If you have coronary artery disease, it means that the arteries in your heart are narrowed or blocked by a sticky material called plaque. A doctor may recommend a procedure called an angioplasty, where a tube with a tiny balloon on the end is inserted into an artery leading to the heart. The procedure opens the blockage and restores normal blood flow to your heart muscle.

In Ephesians 3, Paul is probing the heart of the church in Ephesus with the goal of dislodging any blockage that might be hindering the work of Christ in the lives of God’s people. The blockage referred to here and in chapter 2 is division within the church. In Ephesians 2, Paul reminded the church of the past divisions that had existed between the Jewish people and the Gentiles. He gave them good news, that “now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (v. 13).

Paul prays for all of God’s people to be strengthened (v. 16) and “for God to dwell in their hearts” (v. 17). He prays that through God’s love they will be rooted (like a plant) and established (like a building). The participles “being rooted and established” are in the perfect tense, indicating a past action with continuing results. You could translate this as “having been and continuing to be rooted and established.”

The result is that through faith Christ may “dwell” (katoikēsai) in believers’ hearts. This does not refer to the beginning of Christ’s indwelling at salvation. Instead, it is the desire that Christ may, literally, “be at home in” or at the very center of our life. We can ask ourselves: Can Christ make Himself at home in a heart full of blockages?

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