Ephesians 3:19

Paul desired that his readers would apprehend the love of Christ fully. Yet he acknowledged that full comprehension of that love is impossible because it is greater than mortals can conceive.

"The four words seem intended to indicate, not so much the thoroughness of the comprehension as the vastness of the thing to be comprehended." [Note: Abbott, p. 99.]

"No matter how much we know of the love of Christ, there is always more to know." [Note: Morris, p. 107.]

The ultimate goal of Paul’s request was that his readers might be so full of the knowledge of Christ’s love and appreciation for God that they might allow Christ to control them fully (Ephesians 4:13).

"These four requests are more like four parts to a telescope. One request leads into the next one, and so on." [Note: Wiersbe, 2:31.]

"I like to think of the apostle’s petition as a staircase by which he climbs higher and higher in his aspiration for his readers. His prayer-staircase has four steps, whose key words are ’strength’, ’love’, ’knowledge’ and ’fullness’." [Note: Stott, p. 134.]

"There are really five petitions in this greatest of all Paul’s prayers (one already in Ephesians 1:16-23), two by the infinitives after hina doi ["that he would grant you," Ephesians 3:16] (krataiothenai ["to be strengthened," Ephesians 3:16], katoikesai ["that Christ may dwell," Ephesians 3:17]), two infinitives after hina exischusete ["that you . . . may be able," Ephesians 3:17-18] (katalabesthai ["to comprehend," Ephesians 3:18], gnonai ["to know," Ephesians 3:19]), and the last clause hina plerothete ["that you may be filled up," Ephesians 3:19]. Nowhere does Paul sound such depths of spiritual emotion or rise to such heights of spiritual passion as here." [Note: Robertson, 4:532.]