Ephesians 3:20

Ephesians 3:20, in plain English

Paul closes his prayer with affirmation that God is capable of doing far more than you could ask or even dream—and He accomplishes it through His power already working inside you.

Why it's here

This is the final word before Paul's doxology. After laying out all these requests—strength, Christ indwelling, comprehending His love, being filled with God's fullness—Paul steps back and acknowledges: God's capacity exceeds even my prayers. And it's not theoretical; His power is actively working within you right now.

Who's speaking

Paul

Where it sits in the story

This doxology echoes throughout Paul's letters and throughout Scripture generally—the acknowledgment that God's resources are inexhaustible. But it's grounded in reality: the Ephesian believers are living proof. The power working in them is the same power that raised Christ from the dead.

The scholarly reading

Paul concludes with a doxological assurance that God has capacity and power to accomplish infinitely more than believers can ask for or imagine, already working this power within them.

Language and setting

The doxological formula 'to Him who is able' (tō dynamenō) appears in Jude 24 and Romans 16:25, marking liturgical conclusion. 'Immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine' (hyperekperissou hyper panta ha aiteometha ē nooumen) employs piled prepositions and superlatives—creating rhetorical abundance matching the theological claim. The qualification 'according to His power that is at work within us' (kata tēn dynamin tēn energoumenēn en hemin) affirms that this divine capability is not abstract but activated in believers' present experience. The prayer ends not with doubt but with confident appropriation.

Voice

Paul, affirming divine capacity and present agency

Significance

This concludes not just the prayer but the entire doctrinal-pastoral section of Ephesians. It echoes Jesus's teaching on prayer and faith (Matthew 7:7-11, Mark 11:24) and promises that God's purposes exceed human limitation. This becomes foundational to Christian hope—not wishful thinking but confidence in God's demonstrated fidelity and power. The prayer's end points toward Ephesians 4's practical exhortations, as if to say: God's power is already at work; now live accordingly.

18will have power, together with all the saints, to comprehend the length and width and height and depth

19of the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

20Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us,

21to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Read all of Ephesians 3 — Paul is a prisoner, but the mystery he carries is bigger than any chain. Gentiles are fellow heirs, and God's wisdom is being displayed to cosmic powers.