Five-minute study · Day 218 · Ephesians 3
Ephesians 3:20
A word worth stopping on: exceeding abundantly ὑπερεκπερισσοῦ hyperekperissou
Paul needed a word to describe God's capacity and could not find one big enough. So he built one. The Greek is hyperekperissou: hyper (above, beyond) + ek (out of) + perissou (abundance, overflow). Three intensifiers stacked into a single word. Above-out-of-abundance. Paul welded three prefixes together because the standard Greek vocabulary for 'a lot' was insufficient for what he was trying to say. The sentence in Ephesians 3:20 describes God as 'able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.' That phrase, in six English words, translates a single Greek compound that Paul invented on the spot.
Word study: exceeding abundantly
- Greek
- ὑπερεκπερισσοῦ
- Pronounced
- hyperekperissou
- Strong's
- G5228+G1537
- Definition
- Super-abundantly, exceedingly beyond measure, far more than. A triple compound adverb formed by combining three intensifying elements: hyper (over, above), ek (out of), and perissou (abundantly, exceedingly). Paul's coined term for capacity that exceeds every category of measurement.
Hyperekperissou appears 3 times in the New Testament, all in Paul's letters: Ephesians 3:20, 1 Thessalonians 3:10 ('praying exceedingly'), and 1 Thessalonians 5:13 (variant reading). BDAG defines it as 'quite beyond all measure, infinitely more than.' Lincoln's Word Biblical Commentary on Ephesians identifies the word as characteristic of Paul's rhetorical style when straining to express divine realities that exceed normal language.
The triple compound construction reveals Paul's method. Greek allows prefixes to be stacked. Perissou already means 'abundantly, exceedingly.' Ekperissou intensifies it: 'out of abundance,' meaning overflowing beyond the container. Hyperekperissou adds a third layer: 'above and beyond the overflow.' Each prefix elevates the previous one. Paul kept adding intensity because each level of 'much' was still too small.
Lincoln notes that the word is part of a doxology (3:20-21) that closes the first half of Ephesians. Paul has spent three chapters laying out the cosmic scope of God's plan: the mystery of the gospel, the inclusion of the Gentiles, the reconciliation of all things in Christ. The doxology responds to this cosmic vision with language that matches its scale. The God who planned the reconciliation of the universe is able to do hyperekperissou beyond what anyone can ask or conceive.
The phrase 'above all that we ask or think' (hyper panta ha aitoumetha e nooumen) sets the upper boundary of human imagination and then exceeds it. Ask: the highest thing you have ever requested from God. Think: the most expansive thing you have ever conceived about God's power. Hyperekperissou above both. Paul is saying: your ceiling is God's floor. The most extravagant thing you can imagine is still a fraction of God's actual capacity.
The qualifier 'according to the power that worketh in us' (kata ten dynamin ten energoumenen en hemin) grounds the doxology in present experience. The power Paul describes is already operating. It is not a future promise alone. The dynamin (power, from which English gets 'dynamite') is energoumenen (working, actively functioning) en hemin (in us). The same power that exceeds imagination is the power already at work inside the believer. Paul's triple-compound word describes a reality that is both beyond comprehension and immediately present.
Historical context · Approximately AD 60-62, written from imprisonment (likely Rome) to the churches in and around Ephesus
When Standard Greek Was Not Enough
Ephesians was likely written during Paul's first Roman imprisonment (Acts 28:16-31), approximately AD 60-62. The letter is among the most theologically dense in the Pauline corpus. Some scholars identify it as a circular letter, written to multiple churches in the province of Asia (the earliest manuscripts of Ephesians 1:1 omit 'in Ephesus,' suggesting the letter may not have been addressed to Ephesus exclusively). The theology is expansive: cosmic reconciliation, the mystery of the gospel, the unity of Jew and Gentile in one body, the church as Christ's fullness.
Lincoln notes that Paul's rhetorical style in Ephesians differs from his other letters. The sentences are longer. The vocabulary is more elevated. The theological vision is more cosmic in scope. Ephesians 1:3-14 is a single sentence in Greek, spanning twelve verses. Ephesians 3:14-21, the prayer and doxology that contains hyperekperissou, is another sustained passage of remarkable linguistic complexity.
Paul's practice of coining compound words was not unprecedented in Greek. The Greek language allowed and encouraged compounding. Poets and rhetoricians regularly built new compounds to express novel ideas. Aristophanes coined comic compounds for satirical effect. Stoic philosophers built technical compounds for precision. Paul, trained in Greek rhetoric (he studied in Tarsus, a center of Stoic philosophy), used the same technique for theological purposes. When existing vocabulary could not carry the weight of what he wanted to say about God, he built new words.
The doxology in 3:20-21 follows a prayer (3:14-19) that itself strains against the limits of language. Paul prays that the Ephesians would know 'the breadth, and length, and depth, and height' (3:18) of Christ's love, and would 'know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge' (3:19). He prays for them to know something that surpasses knowing. The doxology then declares that the God to whom this prayer is addressed can do hyperekperissou beyond the prayer itself. The prayer is bold. God's capacity exceeds the prayer. Paul's language stretches to match the reality he is describing and still falls short. The triple compound is an admission: even his best word is inadequate.
Ephesus was the largest city in the Roman province of Asia, home to the Temple of Artemis (one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world), a center of commerce, magic, and religious diversity. The believers in Ephesus lived surrounded by competing claims about divine power. Paul's doxology asserts that the power at work in the church exceeds every other claim about every other deity in the city.
For reflection
Paul stacked three intensifiers into one word because no existing Greek term was large enough for God's capacity. Hyper. Ek. Perissou. Above. Out of. Abundance. Your biggest prayer, the one you are almost embarrassed to pray because it feels too large, registers below the floor of what God is able to do. The power Paul describes is already at work in you (3:20b). It is functioning right now. What is the prayer you have been scaling down because it felt too big? What would it sound like if you prayed it at full scale, trusting a God whose capacity requires a triple-compound word to approximate?
Paul coined the word because standard vocabulary was insufficient. Your standard expectations of God may be equally insufficient.
Sources: BDAG; Lincoln, 'Ephesians' (WBC); Ephesians 1:3-14; Acts 28:16-31