Friday

Related Verses
Eph. 1:4
4 Even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and without blemish before Him in love,

Eph. 1:9
9 Making known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Himself,

Eph. 4:15-16
15 But holding to truth in love, we may grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head, Christ,
16 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.

Eph. 5:25
25 Husbands, love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her

Eph. 6:24
24 Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in incorruptibility.

Eph. 3:17
17 That Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love,

1 Cor. 12:31
31 But earnestly desire the greater gifts. And moreover I show to you a most excellent way.

John 14:17
17 Even the Spirit of reality, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him; but you know Him, because He abides with you and shall be in you.

John 16:13
13 But when He, the Spirit of reality, comes, He will guide you into all the reality; for He will not speak from Himself, but what He hears He will speak; and He will declare to you the things that are coming.

Related Reading
The church life according to God’s desire must be in love and in light, both of which are the very elements of God Himself. In the inner substance of God, we have love and light. Here we have the top church life, the church as the bride. The goal of the book of Ephesians is to bring us into God’s inner substance to know Him as love and light. Here we are to live in intimate fellowship as we enjoy the shining light and love in its sweetness. (Life-study of Ephesians, pp. 503-504) 

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We will be holy and without blemish before Him in love. Love in Ephesians 1:4 refers to the love with which God loves His chosen ones and with which His chosen ones love Him. It is in this love, in such a love, that God’s chosen ones become holy and without blemish before Him. First, God loved us. Then this divine love inspires us to love Him in return. In such a condition and atmosphere of love, we are saturated with God to be holy and without blemish, just as He is. In this love, a mutual love, God loves us, and we return this love to Him. It is in this kind of condition that we are being transformed. Under such a condition we are being saturated with God. 

Paul says specifically that we are rooted and grounded in love [3:17]. In order to experience Christ, we need faith and love (1 Tim. 1:14). Faith enables us to receive and apprehend Christ, and love enables us to enjoy Him. Neither faith nor love are ours; they are His. His faith becomes our faith, by which we believe in Him, and His love becomes our love, by which we love Him. The love in which we are rooted and grounded is the divine love realized and experienced by us in a practical way. With such a love we love the Lord, and with that same love we love one another. In such a love we grow in life and are built up in life. Paul’s thought here regarding the relationship between the experience of Christ and the matters of life and building is surely deep and profound. (Life-study of Ephesians, pp. 32, 277) 

“The Body of Christ builds itself up in love (Eph. 4:16). The phrase in love is used repeatedly in the book of Ephesians (1:4; 3:17; 4:2, 15-16; 5:2). God predestinated us unto sonship before the foundation of the world in love, and the Body of Christ builds itself up in love. The growth in life is in love. In the last few years we have appreciated the Lord’s showing us the high peak of the divine revelation. My concern is that although we may talk about the truths of the high peak, love is absent among us. If this is the case, we are puffed up, not built up. The Body of Christ builds itself up in love. 

Paul said, “To the weak I became weak that I might gain the weak” (1 Cor. 9:22). That is love. We should not consider that others are weak but we are not. That is not love. Love covers and builds up, so love is the most excellent way for us to be anything and to do anything for the building up of the Body of Christ. (CWWL, 1994–1997, vol. 5, “The Vital Groups,” pp. 124, 127) 

At the end of his Epistle to the Ephesians Paul said a word concerning our love for the Lord Jesus. “Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in incorruptibility” (Eph. 6:24). First Timothy 1:17 says that God is incorruptible, and 2 Timothy 1:10 says that the Lord “nullified death and brought life and incorruption to light through the gospel.” First Corinthians 15 tells us that in resurrection the corruptible things will become incorruptible (vv. 50-53). To love the Lord in incorruptibility means to love Him in the new creation. All the things of the old creation are corruptible. This is proved by Romans 8 where we see that the whole creation is groaning under the slavery of corruption (vv. 21-22). Everything of the old creation is corrupting. Only the new creation is not corrupting. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 2499) 

Further Reading: Life-study of 1 John, msgs. 15—16, 35