Bite 57: Power in Ephesians 3:14-21

More on My Process

Yesterday morning, I started studying the concept of power. Of late, I spend about an hour every morning in earnest study before I go figure out that evening’s dinner or throw some pots or mountain bike. Yesterday, I did some cross references and some original language study before I packaged orders of pottery from my Etsy store and then went biking.

While I was biking, I meditated on this concept in front of us. Power. It isn’t what I expected. As I biked, I tried to remember other verses that talk about power, or using power. Like “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God“¹ came to mind.

Meditation is a common pastime for me as I roll through the forest over rocks and roots. Or prayer. But very often I meditate on what I’m studying. It is what flits through my brain. Works great for me. Anyway, let’s get to the study itself and practice our student techniques again.

Our Passage

14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 
15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 
16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened 
with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 
17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—
that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 
18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints 
what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 
19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, 
that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 
20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly 
than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 
21 to him be glory in the church 
and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, 
forever and ever. Amen.2

Focus on Our ‘Power’ Verses

Let’s have the specific verses where Paul speaks of power in our passage in front of us. There is this verse:

that according to the riches of his glory 
he may grant you to be strengthened 
with power through his Spirit in your inner being3

And this verse:

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly 
than all that we ask or think, 
according to the power at work within us4

I Started a List

As is my usual, I have begun to list what I’m learning about this topic.

Side Note: I may have mentioned before that I don't typically do "topical studies." Here is why: if I cruise through scripture in my usual fashion, I will invariably run into the "topics" that need studying. Because they are scattered through scripture. When I actually bump into one of these "topics," then I have context established, I have my 21st century brain on the same page as the 1st century folk (as much as I can), and I am less distracted by my study objective (this would be a bias) because my objective is just to study the scripture. Not answer my burning question which would go something like, "How do I access this power?" That might be a question we have, but it has to do with studying the text first and foremost. I hope. End side note.

So far I see that the power strengthens, it comes about through the Spirit, and it’s inside folks. Considering our concentric circles, how else does Paul use the word in Ephesians?

Power Used in Ephesians

From our list here under the Logos Bible Software color wheel, there are 3 other verses where Paul uses this word in Ephesians and they have all occurred earlier in the book. Let’s add to our list what we see.

Power Elsewhere in the NT

I looked in Colossians as well, but the instances there seemed to echo what we already see in Ephesians. Thinking about our concentric circles, I tried to think which other writer would be the closest in relation to Paul in how the word would get used. There are 92 times the Greek is translated into the English word power. We can’t realistically examine each instance, therefore I’m in the process of deciding how to prioritize the examples of uses. Since Luke recorded Paul’s adventures as well as investigating and reporting Jesus’ life, I thought that bringing examples of how he used the word would be useful. Here we have a few uses by Jesus and one by Peter.

But Jesus said, “Someone touched me, 
for I perceive that power has gone out from me.”5

And he called the twelve together 
and gave them power and authority 
over all demons and to cure diseases,6

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit 
has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses 
in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”7

And when Peter saw it he addressed the people: 
“Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, 
or why do you stare at us, 
as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk?8

Let’s add to the list what we see from these examples of uses.

Dictionaries Defining Power-δύναμις

Louw-Nida

The first dictionary I look at is the one that is set up in my reverse interlinear in my Logos Bible Software, Louw-Nida.

Let’s start a new list with information we find in dictionaries. Later, we will combine the two lists, but for now I think it will be easier to comprehend if our list isn’t so long.

Power

• LN-potentiality to exert force in performing a function

Huh. I hadn’t thought about power as “potential energy” before. Interesting. Let’s move on to another dictionary.

BDAG

In this dictionary, the scholars define it very similarly.

① potential for functioning in some way, power, might, strength, force, capability ¹⁰

We will go ahead and include it in the list so that we can see documented consensus if there is one.

Power

• LN-potentiality to exert force in performing a function
• BDAG-potential for functioning in some way

Let’s look at TDNTA next.

TDNTA

This entry, in its entirety, is quite lengthy and pretty comprehensive. Which is why I use the abridged theological dictionary. If I used the full version? Oh, I know my predilection for getting lost in the minutia. As it is, I found the information at the beginning of the entry interesting since, as you know, I’ve been enjoying lectures from Dr. Sproul on philosophers. Understanding how thinking has been developing through the ages helps me begin to understand some of the questions the writers of the Bible were trying to answer. Which means I have a better chance of understanding for myself what they wrote in general.

Anyway, we will go directly to the sections of the definition that pertain to our passage. I will bring a bunch of it here for you to see, highlighting the verses to which I paid particular attention.

Words of this stem all have the basic sense of ability or capability…dýnamis, the most important word in the group, means “ability,” then “possibility,” then “power” both physical and intellectual or spiritual. ¹¹

4. The Community. A community that rests in God’s saving power is the goal (1 Cor. 2:1ff.). Believers may be strong as they are “in the Lord” (Eph. 6:10). Rescued from Satan’s power, yet still beset by perils, they know the power of Christ to protect and preserve. They are guarded by God’s power through faith (1 Pet. 1:5). The apostle’s prayer is that they may enjoy the greatness of God’s power (Eph. 1:19), or that they may be strengthened with all power (Col. 1:11). This power, grounded in Christ’s resurrection, creates the hope of their calling and a glorious inheritance. Christians are to know this power with a view to endurance and patience. It is a power that transforms as well as preserves. By the power of the Spirit they abound in hope (Rom. 15:13). Strengthened with might by the Spirit in the inner man, they grow in fellowship with Christ, in comprehension, and in love of Christ (Eph. 3:14ff.).¹²

I included in the orange highlights the Colossians verse because we are interested in what Paul said in that letter with relation to Ephesians based on our concentric circles, right? The other un-highlighted verses aren’t not important (ooh, double negative), but I’m more interested presently in Ephesians and Colossians.

What I notice in this TDNTA entry 4, which is using examples to define, is how these verses have a flavor of this potential energy idea.

Power

• LN-potentiality to exert force in performing a function
• BDAG-potential for functioning in some way
• TDNTA-ability, possibility, power

Reflection

I’m going to combine these two lists we came up with from cross references as well as the dictionaries so that we can look at them as a unit.

Power

• Power strengthens Eph 3:16
• Power thru his Spirit Eph 3:16
• Power in inner being Eph 3:16
• There’s power working w/in recipients Eph 3:20
• Works toward those who believe Eph 1:19
• Immeasurable greatness of it Eph 1:19
• Other entities have lesser power Eph 1:21
• ✝︎ had power go out from him Luke 8:46
• ✝︎ gave power over evil Luke 9:1
• Believers would receive power when Spirit comes upon Acts 1:8
• Peter corrects thinking that power comes from apostles Acts 3:12
• LN-potentiality to exert force in performing a function
• BDAG-potential for functioning in some way
• TDNTA-ability, possibility, power

Having a husband who has a more science-oriented mind than I do, we were discussing what these verses and these definitions have to do with each other. I knew there were two kinds of energy (at least). Stationary and active. One is waiting for action to be put upon it and the other will act until moved upon. Jeremy put words to the types for me: potential and kinetic.

When I consider this power that Paul is talking about, the definitions talk about it being the potential for a function. Possibility. Is it possible that this power that Paul talks about has to have action put upon it in some way in order to be moved from stationary to active?

Paul is praying for there to be a granting of power in the inner parts of his hearers. That there is power at work within believers. And that Greek word behind the English word power is the idea of potential for functionality. Is there an analogy in our world that would help us understand better?

Possible Analogies

My First Analogy

Honestly, my thought went to cookies. Yes, the ones you eat. Here is a window in the immaturity of my soul.

I know, I know, analogies break down eventually. This one breaks down more rapidly than some others…That’s the way the cookie crumbles.

My Second Analogy

Dialoguing with Jeremy about other ideas for what this power is like, he mentioned electricity. Like I said, he’s more science-y in some areas than I am.

Maybe it’s something like this where we have wires capable of conducting God’s power strung in our inner beings, but they will not function without a switch.

We are not finished interpreting the passage, so I hesitate to apply and find significance that goes too deep at this point. However, this power business does give me some more material on which to mull as I go through my day.

Wrap Up

What did we practice as far as a Bible Study Bite today? I think we practiced asking a question and following threads of scripture to understand Paul a little better. Plus we remembered that the English is an effort by translators to help us grasp the Greek behind it. So we explored a little in the original language dictionaries.

If you think about it like this, maybe Bible Study itself will seem more accessible. When I first started riding mountain bike, everything was new and frankly on the edge of terrifying. But with more time in the saddle, more exposure to a variety of trail situations, the whole sport seemed less scary. Less intimidating. I’m not saying that there aren’t still trails that freak me out. Like a double black I was on this weekend with a couple of friends. Nope, not riding that e v e r.

So our Bite today is kind of rinse, repeat. Because every discipline has aspects that get repeated and that is what constitutes a “discipline.”

1. 1 Corinthians 10:31 (ESV)
2. Ephesians 3:14–21 (ESV)
3. Ephesians 3:16 (ESV)
4. Ephesians 3:20 (ESV)
5. Luke 8:46 (ESV)
6. Luke 9:1 (ESV)
7. Acts 1:8 (ESV)
8. Acts 3:12 (ESV)
9. Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. (1996).Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament: based on semantic domains(electronic ed. of the 2nd edition., Vol. 1, p. 679). New York: United Bible Societies.
10. Arndt, W., Danker, F. W., Bauer, W., & Gingrich, F. W. (2000). A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian literature (3rd ed., p. 262). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
11. Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. (1985). Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (p. 186-187). Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans.
12. Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. (1985). Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (p. 191). Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans.