Ephesians 3:17

Concerning the summit of faith, which is love, the Apostle says: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress—all the way to the words, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And, in another passage, being rooted and grounded in …

In the third place, for the soul to be hierarchized, it is necessary that it see the city going up into heaven. And that is when, through infusion into it of divine strength, light and warmth by the eternal Sun, it piously venerates, clearly speculates, …

This excess is indeed the ultimate and most noble mode of knowing, which Dionysius praises in all his books, and especially in the book On Mystical Theology. Concerning which also, mystically, almost all of divine Scripture speaks; because this mode of knowing one scarcely or …

We receive him through a faith which is most strong because it is the substance of the realities we hope for—that is, it makes these desired realities exist within us. Whence 1 Peter 5 (9) [concerning the devil]: "Whom resist ye, strong in faith." And …

And not only to be strengthened, but much more and greater still — "that Christ may dwell in your hearts," not on the surface, but in the depths. In what way? "Through faith." For Christ dwells in faithful hearts, coming with the Father and making …

6 That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel: 7 Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power.

quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture

That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith,....

Christ is said to dwell in his people, as he is always present with them by his gracious influences and operations. Observe, It is a desirable thing to have Christ dwell in our hearts; and if the law of Christ be written there, and the love of Christ be shed abroad there, then Christ dwells there.

That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith - see the notes, Eph 2:22. Expressions like this often occur in the Scriptures, where God is said to dwell in us, and we are said to be the temples of the Holy Spirit; see the Joh 14:23, note; 1Co 6:19, note. That ye being rooted - Firmly established - as a tree is whose roots strike deep, and extend afar. The meaning is, that his love should be as firm in our hearts, as a tree is in the soil, whose roots strike deep into the earth.

That--So that. dwell--abidingly make His abode (Joh 14:23). Where the Spirit is there Christ is (Joh 14:16, 18). by faith--Greek, "through faith," which opens the door of the heart to Jesus (Joh 3:20). It is not enough that He be on the tongue, or flit through the brain: the heart is His proper seat [CALVIN].

THIS Divine measurement is an art of the most desirable kind, as appears from its being the object of most earnest Apostolic prayers. Paul was not content to travail in birth for souls and to become their spiritual parent—but he afterwards exercised the functions of a nursing father, tenderly caring for the souls to whom he had been blessed—and desiring to see them growing up in the faith to the ripeness of spiritual maturity. He was parent, nurse, and tutor—in fact he became all things, as far as lay within his power—to his spiritual children.

THIS Divine measurement is an art of the most desirable kind, as appears from its being the object of most earnest Apostolic prayers. Paul was not content to travail in birth for souls and to become their spiritual parent—but he afterwards exercised the functions of a nursing father, tenderly caring for the souls to whom he had been blessed—and desiring to see them growing up in the faith to the ripeness of spiritual maturity. He was parent, nurse, and tutor—in fact he became all things, as far as lay within his power—to his spiritual children. Paul's wise tenderness leads us to an assured confidence that the blessing to pray for, which he suspended his writing of so important an Epistle, must have been of the very highest value. "For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." He felt that it was desirable to the very last degree that the saints should not only know themselves to be the objects of Divine favor, but should be well acquainted with its sublime qualities and perfections which he here compares to a fourfold measurement. In this measurement may you and I be skilled. If we know nothing of mathematics, may we be well-tutored scholars in this spiritual geometry and be able to comprehend the breadths and lengths of Jesus' precious love. It may be well at the outset to call your attention to the previous education which the Apostle desires for the saints as a preliminary to their measurement of Divine love. Then the measurement itself which he desires them to practice. And lastly, the practical results which would be sure to follow from their being able to comprehend the love of Christ Jesus our Lord. I. Like a wise and enlightened teacher, Paul desires for the saints that they should receive THAT PREVIOUS EDUCATION WHICH IS NECESSARY BEFORE THEY WILL BE ABLE TO ENTER UPON SUCH A SCIENCE AS THE MEASUREMENT OF CHRIST'S LOVE.

That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith - In this as well as in many other passages, and particularly that in Eph 2:21 (note), the apostle compares the body or Church of true believers to a temple, which, like that of Solomon, is built up to be a habitation of God through the Spirit. Here, as Solomon did at the dedication of the temple at Jerusalem, 2Ch 6:1, etc., Paul, having considered the Church at Ephesus completely formed, as to every external thing, prays that God may come down and dwell in it. And as there could be no indwelling of God but by Christ, and no indwelling of Christ but by faith, he prays that they may have such faith in Christ, as shall keep them in constant possession of his love and presence. God, at the beginning, formed man to be his temple, and while in a state of purity he inhabited this temple; when the temple became defiled, God left it. In the order of his eternal mercy, Christ, the repairer of the breach, comes to purify the temple, that it may again become a fit habitation for the blessed God. This is what the apostle points out to the believing Ephesians, in praying that Christ κατοικησαι, might intensely and constantly dwell in their hearts by faith: for the man’s heart, which is not God’s house, must be a hold of every foul and unclean spirit; as Satan and his angels will endeavor to fill what God does not. That ye, being rooted and grounded in love - Here is a double metaphor; one taken from agriculture, the other, from architecture. As trees, they are to be rooted in love - this is the soil in which their souls are to grow; into the infinite love of God their souls by faith are to strike their roots, and from this love derive all that nourishment which is essential for their full growth, till they have the mind in them that was in Jesus, or, as it is afterwards said, till they are filled with all the fullness of God. […]