit of life in Christ Jesus does not at once fill the heart. The one who has believed or repented walks uprightly, but at first only through self-compulsion and self-resistance. The life welling up from the heart comes later. Active love leads to the love of feeling. And this is already love rooted and grounded.

Human nature, being Godlike by creation, is by nature disposed to love. Self-love, entering through the fall, cooled it. In the initial act of self-denial, self-love is cast off; the subsequent labor of struggling with the passions—which sprang from self-love—and the concurrent labor of doing good, which confirms the goodness of heart, dissipate self-love along with the passions. The degrees of this dissipation are the degrees of the warming of the heart with the warmth of love. At the end of this lies the burning of the heart with all-embracing love, such as is the love of God. And this is love rooted and grounded.

Through a life that does not fall away from Christ, faith grows and love grows. Along with their growth, communion with Christ deepens—or Christ’s indwelling in the heart deepens. The maturity of faith and love and the fullness of Christ’s indwelling in the heart are simultaneous. Yet the communion of the soul with Christ and of Christ with the soul begins from the first moments, in the act of sanctification through the sacraments. Having begun, it abides—but is hidden both from others and from the believer himself; it is revealed only rarely. Upon the purification of the heart, it becomes evident to all. Then the gifts of grace are revealed. — And it is precisely this that holy Paul desires for the Ephesians. You have, he says in effect, the good will of the Father, the grace of the Holy Spirit, the indwelling of Christ—contribute your own faith and the labor of love. When you have brought yourselves to the love of feeling, or when love has taken root in you, then the fullness of Christ’s indwelling will be manifested in you—He will fill you as fire fills iron. And all will behold Christ living in you. This is what I desire for you; for this, bowing my knees, I pray to the Heavenly Father.