Ephesians 3:20

τῷ δὲ δυναμένῳ ὑπὲρ πάντα ποιῆσαι ὑπερεκπερισσοῦ ὧν αἰτούμεθα ἢ νοοῦμεν : Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. So both AV and RV; as also the old English Versions, excepting Wicl. (“more plenteously than we axen”), Cov. and Rhem. (“more abundantly than we desire”). More exactly it = “able to do beyond all things, superabundantly beyond what we ask or think” (Ell.). The τῷ refers naturally to God, the main subject of the whole paragraph. The δέ has something of its proper adversative force, the contrast between the subjects of the Divine grace and the Divine Giver of the grace being to some extent in view. The doxology brings the whole preceding paragraph and the first main division of the Epistle to a fitting close. Its best parallel is in Romans 16:25-27. The ὑπὲρ cannot be taken as an adverb (Beng.), but governs the πάντα. The πάντα again is not to be connected with the ὧν as if = “all that we ask”; the gen. ὧν is due to the comparative in the ὑπερεκπερισσοῦ, as in the previous case of the ὑπερβάλλουσαν τῆς γνώσεως. Further, the ὑπὲρ πάντα does not belong to the δυναμένῳ, but makes one idea with the ποιῆσαι. Thus we have two distinct descriptions of God here, the second of which explains and develops the thought of the first. He is described first generally in respect of the absoluteness of His power, as “able to do beyond all things,” “able to do more than all,” i.e., One to whose efficiency there is no limit; and then with more particular reference to the case of Paul and his fellow-believers, as able to do above measure beyond anything with which our asking or even our thinking is conversant; superabundantly beyond the utmost requests we can make in prayer, nay beyond all that can suggest itself to our minds in their highest ventures. The verb νοεῖν, here used of thinking of as distinguished from asking for, has two main lines of meaning, viz., to understand and to ponder or consider. The latter is in view here. The strong, cumulative ὑπερεκπερισσοῦ occurs again in 1 Thessalonians 3:10; 1 Thessalonians 5:13. Such compounds with ὑπέρ (ὑπερλίαν, ὑπερπερισσεύω, ὑπερινικάω, ὑπερυψόω, ὑπεραυξάνω, ὑπερπλεονάζω) are characteristic of Paul. They are not entirely limited to him (e.g., ὑπερπερισσῶς, Mark 7:37; ὑπερεκχυννόμενον, Luke 6:38). But they are much more used by him than by any other NT writer, occurring nearly thrice as often in the Pauline Epistles and the Epistle to the Hebrews as in all the other NT books (cf. Ell., in loc.). Such bold compounds are “in keeping with the intensity of his pious feeling, which struggles after adequate expression” (Mey.). κατὰ τὴν δύναμιν τὴν ἐνεργουμένην ἐν ἡμῖν : according to the power that worketh in us. The “power” in question is doubtless the inward operation of the Holy Spirit. The ἐν ἡμῖν has the force of an appeal to consciousness. The power that we know to be operative in ourselves is a witness to God's ability to do superabundantly beyond what we ask or think. The efficient power of which we have experience in ourselves represents the measure and mode of the limitless capacity that is in God, and by the one we can conceive of the other and trust it. The ἐνεργουμένην must be taken here not as pass., but as middle (cf. Galatians 5:6). In Colossians 1:29 we have the similar phrase κατὰ τὴν ἐνέργειαν αὐτοῦ τὴν ἐνεργουμένην ἐν ἐμοὶ ἐν δυνάμει. There it is used with reference to the Apostle's labour and striving at the time; here with reference to the possibilities of God's future dealings with his converts.