that the Christ may dwell, through faith, in your hearts, being rooted and founded in love,
Paul is in the middle of a prayer. He asks that Christ Himself would settle in the hearts of his readers. Two questions follow. How is this different from the Spirit already living in every believer? And what has love to do with it?
"Dwell" — to Settle, to Make a Home
The verb Paul chose is not the language of a short visit. One writer points to Matthew 2:23, where older translations say Jesus "dwelt" at Nazareth:
In Ephesians 3:17 the Apostle prays that "Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith." The word translated 'dwell' is the same word as in Matthew 2:23, "He came and dwelt at Nazareth." ... The whole word means 'to settle, to dwell.' Some think 'To make one's home' is nearer the true meaning; or, perhaps, 'to settle down.' Either translation seems to bring a lovely thought: "That Christ may make His home in your hearts." When I am in my 'home' every part of the house is open to me: nothing is hidden or closed: all is, in a sense, mine.
Not the Same as the Spirit Living in Us
Is this just another way of saying the Spirit lives in every Christian? One writer says no:
It is not the Spirit of God dwelling in us; it is just as sure now that He has come and abides, as the work of Christ for us. Because of that work, the Holy Spirit never leaves the Christian. Once He is given, He never departs. But Christ may not be always dwelling in our hearts. Let us take care not to make this part of the believer's standing privilege. It is not. It is a question of spiritual experience, once God has established us in our place before Him.
Kelly draws the same line, pointing to a difference in wording:
There is no question that the Spirit of God always dwells in the Christian. But I am not aware that He is ever said to dwell in our hearts. He may pour out the love of God there. Scripture rather says He dwells in us, making the body God's temple. Here the apostle would have Christ to be more the satisfying object of our affections.
Knowing About His Love, or Enjoying It
Christ's love can be held as a fact and still leave the heart untouched. Kelly presses for more:
May we never settle for just knowing from the word of God that He loves us, holding it as our security, like a dry paper deed of gift kept in a safe. The gospel comes to the sinner free and full for this reason: that, being sure of the divine fullness of our blessing, our hearts may now be open to enjoy Christ and taken up with His love.
What Changes When He Is at Home
What changes when Christ is at home in the heart? Darby names both a loss and a gain:
"So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith." This is not about having happy feelings or a pleasant character. It is one thing to be safe in the ark on the Ararat of God, and another thing for Christ to dwell in the heart by faith. Oh what a quantity of care goes out when Christ is there! If Christ is the master of the house and lives in it, He does not let the dust and cobwebs pile up. He fills the whole house. And if a sudden shock comes to the heart, you will find not fear, but Christ.
Rooted and Grounded in Love
Paul uses two pictures: a plant and a building. Whose love is the soil and the foundation?
The root is that from which the plant draws its nourishment; the foundation is that upon which we build. Every blessing the Apostle speaks of goes back to the heart of God — "His great love with which He loved us" (Ephesians 2:4). Moreover we do well to be "founded in love," building not on our love to God and to Christ, but on divine love to us. "We love Him because He first loved us." It is ever God's way to teach through the affections. Spiritual understanding does not depend on human intelligence. It comes through affection that God Himself works in the soul.
Where does that love lead? One writer traces the chain:
Through the work of the Spirit, Christ dwells in our hearts by faith; dwelling there by faith He fills our hearts with love, and love prepares us to apprehend. Further, this love leads us to embrace "all saints", for the more we enjoy the love of Christ, the more our hearts will go out to all who are loved by Christ.
Summary
- Home, not visit. The word means to settle down and make a home; Christ asks for the run of the whole house, not a guest room.
- Sure, then sought. The Spirit never leaves the Christian. Christ dwelling in the heart is not a standing privilege but a matter of spiritual experience.
- Faith, not feeling. This is not a pleasant mood. It is Christ enjoyed as the heart's object — His love held as living, not a deed locked in a safe.
- Root and foundation. The love we are rooted in is God's love to us, not ours to Him; that is what feeds the plant and carries the building.
- Then the widening. Love settles the heart. A settled heart is ready to understand, and it goes out to all who are loved by Christ.