Ephesians 3:17b – Spiritual Potting Soil

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love …

Summary: Paul writes, presuming his readers are “rooted and established in love.” But what does that mean, and why would Paul think it important?

Hey, you! Yes, YOU! Are you “rooted and established in love?” Do we even know what it means to be rooted and established in love?

These questions jump off the page as we read Paul’s words to the Ephesians, and by extension, to us. What does it mean to be “rooted in love?”

As we discussed in our last meditation, “My Siamese Me,” each of us is two separate beings, conjoined at conception and separated at death. The body dies and is buried while the spirit continues. (See Romans 8:9-10 below.)

When Paul says, “I pray that you…,” the “you” he refers to is our spiritual “you.” This can be confusing because the Bible constantly jumps back and forth between the two “you’s.”

When Paul writes, “I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus …” (Ephesians 3:1), he refers to his physical body being in prison. When he writes, “the mystery made known to me by revelation” (Ephesians 3:3), he is talking about his spiritual self. I say this because the flesh cannot receive a spiritual message. As we saw in Acts 9:3-6, when Jesus wanted to get Paul’s attention in the flesh, he used physical light and sound to get his attention. Revelation comes by visions and dreams in the spiritual realm (Acts 2:17, Joel 2:28). In this instance, when Paul writes, “I pray that you …,” he is addressing our spiritual selves.

What kind of love do you think Paul is referring to?

The word “love” tends to be used loosely in English and can mean anything from the love of God to the love of chocolate. When Jesus summarized “All the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 22:37-40), he included three types of love: First, love for God above all else. Second, love your neighbor as yourself. Third (this is implied), we have to love ourselves if we are to love others as ourselves.

The word “love” includes a range of emotions ranging from feeling responsible for civic duty (pragma) to the passion we feel for our mate (eros). Love also has practical implications, such as where we spend our time. What we do says a lot about who or what we care about.

So let’s check our work. What does Paul’s letter say in the original Greek? He uses the word “agapé” for love. So Paul isn’t saying we should be rooted in self-love or even love for family, country, or our mate. Paul expects us as believers to be rooted in God-like love. The kind of selfless love that the Greeks call “agapé.”

Application: Study God’s Word daily to better understand how he wants us to love.

Food for Thought: If people were plants, how would being rooted in hate be different than being rooted in love?

Romans 8:9-10 — “You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness.”