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Scripture Reading: Eph. 2
Ephesians 1 shows that God chose us before the foundation of the world and redeemed us in time through the blood of His beloved Son for the ultimate purpose of our becoming the Body of Christ (vv. 4, 6-7, 22-23). The Body is the fullness of Christ, the expression of all Christ’s riches. This is God’s goal.
Verse 1 of chapter 2 says, “And you, though dead in your offenses and sins.” The word And indicates that chapter 2 follows chapter 1. Chapter 2 shows the original condition of those who have become the Body of Christ. This original condition was one of death. In this verse being dead does not refer to death in the flesh but to the deadness of man’s God-contacting organ — the human spirit. When our spirit was dead, there were three manifestations of this deadness.
First, we walked according to the age of this world (v. 2), which means that we walked according to the current, the modernity, and the fashion of this world. A person who walks according to the modern current of this age is a walking corpse. He is like a dead leaf being carried downstream by the current in a river. Whereas a little fish can swim upstream against the current because it is alive and living, a leaf can only be carried downstream because it is dead and lifeless.
Second, we walked according to the ruler of the authority of the air (v. 2), that is, Satan. The authority of the air refers to the spirit that is now operating in the sons of disobedience; it is the aggregate of all the evil angelic authorities, over whom Satan is the ruler. Although everyone likes to speak about freedom, no one with a deadened human spirit is actually free; he is under the control of Satan. For example, in their conscience people know that they should not gamble, smuggle, traffic in drugs, or steal, but they cannot help themselves; there is an evil power that compels them because Satan is operating within them to drive them to sin against their will.
Third, we conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh and did the desires of our flesh and of our thoughts (v. 3). The lusts of our flesh are the desires of the flesh and of the thoughts. The desires of the thoughts also reflect our preferences. We conducted ourselves according to our lusts and according to our preferences.
God chose us to be the expression of Christ, yet we were dead in our human spirit because of the fall. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, made us alive together with Christ (vv. 4-5). We were not only sinners; we were dead persons. Sinners are in need of God’s forgiveness; dead persons are in need of being made alive by the life-giving God. Verse 5 speaks of our being made alive “together with Christ.” Together with means not only together with Christ but also together with the saints. When the Israelites crossed the Red Sea, they crossed the Red Sea together. Even though I may have been saved for many more years than a new believer, we both were made alive together with Christ. Not only so, we were seated together in the heavenlies (v. 6). We are not waiting to go to heaven; we were seated in the heavenlies together with Christ long ago.
Verse 10 says, “We are His masterpiece.” The word masterpiece is poiema in Greek, and it means “something that has been made, a handiwork, or something that has been rendered as a poem.” It denotes an outstanding work of art that expresses the maker’s wisdom and design. We are a poem of God to express His wisdom. Now God can say to Satan, “Do you see this group of people? Even though they were dead in offenses and sins, they now have been made alive and are seated together with Christ in the heavenlies. They are My masterpiece; they are the poem that I have written in the universe.”
Verses 11 through 18 show that we now have access through Christ in one Spirit unto the Father; we no longer are far off. According to the context, being far off refers to being far off from Christ, the commonwealth of Israel, and the covenants of God’s promise, and it refers especially to the Gentiles and Jews being far from one another. We once were far off, apart from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But on the cross Christ abolished the enmity, the law of the commandments in ordinances, and broke down the middle wall of partition so that Jews and Gentiles could have access in one Spirit unto the Father. This implies the Trinity. As the life-giving Spirit, the Triune God enters into both Jewish and Gentile believers. In one Spirit we have become one Body, and we have been reconciled to God.
The reconciliation preached by Christianity today focuses primarily on reconciliation between individuals and God; it neglects the fact that reconciliation is not only an individual matter but also a corporate matter. We are reconciled in one Body to God. Verse 17 speaks of Christ coming as the Spirit to announce peace as the gospel to the Gentiles, who were far off, and to the Jews, who were near. The gospel makes both Jewish and Gentile believers citizens of the kingdom of God and members of the household of God. Today in the genuine church life there is no distinction based on race or culture; the saints’ love for one another is like the love that is inherent among blood relatives. This is indeed God’s masterpiece and the Lord’s victory.
Today we have not only been forgiven of our sins but also made alive together with Christ and are seated together with Him in the heavenlies. Furthermore, we are no longer separated from one another, because Christ has abolished the separating ordinances on the cross. We now are one Body in Him. As the wonderful life-giving Spirit, He has entered into our spirit. Now we can live and walk in this spirit and grow in the divine life. The more this life grows, the more we are built together to become a dwelling place of God in spirit (v. 22), expressing our corporate condition.
Two spirits are spoken of in Ephesians 2. Verse 18 says, “We both have access in one Spirit unto the Father.” In this verse Spirit refers to the Holy Spirit. Verse 22 says that we are being built together “into a dwelling place of God in spirit.” In this verse spirit refers to the regenerated human spirit, which is indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Today we do not care for religion, doctrines, teachings, ordinances, methods, and rituals but only for the two spirits. Christ died and resurrected, and He is now the life-giving Spirit indwelling our spirit so that we can be one Body. We need to turn to our spirit, live in our spirit, and walk and live together with Him; thus, we will grow and be built together into a dwelling place of God in spirit. This is the living out of Christ by the one new man.
