What Does Ephesians 3:18 Mean?
May you be strong enough to grasp with all the set-apart ones what is the width, and length, and depth, and height.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;THE KEY
Comprehension is a shared grasp of Christ’s love, an expanse that reaches in every direction.
THE MEANING
You take hold of Christ’s love in company with all the set-apart ones. Its breadth, length, depth, and height name an expanse that meets you from every direction. Understanding appears here as a shared, living grasp.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
You are not excluded from knowing Christ’s love until you can comprehend it alone; the verse places this grasp among all the saints.
THE ROOT
καταλαβέσθαι
katalabesthai
GROWS FROM
λαμβάνω
lambanō
To take or receive; in compounds, to take hold of, seize, or attain.
English “comprehend” can sound like an inward act of intellect; this Greek verb carries the sense of taking hold of or attaining. Beside “with all saints,” it pictures understanding as a grasp shared across the community.
ALSO GROWS
elabon: Received, took
ἔλαβον
This form from the same root shows that grasping can also carry the sense of receiving what is offered.
antilambanomai: Take hold of, help, support
ἀντιλαμβάνομαι
This compound keeps the root’s sense of grasping close to physical support, illuminating the shared character of understanding “with all saints.”
THE PATTERN
The expanse of divine love exceeds a single measure and becomes known in shared life.
For as the heavens are high above the earth, so mighty is his faithful love over those in awe of him.Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Jesus the Anointed One, our Lord.so that their hearts may be comforted, having been joined together in love, unto all the riches of the full bearing of understanding, into the full knowing of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of the Anointed One.THE THREAD
But as many as took him in, he gave the right to become children of God, to those who trust in his nature.“Received” is ἔλαβον (elabon), a form of λαμβάνω (lambanō), the same root carried by “comprehend” here. The echo lets the grasp of Christ’s love carry the shape of receiving what is offered, within the company named in Ephesians.
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