Scripture Reading: Eph. 1:3-14
Ⅰ
The expression in Christ indicates that Christ is the sphere and the means of all the divine, spiritual, and heavenly blessings—Eph. 1:1, 3, 10, 12; 2:6-7, 10, 13; 3:6, 11, 21; 4:32:
A
Christ is the virtue, the instrument, and the sphere in which God has blessed us—1:3.
B
Christ is the element of the divine blessing; that is, Christ Himself is the divine blessing—3:8.
Ⅱ
All the blessings with which God has blessed us, being spiritual, are related to the Holy Spirit—1:3:
A
The Spirit of God is not only the channel but also the reality of God's blessings.
B
The Spirit is the nature and essence of the divine blessings that we have received.
Ⅲ
God's blessing is actually His dispensing of Himself into us; the Father is the source of the blessing, Christ the Son is the element of the blessing, and the Spirit is the nature and essence of the blessing—vv. 4-14.
Ⅳ
The spiritual blessings in Christ are in the heavenlies; this means that they are from the heavens, having a heavenly nature, heavenly state, heavenly characteristic, heavenly taste, and heavenly atmosphere—v. 3.
Ⅴ
The first among all God's blessings is His choosing us, His selecting us, in eternity past; He chose us to be holy—v. 4:
A
God makes us holy by imparting Himself, the Holy One, into our being, so that our whole being may be permeated and saturated with His holy nature—v. 4.
B
For us, God's chosen ones, to be holy is to partake of God's nature and to have our whole being permeated with God Himself—1 Pet. 1:16; 2 Pet. 1:4.
Ⅵ
Through Jesus Christ, God predestinated us unto sonship—Eph. 1:5:
A
Through Jesus Christ means through the Redeemer, who is the Son of God.
B
God's marking us out beforehand was to destine us unto sonship; He marked us out to have the life to be His sons and the position to inherit Him—v. 14.
Ⅶ
God has graced us in the Beloved, that is, in Christ, His beloved Son, in whom He delights; thus, in gracing us God makes us an object in whom He delights—vv. 6-8; Matt. 3:17; 17:5.
Ⅷ
We have been redeemed in the Beloved, in the One in whom God delights; in the eyes of God redemption is a matter to be delighted in—Eph. 1:7.
Ⅸ
The economy that God, according to His desire, planned and purposed in Himself is to head up all things in Christ at the fullness of the times; this is accomplished through the dispensing of the abundant life supply of the Triune God as the life factor into all the members of the church so that they may rise up from the death situation and be attached to the Body— vv. 9-10, 22-23:
A
God's way to recover the oneness among His creation is to impart Himself in Christ into us as life—Rom. 8:6, 10-11, 19-21.
B
The Triune God as life brings in light, and light issues in harmony and brings all things into oneness—John 1:4; 8:12; Rev. 22:1-2, 5; 21:24.
Ⅹ
We are made an inheritance in Christ in order that we may inherit God as our inheritance—Eph. 1:11, 14, 18:
A
Christ is the element with which we are being transformed into a treasure to become God's inheritance, His private and personal possession—v. 18.
B
God is the treasure, and He is working Himself as the treasure into us so that we may become a treasure to Him—2 Cor. 4:7.
C
This is a marvelous mutual inheritance: we become God's inheritance for His enjoyment, and God will be our inheritance for our enjoyment—Eph. 1:14, 18.
Ⅺ
In Christ we have the Holy Spirit's sealing and pledging—vv. 13-14:
A
To be sealed with the Holy Spirit is to be marked out with the Holy Spirit as a seal; this indicates that we belong to God and that the Holy Spirit is causing us to bear God's image, signified by the seal, thus making us like God—v. 13.
B
The pledging of the Spirit is given for our enjoyment; the more the Spirit pledges within us, the more enjoyment of Christ we have—v. 14.
C
The Holy Spirit's sealing indicates that we are God's inheritance, whereas His pledging indicates that God will be our inheritance—vv. 1, 13-14, 18.
D
The Spirit's sealing and pledging will fully transform us into a treasure to God and will ultimately make us God in life and nature but not in the Godhead.
Ⅻ
The Spirit's dispensing in His sealing and pledging issues in the redemption of our Body—vv. 13-14:
A
Redemption in verse 14 refers to the redemption of our body, the transfiguration of our body into a body of glory—Rom. 8:23; Phil. 3:21.
B
The Holy Spirit today is a guarantee and foretaste of our divine inheritance, until our body is transfigured, at which time we will inherit God in full—Eph. 1:13-14.
C
The span of God's blessing bestowed on us in Christ covers all the crucial points from God's selection in eternity past to the redemption of our body in eternity future—vv. 4, 14.