Why is the Spirit Mentioned in Every Chapter of Ephesians?

     

Why is the spirit is mentioned in every chapter of Ephesians? Here's the instances mentioned in chapter 94 of the Life-Study of Ephesians: In this chapter Witness Lee shares on page 784 that the spirit mentioned in all these chapters is not just the Holy Spirit or the human spirit but the mingled spirit.  This is scripturally grounded, and I like to use Romans 8:16 when I share this with others because this verse mentions both spirits--The Spirit  Himself witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God. I've learned that in the Bible the capital S references God's holy Spirit, while whenever a lower case s is used it's man's human spirit.  And on page 787 he points out why the spirit is important in the book of Ephesians:

The spirit here is the regenerated human spirit indwelt by the Spirit of God....As we consider all these references to the spirit in this short book, we see that the church is altogether a matter in the spirit" (Lee, Witness. Life-Study of Ephesians. Anaheim: Living Stream Ministry, 1973, Print).  

I looked them all up and here they are-- 

1. Chapter 1:17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Him.  
2. Chapter 2 :22 In Whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in spirit. 
3.  Chapter 3:16 That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory to be strengthened with power through HIs spirit into the inner man.  
4. Chapter 4:23 And are renewed in the spirit of your mind.  As the spirit spreads into our mind, it  renews all the parts of our heart.  
5. Chapter 5:18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled in spirit.
6. Chapter  6:18  By means of all prayer and petition, praying at every time in spirit and watching unto this in all perseverance and petition concerning all the saints.

Because the church is not a social club but the organic Body of Christ,  we can only enjoy and experience its reality when we are in our spirit.

You can listen to excerpts of  these Ephesians Life Study messages on Life Study of the Bible with Witness Lee.

Other blog posts on the Life Study of Ephesians:

What is the Subject of Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians?
What is the Mystery of God's Will Revealed in Ephesians 1:9?
How Does God Head Up All Things in Christ in Ephesians 1:10?
How Does the Spirit Seal us in Ephesians 1:13-14?
What is the Surpassing Greatness of His Power in Ephesians 1:19?
From the Life Study of Ephesians: How Electricity Illustrates God's Purpose to Reach Man
What is the One New Man in Ephesians 2:15?
What is the Stewardship of the Grace of God in Ephesians 3:2?
 What is the Multifarious Wisdom of God For in Ephesians 3:10?
What's God's Calling for in Ephesians 4:1?
What Does It Mean to Learn Christ in Ephesians 4:20?
Seeing the Church as the Bride of Christ in Ephesians 5:32
Seeing the Church as the Warrior in Ephesians 6
How Do We Apply the Armor of God in Ephesians 6?
What are the Seven Aspects of the Church Seen in Ephesians?
Why Did God Abolish the Ordinances in Ephesians 2:15?
Why is the Spirit Mentioned in Every Chapter of Ephesians?

Why Did God Abolish the Ordinances in Ephesians 2:15?

     Why does Paul mention ordinances in Ephesians 2:15?  The Holy Spirit must have impressed him that the biggest thing that would divide the New Testament believers from one another would be ordinances.  In chapter 85 of the Life-study of Ephesians Witness Lee shares that ever since the time of Babel fallen man has been divided by ordinances. This damage was so bad, that God had to start over with the called race from Abraham's descendants, and from him eventually came the children of Israel.

    It's quite evident when you read through the Old Testament  that the Jews and the Gentiles were constantly at enmity with each other.  God didn’t intend that mankind would always be separated from one another, and the only cure was for Christ to come like Ephesians 2:15 says and take all the separating ordinances and nail them to the cross through His death.  

      What do these ordinances look like? In chapters 85-88 brother Lee points out they’re things like loud versus quiet worship, piano versus tambourines, baptism by immersion versus sprinkling, etc.  Using the scriptures he states that unless something is divisive, sinful, or heretical, the believers should all receive one another (see Romans 14). In order to get this reality on the earth, the Lord has been recovering the truths in the word. I liked the way he shared about what the Lord is recovering today in the Life Study of Ephesians Chapter 89 on pages 743-744:  

Today the Lord is seeking to recover His church by bringing His people out of divisions. To be brought out of divisions is to be brought out of ordinances as the source of division.  Therefore, in order to recover the church, the Lord must cause His people to set aside the ordinances that have been the cause of division...No ground whatever can be given to the insistence on any practice. For the building up of the church we must be willing to drop all ordinances (Lee, Witness. Life Study of Ephesians. Anaheim; Living stream Ministry, 1973, Print).

   The word recover mentioned in the above excerpt may leave you a bit puzzled.  I've heard brother Lee share many times that the Lord began His recovery of neglected and lost truths Bible beginning with Martin Luther who from his reading of the book of Romans in the monastery saw that justification is by faith not by works. I read his biography many years ago, and it touched me how he took a stand for the word of God, and he suffered a lot of persecution from the Catholic church. God filled him with the deep burden to translate the Bible out of Latin and into the German language so his countrymen could read it. 

    Later Johann Guttenberg's printing press (completed in 1450s) made the mass production of the German Bible easy. William Tyndale followed by translating the Bible into English (finished in 1531), and the translation of the Bible into other languages is still going on!  My husband and I have really appreciated and enjoyed reading the Recovery Version of the Bible because it brings out in the footnotes all the light passed down from Martin Luther to the present.  Rhema Book Distributors makes available for free the translation of the New Testament Recovery Version in 25 languages!  If you have friends from other countries, they're a perfect resource.

     Once the Bible was put into the hands of the people,  God could continue to recover more and more truths.  The Lord used the Moravian Brethren to recover many truths concerning the gathering of the believers.  Then God gave Watchman Nee  further revelation from the word concerning the  ground of the church, which is one church in each city, and this is clearly seen throughout the New Testament.  In Revelation 1:11  John wrote, "Saying, What you see write in a scroll and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus and to Symrna and to Pergamos and to Thyatria and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea."  He doesn't list Baptist, Methodist, or Catholic. but seven cities!  Through Watchman Nee's sharing this truth, churches sprang up all over China.

    Later when Witness Lee joined him, he saw and eventually carried this vision out of China when the Communist took over. When I read the book The Ground of the Church, I learned that this church is composed of believers who meet in oneness on the ground of the city they live in (See Acts 14:23). I truly appreciate Witness Lee's references to church history in all of his writings. 

You can listen to excerpts of  these Ephesians Life Study messages on Life Study of the Bible with Witness Lee.

Other blog posts on the Life Study of Ephesians:

What is the Subject of Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians?

What is the Mystery of God's Will Revealed in Ephesians 1:9?

How Does God Head Up All Things in Christ in Ephesians 1:10?

How Does the Spirit Seal us in Ephesians 1:13-14?

What is the Surpassing Greatness of His Power in Ephesians 1:19?

From the Life Study of Ephesians: How Electricity Illustrates God's Purpose to Reach Man

What is the One New Man in Ephesians 2:15?

What is the Stewardship of the Grace of God in Ephesians 3:2?

 What is the Multifarious Wisdom of God For in Ephesians 3:10?

What's God's Calling for in Ephesians 4:1?

What Does It Mean to Learn Christ in Ephesians 4:20?

Seeing the Church as the Bride of Christ in Ephesians 5:32

Seeing the Church as the Warrior in Ephesians 6

How Do We Apply the Armor of God in Ephesians 6?

What are the Seven Aspects of the Church Seen in Ephesians?

Why Did God Abolish the Ordinances in Ephesians 2:15?

Why is the Spirit Mentioned in Every Chapter of Ephesians?

What Are the Seven Aspects of the Church Seen in Ephesians?

    Every book of the Bible has a focus.   In chapter 74 the Life Study of Ephesians Witness Lee shares that the book of Ephesians unveils seven aspects of the church.  Today I heard Program 75 on The Life Study of the Bible with Witness Lee, and one of the brothers said Ephesians is the heart of the New Testament which reveals Christ and the church.  I'm going to paraphrase what I picked up from my reading in the seven aspects listed below that.  Here's the excerpt on page 623 that goes over the 7 aspects of the church seen in Ephesians: 

The book of Ephesians reveals various aspects of the church.  In this message we shall consider seven aspects: the Body, the new man, the bride, the family, the kingdom, the dwelling place of God, and the warrior (Lee, Witness. Life Study of Ephesians. Anaheim: Living Stream Ministry, 1979, Print).

1.  Seeing the Church as the Body of Christ - Ephesians 1:22-23:  Just like our physical body is under the authority of our brain, in the same way the Apostle Paul reveals that the Lord is the Head of His spiritual Body, and that every regenerated believer is a member of this Body (1 Corinthians 12). 

2.  Seeing the Church as the new man -Ephesians 2:15:  On the cross the Lord destroyed all the separating ordinances that divide people so that the believers could be both spiritually and practically one.

3.  Seeing the church as the bride of Christ - Ephesians 5: The church as the bride of Christ shows that the believers are His counterpart, and that we have a loving relationship with our Lord.

4.  Seeing the church as the family (household of God) - Ephesians 2:19:  Because all the believers have been reborn with God's life, they are also all members of God's family!  All the brothers and sisters in the church enjoy sweet fellowship and mutual care. 

5.  Seeing the church as the kingdom of God - Ephesians 2:19:  Witness Lee shares that the phrase "fellow citizens with the saints" implies God's kingdom.  Every life on earth is part of a kingdom, and in the same way when we're regenerated,  we spontaneously become a part of the kingdom of God. As citizens in God's kingdom, we are under His inward rule and authority.

6.  Seeing the church as the dwelling place of God - Ephesians 2:22:  This verse opens up the amazing truth that the believers together become God's dwelling place. 

7.  Seeing the church as the warrior - Ephesians 6:  Because God has an enemy, He needs the church to be the warrior to defeat Satan. 

     I've heard it said many times that the biggest prophecy in the New Testament is in Matthew 16:18 where the Lord said, I will build My church.  In Chapter 74 of the Life-

Study of Ephesians brother Lee shares that Lord has to get this testimony on earth before His return.  When I read the Life Study of Acts, I was touched again with how the Lord's disciples carried out the Lord's commission in Matthew 28:19. As ones got saved and baptized after Peter's preaching of the gospel in Acts 2, they just began to meet as the church in Jerusalem (Acts 8:1). It really helped me years ago when I heard that the Greek word used in the New Testament for church means the called out assembly; it does not refer to the place of meeting. 

     And as the believers scattered and as the gospel was continued to be preached, other churches were raised up. In all these cities the believers simply called themselves the church in their city. Many of the New Testament books were written to these churches--Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, and Thessalonians.  In the letter to the Ephesians, Paul underscores the seven major features of this church on earth. Through this ministry all these truths have been opened up for all of God's people around the earth. 

You can listen to excerpts of  these Ephesians Life Study messages on Life Study of the Bible with Witness Lee.

Other blog posts on the Life Study of Ephesians:

What is the Subject of Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians?
What is the Mystery of God's Will Revealed in Ephesians 1:9?
How Does God Head Up All Things in Christ in Ephesians 1:10?
How Does the Spirit Seal us in Ephesians 1:13-14?
What is the Surpassing Greatness of His Power in Ephesians 1:19?
From the Life Study of Ephesians: How Electricity Illustrates God's Purpose to Reach Man
What is the One New Man in Ephesians 2:15?
What is the Stewardship of the Grace of God in Ephesians 3:2?
 What is the Multifarious Wisdom of God For in Ephesians 3:10?
What's God's Calling for in Ephesians 4:1?
What Does It Mean to Learn Christ in Ephesians 4:20?
Seeing the Church as the Bride of Christ in Ephesians 5:32
Seeing the Church as the Warrior in Ephesians 6
How Do We Apply the Armor of God in Ephesians 6?
What are the Seven Aspects of the Church Seen in Ephesians?
Why Did God Abolish the Ordinances in Ephesians 2:15?
Why is the Spirit Mentioned in Every Chapter of Ephesians?

From the Life-Study of Ephesians - The Secret to Applying the Armor in Ephesians 6

     The key to experiencing the armor of God is in Ephesians 6:18. Without the light in this chapter I never would have connected prayer as the way to take up the helmet, breastplate, shield, etc.  I've appreciated all the aspects of this armor, but I didn’t know how to really experience it. So it was like a doctrine without any handle.  

Ebey's Landing

   Here’s the part in chapter 66 in the Life-Study of Ephesians  where Witness Lee talks about applying the armor:

Whenever we are about to put on the armor or to take up any items of the armor, we need to pray.  We cannot and we should not attempt to use any part of God’s armor without prayer.  Prayer is the unique way to apply the armor of God.  It is prayer that makes the armor available to us in a practical way (Lee, Witness. Life-Study of Ephesians. Anaheim: Living Stream Ministry, 1979, Print).

    Over the years I have received a lot of spiritual instruction on prayer from both Witness Lee and Watchman Nee’s writings.  I've really been helped by Watchman Nee's book  The Prayer Ministry of the Church .  In this book Watchman Nee makes it very clear that God’s will is like a powerful locomotive, but without our prayer which lays down the spiritual tracks, God can't move.

  Both Watchman Nee and Witness Lee share practical helps for our prayer life in their writings.  Towards the end of chapter 66 of the Life-Study of Ephesians brother Lee talks about the importance of setting aside definite times to pray.  He emphasizes Paul's word in verse 18 about how we need to watch over our prayer time with all perseverance.  

   Whenever we make a determination to pray, it seems like God’s enemy arranges things in our environment to distract us from praying.  I’ve seen this happen to me again and again, but I just keep endeavoring. And that's why I like this line:  “This means that we should pray particularly for our watching unto prayer, that is, pray for our prayer life, for our prayer time” (Page 555).

You can listen to excerpts of  these Ephesians Life Study messages on Life Study of the Bible with Witness Lee.

Other blog posts on the Life Study of Ephesians:

What is the Subject of Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians?

What is the Mystery of God's Will Revealed in Ephesians 1:9?

How Does God Head Up All Things in Christ in Ephesians 1:10?

How Does the Spirit Seal us in Ephesians 1:13-14?

What is the Surpassing Greatness of His Power in Ephesians 1:19?

From the Life Study of Ephesians: How Electricity Illustrates God's Purpose to Reach Man

What is the One New Man in Ephesians 2:15?

What is the Stewardship of the Grace of God in Ephesians 3:2?

 What is the Multifarious Wisdom of God For in Ephesians 3:10?

What's God's Calling for in Ephesians 4:1?

What Does It Mean to Learn Christ in Ephesians 4:20?

Seeing the Church as the Bride of Christ in Ephesians 5:32

Seeing the Church as the Warrior in Ephesians 6

How Do We Apply the Armor of God in Ephesians 6?

What are the Seven Aspects of the Church Seen in Ephesians?

Why Did God Abolish the Ordinances in Ephesians 2:15?

Why is the Spirit Mentioned in Every Chapter of Ephesians?

Seeing the Church as the Warrior in Ephesians 6

    Paul’s description of the helmet of salvation, the girdle of truth, and shoes of peace are not poetic symbols.  Through years of experience and a few battles of our own, we’ve come to see these are real items we experience in spiritual warfare. Probably what touches me the most through reading these messages on the armor and my own experience is that all of this portrays the church as the warrior.  God has an enemy, and one of the purposes of the church is to defeat Satan.  Here’s a real enlightening part of chapter 63 of the Life- Study, Page 527-528: 

If we would know how the church can be God’s warrior to engage in spiritual warfare, we must know these three wills, these three intentions.  God’s will, being self-existing, is eternal, uncreated.  As created beings, the angels also have a will.  One of these angels, an archangel, was appointed by God to rule the universe that existed before the creation of Adam.  Because of his high position and his beauty, this archangel became proud.  This pride gave rise to an evil intention, which became the satanic will…The controversy in the universe began with the rebellion of the archangel against God…We simply know that at a particular time, God created man and endowed him with a human will that was free …In Genesis 2 we see that man was free to exercise his will to eat either of the tree of life or of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  These two trees represent the divine will and the satanic will, respectively…Although there were three wills, the controversy involved just two parties—God and Satan.  The crucial issue was whether man would choose the divine will or the satanic will… As we all know, the human will took sides with the satanic will…However, through repentance man can turn from the satanic will to the divine will, from Satan’s side to God’s side. (Lee, Witness, Life-Study of Ephesians, Anaheim: Living Stream  Ministry, 1978, Print).

     Every time I hear this I'm amazed because it helps me understand that in many situations God's enemy is working behind people and events to frustrate God's will on this earth.  That's why verse 12 is so striking: For our wrestling is not against blood and flesh but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenlies.   The Life-Study says that these rulers, authorities, and world-rulers refer to the evil angels who rebelled with Satan against God (Revelation  12:4) long before the creation of Adam.  This verse indicates that this darkness refers to Satan's kingdom of darkness that is presently on this earth (You can check out Matthew 12:26 and Colossians 1:13 about this).  Surely this kind of battle is not waged individually but as the Body of Christ. I really appreciate the insight our brother gives on this matter!  I hope you can listen to the radio programs below on this.

   Last week I heard some of the broadcasts on this chapter, and you can find them by scrolling down to Programs 54-57 on Life Study of the Bible with Witness Lee.


You can listen to excerpts of  these Ephesians Life Study messages on Life Study of the Bible with Witness Lee.

Other blog posts on the Life Study of Ephesians:

What is the Subject of Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians?
What is the Mystery of God's Will Revealed in Ephesians 1:9?
How Does God Head Up All Things in Christ in Ephesians 1:10?
How Does the Spirit Seal us in Ephesians 1:13-14?
What is the Surpassing Greatness of His Power in Ephesians 1:19?
From the Life Study of Ephesians: How Electricity Illustrates God's Purpose to Reach Man
What is the One New Man in Ephesians 2:15?
What is the Stewardship of the Grace of God in Ephesians 3:2?
 What is the Multifarious Wisdom of God For in Ephesians 3:10?
What's God's Calling for in Ephesians 4:1?
What Does It Mean to Learn Christ in Ephesians 4:20?
Seeing the Church as the Bride of Christ in Ephesians 5:32
Seeing the Church as the Warrior in Ephesians 6
How Do We Apply the Armor of God in Ephesians 6?
What are the Seven Aspects of the Church Seen in Ephesians?
Why Did God Abolish the Ordinances in Ephesians 2:15?
Why is the Spirit Mentioned in Every Chapter of Ephesians?

How Does God Get a Glorious Church in Ephesians 5:27?

 Did you know that glory is God expressed?  In the past the word glory made me think of dazzling sunshine.  So many times when I’ve read the Bible, I’ve thought I know that word, but after listening  to a message or reading a Life Study I realize my understanding was way too shallow. So glory is God  expressed but not just by God Himself. It may surprise you a bit (because it does me when I really think about it) that God  wants His glory to be expressed through man!  How can that happen?  In the introduction to Life Study of Ephesians Chapter 59 Witness Lee uses the context to tell us how:

 The only way God can have a glorious church is through Christ’s sanctifying, cleansing, nourishing, and cherishing. As we experience these things in a practical way the church becomes glorious (Lee, Witness. Life Study of Ephesians. Anaheim: Living Stream Ministry, 1978, Print ).

The context of this verse on the glorious church is God santifying the believers through His washing word, His nourishing and cherishing (Ephesians 5:26-29). Later he shares that as we come to the word, the Lord nourishes and cherishes us and bit by bit radiates His glory into us through our beholding His face (2 Cor. 4:6 and 2 Cor. 3:18.).  Somethings happening to us!  And this is a lot like what he shares in another message where he points out that this process of glorification is a lot like the metamorphosis of an ugly caterpillar into a beautiful butterfly (Page 481). Something within the caterpillar is consuming its old body and making a new one.  Wow, what a picture of what's happening to all of the believers of Christ!  So today our top priority is to come to the word of God and behold the Lord in His word!  

I really enjoyed listening to the radio broadcast of this message put on by Living Stream Ministry which is Program 52 - God's Desire for a Glorious Church. They really encouraged the listeners to read Watchman Nee's book The Glorious Church. I've read it years ago, but I'm planning  to read it again.  Did you know you can get this book as well as a free study Bible free of charge at Bibles for America?


Other blog posts on the Life Study of Ephesians:

What is the Subject of Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians?

What is the Mystery of God's Will Revealed in Ephesians 1:9?

How Does God Head Up All Things in Christ in Ephesians 1:10?

How Does the Spirit Seal us in Ephesians 1:13-14?

What is the Surpassing Greatness of His Power in Ephesians 1:19?

The Electricity Gospel - Showing God's Purpose to Reach Man

What is the One New Man in Ephesians 2:15?

What is the Stewardship of the Grace of God in Ephesians 3:2?

Do You Know What the Multifarious Wisdom of God is in Ephesians 3:10?

What's God's Calling for in Ephesians 4:1?

What Does It Mean to Learn Christ in Ephesians 4:20?

Seeing the Church as the Bride of Christ in Ephesians 5:32

Seeing the Church as the Bride of Christ in Ephesians 5:32

    The brother in Christ  who married my husband and me used the classic  passage in Ephesians 5 on husbands and wives for our wedding message. He took Paul’s exhortation here to share on the precious truth that the church is the bride of Christ.  

   Witness Lee’s exposition of this truth in chapter 53 of the Life-Study of Ephesians makes this crystal clear.  He opens up by saying that as the first couple in the Bible,  Adam and Eve portray a complete picture of Christ and the church. ”ll put together a lot of the key excerpts  from pages 445-446 to show you:

"After God created man, He said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a help meet for him” (Gen. 2:18). The animals and the fowl were brought to Adam, and Adam named them.  But for Adam “there was not found a help meet for him” (Gen. 2:20).  Within Adam there was the desire to have a counterpart, to have someone to match him….In order to produce such a counterpart, “the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam” (Gen.2:21). While Adam slept, the Lord took one of Adam’s ribs and used it for the building of a woman (Gen.2:22, Heb.).…In life, nature, and form the woman was the same as the man.…Adam knew that at last he had found his counterpart" (Lee, Witness. Life-Study of Ephesians. Anaheim: Living Stream Ministry, 1979, Print).

   I remember in my reading of the Life-Study of Genesis that  brother Lee (as he lovingly was called by all the ones he ministered to) had stated that Adam’s need of a helpmeet actually portrayed God’s desire for a helpmeet!   But how does God accomplish that?  It’s very touching that the Lord’s death on the cross was like Adam’s sleep.  He connects this to Revelation 21:2 where you read about the New Jerusalem.  He points out here that because Revelation is a book of signs, the New Jerusalem is also a sign.  It's a composition of all of God's chosen and redeemed ones from all the centuries, and they are the bride!  What  a wonderful revelation this is for all of God's people!

Here's a great song called This Divine Romance that you can buy on a CD called Lord, Keep My Heart a beautiful collection of songs written by Howard Higashi and put out by Living Stream Ministry.

Blog Update 11-10-17:  This song is called There is a Great Mystery, and it is on the  New York City Young People's CD called Higher Ground. It's also on the divine romance.

   If you'd like to listen to the audio broadcast on this message, you can do so by clicking on this link:   Life Study of the Bible with Witness Lee - Program #48  A Mysterious Type of Christ and the Church.

Other blog posts on the Life Study of Ephesians:

What is the Subject of Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians?
What is the Mystery of God's Will Revealed in Ephesians 1:9?
How Does God Head Up All Things in Christ in Ephesians 1:10?
How Does the Spirit Seal us in Ephesians 1:13-14?
What is the Surpassing Greatness of His Power in Ephesians 1:19?
From the Life Study of Ephesians: How Electricity Illustrates God's Purpose to Reach Man
What is the One New Man in Ephesians 2:15?
What is the Stewardship of the Grace of God in Ephesians 3:2?
 What is the Multifarious Wisdom of God For in Ephesians 3:10?
What's God's Calling for in Ephesians 4:1?
What Does It Mean to Learn Christ in Ephesians 4:20?
Seeing the Church as the Bride of Christ in Ephesians 5:32
Seeing the Church as the Warrior in Ephesians 6
How Do We Apply the Armor of God in Ephesians 6?
What are the Seven Aspects of the Church Seen in Ephesians?
Why Did God Abolish the Ordinances in Ephesians 2:15?
Why is the Spirit Mentioned in Every Chapter of Ephesians?

What Does it Mean to Learn Christ in Ephesians 4:20?

      This week I read more chapters on Ephesians 4 which covers the walk that is worthy of God’s calling.  For years verse 20 always seemed a bit awkward to me—“But you did not so learn Christ as the truth is in Jesus.“  I really saw a bit more about what this means when I read Life Study of Ephesians chapter 46, pages 393-394:

The matter of learning Christ as the truth is in Jesus is difficult to comprehend, and we need to consider it carefully.  Christ is not only life to us, but also an example (John 13:15, 1 Pet.2:21). During the thirty-three and half years of His life on earth, He set up a pattern, a mold, a model. This is a matter of great significance.  One reason the four Gospels were written was to show the pattern of the life that can satisfy God and fulfill His purpose. First Corinthians 1:30 says, But of Him are you in Christ Jesus.  When God put us into Christ, He put us into the mold…Hence, Romans 8:29 indicates we are to be conformed to the image of Christ, the Firstborn among many brothers. To be conformed is to be molded.  The Firstborn is the pattern, and the many brothers of the Firstborn are those who are to be conformed to the pattern. To learn Christ is simply to be molded into the pattern of Christ,  that is to be conformed to the image of Christ (Lee, Witness. Life Study of Ephesians. Anaheim: Living Stream Ministry, 1978. Print ).

    Then Witness Lee goes on to say that when we were baptized, we were put into this mold.  And it was in baptism that we put off the old man (everything of our old life in Adam and the old creation) and put on the new man (who is Christ as our life).  He also said that upon regeneration most believers want to live a life like the Lord’s.  But the tricky thing is we can’t do it with our natural life!  

    One of the things I saw through this chapter was that when the Lord was crucified, all of His living as the pattern was put into the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b

) that we received when we’re regenerated!  So not only does baptism put us into this mold, but the supply to live by the pattern of the Lord’s life is now in the Spirit!  Every day we just need to come to the Lord in His word and receive a fresh supply so we can live Him out in our living!!

You can listen to excerpts of  these Ephesians Life Study messages on Life Study of the Bible with Witness Lee.

Other blog posts on the Life Study of Ephesians:

What is the Subject of Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians?
What is the Mystery of God's Will Revealed in Ephesians 1:9?
How Does God Head Up All Things in Christ in Ephesians 1:10?
How Does the Spirit Seal us in Ephesians 1:13-14?
What is the Surpassing Greatness of His Power in Ephesians 1:19?
From the Life Study of Ephesians: How Electricity Illustrates God's Purpose to Reach Man
What is the One New Man in Ephesians 2:15?
What is the Stewardship of the Grace of God in Ephesians 3:2?
 What is the Multifarious Wisdom of God For in Ephesians 3:10?
What's God's Calling for in Ephesians 4:1?
What Does It Mean to Learn Christ in Ephesians 4:20?
Seeing the Church as the Bride of Christ in Ephesians 5:32
Seeing the Church as the Warrior in Ephesians 6
How Do We Apply the Armor of God in Ephesians 6?
What are the Seven Aspects of the Church Seen in Ephesians?
Why Did God Abolish the Ordinances in Ephesians 2:15?
Why is the Spirit Mentioned in Every Chapter of Ephesians?