made aware of its nearness, he could have no delight in its beauty. Christ dwells in us by faith, because it is by faith we perceive his presence, his excellence, and his glory, and because it is by faith we appropriate and reciprocate the manifestations of his love. Faith is to this spiritual communion, what esteem and affection are to the fellowships of domestic life.
V.18. The construction of the clause, ἐν ἀγάπῃ ἐῤῥιζωμένοι καὶ τεθεμελιωμένοι ἵνα, KTA, is a matter of doubt. By many of the older and later commentators, it is connected with the preceding clause. The sense would then be: ‘That thus Christ may dwell in the hearts of you, ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ὑμῶν, ἐῤῥιζωμένοι, rooted and grounded in love.’ This supposes the grammatical construction to be irregular, as ἐῤῥιζ. does not agree with ὑμῶν. The only reason urged for this interpretation is, that as Paul contemplates his readers as regenerated, he could not pray that Christ should dwell in their hearts, for such indwelling is inseparable from the new- birth which they already enjoyed. To pray for the indwelling of Christ would be to pray for their regene- ration. The inward sense, therefore, despite the gram- matical form of the words, requires such a construction as shall harmonize with that idea. Paul prays, not that Christ may dwell in their hearts, but that he may dwell in their hearts as confirmed in love. It is not, therefore, for the indwelling of Christ, but for their confirmation in love, for which he prays. There does not seem to be much force in this reasoning. The in- dwelling of Christ, isa thing of degrees. God mani-
CHAP. Ill. VER. 18. 187
fests himself more fully and uniformly in the hearts of his people at one time than at another. Any Christian may pray for the presence of God, and what is his in- dwelling but the manifestation of his presence? The majority of commentators, therefore, assuming merely a trajection of the particle ἵνα (comp. Acts 19, 4. Gal. 2,10. 2 Thess. 2, 7), connect the clause in question with what follows; 7 order that, being rooted and grounded in love, ye may understand, &c. The effect of the inward strengthening by the Spirit, or of the indwelling of Christ, is this confirmation of love; and the effect of the confirmation of love, is ability to com- prehend (in our measure) the love of Christ.
The love in which we are to be rooted is not the love of God or of Christ toward us, but either brotherly love or love as a Christian grace without determin- ing its object. It is that love which flows from faith, and of which both God and the brethren are the ob- jects. It is for the increase and ascendency of this grace through the indwelling of Christ, till it sustains and strengthens the whole inner man, so that the be- liever may stand as a well-rooted tree or as a well- founded building, that the apostle here prays.
ἐξισχύσητε καταλαβέσθαι, may be fully able (as the é« is intensive) to comprehend. Without being strengthened by the Spirit in the inner man, without the indwelling of Christ, without being rooted and grounded in love, it is impossible to have any adequate apprehension of the gospel or of the love of Christ therein revealed. The apostle therefore prays that his