Scripture Reading: Eph. 1:3, 5, 9, 11, 22-23; 2:6; 3:16-19; 4:4-6, 12, 16
Ⅰ
The specific and particular characteristic of the book of Ephesians is that it is written from the heavenlies, from eternity, from God's heart, and from God's eternal purpose—1:3, 5, 9, 11; 3:11:
A
Unlike Romans, Ephesians speaks not from the sinners' condition but from the heart and eternal purpose of God—1:5, 9; 3:11.
B
Ephesians speaks from the heavenlies, not from the earth, and from eternity, not from time—1:3-5; 3:11:
１
Because Ephesians brings us into the heavenlies, we should not focus on our condition but instead be in the heavenlies—2:6.
２
Because Ephesians brings us into eternity, we should not stay in time but be in eternity—1:4-5, 10; 3:11.
C
In order to understand Ephesians, we need to enter into the heavenlies, into eternity, into the heart of God, and into God's eternal purpose.
Ⅱ
God has made "known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Himself"—1:9:
A
In eternity God planned a will; because this will was hidden in Him, it was a mystery—vv. 5, 11; 5:17.
B
God has made this hidden mystery known to us through His revelation in Christ, that is, through Christ's incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension—1:7, 20-22; 4:8-10.
C
It was the good pleasure of God's heart to make the mystery of His will known to us—1:9:
１
God's good pleasure was what He purposed in Himself unto the economy of the fullness of the times—v. 10.
２
God Himself is the initiation, the origination, and the sphere of His eternal purpose, which nothing can overthrow, for which everything is working, and regarding which He did not take counsel with anyone—v. 11; 3:11.
Ⅲ
The crucial focus of Ephesians is the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity for the producing and building up of the church as the Body of Christ:
A
Chapter 1 unveils how God the Father chose and predestinated the members in eternity, God the Son redeemed them, and God the Spirit sealed them as a pledge, thus imparting Himself into His believers for the formation of the church, which is the Body of Christ, the fullness of the One who fills all in all— vv. 3-14, 18-23:
１
A fundamental truth in the Lord's recovery is that the Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—has wrought Himself into us through the Father's predestination, the Son's redemption, and the Spirit's sealing and pledging.
２
The Body of Christ comes into being by the dispensing of the Triune God as the life and life supply into the believers.
３
The threefold mentioning of the praise of God's glory signifies the threefold dispensing of the Triune God—vv. 6, 12, 14.
B
Chapter 2 shows us that in the Divine Trinity all the believers, both Jewish and Gentile, have access unto God the Father through God the Son, in God the Spirit—v. 18:
１
Through God the Son, who is the Accomplisher, the means, and in God the Spirit, who is the Executor, the application, we have access unto God the Father, who is the Originator, the source of our enjoyment.
２
The Father's dispensing to produce His masterpiece, the Son's dispensing to produce the new man, and the Spirit's bringing us to the Father in one Body result in the building up of the church and the fulfillment of God's eternal economy—vv. 10, 15-16, 21-22.
C
In chapter 3 the apostle prays that God the Father will grant the believers to be strengthened through God the Spirit into their inner man so that Christ, God the Son, may make His home in their hearts, that they may be filled unto all the fullness of God, the church as the Body of Christ—vv. 6, 16-19:
１
The Father is the source, the Spirit is the means, the Son is the object, and the fullness of the Triune God is the issue.
２
Each of the three does not act for Himself but for the fullness of the Triune God; this is a beautiful picture of the Divine Trinity.
D
Chapter 4 portrays how the processed God as the Spirit, the Lord, and the Father is mingled with the Body of Christ so that the members of the Body may experience the Divine Trinity—vv. 4-6, 12, 16:
１
The divine dispensing of God the Father in His being over all, of the Son in His being through all, and of the Spirit in His being in all enables all the members of the Body of Christ to experience and enjoy the Triune God.
２
These verses reveal four persons—one Body, one Spirit, one Lord, and one God the Father—mingled together as one entity to be the organic Body of Christ; thus, the Triune God and the Body are four-in-one.