Ephesians 3:14-21

Ephesians 3:14

Filled with all the Fulness of God.

I. Perhaps it would be well to leave this phrase in its vague sublimity without any attempt to explain it as it stands. It appeals to the imagination, touches lofty sentiment, and seems to suggest a grandeur belonging to worlds as yet unvisited by human thought. But though the phrase stands for an idea which passes beyond the limits of all definitions, the idea will be better apprehended if we attempt to get an exact conception of the phrase.

II. There are plants which we sometimes see in these Northern latitudes, but which are native to the more generous soil and the warmer skies of Southern lands. In their true home they grow to a greater height; their leaves are larger, their blossoms more luxuriant and of a colour more intense: the power of the life of the plant is more fully expressed. And as the visible plant is the more or less adequate translation into stem and leaf and flower of its invisible life, so the whole created universe is the more or less adequate translation of the invisible thought and power and goodness of God. He stands apart from it. His personal life is not involved in its immense processes of development, but the forces by which it moves through pain and conflict and tempest towards its consummate perfection are a revelation of His eternal power and Godhead. For the Divine idea to reach its complete expression and an expression adequate to the energy of the Divine life, we ourselves must reach a large and harmonious perfection. As yet we are like plants growing in an alien soil and under alien skies, and the measures of strength and grace which are possible to us even in this mortal life are not attained. The Divine power which is working in us is obstructed. But a larger knowledge of the love of Christ will increase the fervour of every devout and generous affection; it will exalt every form of spiritual energy; it will deepen our spiritual joy; it will add strength to every element of righteousness, and will thus advance us towards that ideal perfection which will be the complete expression of the Divine power and grace, and which Paul describes as the fulness of God.

R. W. Dale, Lectures on the Ephesians,p. 242.

References: Ephesians 3:14. H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xvii., p. 356; Ibid.,vol. xxix., p. 266; vol. xxx., p. 225; A. D. Davidson, Contemporary Pulpit,vol. vi., p. 227.