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Scripture Reading: Eph. 2:1-6; 4:24; 5:22—6:9; 6:10-20; 1:3, 17; 2:22; 3:16; 4:23; 5:18
In the previous chapter we saw the first three main points in Ephesians. The fourth main point is that this book shows us the real condition and nature of the materials for the building of the church. In the entire Scriptures there is no other book that reveals this as inclusively and deeply as this book. In their origin, the materials for the church were sinners, dead in sins. This is revealed clearly in Ephesians 2:1. Our nature was sinful, and we were dead in sins. The phrase dead in sins may be illustrated by a person who drowns; that person is dead in water. The water and this dead person become one. The person is in the water, the water is in that person, and the water buries that person. We may even say that this person is mingled with the water. The original condition and nature of each one of us is that we were in sin and death. Sin, just like the death waters, joined to us, buried us, and mingled with us.
Second, we were not only sinners but also enemies. We were rebels joined to and filled with the enemy of God, Satan (vv. 2-3). Satan, the ruler of the authority of the air, operated in the sons of disobedience, making us not only sinners according to God’s righteousness but also rebels according to God’s government and administration. We were rebels joined together with Satan, and we were filled with him. In other words, we were one with the enemy of God. This was our twofold condition and nature before we became the members of the Body. Even in Romans the apostle Paul does not reveal our original situation and condition so all-inclusively and deeply as in Ephesians. In Romans we are not told that we were dead in sins; we are only told that we were sinful. Neither does Romans tell us that we were rebels. Ephesians tells us that we were not only sinful but dead in sins, and not only sinners but rebels joined as one with God’s enemy.
How marvelous it is that from such materials as these God produced the church! We praise God that in His great love He created from such materials, from sinners dead in sins and rebels joined to and filled with Satan, a glorious, marvelous, and wonderful Body for Christ.
Ephesians speaks of God’s eternal purpose, the goal of His eternal purpose, what the church is, and what the original condition and nature of the materials for the church were. The fifth main point is the steps by which God produced the church. Verses 5 and 6 of chapter 2 say that even when we were dead in offenses, God made us alive together with Christ, raised us up together with Him, and seated us together with Him.
Because we were dead, God came in to make us alive, to impart life into us. God imparted Himself in Christ as the Spirit into us. In this way God made the dead materials alive. Ezekiel 37:1-14 contains a picture of this. God’s people are likened to dry bones, dead and scattered. These dry bones signify the materials for the building of the Body. From these dry bones God built up His house, His dwelling place, and He formed an army to fight the battle for God. Originally these materials were dead and in the grave, but God breathed His breath into them; that is, He imparted His life into them, and the dry bones were made alive. To be made alive is to be regenerated.
Second, God raised us up not only from the grave but from the earth to the heavens. When we were dead in sins, we were fallen to the lowest level, even to the grave. But God raised us up to the highest point, even to the heavenlies.
Third, we were seated in the heavenlies with Christ. A person sits down only when his work is finished. Therefore, to be seated means that everything has been accomplished. In one sense, the church will be built, but in another sense, the church has been built up already. On the one hand, the Lord must still work on us, but on the other hand, He has already finished His work. He has made us alive, raised us to the heavenlies, and seated us together with Christ and in Christ.
When did God make us alive? When Christ was resurrected, His entire Body was made alive and raised up together with Him. Then in His ascension He brought us to the heavens and seated us with Him. Therefore, in God’s divine point of view, the church has been built already; everything is complete. We may worry about the building of the church, but God does not worry, because it already has been accomplished. We cannot understand this, but it is a fact which has been revealed to us.
John 2 records that when the Jews were trying to kill the Lord Jesus, He told them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (v. 19). When I was young, I thought that this referred only to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Himself. However, in these last years the Lord showed me that according to 1 Peter 1:3 all of us were regenerated through the resurrection of Christ. When Christ was crucified on the cross, we were crucified there also. In the same way, when Christ resurrected, we resurrected with Him. Therefore, we died in Him, were resurrected in Him, and were seated in Him. In God’s sight everything has been accomplished and completed. Through Christ’s resurrection and ascension the church has been produced. This is what is revealed to us in Ephesians 2.
What God accomplished through Christ and in Christ must become our experience. However, Christ is Christ, and we are we. He resurrected and ascended nearly two thousand years ago in a place far away. How then can the resurrection and ascension of Christ be our experience? How can we be in Christ, how can Christ be in us, and how can God’s accomplishments in Christ be ours? It is not sufficient to answer that it is by identification. Even more, it is by the Spirit.
We may illustrate the Spirit by transmission through electricity. By means of electricity, something that happens in Los Angeles can immediately be brought into our presence. By the same transmission, people in America and the Far East can speak with one another. Without electricity, only my direct audience can hear me, but by the transmission of electricity, people in the uttermost part of the earth can hear me. Because of electricity, the problem of space and time is eliminated. In the same way, there is no problem of space or time with the Spirit. What Christ has accomplished and what God has wrought in Christ have all been compounded into the Spirit. Now the Spirit has come into us, and we have been put into the Spirit. Therefore, what Christ has accomplished is ours.
The church is produced by the resurrection and ascension of Christ, which are applied to us by the Spirit. If we take these matters merely as doctrine, they can never be our experience. They will merely be a formula in our mentality. Only when we realize these things in the spirit do they become our experience.
How can the Spirit come to us? It is by faith, and genuine, living faith always includes repentance. Faith without repentance is full of problems. A living faith always includes repentance. The Bible says, “Repent and believe” (Mark 1:15). Repentance and faith fit the requirements for the work of the Holy Spirit. The unique way for the Holy Spirit to work in us is through repentance and faith. There is no other way. Whenever and wherever a person repents before God and believes in the Lord Jesus, immediately the Holy Spirit comes into him. This is a principle, a law. The way for radio waves in the air to enter a radio is to tune it properly. When we tune it to the right station, the radio waves operate according to a principle. In the same way, the principle of the work of the Spirit is for us to “tune to the station” of repentance and faith.
Every morning, every day, and every evening we need to repent and believe. We should pray, “Lord, forgive me. I admit that I am still sinful in so many things. I abhor myself, and I repent before You. Lord, I open myself to You, and I put my trust in You. I believe You!” By doing this, we tune ourselves properly and pick up the heavenly “radio waves”; that is, in our experience we receive the Holy Spirit. Now the Spirit is in us, and we are in the Spirit. In this way, whatever has been accomplished in Christ and by Christ is ours. Christ’s history becomes our experience in the Spirit.
The wonderful, all-inclusive Spirit comes into us through our repentance and faith. Without exception, whether a person is low or high, young or old, weak or strong, foolish or clever, uneducated or educated, evil or good, as long as he repents and believes in the Lord Jesus, the Spirit as the spiritual, heavenly “radio waves” comes into him. This wonderful Spirit transmits all that Christ is, all that Christ has done, and all that God has accomplished in Christ into us. Then we are in the Spirit, and the Spirit is in us. We are made alive, raised up, and seated with Christ in the Spirit. Without the Spirit as the transmission we cannot be one with Christ; He will be separated from us by space and time. But in the Holy Spirit as the transmission we are one with Christ regardless of space or time. In this way, the church is produced by the resurrection and ascension of Christ applied to us by the Spirit.
The sixth main point in Ephesians is the daily walk of the members of Christ’s Body on this earth. After we become members of the Body of Christ, we should have a daily walk in the Spirit and in the Body. This is a basic teaching of this book.
The first three chapters of Ephesians are a revelation of the life, nature, and position of the church, and the last three chapters deal with the walk of the church. The first item of the walk of the church is to keep the oneness of the Body. This is to realize the Body life. To realize the Body life is first of all to keep the oneness of the Body. Whether we are an apostle or a small brother or sister, we are the members of the Body and for the Body. Therefore, we must keep the oneness of the Body and live in the Body.
For many years after I was saved, no one told me about the oneness of the Body. I received many teachings concerning Christian ethics and human ethics with Christian terminology. At that time I was bothered. I asked myself what the difference is between the ethics taught by Confucius and the things taught in the Scriptures. In my upbringing I had studied Confucius, and I was familiar with his teaching of ethics. I considered that those ethics were so good that there was no need for me to be taught by the Scriptures. At that time I did not know the difference. Gradually, the Lord showed me that the teachings of the Scriptures are absolutely different. The Christian walk on this earth is not a matter of ethics. It is a matter of living as a member of the Body of Christ.
We must realize that we are members and that we need to live in the Body. We should never be independent; we should never be separated from the Body. We should always live, walk, and work in the church, the Body of Christ. We must walk in the Spirit and in the Body, and we must put on the new man (4:24). To put on the new man is simply to live in the Body. This includes our functioning as members in the Body.
The Christian walk is also a walk in God’s order (5:22—6:9). In our human relationships there must be God’s order. Whether you are a wife or a husband, you must keep your position. Whether you are a child or a parent, you also must keep your position. Even masters and slaves have their own positions. All of these relationships were not invented by man. Rather, they were arranged by God. They are matters involving God’s government and God’s administration. The Christian walk is one that keeps God’s order in human relationships. This is very important. It is not merely a matter of ethics; it is a matter of obedience to God’s government. If we do not stand in our proper position to keep God’s order, we are rebellious against God’s government. If God created you as a woman and married you to a husband, you have to keep your position and stand in it. This maintains the right order. Then you will be obedient, not rebellious, to God’s government.
For wives to be submissive to their husbands is not a matter of mere ethics. We must have the highest viewpoint concerning these things. Human relationships are matters related to God’s government. The teachings of Confucius are from the human point of view, but the teachings in the book of Ephesians are from the heavenly point of view, showing us the order in God’s government. For a child not to honor his parents is against not only human ethics but even more against God’s government. The young brothers and sisters must see that to go against ethics may be a small matter, but to go against the divine government is very serious. If a child honors his parents, he will receive the blessing. If he keeps the order in God’s government, he will enjoy all that God has arranged. Otherwise, he will be grieved.
God’s order in His government expresses God Himself. Why are there husbands? It is to express Christ. Why are there parents? Parents are the expression of God as the Father. Similarly, why are there masters? Masters are the representatives of God as the Lord and the Master. In all these relationships God is expressed and represented. God arranged these human relationships in order to express Himself. Therefore, if we are disobedient against God’s order, we damage God’s expression and representation. In a marriage relationship, the husband and wife are a representation of Christ and the church. If a wife does not keep her proper order and rises up to become the head, the representation of Christ and the church in their home is spoiled. This is not merely a matter of ethics and morality. It is a matter of God’s government and God’s representation.
The arrangement of the entire universe is a representation of God Himself. When all things keep their proper position in the right order, God is represented and expressed. But if any part of creation does not keep its position and breaks the order, the representation and expression of God is damaged in that part. We must see the book of Ephesians from this point of view.
We were created and arranged according to the order in God’s government to represent God and express God. The race of Adam failed the Lord in this matter, but the Lord by His redemption has brought us back and strengthened us with Himself as life within us. Now we must keep our position in the proper order to represent God and express God in our daily walk. Therefore, the walk of the church is by the Spirit, in the Body, and for the representation and expression of God.
The walk of the church is a walk not only in the Spirit but also in Christ. Christ is the essence, reality, centrality, and universality of this walk. Our walk must be a walk that expresses Christ, exalts Christ, testifies Christ, ministers Christ, releases Christ, and shares Christ with others. In summary, our walk today must be a walk by the Spirit, in the Body, in the order and government of God, and in Christ. This is the walk of the church today on this earth.
The seventh main point revealed in Ephesians is the enemy of God, Satan, the devil, who frustrates and damages God’s purpose (2:2; 6:11-12). Although Ephesians is a short book of six chapters, it is very inclusive, even touching the spiritual warfare. This book and its sister book, Colossians, tell us that the enemy of God is the ruler of the evil forces in the air. The term ruler indicates that he has a kingdom, and under him are the principalities, authorities, powers, legions, and dominions. In his kingdom there are officers that help him to reign; these are the evil spirits, the spirits of darkness and wickedness. This evil one is always doing his best to frustrate and damage God’s eternal purpose. The eternal purpose of God is to have the church, but the enemy of God frustrates God’s purpose. Therefore, there is a conflict. God fights this battle through the church, and the church fights the battle for God.
Ephesians shows us how the church expresses God’s interests on the positive side and deals with God’s enemy on the negative side. The two important aspects of God’s creation of man are that man was created in the image of God to express Him and that man was committed by God with His authority to represent Him in order to deal with His enemy. Man was created to rule the earth and in particular to rule over the creeping things, among which is the serpent, the devil (Gen. 1:26). In Ephesians there are also these two main items. First, the church is the expression of the Triune God; 4:24 tells us that the new man was created according to God, that is, in His image. Then the last chapter tells us that the church fights against God’s enemy to deal with the evil forces (6:10-20).
This battle is fought by the church in Christ Himself as the might and the power. Therefore, we must stand in the Lord, be strong in Him, and fight the battle by Christ as the whole armor of God. The different items of the armor are the different aspects of Christ that we experience. The more we experience Christ, the more we have the armor to cover and protect us to fight the spiritual warfare in Christ as the power and by Christ as the armor. Moreover, the unique way to fight the battle in Christ as our strength, power, and armor is in spirit and by prayer (v. 18).
If we take care of all the foregoing main points, we will be able to understand the entire book of Ephesians. This entire book very much concentrates on the Spirit. Chapter 1 tells us that God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing (v. 3) and that we have been sealed with the Holy Spirit (v. 13). God has put the divine Holy Spirit into us, and we are filled by the Spirit. Chapter 1 also tells us that we need a spirit of wisdom and revelation (v. 17). Chapter 2 continues to tell us that the church is the dwelling place of God in spirit (v. 22). If we are not in spirit, we cannot be God’s dwelling place. Only when an appliance is connected to the electrical current can it be the dwelling place of the electricity. As the dwelling place of God, we must be in spirit. Chapter 3 tells us that we need to be strengthened with power through the Spirit into our inner man, our spirit (v. 16). The most important verse in chapter 4 is verse 23, which says, “Be renewed in the spirit of your mind.” Following this, 5:18 tells us to be filled in spirit, and 6:18 charges us to pray at every time in spirit.
All the matters and teachings in Ephesians are realized in spirit, that is, in the Holy Spirit mingled with our human spirit. These two spirits are mingled as one. Hence, in order to realize and experience all that is mentioned in this book, we must know how to exercise our spirit. We must know how to use our spirit and how to realize the Holy Spirit working in our spirit. All spiritual experiences are concentrated into this mingled spirit — the Holy Spirit mingled with the human spirit. The book of Ephesians is now open to us, but it can only be realized in spirit. If we do not know how to exercise our spirit to realize the Holy Spirit, all these matters will be mere doctrines in our memory. In order to transfer all these items into our experience, we need the exercise of our spirit.
