The address is general to all the faithful in the two most ancient manuscripts, though many of the others read, “which are at Ephesus.” The Christian is seen in three relationships in the Epistle: First, ver 3-18, to the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ; secondly, (ver 22-2:1-18), to Christ the Head of His body, the Church; thirdly, to the Holy Ghost (ver 19-22), as belonging to the household of God, and builded together with other Christians to be a habitation of God through the Spirit. Thus,, we have God and the Father as the Source of this blessed unity which Christians are called to exhibit together (Eph. 4:1-6): Christ, the exalted Man, as Head and Center of it, as well as of all things; and the Holy Ghost as the Divine Power on earth gathering all to Christ, building them together as one building, and taking up His abode amongst them on earth. And this is the circle into which all Christians are really brought, though not all, alas, exhibiting it together as it is the purpose of god they should do. From Ephesians 1:3-14, Christians are shown their blessed calling, the purpose of God in regard to Christ and them, and the inheritance He has given them in Christ, who is to be the Center of all things, both in heaven and earth. In Ephesians 1:15-23, he prays that they may know all about their blessed relation to God the Father of glory—His calling, His inheritance, His power to those who believe; the later point introducing their blessed relation to Christ as the Head of His body, to whom they were united, having been brought out of their natural state of death. (see Eph. 1:22, 23; 2:1-19). Their state of Jew and gentile, dispensationally had been brought to end at the cross, and, one with Christ in glory, they formed one new man, united by the Holy Ghost come down from heaven, by whom they had access through Christ to the Father. (Eph. 2:12-18). They were no longer strangers and foreigners outside, but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God, growing up to be a Holy Temple in the Lord, which building was not yet finished; but in the meantime on account of the Presence of the Holy Ghost on earth, they were builded together as a visible Assembly, to be the habitation of God through the Spirit (vss. 19-22). In Ephesians 3:1-13 we have Paul brought in as the administrator of this mystery, which we are told up till now had been hid in God, but was now revealed to His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. From verses 14-21 he prays that they may be in communion with all these revealed things. The prayer is founded on the relationship of the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, as that in Eph. 1 is founded on that of the God of our Lord Jesus Christ. Eph. 4 continues the line of truth of chapter 2, which shows us the true corporate position of all Christians. They are called to walk worthy of the high vocation of the first two chapters, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (vss. 1-6). They are then shown the gifts of ministry, supplied to them for their edification and growth, which were to last till Christ came (verses 7-15). From verse 17, the individual exhortations in regard to the walk commence, founded on two chief points: first, that they had put off the old man, and had put on the new (vss. 17-24); secondly, that the Spirit dwelt in them as God (ver 30-32) of whom they were called to be imitators (Eph. 5:1-21). God is love. God is light.
From Ephesians 4:22 to Ephesians 6:1-9, we have the exhortations as to the different relationships of daily life. And the Epistle ends with the saints being exhorted to stand fast on their heavenly ground; they were warned that they would meet Satan there and therefore needed to be clothed with the whole armour of God, so as to be able to withstand in the evil day (vss. 10-14), and having done all to stand.
The whole standing is heavenly. The saints are blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ (Eph. 1:3). The Church is seen seated in the heavenlies in Christ (Eph. 2:6). Its existence in unity was for the manifestation of the wisdom of God to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places (Eph. 3:10); and it is shown in conflict with the wicked spirits in the heavenly places (Eph. 6:12). It is therefore against the exhibition of the truth unveiled in this Epistle, that the whole malice of Satan is directed, and, alas, he has well succeeded in the professing Church of Christ, by joining the professing heavenly bride to the world, and many earthly lovers, and also by splitting it up into sects, thus dividing the members of Christ one from the other. May the Lord bring back His beloved ones to understand their heavenly standing and calling.
Let us return now to our study of the Epistle. First, the Christian is seen in his relationship to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is no longer the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; and the Almighty in His revealed relationship to them. (Gen. 17) Nor is it Jehovah in relation to the Jews, as in Exodus 7. But our God is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Sweet relationship, blessed comfort to our souls; for the Lord Jesus is the One who died for us! He stood on earth as the Perfect Man before God, the Son before the Father. After having been fully tested, and found perfect, He died for us, thus closing all relationships with the first Adam. He died out of that state in which He stood for us as children of Adam, and then rose up into a new position before His God and Father, where He associates us with Himself in this new place, as He said to Mary Magdalene, I ascend unto My Father and your Father, to My God and your God. As having breathed into us His own resurrection life (see John 20), and sent down the Holy Ghost from heaven, thus uniting us to Himself, we are not only born again, our sins forgiven, and our persons justified, but we get a distinct position with Him in His death and resurrection. We have died with Him, we are risen with Him, we are buried with Him, we are seated in heavenly places in Him. Our connections are closed with the earth and with the first man and we are associated with the exalted Second Man; united to Him by the Holy Ghost. Consequently, all our blessings are heavenly. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ, exclaims the apostle from a full heat. What has this blessed God and Father done? He has chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world; that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. The source of our present place in Christ is the eternal election and choice of God, from all eternity, and in the Man too who was set up from everlasting. (see Prov. 8)
In him this purpose was carried out, and by the incarnation, death and resurrection of Christ, and the operation of the Holy Ghost, we set before God in Christ in a holy nature, without blame in love. Christ walked before God down here in this holy nature, without blame, in love. He then, identified Himself with the children of God, of the day, in this holy nature, taking flesh and blood with them; and by His death, and resurrection, and ascension, and descent of the Holy Ghost, identified them with, and united them to Himself in the new position He took as Man, so that they were in Christ before God in this holy nature. Such is our position before God as new men even now, and we can sing the words of the hymn,
“In Spirit there already,
Soon we ourselves shall be.”
But not only a new nature is ours in Christ, but we get a new position as sons before the Father. God must have men in a perfect nature before Him. Consequently we are predestinated into the adoption of children unto Himself. Predestinated before the foundation of the world; actually adopted as children by the death and resurrection of Christ. The death of Christ closes for faith our Adam condition and relationships, and His resurrection introduces us in the new position of sons—He also having breathed into us His own resurrection life. And this not by any will of our own, but according to the good pleasure of the Father’s will. His will was the spring of our blessing. His will was set upon it and it was the glory of His grace to carry it out. The result is we are accepted in the Beloved, that is, in all the love the Father has to the Son. The Beloved is the measure of our acceptance before the Father.
Besides, we have redemption through Christ’s blood the forgiveness of sins, and that according to the riches of God’s grace. If we are given a place in the glory as His adopted sons, it is the glory of His grace to give it; if our sins are forgiven, it is according to the riches of His grace, for we are so very poor. If the Queen were to see a ragged boy at her door, who had nothing to eat, and were to have compassion on him, take him in, wash him, clothe him, give him something to eat; I say, that is the riches of the grace of the queen; for that is a poor boy. But if she does not only that but adopts that wretched boy into her family, and gives him the position in her very presence, makes him sit at her table as one of her very sons; I say, That is the glory of the grace of the Queen. She associates him in measure with her glory. Such is the wondrous grace of our God and Father. Such is His wondrous calling.
Oh, Christians, fellow-believers in Christ, do you believe it? Do you believe God’s everlasting purpose in setting you in a holy nature before Himself? Can you thank Him that you are the Father’s adopted son, accepted in the Beloved, in whom you have redemption, the forgiveness of sins? This is truly an exalted position, but all yours by faith, and the Holy Ghost.
Oh, do not give way to those God-dishonoring doubts that would rob God of His privilege of saving you, but believe Him because He tells you so in His own Word.
But everything we get is in Christ. Outside Him we have nothing. Does my reader say, What do these words “in Christ” mean? Why, they mean just what they say, We are in that Person before God! If I am in a house, I am in that house, not outside it. If I am in Christ, I am no longer in Adam; I am in Him. If He is in heaven, I am there. It is not what I am accounted to be; it is the position I am actually in now in spirit. It is actually for Christ to have my new life as born of God beating in His heart up in God’s presence. Just as if He is in me down here, I feel His life in my heart. What a wondrous thought! Christ to love me so as to create me anew, take me out of Adam, put me in Himself, and actually have me in His heart up in heaven, with all the members of the family of God. This is true as to God’s purpose from all eternity. We are chosen, elected in Him (ver 4). We are accepted in Him (vs. 6).
We have redemption in Him (vs. 7). We have the inheritance in Him (vs. 11). We are sealed by the Holy Ghost in Him (vs. 13). We are created in Him to do good works (Eph. 2:10). The Church is seated in the heavenlies in Him (vs. 6). The Gentile is brought nigh to God in Him (ver 13). The Church is a new man in Christ (vs. 15). A house growing up to be a holy habitation in the Lord, and now builded together in Him as a visible Assembly on earth, to be a habitation of God through the Spirit (vss. 21-22). All the truth is in Jesus (Eph. 4:21); and the children of God are said to be light in the Lord (Eph.5:8); lastly, they are called to be strong in the Lord as their power for conflict (Eph. 6:10). Every blessing is in Christ. He is the Man of God’s counsel and choice -His well-beloved Son in Whom He is well pleased. Our blessing then is to make everything of Him.
The apostle having now shown the Christian his present calling, leads him on to the understanding of the future purpose of God in regard to His Christ (vss. 8-10). This is the hope of his calling, which the apostle prays further down in the chapter, that they may understand. The heavens are opened to the believer, and he is called to enter, by the wisdom and prudence of God, into the mysteries of His will. This he makes known to us, as well as all His purposes, which He has purposed in Himself. It is His good pleasure that in the dispensation of the fulness of times, He should gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in Him. The Church will then be the center of His glory in the heavens; Israel on the earth. This will be the millennium. Christ will then be the Bridegroom of His heavenly Bride, and King of Israel and of the nations on earth. All will be gathered around Him as the Center. And all this is the will, good pleasure and purpose of God. What madness then, to fight against it, as this present poor world is doing! What folly to be ignorant of it, as many of God’s poor people are, thus losing so much of the present blessing to their souls!
All this is God’s inheritance, but the apostle goes on to say that in Christ we have obtained an inheritance. By the wondrous grace of our God and Father we have our part in this as heirs with Christ, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who works all things after the counsel of His own will, that we should be to the praise of His glory who first trusted in Christ. If we have the present blessing of adoption as children, it is according to the good pleasure of His will (vs. 5). If all things are to gathered around Christ the spring is the mystery of His will (vs. 9), and if we have obtained an inheritance there, it is by the workings of the counsel of His own will (vs. 11). What a blessing thus to lose sight of ourselves, and the workings of our own perverse will, which always would range itself in opposition to God, and to get lost in the thought of the good pleasure of our God and Father’s will, carried along the ocean of Love’s eternal current, and thus be the exhibition on earth of being the carriers out of the Father’s good will and pleasure.
The Jewish believers were those who first trusted in Christ, but now the Gentile believers are added after hearing the word of truth—the gospel of their salvation; in whom after they had believed; they were sealed with the Holy Spirit of Promise, which is the earnest or the pledge of the purchased possession unto the praise of His glory. Thus, whilst waiting for the inheritance, the Holy Ghost has been given to the believers as a seal, as well as the sure pledge of their future inheritance. Their bodies were not yet redeemed thought purchased, nor yet the earth, but when Christ returned this would take place, and in the meantime the Holy Ghost dwelt in them. Under the law, when an Israelite got poor he might have to sell his land, and perhaps himself as a slave to pay his debts, and a brother Israelite might redeem him (Lev. 25:25-55). So man has sold both himself and lost the earth, by his sin; but the Redeemer has redeemed both by His blood, and when He returns both will be redeemed by power to which verse 14 refers. And now let me ask my reader a question before going further, are you delighting in the Father’s will, purpose, and counsels, in calling you to be His child, and making you an heir of His inheritance? Are you delighting in the purpose of His heart to make His Christ the Center of all things in heaven and earth? Or are you so taken up with your own interests, your own plans, your own purposes, that you have no time to think of the purposes of God, in regard to the glory of His Son? Substitute God’s will, plans, purposes, and counsels, for your own will, plans adn purposes, and all will be well. Your heart will then be open to understand this blessed Epistle.
Verse 15-23 is a prayer that the believer might understand all about this. Ver 3-14, expresses worship in the sense of what our God and Father’s grace is. If I think of God and of the Father and of His grace, I can do nothing but worship Him; if I look at the saints’ need as coming short practically of what God would have them to be, I cannot but pray for them.
Notice in these verses the difference between expressions of worship and prayer. Worship is the giving of thanks to God and the Father for what He is in Himself, and what He has done for those who approach Him. Prayer is asking for that which will supply our need, or the need of others.
Since the apostle had heard of the Ephesians’ faith in Christ, and love to all the saints, he ceased not to give thanks for them, making mention of them in his prayers; that the God of the Lord Jesus Christ the Father of glory, would give them the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. Thus, there is a condition of soul necessary for the receiving of Ephesian truth; not only faith in the Lord Jesus but love to all saints; not to members of my sect or my church, of which there is no thought in Scripture except to brand them as carnal (see 1 Cor 3), but to all saints. Where there is a narrow spirit there is no place for Ephesians truth, though it may be loudly boasted of as mere head knowledge. But where there is real faith in the Lord and love to all saints exhibited, we ought to pray for such saints, that they may understand all about the God of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, the hope of His calling, the riches of His inheritance, the exceeding greatness of His power to the believers (vss. 18-19), as well as the riches of His mercy, His love, and His grace (Eph. 2:4-7). But what natural mind can understand about God- the God of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory? Even these dear saints needed a special spirit of wisdom and revelation for this; that the eyes of their understanding might be enlightened! May God enlighten many minds to understand these things; that they may live more in communion with the mind of God in regard to His Christ and His Church. Truly we are little and poor; our hearts are narrow, our understandings stupid; but, united to Christ by the Holy Ghost our little narrow hearts are brought in contact with the large heart of our God -our slow understandings with the infinite mind of God. It is as we realize this our hearts will enlarge our understandings become more enlightened; so as to be able to understand all that our God and Father has revealed to us. May many dear saints be enlightened in the knowledge of the God of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, as to what is the hope of His calling (comp. vss. 3-10), what is the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints (see vss. 9-14), and what is the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places. You see he would have the saints know all about this God—His calling, His inheritance, His power, we are to be taken right out of our selfishness. It is ours in Christ truly; aye, but all is God’s. Is it nothing to God that we are set before Him in a holy nature? Is it nothing to Him that we are adopted as sons, graced in the Beloved, possessing redemption, the forgiveness of sins? Yes, it is His grace. Again, is it nothing to Him that all things in heaven and earth shall be gathered in one around His Son, instead of now being all turned topsy-turvy by Satan, and that He should inherit all this in the saints? Yea, in truth it is His inheritance. And if the saints are to be brought through, and made one body with Christ, to reign with Him as His Bride over this inheritance, by whose power are they to be brought through? By God’s power! And this power is measured by raising Christ as Man from the dead, and setting him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but in that which is to come; and by putting all things under His feet, and making Him to be the Head over all things to the Church which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all.
And now, dear saints, God would not only have you know about His calling, and His inheritance, but about His power to carry you through.