Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Progressive Christian
INNER CIRCLE: God’s Transcending Love

INNER CIRCLE: God’s Transcending Love

Last updated on: September 18, 2026 at 8:31 pm by Keith Giles

0 Comments

INNER CIRCLE: God’s Transcending Love 2026-09-18T20:31:51+00:00 Keith Giles

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Ephesians 3:14-21

“For this reason, I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to the power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” (Emphasis mine)

This is one of my favorite passages from the writings of the Apostle Paul. Here, he extols the virtues of “how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,” and seems, at times, to struggle to find the words to express just how far beyond our ability to grasp this love really is.

If you’ll notice in the passage above I have emphasized how often Paul uses the word “power.” First, he prays that God “may strengthen you with power through God’s Spirit in your inner being.” Why? “ so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.” It’s not because Christ does not already dwell in our hearts. It’s that we must surrender to the power of God’s Spirit that is already alive within our inner being so that we can be strengthened with God’s power. Once this happens, we become “rooted and established in love,” and that is when we find we “have power, together with all of God’s holy people (i.e., those who have awakened to their Oneness with Christ and all things), to grasp how high and wide and long and deep is the love of Christ.”

Notice that this love of Christ “surpasses knowledge.” That means that if you could somehow have all of the wisdom and knowledge in the Universe, it would still not be enough to contain the surpassing expanse of the love of Christ.

What I find most fascinating in this passage is to examine the Greek words that Paul uses in this section for the word “know.” We’ve already made a very big deal elsewhere about the differences between the “episteme” (information) kind of knowing, and the “ginosko” or “gnosis” (experiential) kind of knowing. So, we might assume that when Paul says something like this: “…to know this love that surpasses knowledge”, the Greek text would read something like this: “to ginosko this agape (love) that surpasses episteme.” At least, that’s what I expected to find. However, that is not how Paul phrases this part of the verse. Instead, what he actually says is this: “…to ginosko this love that surpasses gnosis.”

That distinction is quite interesting, because Paul is not trying to make a point about how the experiential (ginosko) knowledge of God surpasses the informational (episteme) knowledge of God. Instead, he’s trying to get us to understand that the love of Christ surpasses even the ginosko knowing of God we currently experience. That’s astounding to me. It suggests that the height, width, depth, and length of Christ’s love go far beyond anything we are currently capable of imagining. Even Paul himself is admitting that he has not yet begun to come close to reaching the limits of Christ’s love.

So, what will it take for us to ever fully grasp the unfathomable fullness of Christ’s love? Well, according to Paul, it would take a lot of power. He appeals over and over again to the necessity of surrendering to the power of God if we ever hope to come close to this transcendent experience of the love of Christ. It’s not our power. It’s not about anything we can do. In fact, the more we try to understand it; to comprehend (episteme) this great love, the further away we start to push that love. Because it’s not about information, and, believe it or not, it’s not even about gnosis. It’s about resting in the presence of God’s love and floating on the surface of the ocean of Christ’s unending agape for everyone, everywhere, and trusting in God’s power to transform us.

Only God can give us the power by God’s Spirit in our inner being to grasp this great love. Therefore, let us boast all the more in our weakness and rest in God’s power to heal us, sustain us, and consume us.

Keith Giles is the best-selling author of the Jesus Un series. He has appeared on CNN, USA Today, Coast To Coast with George Noory, BuzzFeed, and John Fugelsang’s “Tell Me Everything.” He co-hosts the Heretic Happy Hour Podcast.

Previous Post

September 11, 2026

INNER CIRCLE: This Great Mystery

Next Post

September 25, 2026 INNER CIRCLE: All Is One

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"Googled: “In psychology and everyday language, intelligence is the capacity to learn, understand, reason, think ..."

Herm

AI Is A Gateway to the ..."

"It's so weird to me how anyone thinks that getting basic income is in any ..."

Scott Santens

AI Is A Gateway to the ..."

"Sounds very much like what Pope Leo wrote in Magnifica Humanitas - a lot of ..."

ffeineandsugar

AI Is A Gateway to the ..."

"As it is written in the canonical Gospels:But as many as received Him, to them ..."

Herm

INNER CIRCLE: God’s Transcending Love

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Art Biblicism Christian Politics Cosmic Christ Deconstruction Discipleship Dispensationalism Divine Unity Ekklesia End Time Stuff Eschatology Evergreen Following Jesus Gender General Christian Topics Gnostics God's Love Gospel of Judas Gospel of Mary Gospel of Philip Gospel of the Kingdom Gospel of Thomas Gospel of Truth Hell Historical Jesus Inner Circle Investigative Reporting Islam LGBTQ Issues Marriage Mental/Emotional Health Mystery Non-Duality Philosophy Podcast Poetry Politics Poverty Preemptive Love Prophecy Psychology Quantum Theology Racism Reconstruction Satire Sex Technology Theology Uncategorized Universalism

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was sold into slavery by his brothers?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Joseph Benjamin Dan Judah

Books by This Author Books by Keith Giles

See All Titles »