Ephesians 3:20 is a doxology — a burst of praise closing the prayer Paul has just prayed for the church: for strength by the Spirit in the inner man, for Christ to dwell in their hearts, and for a knowledge of love that passes knowledge. “Exceeding abundantly above” translates a stacked Greek superlative (hyperekperissou), and the “power that worketh in us” is the Spirit’s power already at work — the same power that raised Christ from the dead. The verse is not a blank check for any ambition, because the sentence ends “unto him be glory in the church”; but it is a genuine check against praying too small.
What the verse says
The verse does not begin a thought; it finishes one. Paul has been on his knees since verse 14: “For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 3:14) — and he prays for three things that escalate as they go. First, strength: “to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man” (Ephesians 3:16). Then, indwelling: “that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith” (Ephesians 3:17). Then, a request that folds in on itself: “to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God” (Ephesians 3:19) — to know the unknowable, to be filled with the fulness of God Himself.
How do you say Amen to a prayer like that? Verse 20 is how. Paul turns from asking to adoring: the God he has been petitioning is “able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.” And the doxology names where that ability is displayed: “Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen” (Ephesians 3:21). With that Amen, the first half of the letter closes; chapter 4 turns to how such a church actually walks.
What it’s often taken to mean
Lifted out of the prayer, verse 20 becomes a caption for dreams: God can do immeasurably more than you imagine, so imagine big — the business, the platform, the breakthrough. The instinct is not entirely wrong, and it should be corrected gently, because the verse really is a rebuke to small expectations. Paul chose the most extravagant stack of syllables Greek would allow precisely so that no one would file God’s ability under “modest.”
But two anchors keep the verse from floating free. The first is what Paul was actually asking. The “all that we ask” of verse 20 refers first to the requests of verses 16–19 — Spirit-strength, Christ’s indwelling, love known and shared “with all saints” (Ephesians 3:18). God’s surplus exceeds prayers of that kind. The second anchor is the destination of the glory: “in the church.” The abundance is poured out where God is making one new humanity in Christ (Ephesians 2:14–16), not wherever we point the verse. Read that way, it does not shrink; it changes direction. The question stops being “is my dream big enough?” and becomes “are my prayers for the church, for love, for the inner man, anywhere near the size of what God is able to do?”
The world behind the verse
Paul writes this prayer from custody — “I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles” (Ephesians 3:1) — and he knows his readers may find that discouraging: “I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you” (Ephesians 3:13). The doxology’s confidence is therefore not the confidence of a man whose circumstances are going well. It rests on something Paul established back in chapter 1, where he prayed that believers would grasp “the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe” — the power “which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 1:19–20). Hoehner and Thielman both note that 3:20 deliberately picks up that earlier language: the power now “working in us” is resurrection power, already operative in the church. A chained apostle praising a God of limitless surplus, and locating the glory in scattered house congregations across Asia Minor — that is the frame the verse was born in.
The original language
Three Greek terms carry the verse:
- Hyperekperissou (“exceeding abundantly above”) — a compound Paul stacks up from hyper (over, beyond) and perissos (abundant): over-and-above-abundantly, beyond-exceedingly. English translations reach for double phrases because one word cannot hold it. It is the vocabulary of surplus deliberately pushed past its limit.
- Dynamis (“power”) — capability, might. The verse does not say God will do everything imaginable, but that He is able (dynamenō) — and the measure of the ability is the power defined in 1:19–20 by the resurrection.
- Energeō (“worketh”) — to be at work, to be operative; the root behind our word “energy.” The participle is present tense: this power is not waiting to arrive. It is already working in believers, which is why Paul can praise before he sees results.
How to read it today
Ephesians 3:20 reads best the way it was written — on your knees, at the end of your biggest prayer. It does not authorize attaching God’s name to any ambition; the glory lands “in the church,” in people being strengthened, indwelt, rooted and grounded in love. But within that arena the verse forbids small expectations. If your honest prayers have shrunk to what seems realistic — a little more patience, a slightly softer heart — the doxology stands over them saying: He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all of it, and the power is not hypothetical, it “worketh in us” already. So pray the unrealistic prayers the passage models: to know a love that passes knowledge, to be filled with the fulness of God. Then say what Paul says, because it is the only fitting response to a God like that: to him be glory.
Common questions about Ephesians 3:20
What does "exceeding abundantly above" mean in Ephesians 3:20?
It translates a single stacked Greek superlative, hyperekperissou — roughly "over-and-above-abundantly," abundance piled on abundance. Paul coins language that strains grammar to say that God's ability outruns not only our requests but our imagination: "above all that we ask or think."
Is Ephesians 3:20 a promise that God will give me whatever I dream of?
No. The verse is a doxology — praise flowing out of the specific prayer of Ephesians 3:14–19, for inner strength by the Spirit, Christ dwelling in the heart, and knowing the love of Christ. And the sentence ends "unto him be glory in the church" (3:21). The arena of the abundance is the church and its formation in love, not any ambition we attach to the verse. It is not a blank check — but it is a real check against praying too small.
What is "the power that worketh in us" in Ephesians 3:20?
The Spirit's power already at work in believers — the same power Paul described in Ephesians 1:19–20 as the working of God's mighty power "which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead." The measure of what God can do in you is resurrection power, and it is present tense: it "worketh in us" now.
Why does Ephesians 3:20 come right after Paul's prayer?
Verses 20–21 are the doxology that closes the prayer of 3:14–19 — and with it the whole first half of the letter. Paul has just asked for things that sound impossible: to know a love that "passeth knowledge" and to "be filled with all the fulness of God" (3:19). The doxology answers the obvious objection: can anyone pray that big? God is able to do exceeding abundantly above it.
Sources
This article draws on the following scholarship. We cite our sources so you can check our work.
- Harold W. Hoehner, Ephesians: An Exegetical Commentary (Baker Academic, 2002).
- Frank Thielman, Ephesians (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament) (Baker Academic, 2010).