Ephesians 3:19Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

This means that although the love of Christ is above all human knowledge, you will nevertheless know it if Christ dwells in you. And you will not only know it, but "be filled with all the fullness of God." By the fullness of God he either means the knowledge that God is worshiped in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Or he urges them toward those struggles through which one may be filled with the virtues with which God is filled.

The Apostle does not ask everything from God, but requires faith and love from them as well. And not merely love, but love rooted in us and firm, love which neither winds can shake nor anything else destroy.

And who, he says, does not know this? Everyone, both those who murmur against daily reality and those who prefer mammon to God. For if we knew it, we would not murmur against providence. Nor would we cling to the present and fall away from God, who has so loved us. Notice also: if His love surpasses all understanding, how much more does His essence?

"That you may be filled with all the fullness of God." This has been understood in two ways. Either he says, may you know that God receives worship from us in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, because the fullness of God is the Trinity. Or else he says, may you be filled with every virtue with which God is filled. But I think it better to understand it thus: be perfect in all things according to the image of God's perfection, knowing, as far as possible, all that is divine.

Therefore, he says, I bow my knees before the Father, after whose likeness every fatherhood in heaven and on earth is named. I ask and beseech Him to grant you the power of His glory, that is, the power to receive the lot of His majesty. I ask Him to strengthen and establish you through the Holy Spirit, because without the Holy Spirit there is no strength.

He strengthens and establishes according to the inner man, because we seek not bodily powers, but the powers of the spirit. We wish to strengthen not the outer man, but the inner man. After Christ lives in the inner man, He dwells in the chief inward part of man, that is, in your hearts.

He does not spread Himself through all his members, but lives in his rational part and establishes there His dwelling and throne. All this happens through faith, when we believe in Him. Therefore the Apostle also says that Christ dwells in your hearts through faith.

This indwelling, arising through faith, has its roots and its foundation in love. Thus all things grow and are built upon love, because we are God's planting and God's building (1 Cor 3). Since we are rooted and grounded in love, we know with full confidence of mind that Christ dwells in the inner man.

Then, together with the other saints, we begin to strive to comprehend with a receptive mind what breadth, length, depth, and height are. Not only this, but we shall desire to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge. When all this exists in us reasonably and harmoniously, we shall be filled in all things with the fullness of God.

First let us consider the meaning of breadth, length, depth, and height in a bodily sense, so that through this we may pass to the spiritual. Let the breadth of this heaven and earth, that is, of the whole world, be from east to west. Let the length be from south to north, the depth in the abysses and Hades, and the height what rises above the heavens.

Some, on the basis of the words of Ecclesiastes, assert that heaven is round and moves like a sphere. But what is spherical has neither breadth, nor length, nor depth, nor height. It is equal, coaequalis, in all its parts. Necessity therefore compels us to understand by height the Angels and higher powers, and by depth Hades and what lies below it.

By length and breadth we understand the middle region between the higher and the lower. Since from this it follows that one may be near either to the higher or to the lower, those who begin to move toward what is better and heavenly, and to ascend toward the high, are called length.

What is very near the lower part and inclines toward vices is given the name breadth: "For broad and spacious is the way that leads to death" (Mt 7:13). All this can be understood perfectly in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Ascending on high, He led captivity captive (Ps 67:19), and He descended into the lower parts of the earth. After height and depth, the preaching of the Cross went out into all the earth. Thus it embraces height, depth, breadth, and length.

It is no wonder if the Cross of Christ possesses all things without exception, because even he who is crucified with Christ has the same authority. Indeed, let him first know breadth, beginning from the lower and knowing the lesser. Then let him know length, that is, those who are set upon the earth and hasten toward what is exalted and higher.

After this, let him know depth, that is, the opposing and hostile powers that wage war against us in this world. Finally, let him know height. We shall be able to ascend to the higher things only when, having knowledge of those powers, we compel them to be under our feet.

We must not think that this is the end of our labor. It is not enough that, grounded and rooted in love, we are able, possimus, to understand with all the saints what breadth, length, height, and depth are. We must also desire with all diligence to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge. Then not only the simple love of Christ, but His surpassing love, will be known to us.

The end is still not attained by merely having knowledge of the surpassing love of Christ, unless we add another thing: to follow the love that surpasses knowledge. Therefore it must be noted that Christ has a great and surpassing love for knowledge, that is, for those who desire to know themselves.

These are those who meditate on His law day and night, who turn words into deeds, and who fulfill in action, manu, what they think. Whoever is such as to be worthy of possessing, through his knowledge, the surpassing love of Christ, must think of nothing except knowledge.

Thus he will be filled with every fullness of God, not only in the present age, but also in the age to come. Whoever now begins to be full in diligence through reading will afterward be more perfectly filled by God, who, by filling Himself, is the fullness of all.

Paul says that he prays for the Ephesians to understand. For whoever understands the love that surpasses knowledge will be filled with love in Christ. Therefore he does not pray that they act as they ought, for that is already the consequence. Rather, he prays that they may understand, so as to be filled with all the fullness of God.

Saint John Chrysostom says: "By breadth and length and depth and height, he means the knowledge of the riches of God's love. He describes it by bodily outlines, adapting himself to human concepts." "Saint Paul does not search for the measure of love and does not wish to measure it. Rather, he says that to know the riches of love is an excellent and great thing. Let us therefore strive, beloved, to know the love of Christ. This is important for you. Nothing else brings us so much benefit, and nothing so greatly exalts us. Knowledge of this love can act upon souls more powerfully than fear of Gehenna."

To this Bishop Theophan adds: "Establishment in the inner man by the grace of the Spirit prepares a house in the heart for Christ's indwelling. Christ's indwelling brings knowledge of the divine economy and of the love of Christ. This knowledge again acts upon establishment in the inner man. Thus the cycle of spiritual life proceeds, and through it becomes inexhaustible."

The following words of Saint Isaac the Syrian are also worthy of mention here: "If the mind is not purified by the practice of the commandments, does not acquire perfect love, and does not advance in the stature of renewal in Christ, it cannot become a true beholder of divine contemplation."

So long as the love of Christ has not been felt, one may still think that one grasps it in some measure. But when you feel it, you learn at the same time that its greatness has no measure, and that your mind has not been granted to comprehend it.

"Saint Paul does not seek the measure of love, nor does he wish to measure it. How could he do this? Rather, he says that it is an excellent and great thing to know the riches of love. Let us strive, beloved, to know the love of Christ. This is important for us. Nothing else brings us so much profit. Nothing so elevates us. The knowledge of this love can act upon the soul more powerfully than the fear of Gehenna" (Chrysostom).

Strengthening in the inner man by the grace of the Spirit prepares a dwelling in the heart for Christ's indwelling. Christ's indwelling brings knowledge of the divine economy of salvation and knowledge of the love of Christ. This knowledge again acts upon the strengthening of the inner man.

Thus the circulation of the spiritual life proceeds. Through this it becomes inexhaustible.

"That you may be filled unto all the fullness of God." "This is understood in two ways. Either: that you may know that God is worshiped in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, for the fullness of God is the Trinity. Or: that you may be filled with every virtue with which God is filled. But it seems better to me to understand it thus: that you may be perfect in every perfection according to God, knowing all that is God's, as far as this is possible" (Theophylact).

There is a norm for Christian perfection. The Apostle desires the Ephesians to ascend to its measure. I desire for you, he says, that, by faith and love, Christ may dwell in you. Through this, may you know the whole divine economy and the whole love of Christ. Thus may you become full of everything with which God intended to fill Christians.

When you receive all that has been written above, then you will have no deficiency. You will be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing (Jas 1:4). For when Christ is in you, all things are with Him. What more is there to desire?

Blessed Theodoret paraphrases this text thus: "That you may have Him dwelling in you perfectly."

If we gather together all that the Apostle has said, we shall see that, according to him, the fullness of Christian perfection is the state of contemplation. This state is found in one who, having been freed from every attachment to anything, enters the realm of God and sees everything there as we see all that surrounds us.

Contemplation seems to be only a work of the mind. Yet for it to be opened in the mind, one must enter, by labor and sweat, into the state required for it. We cite the words of Saint Isaac the Syrian on this, as we promised.

"In the beginning, our nature received renewal in the becoming man of Christ. Then, after the renewal, it became capable of receiving the new and perfect commandments" (p. 374).

"The new and spiritual commandments, which the soul keeps with the fear of God before it, renew and sanctify the soul, and secretly heal all its members. It is evident to all which passion each commandment silently heals in the soul. Their effectiveness is perceptible both to the one who heals and to the one who is healed, as it was with the woman with the issue of blood."

"If the passionate part of the soul is not healed, the soul will not acquire health. This healing is accomplished by the practice of the commandments and by the difficult works of true life. Whoever has acquired health of soul, has cut off his former disposition, and has been reborn, has become visible in the realm of the spirit. The new, simple world has received him into itself" (p. 375).

"When the mind is renewed and the heart sanctified, then all the concepts that arise in it are stirred in accordance with the nature of that world into which it enters. His mind senses spiritual knowledge of created things, and contemplation of the mysteries of the Holy Trinity shines within him. So also does contemplation of the mysteries of the venerable divine economy accomplished for our sake."

"If the passions are removed from the soul, the mind is enlightened and placed in the pure place of nature. It has no need of questions, because it clearly sees the good things found in its own place. As the outward senses perceive things not as a result of instruction, so understand spiritual contemplation in a similar way. For the mind that gazes into the hidden mysteries of the spirit, if it is in its natural health, fully contemplates the glory of Christ. It neither asks nor learns, but enjoys the mysteries of the new world, beyond the freedom of the will" (p. 376).

"To desire to learn such mysteries by investigation and questioning is the soul's foolishness. Blessed Paul did not say that he saw and heard the mysteries and the ineffable words, which it is not lawful for man to utter (2 Cor 12:4), by science or by some material method. Rather, he was caught up by rapture into the spiritual realm and saw the revelation of mysteries" (p. 378).

"If you desire your heart to become the dwelling of the mysteries of the new world, first become rich in bodily works: fasting, vigil, service, ascetic struggle, patience, the overthrow of thoughts, and the rest. Bind your mind by the reading of the Scriptures and by deep immersion in them. Write the commandments before your eyes. Through unceasing converse in prayer, uproot from your heart every image of things and every likeness previously received by you. Train your mind always to immerse itself in the mysteries of the Savior's divine economy, while continuing the practice of the commandments and the labors of acquiring purity. Ask the Lord in prayer, kindled with fire, for grief over all things, that is, for heartfelt concern and zeal. May it be poured into your heart, and may you be counted worthy of noetic life. The beginning, middle, and end of this life is this: the cutting off of everything by union with Christ" (p. 379).

"Words incomprehensible to knowledge, that is, to reason, become intelligible to us with the help of faith. We receive knowledge of them in the contemplation that comes after purification. For spiritual mysteries, which are above knowledge and which neither bodily senses nor the rational power of the mind perceive, God has given us faith. By it we know only that these mysteries exist. They are known in another way, as has already been said. From this faith there is born in us hope concerning them, that we may attain their contemplation. By faith we confess that God is Lord, Master, Creator, and Maker of all things. By knowledge, that is, by reason, we determine that we must keep His commandments out of love. This leads to blessed contemplation. 'If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Comforter' (Jn 14:15-16), said the Lord. By the coming of the Comforter He means the gifts of the revelation of spiritual mysteries. Therefore, in the reception of the Spirit, whom the Apostles received, lies the whole perfection of spiritual knowledge. The Lord promised that, after praying to His Father, He would give them the Comforter, so that, while they practiced the commandments and purified themselves, He might abide with them forever. Do you see that, for keeping the commandments out of love, the mind is counted worthy of the grace of mystical contemplation and of the revelations of spiritual knowledge?" (pp. 381-382).

"The lawful door that introduces one into this is love. If we acquire love, it brings us into this. 'I am the door,' said the Lord. 'By Me a man shall enter into life and shall find pasture' for his spiritual life. Then, at every ascent of the revelations of knowledge and mystical contemplations, divine love brings him in and leads him out, as it does those who have the freedom of Christ" (pp. 383-384).

"As, according to natural growth, the soul receives ever new knowledge into itself, senses what exists in the world, and learns this more and more from day to day, so also in spiritual things a man receives spiritual contemplation and divine perception. He learns this according to the measure in which the mind grows in rational life and stretches forward. When he comes into the realm of love, then he contemplates spiritual things in their own place. But so long as a man exerts himself so that the spiritual may descend to him, it does not submit to him. If he boldly imagines and lifts his gaze toward the spiritual, and reaches it by understanding at an untimely moment, then his sight is quickly dulled. Instead of reality, he sees apparitions and images" (p. 385).

"If the mind is not purified by the practice of the commandments, if it does not acquire love in perfection, and if it does not advance by growth in the renewal of Christ, it cannot become a true beholder of divine contemplation. All likenesses of the spiritual that the mind thinks to form for itself are called apparitions, not reality" (p. 387).

The excerpts presented contain the whole teaching on true contemplation. Because of the greatness of the subject, the excerpt is extensive. But as there was no laziness in making it, let there be no laziness in reading it and entering into it. This subject is of first importance, although our learning pays little attention to it.