Verse 8 says, “To me, less than the least of all saints, was this grace given to announce to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ as the gospel.” Paul did not preach doctrine, prophecy, or gifts; he preached the unsearchable riches of Christ. The riches are all the different items of what Christ is, the items of Christ’s wealth. Verses 9 through 11 continue, “And to enlighten all that they may see what the economy of the mystery is, which throughout the ages has been hidden in God, who created all things, in order that now to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenlies the multifarious wisdom of God might be made known through the church, according to the eternal purpose which He made in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Verse 14 speaks of “this cause.” This is the cause revealed in the previous verses. Verses 14 through 17a say, “For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father, of whom every family in the heavens and on earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit into the inner man, that Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith.” God strengthens us into our inner man for the purpose of Christ’s dwelling in our hearts. Verses 17b through 21 continue, “That you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be full of strength to apprehend with all the saints what the breadth and length and height and depth are and to know the knowledge-surpassing love of Christ, that you may be filled unto all the fullness of God. But to Him who is able to do superabundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power which operates in us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus unto all the generations forever and ever. Amen.”
Verses 3 through 6 of chapter four say, “Being diligent to keep the oneness of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace: one Body and one Spirit, even as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” Then verses 11 through 16 speak of both growth and building. Verses 15 and 16 say, “But holding to truth in love, we may grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head, Christ, out from whom all the Body, being joined together and being knit together through every joint of the rich supply and through the operation in the measure of each one part, causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love.”
Verses 22 through 24 say, “That you put off, as regards your former manner of life, the old man, which is being corrupted according to the lusts of the deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new man, which was created according to God in righteousness and holiness of the reality.”
In chapter five, verse 18 says, “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissoluteness, but be filled in spirit.” Verses 25 through 27 say, “Husbands, love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her that He might sanctify her, cleansing her by the washing of the water in the word, that He might present the church to Himself glorious, not having spot or wrinkle or any such things, but that she would be holy and without blemish.” Verse 27 does not speak of sin and dirt, but rather of spot and wrinkle. Verses 30 and 32 conclude, “Because we are members of His Body....This mystery is great, but I speak with regard to Christ and the church.”
Verses 10 through 19 in chapter six speak of the whole armor of God. Verses 14 through 17 say, “Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness and having shod your feet with the firm foundation of the gospel of peace; besides all these, having taken up the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming darts of the evil one. And receive the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which Spirit is the word of God.” Both truth, righteousness, and peace are Christ, and Christ is the Author and Perfecter of our faith. In addition, Christ is also salvation, and He is the Word of God. Verse 18 continues, “By means of all prayer and petition, praying at every time in spirit.” Again, spirit does not have the article the, so it should be rendered in lower case.
In the first message we saw Christ as all in all in the book of Colossians. In the second message we saw that this all-inclusive Christ must be wrought into us. Then in the third message we saw the secret of experiencing Christ. In this message we will see the issue, the result, of the experience of Christ. The result, the issue, of the experience of Christ is the church. The church comes out of the experience of Christ. This is revealed in a full way in Ephesians, a short book of six chapters. Ephesians is brief but truly profound. We can never exhaust reading it, and we can never exhaust what can be ministered of Christ with His church from it. There are four main items in this book. The first main item revealed in Ephesians is Christ “to the church” (1:22). The second main point is the ministry of Christ, and the third is the experience of Christ. The fourth main point is the mingled spirit; the Holy Spirit mingles Himself with the human spirit, and the human spirit is mingled with the Holy Spirit.
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