Ephesians 2 and 4:1-16EPH 2EPH 4:1-161I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, 2With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; 3Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; 5One Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. 7But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. 8Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. 9(Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? 10He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.) 11And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: 13Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: 14That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; 15But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: 16From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. (Ephesians 4:1‑16)
There are two characters in which the church is looked at in the end of Ephesians 2: it grows up unto a holy temple in the Lord, and it is the habitation of God through the Spirit. Chapter 3 unfolds the mystery of the body of Christ, and in chapter 4, where it is spoken of as down here upon earth, it takes up our blessed privileges and exhorts that we may walk according to them.
The Apostle begins by speaking of the unity we are in, and here it is a question of the church's vocation and calling. This is a different thing from the Christian walking individually with Christ. Here it is what belongs to the church of God, and not what the individual ought to be. Here we get church vocation, and the Holy Spirit dwells in the church of God. The effect of God's presence is to judge self and make us feel our own nothingness, to fix the mind on God and His presence and give us a distinct sense of what we are. If I am thoroughly lowly in my own mind, self never comes out.
This wonderful vocation wherewith we are called, and of which we are exhorted to walk worthy, is that the church, the body of Christ, is the habitation of God through the Spirit. What an immense privilege it is that the church of God should be His dwelling-place down here. The effect of a complete redemption is made good on earth before the full, final result is. There was no dwelling-place on earth before redemption. He could and did walk with Adam in the garden, but He did not dwell with him. He could meet with Abraham and in gracious condescension sit at the table with him, but He did not dwell with him.
The moment He brings Israel out of Egypt, He will make them know that He has brought them out that He may dwell among them (Ex. 29:4646And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them: I am the Lord their God. (Exodus 29:46)). He will bless His children; He will guide them, sit at the table with them—anything that can testify of His grace and love. But until He has taken out a people for Himself, He never dwells there. He cannot dwell unless the place is fitted for Him who dwells. How complete and blessed is redemption; the people are so suited to His presence that He can come down and dwell among them.
God by reason of the value of the work of Christ can come and dwell here. It is this that brings His church into this responsible place. The question at once comes, Are we honoring the presence of God the Holy Spirit? If we get the ground on which it is, we get the completeness and absoluteness of what redemption is. Then He puts us on the responsibility of walking as such. The moment we get hold of this truth, that it is the dwelling-place of God by virtue of redemption, we see how it has failed. Where do we see any likeness at all of the very thing that gives it its character? What a solemn thing it is when that is spoiled and corrupted! Notwithstanding, God will make good all His promises and have the church as His dwelling-place in heaven.
None would now deny the fact of the day of Pentecost, but the distinct, definite reality that the Holy Spirit is here, how little it is recognized. We have almost gotten into the condition of John the Baptist's disciples, who said, "We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost." What John the Baptist had promised as distinctive of Christ, they did not know.
There is but "one body" and "one Spirit," and He is looking that they should maintain the perfect manifestation of it in the unity of the Spirit. Christ can have but one body. Then there is "one hope." "I will come again, and receive you unto Myself.”
The uniform way of God is to set up blessing on man's responsibility, which has always failed, and then to set it up in the second Adam who never fails. Adam failed; Israel failed. We get the same thing with the priesthood: they offered strange fire; the sin offering was not offered and eaten within the holy place, and perhaps Aaron never went into the holiest of all in his robes of glory and beauty. Again Christ the High Priest never fails. So David, so Solomon, so Nebuchadnezzar. Christ will be the true Son of David. Nebuchadnezzar had power put into his hands, and he turns the power given him to evil; he sets up an image and puts the children into the fire. So the church: it has been set up to be the habitation of God, and it has failed. Paul tells us that the mystery of lawlessness was already working, that as soon as he was gone, grievous wolves would enter in, that evil would come in like a flood.
Put upon man's responsibility and called to keep this unity of the Spirit, to maintain it practically in the bond of peace, the church has totally failed. In it we find all kinds of oppositions and divisions, totally contrary to the unity of the Spirit. Where is the practical unity in the power of the Holy Spirit overcoming and binding the saints together, so that God's presence being there, there is nothing that is unsuitable to His presence?. Look at it in practice; it has failed. Individuals may crave after it; a remnant may seek in weakness to observe it, but this is the general state of things.
The Lord Jesus Christ has given Himself to redeem us. He died "that also He should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad" (John 11:5252And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad. (John 11:52)), and it ought to be on our hearts that it is scattered which Christ died together. He will gather them in heaven, but He gave Himself to gather the children of God in one when here, the children of Gad who were scattered. He must have it so in the unity of the Spirit, or nothing else.
There is (1) a unity connected with the Spirit, (2) a unity connected with the Lord, and (3) a unity connected with God.
1. The first is what the Holy Spirit by His presence constitutes absolutely in one. It is what is essential in its nature and unchangeable, "one body" called in "one hope." It. has not two.
2. The second is the external profession of it—in the truth, of course—"one Lord, one faith, one baptism [one system of faith].”
3. Finally, there is a larger and wider range or sphere of unity. "One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”
In the saints, God has taken a central place, and when He takes up the universe as the display of His glory, the church is the center of it all and the habitation of God. What we get here is the central circle of all, God's thought in the church itself.
We have the same truth in Revelation 21. There is no temple there, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. A temple would be an obstruction to the light; "the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." He fills with His glory that wherein He dwells, and others get the light thereof. The church ought to have been so down here, for now it is the dwelling-place of God, that in it might shine out to all around His glory who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
It is wonderful to think that God has taken the church that He may set Himself in it to display His glory to the world. Yet we find every wickedness there. Wickedness not even named among the heathen was found in the church.
Then in Ephesians 4:7-87But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. 8Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Ephesians 4:7‑8) we get back to the individual again. "But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore He saith, When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men." It is striking as regards the completeness of the triumph of Christ. Notice here the extent of what He does. Christ comes and takes us out of Satan's power altogether and so completely delivers us that Fie makes us the vessels of His power to destroy Satan's again. So completely are we delivered that we are associated with Christ as the Lord's host in putting down His enemies. He gives us our place of service in power, because He has Himself destroyed the power of Satan. He has ascended up, the witness in His own self that He has broken, through death, the power of Satan. His victory over everything is complete and He associates us with Himself as the instruments of His power.
"Now that He ascended, what is it but that He also descended first into the tower parts of the earth?" (vs. 9). Here we get Christ Himself as Redeemer. Faith knows that it has got the Christ who, as man, goes down where sin had brought the first man, truly and really breaks and annuls the power of Satan. Then as man He goes up to the right hand of God. If I look at Christ, I cannot see a place where Satan triumphed over man that is not a witness of His power. We must have faith to see it, and it will be displayed publicly hereafter. The whole power of Satan is null for faith; death is gain—it is "absent from the body... present with the Lord." All this is founded on His having led captivity captive. So then faith knows no place that Christ does not fill. I can say of Christ, He has gone down as man to the dust of death and right up to the throne of God, and this as man. What a place for man!
In verses 11-16 we get the whole unfolding of ministry, but here we do not get any gifts that are signs of power as in Corinthians. He is not occupied with this here. Christ is occupied with His own work to have the church for Himself. We have gifts here and ordinary ministries—persons as such. We get specific ministry—prophets are prophets, apostles are apostles. And then we get the whole body taken in by "that which every joint supplieth.”
What a place we occupy in the purpose of God! And this would be impossible if redemption, which puts us spotless in the presence of God, were not complete! It is the place where He chooses to dwell, because He has redeemed it to Himself. What a place in which He sets us. In the world that rejected and crucified His Son, God has a place to dwell.
How far have we kept that, as God originally set it up? "Where is the flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock?" as Jeremiah said (only the church is not a flock; it is the habitation of God through the Spirit—the body of Christ). He abides with us more really and truly than with Israel. The Lord said, "It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you." How truly it is, therefore, that He gives man a place in Himself, and sends the Holy Spirit to dwell in the church. How far does what is called the church, in any shape or form, answer to it?
The responsible, outward church is not cut off yet, but it has failed. Infidelity and popery abound on all sides, though God is at the same time working graciously. If a person were to look for the manifestation of the church of God and the Spirit working in it, where would he find it? But the Head never fails, whatever the individual does. He never can find himself in trials and difficulties in which he is not bound to act according to the divine principles God has revealed, and where there is not the power of Christ for him. It is impossible that Christ can be anything but sufficient for us. The perfection and faithfulness of Christ are ours, and they, as the truth of God, have never changed.
He who is perfected forever as to his conscience—cleansed from all his guilt and saved from wrath to come by the blood of Jesus—should cleanse himself from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord. Surely, for him whose sins are put away by the sacrifice of Jesus, it is but reasonable service that he should present his body a living sacrifice, in order that in him might be seen the reflex to the glory of Christ on high, produced by the Spirit of God which dwells in him.