Ephesians 3:3-4 says, “By revelation the mystery was made known to me, as I have written previously in brief, by which, in reading it, you can perceive my understanding inthe mystery of Christ.” In Colossians 2:2 the mystery of God is Christ, who is the “story” of God, the explanation and expression of God. In Ephesians the mystery of Christ is the church, because the church is the “story” of Christ, His explanation and expression. Ephesians 3:5 continues, “Which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in spirit.” The spirit here is the human spirit of the apostles and prophets, a spirit regenerated and indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God. It can be considered the mingled spirit, the human spirit mingled with God’s Spirit. To see the mystery of Christ, which is the Body of Christ, requires a revelation in our spirit by the Holy Spirit.
When we come to the book of Ephesians, we must not overly exercise our mentality to understand, analyze, or argue. Rather, we must learn to take the word of this book into our spirit. We should pray to bring whatever we read into our spirit and realize it in the spirit. In this way, we will receive not merely an understanding of the teachings but a revelation and a vision in our spirit. Such a vision is from the Holy Spirit in our human spirit. For example, 1:22b-23 says, “The church, which is His Body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all.” We should not try to understand this merely with our mind. We need to take this word into our spirit by praying over it. We may say, “Lord, I praise You that the church is Your Body. This Body is Your fullness, and You are the One who fills all in all.” If we pray in this way, we will receive this word into our spirit and realize it by our spirit. This will make a real difference. We will see that the church as the Body is the fullness of Christ. We will say, “Lord, I will sacrifice my whole life for Your Body.” This is not an argument or an analyzing but a realization in the spirit. When the Spirit gives us a revelation, He also gives us the wisdom to grasp and understand what we see in this revelation. We need the revealing word of the indwelling Spirit, who is the seal and the earnest within our spirit. This is the first aspect of the work of the Spirit in Ephesians.
The Holy Spirit also works to cause all those, to whom He reveals the things of the mystery of God and the mystery of Christ, to be one. Verse 18 of chapter 2 says, “For through Him we both have access in one Spirit unto the Father.” Both refers to the Jewish and the Gentile believers. Formerly, the Jews were separated from the Gentiles, but now in the one Spirit the Jewish believers are one with the Gentile believers. They are made one not in doctrines, teachings, or forms but in one Spirit. Therefore, the Spirit who indwells all the believers is the Spirit of oneness.
If we merely study the teachings of the Bible, after a short time we may disagree with one another and be divided. However, the more we turn from merely studying to praying in theSpirit, the more we will have the uniting Spirit to be one. When we focus on mere teachings, we are divided, but when we are in the spirit, we are one. The Holy Spirit within us is the uniting Spirit, but we may not give Him the opportunity to make us one because we are exercising our mentality merely to know doctrinal teachings. The two peoples, the Jews and the Gentiles, were united as one by the one indwelling Spirit. Verse 3 of chapter 4 speaks of the oneness of the Spirit. The Spirit is the One who makes us one. First, He reveals the things of Christ to us, including the mystery of Christ, the church. Then He makes us one as His one Body.
The Spirit is also building us together. Verse 22 of chapter 2 says, “In whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in spirit.” The spirit here is the believers’ human spirit, which is indwelt by God’s Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit works within us to reveal to us the things of God, to unite us together, and to build us up together as the habitation of God in spirit by mingling Himself with us. Verse 4 of chapter 4 speaks of “one Body and one Spirit.” This indicates that the Spirit is the building Spirit for the Body, the Spirit that reveals, unites, and builds up the Body. The more we pay attention to doctrinal teachings, gifts, and outward power, the more we will be divided. However, if we would all turn from these things to the indwelling, sealing, and building Spirit, gradually and spontaneously we will be built up together.
The Spirit within us is also the strengthening Spirit. Verse16 of chapter 3 says, “That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit into the inner man.” The two spirits—the indwelling Spirit and our human spirit, which is our inner man—are mingled together. However, if we do not give the Spirit the adequate ground in us, He is confined and restricted in our spirit. Therefore, our spirit may be weak. This is why we need the Holy Spirit to strengthen our regenerated spirit.
Verse 17 continues, “That Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith.” Our heart consists mainly of the soul, which is the part of our being surrounding our spirit. For Christ to make His home in our heart is for Him to spread into our soul. When the Holy Spirit strengthens our spirit, He gains more ground in us and has more opportunity to spread out of our spirit to saturate our heart. Then He is able to settle and make His home in our heart. The result, the issue, of the strengthening of the Spirit in our inner man is that we are filled unto all the fullness of God (v. 19).