Bible part New Testament Category Pauline epistles | Order in the Bible part 10 | |
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Book Epistle to the Ephesians | ||
Ephesians 3 is the third chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It is authored by Paul the Apostle.
Contents
Text
Structure
This chapter can be grouped (with cross references to other parts of the Bible):
Verse 4
New King James Version
by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ),Verse 9
New King James Version
and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ;Verse 16
New King James Version
that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man,Or according to, and out of that rich, plenteous, and glorious fulness of grace and strength in Christ Jesus.
this is the petition which the apostle puts up on his bended knees to the Father of Christ, that he would strengthen these saints, that so they might not faint at the tribulations which either he or they endured. Believers in Christ need fresh supplies of strength to enable them to exercise grace, to perform duties, to resist Satan and his temptations, to oppose their corruptions, and to bear the cross, and undergo afflictions cheerfully, and to hold on and out to the end: this is a blessing that comes from God, and is a gift of his free grace; a "grant" from him who is the strength of the lives of his people, of their salvation, of their hearts, and of the work of grace in their hearts: the means whereby the saints are strengthened by God, is "his Spirit"; who strengthens them by leading them to the fulness of grace and strength in Christ, by shedding abroad the love of God in their hearts, by applying the promises of the Gospel to them, and by making the Gospel itself, and the ordinances of it, useful to them, causing them to go from strength to strength in them: the subject of this blessing is the "inner man", or the Spirit, or soul of man, which is the seat of grace; and this shows that this was spiritual strength which is here desired, which may be where there is much bodily weakness, and for which there should be the greatest concern; and that this strength is not naturally there, it must be given, or put into it. This last phrase,
is joined to the beginning of the next verse in the Arabic, Syriac, and Ethiopic versions, "in the inner man Christ may dwell"