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, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
We’ve taken a little break for Christmas and New Years, but it’s time to get back into the Word.
Having completed his prayer for the saints, Paul uses verses 20 and 21 as a benediction to proclaim the worthiness of God to receive glory.
He describes God as the one who is able to do more than all that we ask or think. This makes me realize that my prayers are so puny. Whatever I can think of or ask God for, pales in comparison to what God is actually able to do.
We saw that in the previous verses didn’t we? Paul asked that we’d be able to comprehend what surpasses knowledge. And he prayed that we might be filled with the fullness of God. I never pray for things like that, do you?
He goes on in verse 20 to say that God doing these things is according to the power that is at work in us. He mentioned that power in verse 16 where he prayed that we would be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner man.
As he blesses God, what does Paul ask for in that blessing? He asks that God would be glorified in the church forever. One of the church’s chief roles, if not the chief role, is to glorify God now and forever. We learned back in verse 10 that the church was to be the thing which proclaims and displays the manifold wisdom of God, even to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places. The church is at the center, the core, of what God is doing in this world.
But, I left something out from verse 21, didn’t I? To God be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus. Jesus is the ultimate source of the display of God’s glory. But it is interesting to me that the church is tied so closely with Jesus. But that shouldn’t surprise us because the church is the body of Christ. We are members of His body, of His flesh and bones as Ephesians 5:30 tells us.
I have so much to say on this topic, but I think we had better leave it at that for now.
Exported from Logos Bible Software, 10:14 AM January 4, 2021.