Sermon Tone Analysis

*/Ephesians 3:14-19/*

 

            Paul resumes his prayer here in 3:14 which he started in 3:1 and digressed from in 3:2-13 to explain more about the mystery of Jew and Gentile in one body, the Church.

This is Paul’s second recorded prayer for the believers at Ephesus.

Paul’s first prayer is recorded in 1:15-23.

Before Paul’s first prayer he gave some deep doctrine about the Trinity’s plan of redemption in 1:3-14.

So, you can see that Paul is following a definite structure.

He thinks in terms of doctrine and that doctrine leads him to prayer.

This structure probably reflects the way Paul thought all the time.

Paul’s daily thought process probably spiraled back and forth from doctrine to prayer back to doctrine then prayer again all day long.

This was just the way Paul lived his life.

He sought to take “every thought captive to Christ” (2 Cor.

10:5).

The structure of this letter is therefore a reflection of what our thought life should be like.

Day in day out we should be thinking about doctrine which in turn should lead to prayer and back to doctrine and so forth.

Now, in that 1st prayer (1:15-23) Paul prayed that the believers at Ephesus would know God intimately (1:17) so that they would grasp three things: (1) their past calling.

God called each individual believer out from among the world (1:18); (2) their future as Christ’s inheritance.

God calls us out so that we will be Christ’s future inheritance.

You are a part of Christ’s inheritance (1:18); and (3) their present possession of God’s power.

God calls us out and gives us the power necessary to live victorious Christian lives (1:19).

We might sum up this prayer by saying that Paul wants us to understand our past, present and future so that we will deepen our relationship with God.

In Paul’s second prayer for the believers at Ephesus (3:14-21) he prays that they might know the power of Christ’s love which surpasses all knowledge and to express this love toward one another.

This prayer is the 5th of 8 long sentences in the Greek (3:14-19).

As I’ve said before, prayers~/praise are often long, complex sentences as we pour out our hearts before God.

After the prayer, in 3:20-21, Paul offers a doxology (praise) to God which serves as a transition from the doctrinal portion of Ephesians (chapters 1-3) to the application portion of Ephesians (chapters 4-6).

*G.

PRAYER FOR STRENGTHENED LOVE (3:14-21)         *

 

If you recall, 3:1 is Paul’s preparation to pray (/dia touto/, *for this reason*,* *which is the typical way Paul starts his prayers).

But, when he reached the end of v. 1 something caused him to digress and explain more about the mystery of Jew and Gentile in one body, the Church.

So, he spends 3:2-13 dealing with the fact that he was set apart by God’s grace to receive revelation of the mystery and to disclose the mystery.

Paul also makes clear that he did not make himself a minister but God made him a minister and that God gave him the enabling to carry out his ministry.

Additionally, Paul’s ministry of revealing the mystery does not extend merely to the Ephesians but also to the angelic realm.

The Church becomes God’s vehicle of revealing His manifold wisdom to the angelic rulers (both good and evil).

Paul finishes his digression in 3:13 and returns to his prayer in v. 14 as signaled by his typical introductory words of prayer, *for this reason*,* *(/dia touto/ as also in 1:15 and 3:1).

*1.

The Approach to Prayer (3:14-15)*

 

            In verse 14 we have Paul’s approach to prayer which takes a certain posture.

*/Greek Text 3:14 /**/Toutou charin kampto ta gonata mou pros ton patera [BYZ adds tou Kuriou hemon Iesou Christou]/*

*Translation 3:14 For this reason I bow my knees to the Father [of our Lord Jesus Christ]*

           

            */Toutou charin, /“For this reason” *signifies the purpose for Paul’s prayer.

Why is Paul praying?

Because Paul wants their positional unity to become experiential unity.

Positionally, Jewish and Gentile believers are united in “one new man”.

But position does not always equal experience.

Paul is therefore praying that their positional unity would flow over into their experience.

Therefore, in the context, Paul’s words *for this reason *refer back to the positional truth in 2:11-22 and 3:2-13.

There is to be experiential unity among those who are a part of the “one new man”, that is, the Church.

*/kampto ta gonata mou pros ton patera [tou Kuriou hemon Iesou Christou], /“I bow my knees to the Father [of our Lord Jesus Christ]”.

*The word *bow* is a Hebrew idiom for “worship”.

Paul is taking the posture of “worship”.

The word is used only three other times in the NT (Rom.

11:4; 14:11; Phil.

2:10).

All three uses are quotations of OT passages and all three are related to “worship”.

Prayer is a form of “worship”.

Worship is not just singing.

The NT makes singing a very small part of “worship” (Rom.

15:9; 1 Cor.

14:15; Heb.

2:12; Jam.

5:13; Acts 16:25; *Eph.

5:19; Col. 3:1*).

It makes teaching the priority but people don’t like teaching today so churches resort to music.

This is really sad.

What does worship consist of?

It consists of teaching (discipleship), preaching (something you do not something you are; action not title; refers to evangelism), scripture reading, praying, exhorting one another, taking the Lord’s Supper, water baptism, and singing.

POSTURE IN PRAYER

            Paul takes a certain posture in his worship by prayer here, one of bending down on his knees.

I think posture in prayer is important.

I think it’s too bad that it has become so unimportant to most Christians.

I think we’re missing something in our relationship with the Lord.

“As creatures we ought to assume our place before our Creator…”.[1]

What is the proper prayer posture?

There are four postures observed in Scripture during different situations.

All four are legitimate postures for prayer.

(1) kneeling (Dan.

6:10; *Lk.

22:41*; Ac. 7:40; 20:36; 21:5)       /great need, fervency, stress/

(2) standing (Mr. 11:25; *Lk.

18:11, 13*)                                   /firmness, stability/

(3) lying prostrate (Num.

16:45; Josh.

7:6; *Ezra 10:1*)  /fear, loss, despair/

(4) head between knees (1 Kings 18:42)                                   /lack of hope/

 

Notice who Paul’s prayer is addressed to.

He addresses his prayer to *the Father*.

He does not address his prayer to the Son or to the Spirit.

You might think this is splitting hairs but the Bible consistently teaches that prayer is always to be addressed to *the Father* (e.g.

“Dear heavenly Father…”) and in the name of the Son, by the power of the Holy Spirit (for more on prayer see 1 John: Lesson 26, entitled “Confidence in Prayer”)..

That we address God as Father should remind us that we are sons of the Father.

Turn back in Ephesians to chapter 1:5.

Remember, if you are a believer here tonight God *predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself*.

We were not adopted as sons /of/ Jesus Christ but /through/ Jesus Christ to Himself.

*Himself* refers to the Father here upon close analysis.

This is how we became sons of the Father and this is why we address our prayers to the Father.

So, Paul takes the posture of kneeling to address his heavenly Father on behalf of the Ephesian believers.

At the end of v. 14 there is a difference in some of the Greek manuscripts.

(1) Critical Text (Minority) reads just like the NASB, NIV

            (2) Majority Text adds the words *of our Lord Jesus Christ*

 

The Majority Text (2) is the best rendering because of geographic distribution of these manuscripts, it is the majority reading, and it is consistent with Paul’s prayer in 1:17.

The words signify that Jesus Christ is the Son of God the Father.

This points to a doctrine called the “Eternal Subordination of the Son to the Father” which we will elaborate on again when we reach Eph.

3:20-21 (the transitional doxology).

*/Greek Text 3:15 ek ou pasa patria en ouranois kai epi ges onomazetai,/*