In Ephesians 5 there is a verse telling the wives to submit and a verse telling the husbands to love, but there is another verse (v. 18) that says, “Be filled in spirit.” Firstly, be filled in spirit with God. Be filled in your spirit with the Spirit. When you and I are filled in spirit, surely we can love. If the wives are filled with God in their spirit, surely they can submit. Young men do not need to force themselves to love their wives but should come back to their spirit, exercise their spirit, and be filled in their spirit.
The subject of the book of Ephesians is Christ and the church. Without Christ, apart from the church, we cannot love our wives. I have never found one who really loves his wife without Christ, but I have met a number of husbands who all loved their wives in the church and by Christ. How could the husbands have such good wives in the church but by Christ? We do not need to try to love. We do not need to try to submit. Just live in the church by Christ and in your spirit. It is in the spirit of man that we are one with the life-giving Spirit. It is in our spirit that we see the vision concerning God’s eternal purpose. It is in our spirit that all the mysteries become open to us. It is in our spirit that we are built as God’s habitation. It is in our spirit that we can see the New Jerusalem. It is in the spirit that we fully realize that the best, the top portion, of God’s blessing is with the church. We can see this because we are in the spirit.
Now, we all can grasp the importance, the vital point, of the human spirit. God today is the life-giving Spirit, and He created us with a spirit. Second, He has regenerated us in our spirit. Third, He indwells our spirit. Fourth, His Spirit and our spirit, these two spirits, are mingled into one spirit. Is this not wonderful! No union, no mingling is so dear, so real, as this mingling of the divine Spirit with the human spirit. Here we enjoy Christ. Here we partake of all the riches of Christ. Here we are built up together. Here we have the church life. Here we have God’s habitation. This is the real economy of God’s mystery. God’s mystery is carried out in His economy in our spirit. So we must learn all the time to come back to our spirit. While we are gossiping we have to come back to our spirit. Before we become angry at some brother, we have to come back to our spirit. While we are so happy, we have to come back to our spirit. When we are going to say something to our wives, come back to the spirit. Always remind yourself to come back to the spirit. We have to walk according to spirit.
This word walk in Greek means to have our being, to do things, to say things, and to go places according to this spirit. Forget about religion, rituals, regulations, forms, teachings, sermons, concepts, and anyone’s opinion. In everything we must walk and have our whole being according to the spirit. We do have such a wonderful spirit. We just walk, have our being, and live day by day according to this spirit. There will be no burden, no problems, and no strain. We will be rested all the time because we have everything in this mingled spirit. It is really wonderful!
(The Two Great Mysteries in God's Economy, Chapter 3, by Witness Lee)