Ephesians 3:17

κατοικῆσαι τὸν Χριστὸν διὰ τῆς πίστεως ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ὑμῶν : that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. The presence of Christ, His stated presence (κατοικεῖν as contrasted with παροικεῖν = sojourn, cf. Genesis 37:1), the taking up of His abode in them (cf. the use of κατοικεῖν in Matthew 12:45; Luke 11:26; 2 Peter 3:13; and also its application to Christ Himself in another relation in Colossians 1:19), is also embraced in the scope of Paul's prayer. The indwelling expressed here by the comp. κατοικεῖν is also expressed by the simple οἰκεῖν (Romans 8:9; 1 Corinthians 3:16). Its seat is the καρδία the centre of feeling, thinking, willing (cf. Delitzsch, Bib. Psych., iv., 5). And the means or channel through which it takes possession of the heart is faith, the διὰ πίστεως indicating the receptivity which is the condition on our side. There remains, however, the question of the construction. The κατοικῆσαι, etc., may be taken as dependent on the δῷ and as forming a second boon contemplated in the gift prayed for, as if = “and that He may grant you also that Christ may dwell in your hearts” (Mey., Abb., etc.). Or it may be taken as dependent on the κραταιωθῆναι, etc., expressing the contemplated result of the gift of strength (inf. of consequence; cf. Acts 5:3; Hebrews 6:10; Revelation 5:5; Revelation 16:9, etc.), = “to the effect that Christ may dwell in your hearts”. The omission of the connecting καί is no insuperable objection to the former; for cases of asyndeton are sufficiently common. But the second view (so Ell., Alf., etc.) is on the whole to be preferred, as it deals better both with the grammatical connection and with the emphatic position of the κατοικῆσαι. The former view has the difficulty of taking two somewhat different grammatical constructions as parallels, and it fails to bring out as the latter does the advance in the thought. The indwelling of Christ is the higher boon which is in view as the end and effect of the strengthening. ἐν ἀγάπῃ ἐῤῥιζωμένοι καὶ τεθεμελιωμένοι : ye having been rooted and grounded in love. Nothing can legitimately be made of the anarthrous ἀγάπῃ, the article being often dropped before abstract nouns, and especially after a preposition (Win.-Moult., pp. 148, 149). As the ἀγάπῃ is also without any αὐτοῦ or other defining gen., it appears to have its most general sense here, not “the love of God ” or “the love of Christ ” in particular, but love, the Christian principle or grace which is “the bond of perfectness” (Colossians 3:14). In this love they are described (by two perf. parties.) as “having been rooted and grounded ”. If the terms ἐῤῥιζεμένοι, τεθεμελιωμένοι, were used in their proper etymological connotation, they might suggest much. The former might convey the idea of subjects deriving their life and growth from love; and the latter the idea of subjects built up on the basis of love as living stones in the Divine temple. But the terms are also used without any reference to their original, etymological sense ῥιζοῦν, e.g., in Soph., Œd. C., 1591, means simply to establish something firmly. So here the two words probably express the one simple idea of being securely settled and deeply founded. Thoroughly established in love, having it not as an uncertain feeling changing with every change of experience, but as the constant principle of their life this they must be if they are fully to apprehend the magnitude of Christ's love. Here, again, the construction is a difficult question. Westcott and Hort attach ἐν ἀγάπῃ to the κατοικῆσαι clause and the ἐῤῥιζωμένοι καὶ τεθεμελιωμένοι to the ἵνα clause. But the ἐν καρδίαις ὑμῶν seems a proper and adequate conclusion and completion of the idea of the indwelling. Many (including Meyer, Winer, Buttm., AV, RV, etc.) connect the whole clause with the ἵνα, = “in order that, being rooted and grounded in love, ye may be able”. This gives an excellent sense, and examples of the transposition of part of a sentence from the natural place after the ἵνα to one before it are found elsewhere in the NT (e.g., Acts 19:4; 1Co 9:15; 2 Corinthians 2:4; Galatians 2:10; Colossians 4:16; 2 Thessalonians 2:7; cf. Buttm., Gr. of N. T. Greek, p. 389). On the other hand, the relevancy of most, if not all, of these examples is not above suspicion (cf. Ell. and Abb. in loc.), and it does not appear that in the present passage there is any such emphasis on the ἐν ἀγάπῃ as can explain its peculiar position. Hence it is better on the whole to connect it with the preceding (as is done in one way or other by Chrys., Luth., Harl., Bleek, De Wette, Alf., Ell., Abb., etc.), and take it as another instance of the nom. absol. or participial anacolouthon (cf. Win.-Moult., p. 715; Krüger, Sprachl., § 56, 9, 4; Buttm., Gr. of N. T. Greek, p. 298; Blass, Gr. of N. T. Greek, p. 285). So we translate it “ye having been rooted and grounded in love in order that ye may be able,” etc. The rooting and grounding are expressed by the perf. part., as they indicate the state which must be realised in connection with the indwelling of Christ before the ability for comprehending the love of Christ can be acquired.