THE DIVINE SIDE OF "IN CHRIST" AND ITS EFFECT IN THE SAINTS

THE DIVINE SIDE OF “IN CHRIST” AND ITS EFFECT IN THE SAINTS

Ephesians 1: 1 - 23; Ephesians 2: 1 - 10

Ques In 2 Corinthians 5 “If anyone be in Christ, there is a new creation”. That is a new order of things; do we get that here?

FER We get new created here. We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus.

Ques What is the difference between “in Christ” and “in Christ Jesus”?

FER “In Christ Jesus” is an expansion of “in Christ”. Chapter 1 of Ephesians gives the divine side of the thought of “in Christ”, that which is set forth of God in Him; chapter 2 gives our side, that is, the effect of God’s work in us.

Rem The first gives the counsels and purposes, and the second how God has wrought to bring us into them.

FER Exactly. The whole of chapter 1 speaks of the truth on the divine side, revealing what was eternally in the thought of God, and what God has brought to pass in Christ — to head up all in Christ. That is the burden of the chapter.

Ques You said this morning that “in Christ” was state. “In Christ Jesus” in verse 1 refers to “faithful”; is that the state of soul to enter into it?

FER It is the state of soul in which they could enter into it.

Ques Is chapter 2 experimental?

FER Yes, in the sense of its being what God has wrought.

Ques Counsels were in eternity and the work is in time?

FER Yes; but not only have we God’s eternal counsel, but that counsel now comes out in Christ. The One in whom God purposed to effect all these things has ^[p. 245] now come forth, and all has been effected in Him, and God has operated in Jew and gentile according to it. Nothing could be effected till Christ came. The counsels come into view in Christ. God does not operate in us till He has in principle brought all to pass for His glory in Christ.

Ques “In whom also after that ye believed”. How do you understand “in whom”? Is that in Christ?

FER I think that all in chapter 1 is on the divine side. It is God acting towards us in Christ, acting according to His counsel and sealing us to this end. Chapter 2 brings before us the operation of God which has set us in the place purposed. It is God’s presentation to us of His will in Christ in chapter 1. Hence faith comes in, not new creation; so, too, forgiveness. “In whom” does not indicate exactly that Christ is the object of faith, but rather that God has acted towards us in Him. It is the divine side.

Ques It is what we have in Him, not what we are in Him?

FER Yes, much more that. It is objective truth in the true sense in chapter 1. In Christ God presents Himself to us. All the ‘in whoms’ mean in that Person and God presenting Himself to us and acting for us in that Person. It is the special presentation of God to us.

Ques Is that analogous to 2 Corinthians 1 “All the promises of God in him”?

FER Yes, I think so. As many promises as are of God, in Him is the yea and in Him the amen. It is “unto Christ”, not “in Christ” there — attached firmly to and connecting us firmly with.

In Ephesians 1 God presents Himself to us in Christ as the accomplisher of His purposes. Then chapter 2 shews the corresponding action in saints which puts them in Christ. We are made to sit in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. I doubt if we get the idea of our being in Christ till we come to chapter 2.

Ques That is where the riches of His grace is displayed?

^[p. 246] FER Yes, that proves the truth we were having this morning that “in Christ” involves new creation.

Ques Is chapter 2 realisation?

FER It involves realisation. It would be of no use to us if we did not realise it in Christ. I go fully with objective truth, only give me what is really that. Objective truth is the presentation of God in Christ — of His own sovereign purpose set forth in Christ. It is not simply the purpose, but that it is set forth in the Person who is the vessel of purpose. God has set Him at His right hand. He is the Head of the church, His body, which is the fulness of Him that filleth all in all. It would not have been possible for us to enter into God’s purpose had it not been set forth in a Man.

Rem It is an immense thing to have it, but God has everything in Christ.

FER You must go to that side of things and that frees you from the influence of things on this side.

Ques Verse 15. What is faith?

FER The christian is addressed on his normal ground. God addresses the christian as having faith, and love to all the saints.

Ques Why is redemption introduced?

FER The passage looks at a christian as down here and details what he has in Christ according to the grace of God; he has forgiveness of sins and inheritance and the Spirit, the earnest of the inheritance. Chapter 1 shews what he has, chapter 2 what he is; the last is the more important. What he has is in a sense incidental.

Rem Chapter 2 shews the fruit of the work of God in the believer.

FER The great point is this, God has wrought according to the counsel of His will, He has wrought to have us in heavenly places like His Son, and that opens up “in Christ”. He has blessed us in the heavenly places in Christ. We are quickened, raised up together and made to sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. You are to the praise of His glory down here now. I think that ^[p. 247] is in the present, it is much as in 2 Corinthians 1 “unto the glory of God by us”.

Ques Is it not future in chapter 2?

FER Yes, “In the ages to come”.

Ques What is the force of that, “to the praise of his glory”?

Rem I had always thought that was manifestation by and by.

FER It may be so, but I had rather thought it present. Stephen was here to the praise of His glory. Saints are to be to the praise of His glory. I do not know whether they always are. It is the consciousness of the inheritance.

Ques. What is glory?

FER I think God’s purposes are His glory. He cherishes His purposes and is displayed in the accomplishment of them, and the christian who is in the light of His purposes is to the praise of His glory. It is a great thing to be to the praise of His glory. You reach it as Stephen did. Stephen had to realise baptism unto Christ’s death — to disappear. Up to Stephen things were in transition. In Stephen all closes; and he ends with death. The whole course of dealings with regard to Israel closed with Stephen, and as christians we begin where Stephen ended. We are baptised unto Christ’s death, and are to be to the praise of God’s glory. Everything that is to come out in display by and by is to come out morally now. So as regards the Jerusalem above, it is our mother, we are her children; that is, we have taken her character, it is to come out in us morally now. It is a saying, ‘Like mother, like children’, It is seen in a company of people formed by the testimony of the glory of the Lord.

Rem Something akin to 2 Corinthians 3: 18, “beholding ... the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory”.

FER That means something which makes us all alike. We are all changed into the same image from glory to glory indicating increasing moral elevation. We ^[p. 248] know but little about christianity, and have but a poor idea of its power when first set up on earth. Saints had the power of it then, though not so much the intelligence; we have now the intelligence but not much of the power. We cannot return to the power, to that which was at the beginning; but even in recognising that the Holy Spirit is still here, we get great good. The remnant in Malachi could not go back to the Solomon state of things. If christianity could be set up as at the beginning, it would only fail again. It is a great assumption to imagine that we can set up a representation of the church. If we could, we should only break down. There was not, I judge, at the beginning any ecclesiastical formation, and I say that only in view of the immense importance of our going back to the power and the simplicity of the Holy Spirit.

Ques What is church formation?

FER The assuming of the ground of the one body shews the idea of it. In Acts what had the saints outside the power of the Holy Spirit? There was nothing save the power of the Spirit. I have thought that you cannot understand the assembly if you do not see what Christ was with His own down here on earth. Then in Acts you see the effects of the presence of the Holy Spirit. The first time the Lord’s supper was eaten, the Lord was present with the disciples, and there He touched their affections, and that is how it should affect us; the bread and wine recall Him in His death, as the expression of His affection — and that brings Him in, present. For the moment you recall the love, you recall Himself. His death was a fact in the line of His love, but the love was there before the death, and it is unchanged after.

Ques You say there was no church formation at the beginning, what then about bishops and deacons?

FER They were men full of the Holy Spirit. Church formation is that which man has wrought, not what God wrought. There is nothing ecclesiastical, save ruin, left for us, and all that we can do is to return to what is in the power of the Spirit. I see the importance ^[p. 249] of this, and when you listen to the voice of the Spirit He gives you an insight into the Lord’s present mind. He gives you to hear the Lord’s voice to the angels of the churches, how He views them. All our hopes are centred now on the coming of the Lord, on the manifestation of the church in glory, that is the latter glory. It is useless looking back to the past glory.

Ques When was the quickening which we get spoken of in chapter 2 effected in the saints?

FER I could not say. The apostle takes up a company of people and describes what has been effected in them. I do not think time is taken into account.

Ques When should we come into it?

FER What is described goes very far; you are in association with Christ over Jordan — consciously in association with Christ — not in the land of Sihon and Og. The apostle looks at a company of people as having been in one state, out of which God had quickened them by His power into another state. You are quickened together with Christ; that is putting you into association with Christ in life.

Ques Could that be said before realised in the soul?

FER If said of them without its being realised in the soul, it would be unreal. It is not said in the passage that Christ was quickened. It takes up Jew and gentile as dead in trespasses and sins, a state in which Christ never was, and they have been quickened together with Christ. You cannot be brought into association with Christ without realising it. I doubt that it can be said that when Christ was raised you were quickened; He was raised, but He was not exactly quickened; He was not made to live; we are made to live with Him.

Ques Does not quickened together with Christ mean Christ was quickened?

FER Well, the statement as to Christ is distinct and is in chapter 1. He was raised, but we are quickened — that is, made to live spiritually in Christ. Quickened together with Christ shews the manner in which God ^[p. 250] will have us in heaven in association with Christ. It is not here the question of time, but of the manner of the thing. It is God’s purpose to have us in heavenly places, but not without the blessed vessel of His purpose. But being quickened together with Him, you are clearly over Jordan.

Ques Is this the riches of His grace?

FER No, it is rather “God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us”. The idea of mercy involves sovereignty. It is not exactly the riches of His grace that takes you to heaven. It is His love. When it is a question of display, it is the riches of His grace. The grace which God will display in the church by and by will be such as to be a pledge of the security of the whole universe of bliss. God has given in the church such a witness of His grace that the saved nations will walk in the light of it. The kings of the earth bring their glory and honour unto it. If such grace is shewn forth there, then all are safe in the grace that reaches out to them. The thought is more of what God is going to make the church the display of, rather than of what He is to the church; the display is of grace rather than of love. Display has to do with grace. Love takes you to heaven, God’s own habitation.

Rem Grace, as shewn in the church, is a wonderful thought.

FER Yes, it is. It will satisfy the desire of every living thing. God will fulfil that desire in the church, the nations will be very happy in the light of it.

Ques Does the new creation extend in us?

FER You may grow in the order of the new creation, but the new creation itself does not grow. It is perfect; you are in it, but you grow in it. A child is perfect as a child, but it grows to a man.

Ques What was the anointing of the tabernacle?

FER God shewed by that that the whole system of the universe would eventually be established in the power of the Holy Spirit. It is a remarkable circumstance ^[p. 251] that the tabernacle was anointed without blood. Israel was very short-sighted; in their failure they lost the glory, and it goes out beyond them to the nations. God says virtually, You have failed, now the earth shall be filled with My glory. We are in the light of it now, and so are to be to the praise of His glory. Everything of God is great, there is nothing small.

Rem That explains chapter 3: 10.

FER I think so; that is now. As you are led into the knowledge of God’s love you enter into it, the knowledge of the love that will have you in heaven enables you to enter into it. The way you enter into the consciousness of quickening is by affection. You learn that God’s love is so great that He will have you in association with Christ in His own habitation, you are drawn into it by love, in learning that it is for the satisfaction of His love that you are to be there, and you find that you are with Christ. Nothing else will satisfy God, and nothing else will satisfy you.

Ques Does “in Christ Jesus” involve position as well as state?

FER No; I think the expression refers to us abstractly. We are not taken into heavenly places as we stand, it is only as “in Christ Jesus” you go in. Nothing else will do for heaven. The person goes in, but only as in Christ.

Ques How do you connect the prayer of chapter 3 with that?

FER The prayer in chapter 1 is as to apprehending what God has effected. In chapter 3 we see the practical working of it in us, it shews how what is spoken of here would work out in us. As quickened with Christ you get an entrance into divine things, in intelligence and love; and the practical working of that is that you are filled unto the fulness of God; and that is down here. When you are quickened with Christ — made alive in Christ, you are not done with. It is then that you begin to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and ^[p. 252] depth and height. You want to be strengthened in the inner man. You have only just begun when you are made alive in Christ. The great end is the sense of having a place in God’s habitation, then you come out down here to be expressive of God.

In the end of chapter 2 we get the house of God on earth, His habitation through the Spirit; and what is the good of the house of God, if God is not seen in it? It is not the presence of a cloud now, it is God Himself there. The end of chapter 2 is the practical formation of state in us in order that God may be seen in us down here. Quickening is in view of taking us into His own habitation, in order that we should come out and express Him here. Everything that came out in Christ was to come out in the church; the church was to be the continuation of Christ, it was to be very attractive down here, so that men might be drawn out from the world. It will be attractive in the future day. The church was here as the vessel of testimony. The evangelist went out from the church; he must be hampered now to an amazing extent by the state of the vessel of testimony, but then he is himself part of it.