Bible Strands
Ephesians 3:18
will have power, together with all the saints, to comprehend the length and width and height and depth
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Paul addresses the Ephesian believers, continuing his intercessory prayer immediately after instructing them to remain rooted and grounded in love. He speaks to the collective body of saints as he petitions God for their shared spiritual capacity.
The words — The Greek verb ἐξισχύσητε (exischusēte) translates literally as "you may be fully able," linked to καταλαβεῖσθαι (katalabesthai), meaning "to grasp" or "comprehend." These terms establish the prayer's focus on empowered understanding rather than passive reception.
The thread — The appeal to grasp divine dimensions aligns with Job 11:7 and Psalm 103:11, which both question human capacity to measure God's nature. Paul explicitly echoes this structure in Ephesians 1:18 when he prays for the eyes of the heart to be enlightened.
Why it lands — The text requires readers to pursue a communal, Spirit-enabled grasp of God's love rather than relying on individual insight. It demands acceptance that divine realities exceed human calculation and must be received through collective spiritual formation.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
Cross-references
- Psalms 103:11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His loving devotion for those who fear Him.
- Job 11:7 Can you fathom the deep things of God or discover the limits of the Almighty?
- Ephesians 1:18 I ask that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know the hope of His calling, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints,
- John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.
- Psalms 103:17 But from everlasting to everlasting the loving devotion of the LORD extends to those who fear Him, and His righteousness to their children’s children—
- Ephesians 3:19 of the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
- Isaiah 55:9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so My ways are higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.
- Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
- Philippians 2:5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus:
- Psalms 145:10 All You have made will give You thanks, O LORD, and Your saints will bless You.