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that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love,<\/strong><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Christ dwells in the heart of every Christian.<\/p>\n \u201cDwell<\/span>\u201d is from the Greek verb katoike\u014d<\/em><\/span>, which is made up of kata<\/em><\/span>, meaning \u201cdown\u201d used here as an intensifier, and oike\u014d<\/em><\/span>, meaning \u201cto dwell\u201d or \u201cto reside.\u201d Thus, katoike\u014d<\/em><\/span> means to dwell permanently. In Greek it represents a distinct difference from paroike\u014d<\/em><\/span>, meaning \u201cto dwell temporarily.\u201d<\/p>\n The Greek word translated \u201chearts<\/span>\u201d is kardia<\/em><\/span>, from which we get the medical term \u201ccardiac\u201d referring to the heart.<\/p>\n The word \u201crooted<\/span>\u201d is from the Greek verb rhidzo\u014d<\/em><\/span>, which is based on the noun rhidza<\/em><\/span> (from which we get the botanical term rhizome, meaning \u201ca root\u201d). It is expressed here in the perfect tense indicating past completed action with an ongoing effect, where the emphasis is on the effect.<\/p>\n \u201cGrounded<\/span>\u201d is translated from themelio\u014d<\/em><\/span>, which is indirectly based on the verb tithemi<\/em><\/span>, meaning \u201cto put in place.\u201d Themelio\u014d<\/em><\/span> means \u201cto put a foundation in place.\u201d This word is also expressed in the prefect tense.<\/p>\n Paul is in the midst of worshipping God through prayer. It is a prayer specifically for the Christians in the church at Ephesus, but in general it is intended for all Christians. As we noted in yesterday\u2019s verse, there are five specific petitions contained in this prayer. The first, which we looked at yesterday, was that God the Father would strengthen our inner man; this is to be done by God the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n The second petition of Paul\u2019s prayer is for Christ to dwell in our hearts through faith. In translating from any language into another language there are situations where the exact meaning of the source language is difficult to express in the target language. This is the case here. It appears from the translation that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith, but then again, He may not. That is NOT what the Greek text says. In fact, in the Greek the verb translated \u201cdwell<\/span>\u201d is expressed as an infinitive, so a literal translation might be \u201cthat Christ to dwell in your hearts \u2026\u201d but that doesn\u2019t make sense in English. This particular infinitive is an aorist infinitive which indicates completed action, so we could actually translate this as \u201cthat Christ dwells in your hearts \u2026\u201d Paul is praying to the Father for all those in Ephesus to be born-again Christians.<\/p>\n Notice, also, that from verses fourteen through seventeen Paul is praying to the Father to strengthen by the Holy Spirit and to indwell the believer with Christ (the Son) through faith. All three persons of the Godhead are at work together here in the lives of believers.<\/p>\n Based on the Greek grammatical structure of this and the following verse, the second half of this verse is actually part of the next verse, so we will look at it tomorrow.<\/p>\n Does Christ dwell in your heart (a completed action)? If you have accepted His blood, through faith, as payment for your sins, then He does. This indwelling is not a process; it doesn\u2019t gradually happen. It happened once and for all the moment you believed the gospel message.<\/p>\n In God\u2019s service, for His glory,<\/strong><\/p>\nTruth to Learn<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n
Behind the Words<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n
Meaning Explained<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n
Application<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n
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