June 18, 2024

The Church Has Both Divinity and Humanity

Words of Ministry

Ephesians 2:1 says, "And you, being dead in your offenses and sins." According to grammar, "and" indicates that the last sentence of chapter one is not completed. The last verse of chapter one reveals that the church, the Body of Christ, has been produced by Christ through His attainment. Now chapter two unveils the background, the realm of death, from which the church has been brought forth. In chapter one the Apostle Paul speaks many excellent things. He says that the church comes into being through the wonderful transmission of the ascended Christ. In chapter one Paul talks about Christ and the power that operated in Christ in raising Him from the dead, in seating Him in the heavenlies far above all, in subjecting all things under His feet, and in giving Him to be the Head over all things to the church, which is His Body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all. But as we have pointed out, there is another side to the church. There is the side of Christ, and there is also the side of ourselves. Therefore, in 2:1 Paul says, "And you." The church has not only the aspect of divinity, but also the aspect of humanity. In chapter one we see that the church is the issue of divinity transmitted into us. In chapter two we see that the church comes out of humanity. The conjunction "and" at the beginning of 2:1 is significant in bringing together these two aspects of the church.