In chapter one of Ephesians the divine dispensing issues in the Body of Christ. Eventually, the Body is developed into the full-grown man in chapter four. This full-grown man is the new man with grace and truth for the carrying out of God’s purpose. In chapter five the new man is developed into the Bride with love and light. Therefore, by the time we come to chapter five, Christ is expressed through His Body, God’s purpose is fulfilled through the new man, and Christ is satisfied with the Bride.
The Body, the new man, and the Bride are all concerned with matters on the positive side. But there is still something on the negative side, a problem that must be dealt with—God’s enemy in this universe. Therefore, in chapter six we have a further development, and the church is seen as a fighter, a warrior. As a warrior, the church is commissioned to deal with God’s enemy. Eventually, the church will have a full development to be such a warrior.
We have seen that for the new man in chapter four we need grace and truth, and that for the Bride in chapter five we need love and light. In chapter six two further basic elements are introduced in relation to the church as the warrior. These elements are power and the armor of God (6:10-11, 13). Power is inward, and the armor is outward. Inwardly, we are filled with the divine power, the divine dynamo or divine electricity, and outwardly we are clothed with the divine armor. This strengthens and equips us to fight the spiritual warfare for God’s kingdom.
The whole book of Ephesians is concerned with divine dispensing for the producing of the Body. Beginning in chapter one, the Body advances, develops, until it attains full growth and becomes the new man to accomplish God’s purpose and the Bride to satisfy Christ. At this point, all that remains is for the church to deal with God’s enemy. The church as the warrior must bear the burden to defeat God’s enemy by being empowered inwardly and clothed with the armor outwardly. For this reason, in chapter six we have the power and the armor. If we have the power inwardly and the armor outwardly, we shall be strengthened and equipped to fight the battle for God.
Many Christians today do not have the full realization that God needs a warrior, that He needs an army. In his marvelous book, Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bunyan likens the individual Christian to a warrior, as revealed in Ephesians 6. This understanding, however, is not accurate. When Bunyan wrote this book three hundred years ago, he did not have the light to see that Ephesians 6 speaks not of an individual warrior, but of a corporate warrior.
Actually, the book of Ephesians is not mainly concerned with individual Christians, but with the corporate church. The Body of Christ is corporate. The new man also is corporate, for it is composed of two peoples, the Jews and the Gentiles. Furthermore, the Bride is a corporate entity, not an individual. In the same principle, the warrior in chapter six must also be corporate. Hence, in Ephesians we have a corporate Body, a corporate new man, a corporate Bride, and a corporate warrior.
We all need to stand in the Body and not stand as individuals. If we stand as individuals, we shall be defeated. If we are detached from the Body, we shall be defeated. My hand is very useful because it is attached to my body. But if it were cut off, detached, it would become useless. This is an illustration of the situation of many Christians today: they are detached from the Body. The vast majority of Christians are detached.
In Ezekiel 37 we have a vision of dry, detached bones in a valley. This is a picture not only of ancient Israel; it is also a picture of the actual situation of today’s Christians. Because so many Christians are like dry, detached bones, the Lord needs a recovery. The purpose of the Lord’s recovery is not merely to recover doctrines, but to recover us through life, through the divine breath. We need the divine breath to make us alive. Then in this life we shall be joined, attached, and become one. The main substance we receive through the divine dispensing is life. In the divine life received through the divine dispensing, we are one. Praise the Lord that in His recovery most of the saints are truly attached to one another in the Body. It is a shame for Christians in the Lord’s recovery to be individualistic. If anyone remains individualistic, his situation will be pitiful. The warrior in Ephesians 6 is altogether a corporate entity.