Let us pause for a moment to join in St Paul's invocation: "I bow my knees to the Father, of whom [not _the whole family_, but] _every family_ in heaven and upon earth is named." The point of St Paul's original phrase is somewhat lost in translation. The Greek word for _family_ (_patria_) is based on that for _father_ (_pater_). A distinguished father anciently gave his name to his descendants; and this paternal name became the bond of family or tribal union, and the title which ennobled the race. So we have "the sons of Israel," the "sons of Aaron" or "of Korah"; and in Greek history, the Atridae, the Alcmaeonidae, who form a family of many kindred households--a _clan_, or _gens_, designated by their ancestral head. Thus Joseph (in Luke ii. 4) is described as "being of the house and family [_patria_] of David"; and Jesus is "the Son of David." Now Scripture speaks also of _sons of God_; and these of two chief orders. There are those "in heaven," who form a race distinct from ourselves in origin--divided, it may be, amongst themselves into various orders and dwelling in their several homes in the heavenly places.
Of these are "the sons of God" whom the Book of Job pictures appearing in the Divine court and forming a "family in heaven." When Christ promises (Luke xx. 36) that His disciples in their immortal state will be "equal to the angels," because they are "sons of God," it is implied that the angels are already and by birthright sons of God. Hence in Hebrews xii. 22, 23 the angels are described as "the festal gathering and assembly of _the firstborn_ enrolled in heaven." We, the sons of Adam, with our many tribes and kindreds, through Jesus Christ our Elder Brother constitute a new family of God. God becomes our Name-father, and permits us also to call ourselves His sons through faith. Thus the Church of believers in the Son of God constitutes the "family on earth named" from the same Father who gave His name to the holy angels, our wise and strong and brilliant elder brothers. They and we are alike God's offspring. Heaven and earth are kindred spheres.
This passage gives to God's Fatherhood the same extension that chapter i. 21 has given to Christ's Lordship. Every order of creaturely intelligence acknowledges God for the Author of its being, and bows to Christ as its sovereign Lord. In God's name of Father the entire wealth of love that streams forth from Him through endless ages and unmeasured worlds is hidden; and in the name of sons of God there is contained the blessedness of all creatures that can bear His image.
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I. What, therefore, shall the universal Father be asked to give to His needy children upon earth? They have newly learnt His name; they are barely recovered from the malady of their sin, fearful of trial, weak to meet temptation. _Strength_ is their first necessity: "I bow my knees to the Father of heaven and earth, praying that He may grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened by the entering of the Spirit into your inward man." The apostle asked them in verse 13, in view of the greatness of his own calling, to be of good courage on his account; now he entreats God so to reveal to them His glory and to pour into their hearts His Spirit, that no weakness and fear may remain in them. The _strengthening_ of which he speaks is the opposite of the _faintness of heart_, the failure of courage deprecated in verse 13. Using the same word, the apostle bids the Corinthians "Quit themselves like men, _be strong_" (1 Ep. xvi. 13). He desires for the Asian believers a manful heart, the strength that meets battle and danger without quailing.
The source of this strength is not in ourselves. We are to be "strengthened _with_ [or _by_] _power_,"--by "the power" of God "working in us" (ver. 20), the very same "power, exceeding great," that raised Jesus our Lord from the dead (i. 19). This superhuman might of God operating in men is always referred to the Holy Spirit: "by power made strong," he says, "_through the Spirit_." Nothing is more familiar in Scripture than the conception of the indwelling Spirit of God as the source of moral strength. The special power that belongs to the gospel Christ ascribes altogether to this cause. "Ye shall receive power," He said to His disciples, "after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you." Hence is derived the vigour of a strong faith, the valour of the good soldier of Christ Jesus, the courage of the martyrs, the cheerful and indomitable patience of multitudes of obscure sufferers for righteousness' sake. There is a great truth expressed when we describe a brave and enterprising man as a _man of spirit_. All high and commanding qualities of soul come from this invisible source. They are inspirations. In the human will, with its _vis vivida_, its elasticity and buoyancy, its steadfastness and resolved purpose, is the highest type of force and the image of the almighty Will. When that will is animated and filled with "the Spirit," the man so possessed is the embodiment of an inconceivable power. Firm principle, hope and constancy, self-mastery, superiority to pleasure and pain,--all the elements of a noble courage are proper to the man of the Spirit. Such power is not neutralized by our infirmities; it asserts itself under their limiting conditions and makes them its contributories. "My grace is sufficient for thee," said Christ to His disabled servant; "for power is perfected in weakness." In privation and loneliness, in old age and bodily decay, the strength of God in the human spirit shines with its purest lustre. Never did St Paul rise to such a height of moral ascendency as at the time when he was "smitten down" and all but destroyed by persecution and affliction. "That the excellency of the power," he says, "may be of God, and not from ourselves" (2 Cor. iv. 7-11).