Beyond and Above All

One of my many favorite verses is found in my favorite book of the Bible — Ephesians. “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us” (3:20). Just about every translation struggles to find the right words for an English translation.

The words that seems to cause the problem are the two “huper” words in the Greek; we could call them “super” words. First we have “above all” [huper panta], meaning “beyond and above all” (Robertson). The second compound word is “exceeding abundantly” [huperekperissou], also used in I Thessalonians 3:10 and 5:13, meaning “to an extent which we cannot express” (Barnes). To put the two together, we read “Now to Him Who is able to do superexcessively above all…” (CLT), or “Now to the One who is able to do beyond all things, superabundantly beyond and over and above those things that we are asking for ourselves and considering…” (Wuest).

Now that is some God! If we could only get believers to believe it! He can do infinitely more than we can ask for or think. The only modifier is the last phrase, “according to the power at work within us.” Well, no problem there then, since the power in us is the same power God used to raise Jesus from the dead (Ephesians 1:19-20). Now we can walk down the street with our heads held high, as if we own one side and are thinking about buying the other!

In Structural Principles of the Bible by F.E. Marsh, a book that had a huge impact on my Bible study, the author writes (page 214-215): “There is a pyramid of thought in this verse on answered prayer:

“… And this is not all, for this passage is an elliptical one; that is there is something wanting yet, so God is able to do beyond what is beyond measure, and what is beyond what is beyond what is beyond measure, and what is beyond what is beyond what is beyond measure; yea, what is beyond what is beyond what is beyond what is beyond of beyond measure.”