LIVING WATERS
For the proclamation of the Gospel and the edification of the Body of Christ
Knowing the Love of Christ
"...and to know the love of Christ, which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God" (Ephesians 3:19).
One of the great objectives of Paul's prayer in Ephesians chapter 3 -that prayer which he prayed on his knees, so transcendent and heartfelt- is that the Ephesians might know the love of Christ. This love, he tells us, on the one hand, exceeds all knowledge, and, on the other, will enable believers, as a whole, to attain the fullness of God.
To know, in biblical terms, is not a mental exercise, but an experiential reality. In the Old Testament we read on many occasions expressions such as this one, referring to Adam and Eve: "And Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and brought forth..." (Gen. 4:1). What does this expression refer to? Evidently to the marital relationship, because as a consequence of it, Eve became pregnant. Through the marital act, man and woman become one flesh.
In Amos 3:2 the Lord says to Israel: "You only have I known of all the families of the earth". This does not refer to an intellectual knowledge -because that knowledge of God is absolute- but an experiential one, because only with Israel had God had dealings as Bridegroom to bride. So also, he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him (1 Cor. 6:17).
Now this is the kind of knowledge of the love of Christ that exceeds all knowledge: an experiential knowledge. It is therefore superior to all other knowledge. The sciences seek knowledge about all things, but such a thing is a mere exercise of the intellect, where the most intimate and spiritual parts of the human being are not involved.
The children of God do not need to go to university, nor to obtain a doctorate to be 'doctors' in this knowledge. It is enough that their inner man is strengthened; that Christ dwells by faith in their hearts; it is enough that they know him, with all the saints, in his marvelous dimensions, and then the love of Christ will unfold for them to reach all the fullness of God.
The fullness of God is not attained by means of theological knowledge, much less philosophical, for both use the resources of a fallen mind, not renewed by the spirit. Only the life of God; only the spirit of revelation; only the strengthening of the inner man for which Paul prayed can make it possible to attain such a goal. If it were possible for man to obtain it, Paul would not have prayed on his knees on behalf of the Ephesians.
All prayer is an expression of need, lack, littleness and limitation. If it were not so, the believer would not need to pray. It would be enough for him to propose it and that would be it. But if Paul prays in this way, what is left for us? The knowledge of the love of Christ is practical, palpable love, which not only speaks well, but does good to all. And this knowledge is attained in the midst of the church, with all the saints.