Ephesians 3:19
“And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.”
King James Version (KJV)
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This verse is the climax of Paul's prayer (3:14-21). It moves from comprehending the dimensions of Christ's love (3:18) to the ultimate aim: being filled with the fullness of God, immediately followed by the great doxology.
What Does Ephesians 3:19 Mean?
Paul reaches the summit of his prayer with a beautiful paradox: that his readers would "know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge." How can one know what surpasses knowledge? Paul is distinguishing two kinds of knowing. There is the knowing of information -- facts gathered about a subject -- and there is the knowing of experience, the way one knows a beloved friend. Christ's love is too vast to be fully measured or explained, yet it can be genuinely experienced. Paul prays for that deeper knowing: not just to study Christ's love but to be embraced by it.
The goal he names is breathtaking: "that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God." This is the high point toward which the whole prayer has been climbing -- inner strength, the indwelling Christ, roots in love, comprehension with all the saints, and now this. To be filled with God's fullness is to have one's whole life saturated with God's presence and character, lacking nothing of what He desires to give. It is hard to imagine a larger request. Yet Paul prays it with confidence, because the next verse reminds us that God is able to do far more than we ask. For the reader, this verse lifts the horizon of what life with God can be. The aim is not a thin acquaintance with Christ but a love so deeply known that God's own fullness comes to dwell within.
In the Original Language
The Greek "ginosko" (know) often means knowledge by personal experience. "Pleroma" (fulness) denotes that which fills completely, the full measure of God's presence.
Cross References
Application
Seek to know Christ's love by experience, not merely by study. Open your life to be filled with God's presence, asking Him for more than you think possible.