May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.
Parallel translations
- WEB and to know Christ’s love which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
- KJV And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
- BSB of the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
- NKJV to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
- NASB and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to all the fullness of God.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Paul prays they would know Christ's surpassing love and be filled with God's fullness. It seeks experiential knowledge of an immeasurable love.
Overview
The climax of the prayer is 'to know Christ's love which surpasses knowledge.' This is a paradox: to know experientially a love too great to be fully comprehended. The goal is that 'you may be filled with all the fullness of God' — to be saturated with God's own life and character through union with the loving Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 21
- Eph 1:23which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
- Col 2:9–10For in him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily,
- Col 1:10that you may walk worthily of the Lord, to please him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;
- 2 Cor 5:14For the love of Christ constrains us; because we judge thus, that one died for all, therefore all died.
- 1 Jn 4:9–14By this God’s love was revealed in us, that God has sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.
- John 1:16From his fullness we all received grace upon grace.
- Phil 4:7And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.
- Rev 7:15–17Therefore they are before the throne of God, they serve him day and night in his temple. He who sits on the throne will spread his tabernacle over them.
- Gal 2:20I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me. That life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me.
- Rev 22:3–5There will be no curse any more. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants serve him.
- Eph 5:2Walk in love, even as Christ also loved you, and gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling fragrance.
- 2 Pet 3:18But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.
- Eph 3:18may be strengthened to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and height and depth,
- Phil 2:5–12Have this in your mind, which was also in Christ Jesus,
- Matt 5:6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.
- John 17:3This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ.
- Eph 5:25Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the assembly, and gave himself up for it;
- Rev 21:22–24I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb, are its temple.
- Ps 43:4Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, my exceeding joy. I will praise you on the harp, God, my God.
- Phil 1:7It is even right for me to think this way on behalf of all of you, because I have you in my heart, because, both in my bonds and in the defense and confirmation of the Good News, you all are partakers with me of grace.
- Ps 17:15As for me, I shall see your face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with seeing your form.
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Christ at the center
Every spiritual blessing is 'in Christ,' the head over all things for the church, in whom Jew and Gentile are made one new man by his blood.
How Ephesians 3:19 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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