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.

Dead refers to the deadness of our spirit, which pervaded our entire being and caused us to lose the function that enables us to contact God.

Offenses are acts that overstep the limit of one's rights. Sins are evil doings. Before we were saved, we were dead in offenses and sins. It was from this background of death that we were saved to be the church, the Body of Christ. The dead have been made alive to be a living organism to express Christ.

This world refers to the satanic system, which is composed of many ages. Hence, the age here refers to a part, a section, an aspect, the present and modern appearance, of the system of Satan, which is used by him to usurp and occupy people and keep them away from God and His purpose. When we were dead in offenses and sins, we walked according to the age, the modern appearance, the present course, of the world, the satanic system.

Referring to Satan, the prince of the rulers and authorities in the air mentioned in Eph. 6:12.

The spirit, in apposition to the authority of the air, refers to the aggregate power, the aggregate of all the evil angelic authorities, over which Satan is the ruler. This aggregate spirit is now operating in the sons of disobedience. When we were dead in offenses and sins, we walked not only according to the age of this world but also according to Satan, the ruler of the aerial authority, the evil spiritual power.

We, the sons of disobedience, have been saved to be the church.

Referring to the sons of disobedience in v. 2.

Referring to all believers, both Jewish and Gentile.

When we were dead in offenses and sins, we conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires not only of the flesh but also of the thoughts. Three evil things — the age of this world, which is outside of us; the ruler of the aerial authority, which is above and within us; and the lusts of our flesh in our fallen nature — dominated our lives. From these evil things we have been saved to be the Body of Christ.

As the sons of disobedience, we were also the children of wrath. In the realm of death we were under God's wrath because of our disobedience. We have been saved from both our disobedience and God's wrath.

But God points to the factor that changed our position.

The object of love should be in a lovable condition, but the object of mercy is always in a pitiful situation. Hence, God's mercy reaches farther than His love. God loves us because we are the object of His selection. But because of our fall we became pitiful, even dead in our offenses and sins; therefore, we need God's mercy. Because of His great love, God is rich in mercy to save us out of our wretched position into a condition that is suitable for His love.

Or, abundant love — abundantly great love.

In comparison with the book of Romans, the book of Ephesians does not consider us sinners; it considers us dead persons. As sinners, we need God's forgiveness and justification, as revealed in the book of Romans. But as dead persons, we need to be made alive. Forgiveness and justification bring us back to God's presence to enjoy His grace and participate in His life, whereas being made alive causes us, the living members of the Body of Christ, to express Him. God made us alive by imparting His eternal life, which is Christ Himself (Col. 3:4), into our dead spirit through His Spirit of life (Rom. 8:2). He has enlivened us together with Christ.

God enlivened us together when He enlivened the crucified Jesus. Therefore, He made us alive together with Christ.

See note Eph. 1:10⁴.

Grace is free. Here it denotes not only God freely dispensed into us for our enjoyment but also God's action in freely saving us. By such grace we have been saved out of our wretched position of death into the marvelous realm of life.

We were saved not only as sinners but also as dead persons, and not only by Christ's death with its redemption but also by His resurrection with its resurrection life, and even by His ascension with its transcendency. This is the transcending salvation given to the dead sinners by the incarnated, crucified, resurrected, and ascended Christ, the very embodiment of the processed Triune God. Such a salvation produces the church as the issue of the processed Divine Trinity for His expression.

To make us alive is the initial step of God's salvation in life. After this, God raised us up from the position of death.

From our standpoint we have been raised up from our position of death one by one. But in God's view we were all raised up together, just as all the Israelites were raised up together from the death waters of the Red Sea (Exo. 14).

The third step of God's salvation in life is to seat us together in the heavenlies. God not only raised us up from the position of death, but He also seated us in the highest place in the universe.

The heavenlies are the highest position, into which we have been saved in Christ. In the book of Romans, Christ as our righteousness brought us into a state in which we are acceptable to God. In the book of Ephesians, Christ as our life has saved us into a position in which we are above all God's enemies. Here in the heavenly atmosphere, with a heavenly nature and a heavenly characteristic, we are a heavenly people.

It was in Christ that God seated us all together, once for all, in the heavenlies. This was accomplished when Christ ascended to the heavens, and it has been applied to us by the Spirit of Christ ever since we believed in Him. Today we realize and experience this reality in our spirit through faith in the accomplished fact.

I.e., exhibit to the whole universe publicly.

The ages of the millennium and eternity future. These come after the present age, in which the church is produced.

The riches of God's grace surpass every limit. These are the riches of God Himself for our enjoyment. They will be publicly displayed for eternity.

Kindness is a benevolent goodness that issues out of mercy and love. It is in such kindness that the grace of God is given to us.

For introduces the reason that God displays His grace (v. 7). Because we have been saved by His grace, God can display it.

Grace is God dispensed into us. Therefore, to be saved by grace means to be saved by having the processed Triune God dispensed into us.

Faith is the substantiation of invisible things (Heb. 11:1). It is by faith that we substantiate all the things Christ has accomplished for us. Through such a substantiating ability, we have been saved by grace. The free action of God's grace saved us through our substantiating faith. This faith of ours is the faith by which we believe in Christ, and it is Christ in us as our faith (see note Rom. 3:22¹).

This does not refer to faith but to the matter that "by grace you have been saved through faith."

The Greek word, poiema, means something that has been made, a handiwork, or something that has been written or composed as a poem. Not only a poetic writing may be considered a poem, but also any work of art that expresses the maker's wisdom and design. We, the church, the masterpiece of God's work, are a poem expressing God's infinite wisdom and divine design.

The heavens, the earth, and man, created by God, are not God's masterpiece; but the church, the Body of Christ, the fullness of the One who fills all in all (Eph. 1:23), the corporate and universal new man (v. 15), is a masterpiece. We have been saved by grace to be God's masterpiece that we may walk in the good works prepared beforehand by God.

We, the church, the masterpiece of God's work, are an absolutely new item in the universe, a new invention of God. We were created by God in Christ through regeneration to be His new creation (2 Cor. 5:17).

The good works for which God created us are not the good things that are according to our general concept but the definite good doings that God preplanned and preordained for us to walk in. These good things must be the doing of His will that we may live the church life and bear the testimony of Jesus, as revealed in the succeeding chapters of this book.

The man whom God created to fulfill His purpose was pure, without sin or any kind of negative mixture. However, sin, the evil nature of Satan, entered into man through the fall. First, it caused man's body to become the flesh, full of lusts, and eventually, it made the whole being of man the flesh. Hence, man was damaged and was thus prevented from fulfilling God's purpose. Then God came in to call a race — Abraham and his descendants — out of fallen mankind. For the accomplishing of His purpose, God commanded them to be circumcised, that is, to put away their flesh. This meant that they were separated from fallen mankind and delivered out of the fallen condition. Circumcision made a tremendous distinction between them and the rest of mankind. The circumcised people were called "the circumcision," those who were separated from the fallen situation. The rest of mankind was called "the uncircumcision," those who remained in the fallen state. These were the Gentiles in the flesh. We were in this category before we were in Christ.

Christ, in whom all God's blessings to His chosen people are embodied, came out of Israel, the circumcised people. Since we, the uncircumcised Gentiles, were separated from Israel, we were apart from Christ, having nothing to do with Christ.

That is, the citizenship, the civil rights, of God's chosen people, such as God's ruling, blessing, and presence. Through the fall, mankind lost all the rights that God intended for man in His creation. God called Abraham and through circumcision brought His chosen people back to all these rights. We, as uncircumcised Gentiles, remained alienated from such rights.

God's covenants are His promises. His promise is His word that He will freely do certain things for His chosen people. When His promise is made into law by the necessary procedures, it becomes a binding covenant. All the words God spoke to His chosen people, from Abraham to Malachi, were His promises made into law to be His covenants. We, the Gentiles, not only are alienated from the commonwealth of Israel but also are strangers to the covenants of God's promise.

All God's blessings are contained in Christ, all the civil rights are related to the nation of Israel, and all good things are promised in God's covenants. Since we were apart from Christ, were alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and were strangers to the covenants of God's promise, we had no hope whatever.

God is in Christ; He rules and moves in the commonwealth of Israel; and He bestows His blessings according to His covenants. When we were apart from Christ, the commonwealth of Israel, and the covenants of God's promise, we were without God; we did not have God as our enjoyment.

The world, which is the system of Satan, is in contrast to the commonwealth of Israel. The commonwealth of Israel was the kingdom of God, whereas the world is the kingdom of Satan. Before we were saved, we lived in the world, where we had no hope as our expectation and no God as our enjoyment; we were empty both in the present age and in relation to the coming age.

But now is a precious phrase, indicating that now in Christ we have hope and that we also have God.

I.e., far off from Christ, from the commonwealth of Israel, and from the covenants of God's promise. This equals being far off from God and all His blessings.

I.e., near to Christ, to Israel, and to God's promise. This equals being near to God and all His blessings.

We were far off because we were fallen. But the redeeming blood of Christ brought us back. Hence, in this blood we have become near both to Israel and to God.

Our refers to the Jewish and the Gentile believers.

Christ, who accomplished full redemption for both the Jewish and the Gentile believers, is Himself our peace, our harmony, making both one. Because of the fall of mankind and the calling of the chosen race, there was a separation between Israel and the Gentiles. Through Christ's redemption this separation has been removed. Now, in the redeeming Christ, who is the bond of oneness, both are one.

Both refers to the Jewish and the Gentile believers.

The middle wall of partition is the law of the commandments in ordinances in v. 15, which was instituted because of man's flesh. The first ordinance was circumcision, the cutting off of man's flesh. This became the middle wall of partition between the circumcision and the uncircumcision.

The middle wall of partition, which is the distinction (made mainly by circumcision) between the circumcision and the uncircumcision, became the enmity between the Jews and the Gentiles.

Christ broke down the middle wall of partition between the Jews and the Gentiles by abolishing the law of the commandments in ordinances. When He was crucified on the cross, all the ordinances were nailed there (Col. 2:14).

Because mankind became flesh (Gen. 6:3) and was therefore kept from God and His purpose, God ordained that His chosen people be circumcised, that they put away the flesh. The ordinance of circumcision was instituted because of man's flesh. It was in the flesh that Christ was crucified. When He was crucified, His flesh, which was typified by the veil separating the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies in the temple, was rent (Heb. 10:20).

This is not the law of the moral commandments but the law of the ritual commandments, composed principally of the practice of circumcision, the observance of dietary regulations, and the keeping of the Sabbath. These ordinances were the main "columns" of Judaism. The moral commandments will never be abolished, but the ritual commandments were in force only during a particular time dispensationally and are therefore not permanent.

I.e., rituals, the forms or ways of living and worship, which create enmity and division. To practice the proper church life, all ordinances should be repudiated and dropped.

Christ created the one new man, the church, by working God's divine nature into humanity. The working of the divine nature into humanity was something new. Hence, it was a creating. In the old creation God did not work His nature into any of His creatures, not even into man. In the creating of the one new man, however, God's nature was wrought into man to make His divine nature one entity with humanity.

Christ is not only the Creator of the one new man, the church, but also the sphere in which and the means by which the one new man was created. He is the very element of the new man, making God's divine nature one entity with humanity. The Greek word rendered in here can also have an elemental significance, meaning also with, implying that the new man was created with Christ as its divine essence.

The Jews and the Gentiles were separated to the uttermost by the separating ordinances. But both were created in Christ with the divine essence into one new entity, which is a corporate man, the church.

The church is not only the church of God, the Body of Christ (the fullness, the expression, of the all-filling One — Eph. 1:23), and the household or family, the house, the temple, and the dwelling place of God (Eph. 2:19, 21-22); it is also the one new man, which is corporate and universal, created of two peoples, the Jews and the Gentiles, and composed of all the believers, who, though they are many, are one new man in the universe.

God created man as a collective entity (Gen. 1:26). The corporate man created by God was damaged through man's fall; hence, there was the need for God to produce a new man. This was accomplished through Christ's abolishing in His flesh the ordinances and through His creating of the new man in Himself.

By Christ's abolishing in His flesh the separating ordinances, that is, His slaying the enmity, and by His creating the Jewish and the Gentile believers into one new man, peace was made between all believers.

Both refers to the Jews and the Gentiles. Not only the uncircumcised Gentiles but also the circumcised Jews needed to be reconciled to God through the redemption of Christ, accomplished on His cross.

This one Body, the church (Eph. 1:23), is the one new man mentioned in the previous verse. It was in this one Body that both the Jews and the Gentiles were reconciled to God through the cross. We, the believers, whether Jews or Gentiles, were reconciled not only for the Body of Christ but also in the Body of Christ. What a revelation here! We were reconciled to God; we were saved in the Body of Christ.

We were without God and we had lost God (v. 12). But through the cross, with the blood of Christ, we have been brought back to God in the one Body.

On the one hand, the cross of Christ slew the enmity caused by the ordinances, which were instituted because of the flesh, and on the other hand, it redeemed us with the blood of Christ, which was shed upon it. It was through the cross that both the Jews and the Gentiles were reconciled in one Body to God.

This is the breaking down of the middle wall of partition and the abolishing of the ordinances that bring in discord between the Jews and the Gentiles, as mentioned in vv. 14-15.

Or, in Him.

This is the coming of Christ as the Spirit to preach peace as the gospel, which peace He made through His cross.

Referring to the Gentiles, who were uncircumcised and were far off, separated by their flesh.

Referring to the Jews, who were circumcised and were near, made nigh by God's choosing.

Both the Jewish and the Gentile believers have access to the Father through Christ, who abolished the law of the commandments in ordinances, broke down the middle wall of partition, slew the enmity to reconcile the Gentiles to the Jews, and shed His blood to redeem the Jews and the Gentiles to God.

The access is constituted of Christ's cross and His blood (Heb. 10:19).

First, both the Jewish and the Gentile believers were reconciled in one Body to God (v. 16). That was a positional matter. Then they both have access in one Spirit unto the Father. This is experiential. In order to enjoy experientially what we possess positionally, we need to be in the Spirit.

Positionally, we were reconciled to God; experientially, we have access unto the Father. To be reconciled to God is to be saved; to have access unto the Father is to enjoy God, who, as the source of life, regenerated us to be His sons.

Here the trinity of the Godhead is implied. Through God the Son, who is the Accomplisher, the means, and in God the Spirit, who is the Executor, the application, we have access unto God the Father, who is the Originator, the source of our enjoyment.

Referring to the Gentile believers.

Strangers are aliens, and sojourners are foreigners sojourning among Israel without rights of citizenship. Here both refer to the Gentiles.

Fellow citizens with the saints indicates the kingdom of God. All the believers, Jewish and Gentile, are citizens in God's kingdom. God's kingdom is a sphere in which He exercises His authority.

Members of the household of God indicates the house of God. Both the Jewish and the Gentile believers are members of God's house. God's house is a matter of life and enjoyment; all believers are born of God into His house to enjoy His riches. God's kingdom is a matter of right and responsibility; all believers born into the house of God have the civil rights of and obligations in the kingdom of God. The saints are individuals; the house of God is corporate and issues in the kingdom of God.

As the Body of Christ, the church has been regenerated and needs the growth in life; as the house of God, the church is being built. Growth and building are not separate things, for the growth of the Body is the building of the house.

The foundation of the church is Christ (1 Cor. 3:11). Because the mystery of Christ was revealed to the apostles (Eph. 3:5-6), the revelation they received is considered the foundation on which the church is built. This corresponds with the rock in Matt. 16:18, which is not only Christ but also the revelation concerning Christ, on which Christ will build His church. Therefore, the foundation of the apostles and prophets is the revelation they received for the building of the church.

Here, Christ is referred to not as the foundation (Isa. 28:16) but as the cornerstone, because the main concern here is not the foundation but the cornerstone that joins together the two walls, one wall being the Jewish believers, and the other, the Gentile believers. Here, not Christ but the apostles and prophets who received the revelation concerning Christ are stressed as the foundation. When the Jewish builders rejected Christ, they rejected Him as the cornerstone (Acts 4:11; 1 Pet. 2:7), the One who would join the Gentiles to them for the building of God's house.

In Christ, who is the cornerstone, all the building, including both the Jewish and the Gentile believers, is fitted together and is growing into a holy temple in the Lord.

Or, every building.

I.e., made suitable for the condition and situation of the building.

Since the building is living (1 Pet. 2:5), it is growing. It grows into a holy temple. The actual building of the church as the house of God is by the believers' growth in life.

Or, sanctuary; the inner part of the temple.

The entire building of God's house, God's sanctuary, is in Christ the Lord.

Referring to the local saints.

Also indicates that the building in v. 21 is universal and that the building in this verse is local. Universally, the church is uniquely one and is growing universally; locally, the church in a particular locality also is one, and the local saints are being built together in their particular locality.

According to the context, in v. 21 the holy temple is universal; in this verse the dwelling place of God is local.

The believers' human spirit, which is indwelt by God's Holy Spirit. God's Spirit is the Dweller, not the dwelling place. The dwelling place is the believers' spirit. God's Spirit dwells in our spirit. Therefore, the dwelling place of God is in our spirit. Verse 21 says that the holy temple is in the Lord, and this verse, that the dwelling place of God is in spirit. This indicates that for the building of God's dwelling place, the Lord is one with our spirit, and our spirit is one with the Lord (1 Cor. 6:17). Our spirit is where the building of the church, the dwelling place of God, takes place.