Ephesians is a book on the Body of Christ. Ephesians chapter one shows us how the church is produced, and Ephesians chapter two shows us what kind of people these were originally who have now become the glorious Body of Christ. Verse 1 of chapter two says, “And you, being dead in your offenses and sins.” Before we were saved, we were a group of walking corpses living in sins, having no feeling toward sins whatsoever. At that time, we “walked according to the age of this world, according to the ruler of the authority of the air,...we all behaved ourselves once in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the thoughts, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest” (vv. 2-3). However, because of the great love of God, one day we were saved. We were made alive from the dead. The salvation in Ephesians chapter two is different from that in the realization of many Christians, that after we believe in Jesus, God is gracious to us and saves us so that we will not go to hell, but go to heaven. Instead, the salvation here causes us to be made alive, and also to be resurrected together with Christ and seated together with Him in the third heaven. Ephesians does not mention forgiveness of sins here, but it mentions resurrection from the dead because this portion is not dealing with the problem of sins, but with the problem of death. Being raised from the dead, having been resurrected, having ascended to the heavens, and being seated in the heavenlies are what Christ has accomplished through death, resurrection, and ascension. It is in this accomplishment that the Lord causes us who have obtained His deliverance, whether we are Jews or Gentiles, to be made in Him a Body. We are reconciled to God in this Body of Christ (2:16). Reconciliation with God is a matter of the Body of Christ. We are not reconciled to God one by one individually, but we all in one Body of Christ are once and forever reconciled to God. Even before we were born, we and all the believers throughout the ages were reconciled to God in Christ and in His one Body. What a revelation this is! We need to see that even our salvation and our reconciliation to God are matters of the Body of Christ. This is Ephesians chapter two, showing us the second scene concerning the vision of the Body of Christ.
Ephesians 3:6-10 shows us four important terms: the Body (v. 6), grace (v. 8), the riches of Christ (v. 8), and the church (v. 10). Ephesians chapter one speaks of deliverance from sins, chapter two speaks of deliverance from death, and chapter three speaks of grace. Grace is the unsearchable riches of Christ. This is the grace Paul obtained; this is also the grace he preached. He obtained the riches of Christ, and he also preached the riches of Christ. As a result, the church was produced. This portion in Ephesians chapter three tells us that the church which was produced out of the riches of Christ as grace is the Body of Christ in which you and I both have a share. This portion of the Word also shows us that not only have we been delivered from sin and death, on the negative side, but also, on the positive side, we have entered into the grace of God, which is the riches of Christ. In this grace, according to 3:6, we have become one Body, enjoying together the riches of Christ. Here sin is over, and death is eliminated. We can be in the riches of Christ, enjoying these riches as grace.
Ephesians 3:6 says, “Joint heirs and a joint Body and joint partakers of the promise.” This phrase shows that the Body of Christ is a living organism which inherits the promise and receives the inheritance. According to the context, this inheritance is the riches of Christ, and these riches of Christ are the grace. Therefore, this Body of Christ is a living organism which enjoys the riches of Christ. We all are in it enjoying together the riches of Christ. This enjoyment is not an individual enjoyment, but a corporate enjoyment. If you are not in the Body of Christ, there will be no way for you to obtain this kind of enjoyment. If you are in the Body of Christ, you can obtain and partake of this kind of enjoyment. It was not God’s intention in saving us that we become people enjoying Christ individually. He wants us to be in the Body of Christ to enjoy the riches of Christ together. This enjoyment is like that of the Passover lamb that was not for individuals, but for the whole family. Every one of the Israelites needed to eat together with his whole family. No one was allowed to take his own lamb and eat by himself. Therefore, the third scene concerning the vision of the Body of Christ, in Ephesians chapter three, shows us clearly that we need to be heirs and partakers of the promise in the one Body of Christ in order to share the unsearchable riches of Christ.
A message given by Brother Witness Lee in Taipei on September 3, 1987.