Worthy Brief - 5/13/2026
Friend, the glory revealed in one new man!!
Ephesians 3:18-20 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— 19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,
One of the most quoted promises in all of Scripture is Paul’s declaration in Ephesians 3:20 that God is able to do “exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think.” Yet those words are often read disconnected from the context in which Paul wrote them. The promise given is not primarily about personal breakthrough -- it is about the revelation of the one new man and the unveiling of God’s eternal purpose through a reconciled people.
Paul spends the chapter describing the mystery hidden through the ages: Jew and Gentile brought together into one body through Yeshua (Jesus). Then he erupts into prayer, asking that believers would be strengthened by the Spirit in the inner man so they could comprehend the “width and length and depth and height” of what God is revealing through this reconciled humanity. The cross did not merely save isolated individuals -- it created a new humanity capable of being filled with the fullness of God.
And so Paul’s proclamation -- “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us…” -- is not a disconnected promise standing alone. It is the crescendo of everything he has been building toward throughout Ephesians. The us is the one new man. The power working within is not merely private spiritual strength operating inside isolated believers -- it is resurrection power dwelling within a reconciled people being joined together across every natural division.
The phrase translated “exceedingly abundantly above all” comes from the Greek hyper ek perissou -- a phrase so extravagant that Paul seems to stretch language itself to contain it. Hyper means beyond or surpassing; ek means out from; perissou means overflowing abundance beyond measure. Together, the phrase describes something infinitely excessive, overflowing past every imaginable boundary. Paul piles word upon word because the glory God releases through a reconciled people united in Yeshua cannot be measured by human calculation or contained by ordinary language.
This is what heaven itself has been watching. The principalities and powers in heavenly places, Paul mentioned earlier in the chapter, did not foresee that the instrument of God’s triumph would be a reconciled people. Not an empire. Not a political force. A people united through the blood of Yeshua. What seemed impossible in human history becomes the very place where God displays His manifold wisdom.
Paul’s vision of the one new man flows directly out of Ephesians 2:19–22, where he declares that Jew and Gentile are being “built together for a holy Temple of God" by the Spirit. The Greek word translated “temple” is naos -- not the outer courts, but the inner sanctuary where the presence of God dwells. This means the reconciliation of Jew and Gentile is not merely relational -- it is holy. God is building one new man into His living sanctuary. The one new man is not a theological footnote; it is the very place where the fullness of His glory chooses to dwell and the stage upon which His manifold wisdom is revealed before heaven and earth.
Friend, you have been called into something far greater than individual redemption -- you have been called into the unveiling of the one new man, the dwelling place where the fullness of God desires to rest. This is why Paul prayed for strength in the inner man: because the natural mind cannot fully contain what God is building through reconciliation, covenant, and Kingdom unity. The same resurrection power that raised Yeshua from the dead is now working within a people being joined together under one King. And as that reality unfolds, the world -- and even the powers of heaven -- will witness the immeasurable riches of His glory revealed through a reconciled people filled with the power of God.
Your family in the Lord with much agape love,
George & Baht Rivka (Arad, Israel)
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