"that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God." - Ephesians 3:19
What distinguishes the saved from the lost may be defined in terms of inhabitation. The unconverted are described as "having no hope, and without God in the world {Eph. 2:12b]." The believer, in contrast, is a God inhabited person. The Savior prayed to God the Father, "… the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one… [John 17:22-23a, italics mine]." The concept is reinforced in many passages, notably "… Christ in you, the hope of glory [Col. 1:27]."
The divine aspiration for the believer however, as expressed here by the apostle Paul, is for something more than mere residence; he prays that they may "be filled with all the fulness of God." This prayer is made the more striking by comparison with a very similar phrase applied to the Lord Jesus Christ in Col. 2:9, "For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." Clearly the aim of the prayer is that God should be as evident in our lives as He was in the life of His son. That is a tall order, and one in which most of us come up tragically short.
In aiming for this goal, the apostle begins with prayer, and we must do the same. Spiritual growth, if it is to be achieved at all, has to be accomplished in the context of spiritual warfare. It draws us into a battle for which merely human resources are hopelessly inadequate. Hence Paul prays, "For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His spirit in the inner man… [ v.14-16]." Why? Because "We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places [Eph. 6:12]." The only Resource sufficient to maintain the victory in this battle is the "might" of the indwelling Holy Spirit. As a acquaintance of mine was in the habit of saying, "It takes God to be godly!"
Observe further that the inspired text prescribes this reinforcement for "the inner man." Spirituality is not found, nor the spiritual warfare fought, in the external life, but in the inner man. The externals are what we appear to others to be; it is in the inner man that our real character is determined. Seeking a king for Israel, the Lord instructed Samuel, "Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart [I Sam. 16:7]." Externals may be but a matter of discipline; the issue with the inner man is devotion.
Then follows the reference to Christ as resident in the believer's life: "that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye [may be] rooted and grounded in love… " The inference is that He should be not a guest, but a permanent resident with unrestricted access to the whole residence to arrange it according to His own liking, His own will. It is the Lordship of Christ embraced by love and manifesting the same.
This then leads to our being "filled with all the fulness of God." When this is reflected upon, what becomes evident is that the believer is, in fact, inhabited by the trinity. The Spirit is resident to strengthen us inwardly; Christ is resident to reveal to us and through us the love by which all men may know that we are His disciples; and the Father lends the radiance of "the riches of His glory" to the whole! That is the "new creation" in all its unveiled splendor.
This is not super-spirituiality; it is the spirituality God has intended from the beginning of His redemption program. Sadly, few of us really aspire to it, and because we have no aspiration for it, we do not pray to that end. And because we do not pray, the enemy holds the ground and we fail to reveal the fulness of God in our lives.
In these days of superficial Christianity and growing apostasy may God give true believers a hunger for holiness, "that [we] might be filled with all the fulness of God."
Yours for HIS glory,
"Pastor" Frasier
What distinguishes the saved from the lost may be defined in terms of inhabitation. The unconverted are described as "having no hope, and without God in the world {Eph. 2:12b]." The believer, in contrast, is a God inhabited person. The Savior prayed to God the Father, "… the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one… [John 17:22-23a, italics mine]." The concept is reinforced in many passages, notably "… Christ in you, the hope of glory [Col. 1:27]."
The divine aspiration for the believer however, as expressed here by the apostle Paul, is for something more than mere residence; he prays that they may "be filled with all the fulness of God." This prayer is made the more striking by comparison with a very similar phrase applied to the Lord Jesus Christ in Col. 2:9, "For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." Clearly the aim of the prayer is that God should be as evident in our lives as He was in the life of His son. That is a tall order, and one in which most of us come up tragically short.
In aiming for this goal, the apostle begins with prayer, and we must do the same. Spiritual growth, if it is to be achieved at all, has to be accomplished in the context of spiritual warfare. It draws us into a battle for which merely human resources are hopelessly inadequate. Hence Paul prays, "For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His spirit in the inner man… [ v.14-16]." Why? Because "We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places [Eph. 6:12]." The only Resource sufficient to maintain the victory in this battle is the "might" of the indwelling Holy Spirit. As a acquaintance of mine was in the habit of saying, "It takes God to be godly!"
Observe further that the inspired text prescribes this reinforcement for "the inner man." Spirituality is not found, nor the spiritual warfare fought, in the external life, but in the inner man. The externals are what we appear to others to be; it is in the inner man that our real character is determined. Seeking a king for Israel, the Lord instructed Samuel, "Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart [I Sam. 16:7]." Externals may be but a matter of discipline; the issue with the inner man is devotion.
Then follows the reference to Christ as resident in the believer's life: "that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye [may be] rooted and grounded in love… " The inference is that He should be not a guest, but a permanent resident with unrestricted access to the whole residence to arrange it according to His own liking, His own will. It is the Lordship of Christ embraced by love and manifesting the same.
This then leads to our being "filled with all the fulness of God." When this is reflected upon, what becomes evident is that the believer is, in fact, inhabited by the trinity. The Spirit is resident to strengthen us inwardly; Christ is resident to reveal to us and through us the love by which all men may know that we are His disciples; and the Father lends the radiance of "the riches of His glory" to the whole! That is the "new creation" in all its unveiled splendor.
This is not super-spirituiality; it is the spirituality God has intended from the beginning of His redemption program. Sadly, few of us really aspire to it, and because we have no aspiration for it, we do not pray to that end. And because we do not pray, the enemy holds the ground and we fail to reveal the fulness of God in our lives.
In these days of superficial Christianity and growing apostasy may God give true believers a hunger for holiness, "that [we] might be filled with all the fulness of God."
Yours for HIS glory,
"Pastor" Frasier
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