17 … so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.
“What the world needs now, is love, sweet love.” So goes the popular song from the 1960’s. It is true, but not in the worldly sense. In particular, what the church needs is love, that’s for certain. The unity that God has established must be nurtured with sacrificial behavior for the benefit of each other. It is no mistake that Paul mentions the word “love” twenty times in this letter on the doctrine of the church. Fellowship and unity cannot be experienced apart from active love among believers.
So Paul’s prayer is fourfold: 1) That Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith, 2) that we would be able to comprehend the love of Christ, 3) that we would be able to know the love of Christ, and 4) that we would be filled up with the fullness of God.
It is true that Christ has come “into” every believer, in the sense that we have “received Him” (see John 1:12, Gal 2:20, Rom 8:10), though this is ultimately metaphorical language that pictures Christ as being physically inside of us in some spiritual-spatial sort of way. The concept in our passage today has more to do with Christ being at home in our lives as a welcome resident. It speaks of a familial relationship and it happens as we live by faith, believing it to be so, but also living consciously with the sense of His welcomed presence in our lives.
This dwelling of Christ in us is what gives a foundation for reaching out in love toward others, in a way that expands beyond our human capacity. No man has yet to discover the full extent of the love of Christ. But, we delve deeper as we build upon the love foundation of Christ. In loving, with all the difficulty that entails, we increasingly appreciate His love for us, with all the difficulty that entails for Him—the sacrifice on the cross.
Notice that this discovery comes in the context of the community of believers, whom Paul calls “saints.” We are called out “in love,” founded upon His love, so that we might grow “in love” by reaching out “in love” to others. This is what sets Christians apart from the world. Did not Jesus Himself say, “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35)? That is the fullness of what God is all about!
Lord, teach me more of Your love that I might grow in Your love as it works in me and works through me in loving others.
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