Eph 3:14-16 - Bowing Before the Father

14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,
15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name,
16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man,

Paul’s Prayer: That You May Be Strengthened With Power

Vs. 14 - “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,” -

“For this reason” - This does not refer to the previous statements, but to the following prayer starting in verse 16. Paul is earnestly praying to God, the Lord Almighty. He is not sitting in a church pew, or an easy chair in his front room. Paul is humbly asking the Lord to bless these people. 

Vs. 15 - "from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name," - 

This verse is in praise of God the Father. It might read better: “From whom the whole family” In other words, the household of God, the body of believers, which received its name from God (Acts 11:26).

Vs. 16 - “that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man,”

The prayer is threefold:

(1) Strengthened  by the Holy Spirit - vs, 16; 
(2) Christ dwells within us - vs. 17;
(3) To know the love of Christ - vss. 18-19.

Paul prays first that our inner man (our spirit, our emotions, our mind) be strengthened through the Holy Spirit. (See: Rom 8:16; Eph 1:18-20). Strengthened with God’s power, in proportion to the the riches of Christ (See: Eph 1:3-8). These riches are NOT diminished in any way. How do we know this? The answer: Christ is alive - resurrected from the dead - undiminished in any way. He lives, seated next to God the Father, and all things have been given to Him. (John 13:3)

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Eph. 3:11-13 - Boldness and Confident Acces

11 This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord,
12 in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him.
13 Therefore I ask you not to lose heart at my tribulations on your behalf, for they are your glory.

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Do Not Lose Heart

Vs. 11 - “This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord,”

Note: the wisdom of God was revealed (from v. 10) in Christ Jesus our Lord (v. 11). And God had planned it to happen and to be revealed in just this way.

Vs. 12 - “in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him.”

This verse illustrated one of those interesting paradoxes (not the right word to describe this phenomenon) of the faith. We are in Christ, yet we have access through our faith in Christ. We are in Christ; Christ is in us (Col 1:27). Our access to God the Father is through Christ (John 14:6). though faith in Christ (John 3:16, 18, 6:29). Because of God’s love for His own, we are allowed to come into His presence, and boldly, with confidence, because of Christ (Heb 4:16, 10:19, 35; 1 John 2:28; 2 Cor 3:4; Eph 2:18).

Vs. 13 - “Therefore I ask you not to lose heart at my tribulations on your behalf, for they are your glory.”

“Therefore”- looks to the phase “Because of our bold confidence access God the Father” (v. 12).

"not to lose heart at my tribulations" - With the possible exception of verse 3:1 this is the only mention (in this letter) of any trouble for Paul. It is very possible that Paul had written of his predicament before. No doubt that the circumstances of a well-known early church figure as Paul was well known anyway (See: Col 1:24ff; Phil 2:17)

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Eph. 3:8-10 - Very Least of All Saints

8 To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ,
9 and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things;
10 so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.

Unfathomable Riches of Christ

Vs. 8 - “To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ,”

“Very least of all the saints” - Paul had a lot to be proud of; yet in view of Christ, and His sinless perfection — nothing to be proud of. (See: 1 Cor 15:9; 2 Cor 12:11; 1 Tim 1:15; Phil 3:8) I wish I did not have the problem of self pride! Paul is not expressing a false humility.

“This grace was given” - This privilege, the unmerited favor from God, to trust in Paul to spread the Gospel to the Gentiles.

“Unfathomable riches of Christ” - A fathom is a depth measurement, thereby the riches are bottomless, to much to measure. The KJV says “unsearchable” - which is literally “not tracked out”. The implication is clear! In Christ we have so much, that the full measure will never be known to us.

Vs. 9 - “and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things;”

“bring to light... administration... mystery” - To help men see how God’s plan works. From verse 8, Paul was given two tasks: (1) Preach to the Gentiles; (2) To point out the working out of God’s mystery.

“Which for ages” - (Col 1:26) - It was not until Christ was crucified, glorified, that it became clear that salvation was available to all - both Jew and Gentile. But this was alluded to in the Old Testament (Psa 86:9; Isa 9:2, 42:1, 49:6, 55:5, 60:3; Hos 2:23; Mal 1:11). Surely leaders of the Jews knew that salvation was to be available to the Gentiles, but...
Even the verses listed above do not convey just how the Gentiles would have (or gain) such direct access to God. Knowing how people think, the Jews probably felt, to the last, that any access to God would be through Judaism. They did not heed Jesus’ warning (Matt 21:43).

Vs. 10 - “so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.”

In this verse we see the purpose of exposing God’s working out of His plan. If I understand this verse, God hid His plan of salvation for everyone for many generations, even hundreds of years. The method (acceptance of Christ as Savior - see Rom 10:9-10; Heb 11:6) was not fully explained nor revealed. And the fact that now all may come, in Him, was especially astonishing. Through the church the gospel is spread.
God’s wisdom, through the teaching by example, through the teaching of the prophets, by “types”, etc., all point to Christ. Hindsight is 20/20 vision. As we look back and have had 2000+ years to analyze we see the teaching that brings us to Christ. God’s purpose was to reveal, through the church, that salvation is open to all. God’s purpose was to reveal to Satan and his cohorts, that salvation was now simple - in Christ. We may never know, but I can’t help but believe that Satan was shocked, dismayed, stunned to hear God’s Good News.

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