THE SECOND PART: A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
The Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians
Message One—The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity
Scripture Reading: Eph. 1:3-14; 2:18; 3:16-19; 4:4-6; 5:19-20; 6:10-11, 17
I. The revelation concerning the Triune God in the holy Word is not for doctrinal understanding but for the dispensing of God in His Divine Trinity into His chosen and redeemed people for their experience and enjoyment—2 Cor. 13:14, Eph. 3:16-19: (2001 WT, msg. 12)
A. It is impossible for us to know the Triune God merely by doctrine; however, we can know Him by experiencing and enjoying Him—1 Pet. 1:2; Rev. 1:4-5. (2001 WT, msg. 12)
B. The Bible reveals that the Triune God is not merely the object of our faith; He is subjective to us, dwelling in us to be our life and life supply—Rom. 8:11. (2001 WT, msg. 12)
C. If we would understand the Divine Trinity, we must be in the process of the growth in life, in the line of life pursuing the growth in life—1 John 2:12-14. (2001 WT, msg. 12)
D. The Bible was written according to the governing principle of the Triune God working Himself into His chosen and redeemed people as their life and life supply—Psa. 36:8-9. (2001 WT, msg. 12)
II. The Trinity is the framework of the entire Bible; the whole Bible, especially the book of Ephesians, is constructed with the Trinity—Eph. 1:3-14; 2:18; 3:16-19; 4:4-6; 5:19-20; 6:10-11,17: (2001 WT, msg. 12)
A. Ephesians is the only book in the Bible in which every chapter is structured with the Divine Trinity as its basic element. (2001 WT, msg. 12)
B. If we do not know the Triune God, we cannot comprehend the profoundness of Ephesians, because every chapter of this book has the Divine Trinity as its framework—Eph. 1:3-14; 2:18; 3:16-17a; 4:4-6; 5:19-20; 6:10-11, 17. (2001 WT, msg. 12)
III. The revelation in Ephesians concerning the producing, existing, growing, building up, and fighting of the church as the Body of Christ is composed of the divine economy, the dispensing of the Triune God into the members of the Body of Christ; thus, the crucial focus of Ephesians is the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity into the believers:—Eph. 1:3-14, 18-23; 2:18; 3:16-19; 4:4-6; 5:19-20; 6:10-11,17: (2001 WT, msg. 12)
A. Chapter one unveils how God the Father chose and predestinated the members in eternity, God the Son redeemed them, and God the Spirit sealed them as a pledge, thus imparting Himself into His believers for the formation of the church, which is the Body of Christ, the fullness of the One who fills all in all—Eph. 3-14, 18-23: (2001 WT, msg. 12)
1. A fundamental truth in the Lord’s recovery is that the Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—has wrought Himself into us through the Father’s predestination, the Son’s redemption, and the Spirit’s sealing and pledging. (2001 WT, msg. 12)
2. The Body of Christ comes into being by the dispensing of the Triune God as life and life supply into the believers. (2001 WT, msg. 12)
3. The threefold mentioning of the praise of God’s glory signifies the threefold dispensing of the Triune God—Eph. 1:6, 12, 14. (2001 WT, msg. 12)
B. Chapter two shows us that in the Divine Trinity all the believers, both Jewish and Gentile, have access unto God the Father through God the Son, in God the Spirit—Eph. 2:18: (2001 WT, msg. 12)
1. Through God the Son, who is the Accomplisher, the means, and in God the Spirit, who is the Executor, and application, we have access unto God the Father, who is the Originator, the source of our enjoyment. (2001 WT, msg. 12)
2. The Father’s dispensing to produce the masterpiece, the Son’s dispensing to produce the new man, and the Spirit’s bringing us to the Father in one Body result in the building up of the church and the fulfillment of God’s eternal economy—Eph. 2:10, 15-16, 21-22. (2001 WT, msg. 12)
C. In chapter three the apostle prays that God the Father will grant the believers to be strengthened through God the Spirit into their inner man so that Christ, God the Son, may make His home in their hearts, that they might be filled unto all the fullness of God—Eph. 3:16-19: (2001 WT, msg. 12)
1. The Father is the source, the Spirit is the means, the Son is the object, and the fullness of the Triune God is the issue. (2001 WT, msg. 12)
2. Each of the three does not act for Himself but for the fullness of the Triune God; this is a beautiful picture of the Divine Trinity. (2001 WT, msg. 12)
D. Chapter four portrays how the processed God as the Spirit, the Lord, and the Father is mingled with the Body of Christ so that all the members of the Body may experience the Divine Trinity—Eph. 4:4-6: (2001 WT, msg. 12)
1. The divine dispensing of God the Father in His being over all, of the Son in His being through all, and of the Spirit in His being in all enables all the members of the Body of Christ to experience and enjoy the Triune God. (2001 WT, msg. 12)
2. These verses reveal four persons—the one Body, one Spirit, one Lord, and one God the Father—mingled together as one entity to be the organic Body of Christ; thus, the Triune God and the Body are four-in-one. (2001 WT, msg. 12)
E. Chapter five exhorts the believers to praise the Lord, God the Son, with the songs of God the Spirit, and give thanks in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, God the Son, to God the Father—Eph. 5:19-20: (2001 WT, msg. 12)
1. This is to praise and thank the processed God in His Divine Trinity for our enjoyment of Him as the Triune God. (2001 WT, msg. 12)
2. Through the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity, we are constituted as children of God, walking in God as love and light—Eph. 5: 2, 8. (2001 WT, msg. 12)
F. Chapter six instructs us to fight the spiritual warfare by being empowered in the Lord, God the Son, putting on the whole armor of God the Father, and wielding the sword of the Spirit—Eph. 6:10-11, 17: (2001 WT, msg. 12)
1. God the Son is the power within us, God realized in the Son is the armor upon us, and God the Spirit is the sword, who is the word of God. (2001 WT, msg. 12)
2. This is the believers’ experience and enjoyment of the Triune God even in the spiritual warfare. (2001 WT, msg. 12)