Ephesians 1:19b-23

That power is like the working of His mighty strength, ²⁰which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms, ²¹far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. ²²And God placed all things under His feet and appointed Him to be head over everything for the church, ²³which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills everything in every way.

Paul begins now to exalt Christ in this prayer for God’s people. (See Colossians 1:18 regarding the eternal and complete supremacy of Christ over all things.) He’s still praying for our enlightenment, that we may know the superabundant (other-worldly), demonstrated (not merely potential) power of God, so that we may see that the power of God is sufficient to carry us in the Christian life. And he declares that the same power that raised Jesus is at work in us. In this prayer of petition, Paul is essentially praying in a poetic way that his readers might know experientially God’s powerful working of His powerful power! The Greek adjectives convey every aspect of powerfulness that you can imagine. Calvin compares the words to the root of a tree (strength), the tree itself (power), and the fruit of the tree (working), all supplemented by the word, “mighty” (v19).

Paul then, in v20-22, gives a long series of evidences of God’s power at work in and through Jesus in order to convince us of the greatness of God’s power at work in and through us. Notice three of these proofs in particular: the resurrection (V20) of Christ, the ascension (v20) of Christ, and the headship (v22) of Christ. In the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we see the power of God to defeat death. Make no mistake, we will die – unless Jesus returns first. But God’s power in us is able to keep us alive and give us true, eternal life. In the ascension of Jesus Christ, we see the power of God to grant authority. Think of Jesus in His humanity – the lowliest of births, a mere carpenter by trade, no power to speak of from a human perspective. And yet God’s power – the same power at work in you – grants Him authority, as v21 says, “far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given.” There is no opposing force in the universe over which Jesus Christ does not reign (Isaiah 9:6). Jesus Christ has pre-eminence, or supremacy, over every being. Indeed, as v22 declares, “God placed all things under His feet.” The sovereignty of Jesus Christ knows no limitations. He is Lord of Lords and King of Kings. In the headship of Jesus Christ, we see the power of God – interestingly – to care for His Church. In v22, Paul declares that Jesus is the “head over everything for the church.” Authority exists for the sake of service. The rule over all things that God has granted to Jesus Christ has been granted for the benefit of those He loves, of those who love Him, of His people, of those who trust in Him – of His church. Jesus rules the world by His word and by His Spirit for the benefit of His people.

Ligon Duncan says, “We will never live the Christians life confidently unless we believe that God has the power to answer our prayers, to protect us, to guide us, and to take us to the end.” In these thoughts in the prayer of Paul for the Church, he has in mind what he’ll talk about in Ephesians 2 – namely the fact that we were brought from death to life (Ephesians 2:1-10) and that we were brought from alienation to inclusion (Ephesians 2:11-22) through the power of God for our good. And we get just a foretaste of this idea in v23. Paul says that the church is the body of Christ, “the fullness of Him who fills everything in every way.” Now that’s a challenging verse. What does Paul mean?

When it comes to the physical body, one finger has no direct and inherent relationship with another, and the elbow has no direct and inherent relationship with the knee, but all of these are united by and under one "head." Likewise, people from various cultures and backgrounds may seem to have little in common, and at first may even be hostile to one another; however, they have become one in Christ. This must be at least part of what Paul means by the metaphor (Ephesians 2:14-16). But later, in Ephesians 5:22-24, Paul applies the idea of headship to marriage. Vincent Cheung says, “By applying the head-body metaphor to the marriage relationship, Paul is saying that ‘wives should submit to their husbands in everything.’ And this is what he means when he says that the church is Christ’s body… He is ruling over us! For the church to be Christ’s body means that ‘the church submits to Christ.’” As Jesus taught in John 15:5, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing.” Furthermore, as the body of Jesus experienced hardship in His earthly life, so believers, as the body of Christ, experience hardship in our earthly lives.

Paul will elaborate on the encouraging idea of fullness as we head into chapters 3-4, but one of the things he’s pointing to is God’s purpose to make us mature and grow us up to be like Jesus. One commentator said, “By speaking of the church as Christ’s body and fullness, [Paul] emphatically underlines its significance within God’s purposes. Its glorious place in the divine plan, however, provides no grounds for boasting or arrogance…for the church is wholly dependent on Christ. In itself, it is nothing. Its privileged position comes from its relationship to the One who as head graciously fills it with His presence.” The power of God is determined to fill believers to all the fullness of Him who fills all in all. God will not be thwarted in His purpose to mature us, for we are “predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son” (Romans 8:29). Paul wants us to believe that, and that’s why he’s praying this prayer of petition: that we would understand intellectually, that we would see with the enlightened eyes of our hearts, the incomparably great power of God to us in Jesus Christ.