Ephesians 3:13-16

13 Therefore I ask that you do not lose heart at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.

14 For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

15 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,

16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man,

therefore (v.13) — referring to vs. 1-12 in which Paul explains his ministry of the mystery

ask (v.13) = to ask for in one’s own interest

lose heart (v.13) = lose courage

tribulations (v.13) — Paul wrote this letter from prison.

The greater the office of the sufferer, the more did the afflictions which he was content to endure for them redound to their honor; and the better this was understood by them, the less should they give way to weakness and discouragement. — Wuest, page 86

for this reason (v.14) — for the ministry of the mystery, but specifically here that they would stay strong and not lose courage

bow my knees (v.14) — earnest prayer — not necessarily, but possibly, including the physical act

to (v.14) – facing — indicating Paul’s focus on God

We noticed that the first prayer [Ephesians 1:16] is addressed to the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, for God as such is the Source of all counsels, but this second prayer, which has to do more with family relationship, is addressed to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

When I think of God, I think of the Maker of all things, the Planner of all things who fitted the ages together. But I think of the Father as the One from whose bosom the eternal Son came into this world, becoming Man for our Salvation. Ere He left this scene He said to Mary, “I ascend unto My Father, and  your Father; and to My God, and your God” (John 20:17). There, you see, you have the two thoughts: God the Source of all counsels; the Father, the Source of all affections — family affection, the very center of family relationship. — Ironside, pages 155-156.

of our Lord Jesus Christ (v.14) — not in some manuscripts

from whom (v.15) = lit. “out from whom”

the whole family (v.15) = lit. “every family”

The sense, therefore is “the Father, from whom all related orders of intelligent beings, human and angelic, each by itself, get the significant name of family, community.” The various classes of men on earth, Jew, Gentiles, and others, and the various orders of angels in heaven, are related to God, the common Father, and only in virtue of that relation has any of them the name of family. — Wuest, page 87

His glory (v.16) — all the perfections of God in their inexhaustible fulness and wealth

in (v.16) = into — a preposition indicating motion

inward man (v.16) — the personal, moral self, the moral “I” of which man is self-conscious

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