Ephesians 3:18
May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
In this verse, we find Love that has breadth, length, depth, and height, and we immediately notice this Love is four-dimensional, not three like everything in our world. This is Heavenly Love, for it says in Greek that we may experientially know This Love which passes experiential knowledge (Eph. 3:19). We can plumb the depth of This Love where He Loved us when we were dead in trespasses and sin. We are made to experience and comprehend the height to which The Love of God has exalted us as adopted sons in The Dispensation of The Mystery.
Look at Ephesians 2:1-7. Note in the first verse the words in italics. It is not necessary to drop down five verses to find a verb to take care of the ellipsis (a word or phrase left out). It is found in the preceding verse and right at hand (Eph. 1:23). According to the structure, this subject began with the prayer in Eph. 1:15-23. So all of chapter one from verse 15 leads up to this expression, And you. The note in the Companion Bible suggests Even you.
So Eph. 2:1 here means, Even you hath He filled with all this fulness, even you who were dead by trespasses and sins. What a contrast between the then and now! The depth to which we all at one time had fallen being dead in trespasses and sins. This speaks of the natural man and his inheritance from Adam, aided and abetted by the world, the flesh, and the devil. There is only one reason for this great change, and it is in Eph. 2:5, God's Grace.
Note the three things that work together against the natural man; the course of this world, the prince of the power of the air (Satan), and the lusts of our flesh. In Rom. 1:18-32, where three times it is said that God gave them up or gave them over because of their own willfulness; they suppressed the truth in unrighteousness, they did not glorify God, were unthankful, imagined things, worshiped images, and the like, even as today.
In verse one, Paul says you, but in verse 5, he includes himself with those who had been dead. Paul had been at one time a great religionist, and he was at the top of being lawful, for he was a Pharisee. He had zealously taken sides in the Jews religion, but now in Christ, he finally realized his own fallen state, dead in trespasses and sins.
We have pointed out the depth of His Love for us when we were dead in trespasses and sins. But look at the height; made us sit together in Heavenly Places in Christ Jesus. And we are told that He is Far above all power and authority. The ones who were in the depths of trespasses and sins at one time are now seated with Christ in Heavenly Places, Far above all.
In Eph. 2:7, we have part of the length mentioned, for it is in The Ages to come that we will experience further kindness. The other extreme of the length goes back to before the overthrow of the world. See Eph. 1:4, for here we are chosen in Christ before the overthrow of the world to live in the ages to come in Heavenly Places.
In view of all these blessings, we who once were dead in trespasses and sins are now asked to walk worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called (Eph. 4:1).
Note the words "But God" in Eph. 2:4. This is like Selah. Please take note, is what it means. Notice that God loved us while we were yet dead in sins. His mercy could only be manifested because of the blood of Christ. Only in Christ can we be in The Heavenlies.
And all this is because of the breadth or width, which is like as far as the east is from the west, or endless like His Love, Mercy, and Grace.
