Grammatically, and indicates that the thought in the last sentence of ch. 1 is incomplete. The last verse of ch. 1 reveals that the church, the Body of Christ, was produced by Christ through His attainment. Now this chapter unveils to us the background — the realm of death — from which the church was brought forth. In ch. 1 the church is the issue of the transmission of the heavenly divinity into us. In this chapter the church comes out of the earthly humanity.