Word of Encouragement (5/10/2021)

We start reflecting on a new prayer of Paul’s in Eph. 3:14-19: “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

Here we are told that Paul bowed his knees before the Father. This—the act of bowing one’s knees before God—is a synonym for prayer. (So, we don’t have Paul using the verb to pray as in his other prayers.) This expression emphasizes the humble posture, with which we must approach God in prayer. For we do not have any right or merit of our own to demand God’s audience: it is solely based on Christ’s righteousness. Even though His righteousness is all-sufficient to grant us full access to the throne of God’s grace, we still must approach in humility because we come by the virtue of Someone else’s merit.

Paul addresses God as “the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named....” We know that Israel derived its name from Jacob, whose name God changed to Israel. What does it mean that every family in heaven and on earth is named from God? It helps to see that “every family” can be translated also as “a whole family.” The latter seems to be a better option. So, many commentators agree that Paul is referring to the new, heavenly family in Christ Jesus. As we have God as our Father through Jesus Christ, we derive our family name from God Himself. John says of the believers, “Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his [i.e., Christ’s] name and his Father's name written on their foreheads” (Rev. 14:1). The same idea is reflected in us being called Christians.

There is a reason for Paul to address God in this way here. In the previous section, Paul spoke of “the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit” (3:4-5). What is this mystery? “This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel” (3:6). This is, in fact, the summary of what Paul proclaimed in the second half of Ch. 2 (2:11-22). There, Paul spoke of the reconciliation and union between Jews and Gentiles in Jesus Christ: “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God...” (2:19).

There are two things to observe. The first is that Paul marvels at the abundant riches of God’s grace, which is extended to the Gentiles in Jesus Christ. Before Christ, they were “separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world” (2:12). Now, in Jesus Christ, God has brought them near to Himself as His children and granted to them His name as their family name. They are united with Christ as His co-heirs. They are now the recipients of the covenants of promise. They now have a living hope because God is their God and Father.

The second is that Gentile Christians now have an equal standing with Jewish Christians: “the whole family in heaven and earth [made up of both Jews and Gentiles, of living Christians and those that are in glory in heaven] is named” by the same name of the Father. “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28). In the kingdom of God’s grace, nothing that separates and divides and prioritizes people in the world matters. The only thing that matters is “faith working through love” (Gal. 5:6). For this, we don’t need any special talent or position of authority or degree or wealth, do we? Anyone can be great in the kingdom of God by humbly trusting and serving the Lord. The last can be first and the first last (Matt. 20:16). Let us strive to trust in Him more and more!

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