«　WEEK 2　DAY 5　»

　　Eph. 3:4-5 …The mystery of Christ, which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men,… has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in spirit.

　　5:18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissoluteness, but be filled in spirit.

　　In each of the six chapters of Ephesians, the human spirit is mentioned. Our human spirit has been regenerated and indwelt by the compound, all-inclusive, consummated Spirit to make this spirit a mingled spirit. In 1:17 the apostle Paul prayed that the Father would give us such a mingled spirit of wisdom to understand and of revelation to see. We need the revelation and the enlightenment to see the mystery of God’s economy. We also need to understand, to apprehend, what we see by the divine wisdom. The economy of God is a real mystery, yet it has been revealed to us. We can see His economy and it is made known to us so that we can receive it, understand it, apprehend it, and participate in it. (CWWL, 1993, vol. 2, “The Issue of the Dispensing of the Processed Trinity and the Transmitting of the Transcending Christ,” p. 540)

　　Ephesians 3:5 tells us that the economy of God, which is so mysterious, has been unveiled to the apostles and the prophets in their spirit. This revelation was given not in their mind but in their spirit. If we are going to understand, to realize, the reality of God’s mysterious economy, we must learn to discern our spirit from our soul (Heb. 4:12). We should not be bothered by our soul. We should not be troubled, complicated, and perplexed by our mind. Instead, we should always turn to our spirit where we can meet the divine Spirit. In our mingled spirit, we have the capacity to see the mystery of God’s economy, to understand it, to apprehend it, and to receive it and retain it as our portion.

　　Ephesians 4:23 says that we have to be renewed in the spirit of our mind….Our spirit can come into our mind, subdue it, take it over, and occupy it…. It is by this spirit of the mind that we are renewed every day into the image of our Creator (Col. 3:10)…. It is in this way that we are transformed and conformed to the image of our Creator.

　　Ephesians 5:18 tells us not to be drunk with wine, that is, not to be filled in our physical body with wine. Instead, we should be filled in our spirit. Our spirit needs to be filled with the processed Triune God, with the transcending Christ, with the consummated Spirit. Then we will be full of praise, singing and speaking one to another (vv. 19-20). The melodies, the songs, are not only good for singing but also good for speaking. As we speak to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, as we are praising God, we will spontaneously be submissive to one another (v. 21). The wives will be submissive to the husbands, and the husbands will love the wives (vv. 22, 25). Then we will have the proper church life, full of submission and full of praising to the Triune God, with no quarreling, no murmuring, and no complaining.

　　Ephesians 6 tells us something further. On the one hand, the church life is a praising life and a submitting life; at the same time it is also a fighting life. While we are praising and submitting to one another, the enemy is here fighting, so we have to fight against him by prayer. Verse 18 says that whenever we pray, we should pray in our spirit, not in our mind. If we are going to walk, we need to use our feet. No one can walk by his nose. Even for someone to walk on his hands is awkward. To walk by our feet is the right way. In the same way, we should not pray merely by our mind. We must pray by our spirit and in our spirit. (CWWL, 1993, vol. 2, “The Issue of the Dispensing of the Processed Trinity and the Transmitting of the Transcending Christ,” pp. 541-542)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1993, vol. 2, “The Issue of the Dispensing of the Processed Trinity and the Transmitting of the Transcending Christ,” ch. 6