And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. Ephesians 3:19
As boys, we were intrigued by the 1953 Chevrolet engine that was mounted on a stand in the school’s shop classroom. So we were interested when the shop teacher one day opened up a series of simple diagrams and began explaining how a car engine works. We learned what pistons were, how the camshaft made the valves open and close, how Bernoulli’s Principle made the carburetor possible, and the fundamental components of a vehicle’s primary and secondary electrical systems. The diagrams were clear, and Mr. Cameron’s explanations were easy to follow. We walked out of that classroom knowing how car engines worked. But were any of us mechanics at that point. No. Or would any of us be able to use what we learned that day to dive under the hood of one of today’s computer-based cars? Forget about that; modern cars today don’t even have a carburetor, or a distributor cap, at least not like those old engines did. Our knowledge of mechanics, compared to the vast amount of knowledge available, is akin to our knowledge of the love of Christ, compared to the vast amount of knowledge that there is.
What is there about the love of Christ that is beyond our knowing? For one thing, we cannot know the reason behind His love. As humans, our love always has its object as the reason. Whether it be a spouse, parent, child, or friend, there is something about that object of our love that initiates or produces love. Not so with Christ! There was nothing lovable about us, no reason in ourselves why He would love us. His reason for loving us lies in Himself, the glorious truth that God is love (1 John 4:8). It is impossible for Him not to love us. We accept that with wonder but not with understanding.
The love of Christ is so different from human love in many ways. For example, as human love ebbs and flows, the love of Christ remains forever constant. Although our love is so often dependent on circumstances, no circumstances can ever affect the love of Christ.
Think of the first phrase in John 3:16: ‘For God so loved the world’. We have come to know that love. But we will never plumb the depths of that little word ‘so’. Because it passeth knowledge. – Jim MacIntosh