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Ephesians 3 · a question people ask

"from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named" (3:15). What does that mean?

In the text

The verse doesn't explain it. It comes in the prayer right after "For this cause, I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" (3:14), and says only, "from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named" (3:15). It doesn't say which families these are, or what it is for a family to be named this way, and these notes don't say either.

The verses

“For this cause, I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,”
Ephesians 3:14-15 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Ephesians 3

Ephesians 3: The mystery of Christ

Ephesians 3 speaks of a mystery "which for ages has been hidden in God" (3:9), and says "that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of his promise in Christ Jesus through the Good News" (3:6); three times in 3:2-8 it says grace was given to the one who calls himself "the very least of all saints" (3:8).

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Last reviewed October 8, 2026. Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions