EPHESIANS
In Ephesians we have the relationships of
the saints with God the Father, and with Christ as ascended on high; first with
God and the Father, which is our calling; then acquaintance with all the plans
of God, as heading up all things in Christ, and thus the knowledge of the
inheritance, and the place of heirs, and the Holy Ghost given as earnest till
the redemption of the inheritance. He then prays the God of our Lord Jesus
Christ (Christ being looked at as man) that the saints may know what God's
calling and inheritance is, and the power that works in us, as shewn in Christ
when God raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand, so as to
set Him over all things, and make the church His body and completeness.
Thereupon he unfolds the quickening,
raising, and sitting in heavenly places in Christ of the saints by sovereign
grace, so as to shew the exceeding riches of it by His kindness to us. He then
shews Gentiles afar off, and Jews dispensationally nigh, brought out of their
respective places to form one new man in Christ, and thus become the
dwelling-place of God on earth by the Spirit. Thus we have the assembly
connected with Christ on high as His body, and on earth the dwelling-place of
God by His Spirit.
He then develops somewhat the mystery, as
now for the first time introduced, as a witness of the various wisdom of God in
heavenly places. The apostle then prays the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
that the full blessedness of this may be realised by Christ dwelling in their
hearts by faith; so that, being rooted and grounded in love, they may be able
to comprehend the infinitely wide extent of what constitutes God's glory in
this character, and the love of Christ, so as to be at the centre of it all
according to the fulness of God Himself.
With this he desires glory to God in the
church in all ages, implying the distinct, continuous existence of the
assembly. (In chapter 3: 15 read "every family," instead of "the
whole family." Note, in verse 18, the breadth, and depth, and
length, and height is not "of the love." The whole of chapter 3 is
parenthetic, and the first words of chapter 4 connect themselves with the
beginning of chapter 3.)
In the first sixteen verses of chapter 4
the apostle unfolds, in connection with the headship of Christ, the unities
into which we are brought, and the instruments of building and edification, as
gifts, whether without or within. There are three unities: a real one, one of
profession, and a universal one in God. First, one body, one Spirit, one hope.
Secondly, one Lord, one faith, one baptism. Thirdly, one God and Father of all,
who is above all, through all, and in you all. We are to walk in lowliness, so
as to endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. The gifts
are from the ascended man, who has overcome Satan and led him captive, so as to
make those who had been Satan's captives the instruments of His own warfare in
power, to gather and perfect the saints. At the same time He who ascended is
the One who first descended into the lower parts of the earth, so as to fill
all things. The measure to which the saints are to be brought up is that of the
stature of the fulness of Christ
Himself; the body being compacted, and supplying by every joint in order to its
own edification. The first object all through this, however, is individual. We
then get the exhortations connected with the new man being created of God in
righteousness and true holiness. It is only the new man which has to do with
righteousness and holiness.
Hence they are to be imitators of God,
and act as Christ Himself has acted in love - the perfect expression of God -
the new man. Further, in this new man they are light in the Lord: and the
measure of their walk and works is the light itself, of which Christ, if they are
awake, is to them the perfect outshining. Hence they are to be wise in the
midst of this world. In going through relative duties, he enters on the
relationship of the church to Christ, founded on the working of His love in
this order. He first gives Himself for it; next, sanctifies and cleanses it by
the word; and, thirdly, presents it to Himself a glorious church, without spot
or wrinkle or any such thing. Two things are to be remarked here: (1) That, in
the analogy with Adam and Eve, Christ stands in the place both of Adam and of
God. (2) The intimate connection between Christ's present operation and the
glory. He sanctifies and cleanses the church, that He may present it to
Himself. Then, besides the church being His wife, it is presented according to the
analogy of Eve as His body, and Christ is looked at as nourishing and
cherishing it, as a man would his own flesh (chap. 5).
Finally, Christians are exhorted to put
on the whole armour of God, and in His might to combat, in entire dependence
upon Him (chap. 6).