Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

Ephesians 3:20

Ephesians 3:20. Now to him. This doxology, like that in Romans 11:33-36, closes the doctrinal part of the Epistle.

That is able to do above all things. The ascription of glory is to God as the Almighty worker, because His power is specially manifest in the great matter which has been the theme of the Epistle: ‘the Church in Christ' The phrase ‘above all things,' which is in emphatic position, should be joined with ‘do,' and not lost in the adverb which follows. It is to be taken in its widest sense: God can do more than all things that can hinder.

Abundantly above what, etc. ‘What' does not directly refer to ‘all things,' but introduces a new subject explanatory of the previous one. There is no tautology, but in this manner the Apostle brings his own prayer into contrast with God's almightiness. ‘Having exhausted all the forms of prayer, he casts himself on the infinitude of God, in full confidence that He can and will do all that omnipotence itself can effect. His powers, not our prayers nor our highest conceptions, is the measure of the Apostle's anticipations and desires. This idea he weaves into a doxology, which has in it more of heaven than of earth' (Hodge).

According to the power that is working in us. This power is that of the indwelling Spirit, and it is according to this power that God is able to do His almighty will. This added clause suggests the same idea as ‘earnest' in chap. Ephesians 1:14. Only an Almighty Father could bestow the continued indwelling of the Spirit, and in this we have the pledge that He will do beyond all our petitions and desires.

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Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

Ephesians 3:20

Old Testament

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