But to him that is able to do far exceedingly above all which we ask or think, according to the power which works in us,
Paul ends his prayer for God's people with praise, not with another request. He praises the God who can do more than the prayer asks. It raises two questions. How much may we expect from God? And by what standard does He give?
One writer starts with something we all know in prayer, then turns it toward what God can do:
There are times when our minds and hearts seem enlarged, and we then ask for great things — and we think more widely than we ask. Thoughts sometimes come into our minds which we would be afraid to put into words before the throne of grace. Have you never asked, "May I expect God to do such great things for me?" Look at these words — "able to do far more abundantly." What He can do goes beyond all our words and all our thoughts. It is not a question of what we are able to do; God is making known what He is able to do. His resources are infinite.
The wording is exact. The verse does not say all we can ask, and one writer says that is deliberate:
He does not say, above all that we can ask or think. The Holy Spirit takes particular care not to say so. Notice the difference between what we do ask and what we can ask and think. There is no limit to what we may ask, except that God is above anything we can ask of Him. And He loves to hear us asking more and more. He would train us in asking more abundantly.
The verse names the standard by which God acts: power at work inside believers. Writers link this to the earlier prayer in the letter. There, the same power worked for us:
The great thought in the first prayer is the power that worked for us. Here, it is the power that works in us. There, it was a power that worked in Christ, and raised Him from the dead, and which worked in us and raised us up with Him. Here, it is the same power, but now it works in a practical way.
People often quote this verse and leave off its closing clause:
This brings out the force of the prayer. It is not a prayer for head knowledge of the great truths of God's calling. It is a prayer that we would take hold of them ourselves and enter into them… The power works in us. God is able to do far above all that we ask, and even above all that we think of asking. He does it according to that power. How often people leave out that last clause of the verse!
God's resources have no limit. His power is already inside us. So if Christian life feels narrow, the limit lies somewhere else:
"According to the power at work within us, God is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think." God works in us to fill us with all the fullness of God. If we are restricted, if we are, so to speak, hampered or shackled, this cramping of spiritual life and energy is in ourselves, not in God. We cannot exhaust the stores of His grace or power.
The power is already given, so the work is not to get it but to use it:
He sets no limits to the fullness of blessing, except the fullness of God! So we can be sure that the power working in us is able to do far above all we desire or think. We have the power; we do not have to get it.
The verse ends a prayer and begins praise, and writers apply it directly to how boldly we come to God:
Everything God gives to Christ is yours, so I must praise Him. Can I be silent? Why not lift your voice to Him who is able to do far more abundantly above all you ask or think? We cannot expect too much.
There is also a searching side to this. Great promises meet small faith, and one writer answers that with an honest question to ourselves:
"His precious and very great promises." Are we to deduct fifty per cent from them, and think that God cannot mean as much as He says? It is not so at all. He has spoken in complete sincerity. We know very little about how deep unbelief runs in all of us… When we ask God for something, it does us real good to stop and ask ourselves: "Do I believe that God will give me what I ask for?"
- Above — God can do more than what we say to Him, and more than what we hope for without saying it. His resources have no limit.
- Above asking — the text avoids saying "all we can ask." God trains us to ask more and more, so growing requests are part of the answer.
- In us — the power that raised Christ once worked for us; now it works inside believers in a practical way.
- Not in God — we cannot use up His stores of grace; when spiritual life feels cramped, the limit is on our side, not His.
- Already ours — we have the power; we do not have to get it. So the fitting response is bold asking and praise: we cannot expect too much.
to him be glory in the assembly in Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of ages. Amen).
Paul ends his long prayer for the Ephesians with praise. The last word is not about what we receive, but about what God receives — and where He receives it.
These closing words show what the whole prayer was driving toward. Our blessing is real, but it is not the goal.
The Apostle closes his prayer with a beautiful ascription of praise to God. So the great end in view is not simply our blessing, however greatly we shall be blessed, but God's eternal glory. The church, though formed in time, belongs to eternity. Planned in eternity, before time began, it will be for the glory of God through eternal ages yet to come.
Why should God take His glory in the church? Because the church is not our achievement but His own work.
Here we learn of the eternal display of God's glory in the church. Not one of us had any part in the forming of this wonderful vessel that will display God's glory for eternity. It is His creation, just as Ephesians 2:10 says, "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus." That workmanship shows the wonders of the divine wisdom and skill. Only such wisdom could design and produce a vessel to set forth God's glory. In the eternal day every creature in the universe will admire that glory.
The verse does not stop at "in the church." It goes on: "and in Christ Jesus." Without those words the church has no glory of its own to give.
What a blessing and a wonder that the Father's glory will stand secure in the church for ever. The church has a great place in God's plans. Here is a vessel conceived in divine wisdom, secured in divine love, and formed in divine power. It is there to display divine glory. But the glory the church displays is in Christ Jesus, for the church is nothing and has nothing apart from Christ.
Older translations render that phrase "by Christ Jesus." Read that way, it marks the route the praise travels.
Is it not in relation to Christ in Manhood in connection with the Assembly that we have the expression, "Unto Him (God) be glory in the church by Christ Jesus"? Does it not suggest that glory will always reach the Father through the Son?
Older translations end the verse with "world without end." A more literal reading of the Greek helps define which "age" is meant.
In Ephesians 3:21 we find, "unto all the generations of the age of the ages." Here no one would doubt that eternity is meant. It may define which "age" is meant when aion stands alone: it is the "age" of the ages, the age in which all ages are summed up.
That raises a further question. Does the church itself last that long, or only the believers in it?
The Church, the bride and body of Christ, has eternal qualities... the believer who now belongs to the Church of God will always belong to the Church of God... The closing verse of the third chapter says, "To Him be glory in the Church, by Christ Jesus, throughout all ages." Here the verse speaks of the Church as still existing as the Church "throughout all ages." Nothing can be clearer.
Verse 20 promises God's power at work in us. The praise that follows has an address — and it is not the world.
God is "able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us." What then? "To Him be glory in the church throughout all ages." It is just what we might expect. Notice that it is in "the church" or assembly — not the world. That will come one day under the reign of the Lord Jesus Christ; but in the present state of things it is in the church.
One thing gets in the way now: what we look at when we look at ourselves.
It is "to all generations of the ages of ages." This would include the present time too... We are so quick to think of ourselves in the light of what has gone wrong among us. But we have the privilege of thinking of ourselves in the light of these magnificent thoughts of God about us. If we viewed ourselves more this way, there would be glory to God now.
- Aim — The end of Paul's prayer is not our enrichment but God's glory; our blessing is the means, His praise is the point.
- Vessel — The church is God's own workmanship, planned before time began. No one helped make it, so no one can claim its glory.
- Channel — "In Christ Jesus" is not decoration. Apart from Christ the church has nothing, and glory always reaches the Father through the Son.
- Duration — "The age of the ages" is the fullest word for eternity. The church runs right through it, still the church.
- Now — "All generations" includes this one. See yourself by God's thoughts, not by what has gone wrong, and God has glory today.