Ephesians 3:19
And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
Study Note
Study Note
Paul's prayer that the Ephesians might 'know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God' contains one of the New Testament's most audacious formulations. The paradox of 'knowing what surpasses knowledge' reflects the Pauline epistemology of love: the love of Christ is not a proposition to be mastered but a dimension of reality that exceeds all cognitive categories. The goal — 'filled with all the fullness of God' (pleroma) — echoes Colossians 2:9-10 ('in Christ the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily, and you are filled in him'), suggesting that the prayer's telos is participation in divine life. Gregory of Nyssa's concept of 'epektasis' (eternal stretching forward) draws on this verse's portrait of inexhaustible spiritual progress.
Other Translations
and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that ye may be filled unto all the fulness of God.
to know also the love of the Christ that is exceeding the knowledge, that ye may be filled--to all the fulness of God;
And to have knowledge of the love of Christ which is outside all knowledge, so that you may be made complete as God himself is complete.
Cross References
And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.
In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the …
And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord …
And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; …
And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the …
And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.
For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living …
Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that …
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which …