diff --git a/spring-integration-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/handler/ExpressionEvaluatingMessageProcessor.java b/spring-integration-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/handler/ExpressionEvaluatingMessageProcessor.java
index 5e13e63032..6948e7ee06 100644
--- a/spring-integration-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/handler/ExpressionEvaluatingMessageProcessor.java
+++ b/spring-integration-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/handler/ExpressionEvaluatingMessageProcessor.java
@@ -16,7 +16,12 @@
 
 package org.springframework.integration.handler;
 
+import org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanFactory;
+import org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanFactoryAware;
 import org.springframework.context.expression.MapAccessor;
+import org.springframework.expression.AccessException;
+import org.springframework.expression.BeanResolver;
+import org.springframework.expression.EvaluationContext;
 import org.springframework.expression.Expression;
 import org.springframework.expression.ExpressionParser;
 import org.springframework.expression.ParseException;
@@ -31,7 +36,7 @@ import org.springframework.integration.core.Message;
  * @author Mark Fisher
  * @since 2.0
  */
-public class ExpressionEvaluatingMessageProcessor extends AbstractMessageProcessor {
+public class ExpressionEvaluatingMessageProcessor extends AbstractMessageProcessor implements BeanFactoryAware {
 
 	private final ExpressionParser parser = new SpelExpressionParser(new SpelParserConfiguration(true, true));
 
@@ -40,6 +45,9 @@ public class ExpressionEvaluatingMessageProcessor extends AbstractMessageProcess
 	private volatile Class<?> expectedType = null;
 
 
+	/**
+	 * Create an {@link ExpressionEvaluatingMessageProcessor} for the given expression String.
+	 */
 	public ExpressionEvaluatingMessageProcessor(String expression) {
 		try {
 			this.expression = parser.parseExpression(expression);
@@ -51,10 +59,30 @@ public class ExpressionEvaluatingMessageProcessor extends AbstractMessageProcess
 	}
 
 
+	/**
+	 * Set the result type expected from evaluation of the expression.
+	 */
 	public void setExpectedType(Class<?> expectedType) {
 		this.expectedType = expectedType;
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Specify a BeanFactory in order to enable resolution via <code>@beanName</code> in the expression.
+	 */
+	public void setBeanFactory(final BeanFactory beanFactory) {
+		if (beanFactory != null) {
+			this.getEvaluationContext().setBeanResolver(new BeanResolver() {
+				public Object resolve(EvaluationContext context, String beanName) throws AccessException {
+					return beanFactory.getBean(beanName);
+				}
+			});
+		}
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Processes the Message by evaluating the expression with that Message as the
+	 * root object. The expression evaluation result Object will be returned.
+	 */
 	public Object processMessage(Message<?> message) {
 		return this.evaluateExpression(this.expression, message, this.expectedType);
 	}
diff --git a/spring-integration-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/handler/ExpressionEvaluatingMessageProcessorTests.java b/spring-integration-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/handler/ExpressionEvaluatingMessageProcessorTests.java
index 26e6d0fd1c..d24d4b3fbf 100644
--- a/spring-integration-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/handler/ExpressionEvaluatingMessageProcessorTests.java
+++ b/spring-integration-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/handler/ExpressionEvaluatingMessageProcessorTests.java
@@ -22,22 +22,28 @@ import org.junit.Rule;
 import org.junit.Test;
 import org.junit.internal.matchers.TypeSafeMatcher;
 import org.junit.rules.ExpectedException;
+
+import org.springframework.beans.factory.config.BeanDefinition;
+import org.springframework.beans.factory.support.RootBeanDefinition;
+import org.springframework.context.support.StaticApplicationContext;
 import org.springframework.expression.EvaluationException;
 import org.springframework.integration.message.GenericMessage;
 import org.springframework.integration.message.StringMessage;
 
 /**
  * @author Dave Syer
+ * @author Mark Fisher
  * @since 2.0
- *
  */
 public class ExpressionEvaluatingMessageProcessorTests {
 
 	private static final Log logger = LogFactory.getLog(ExpressionEvaluatingMessageProcessorTests.class);
 
+
 	@Rule
 	public ExpectedException expected = ExpectedException.none();
 
+
 	@Test
 	public void testProcessMessage() {
 		ExpressionEvaluatingMessageProcessor processor = new ExpressionEvaluatingMessageProcessor("payload");
@@ -45,12 +51,19 @@ public class ExpressionEvaluatingMessageProcessorTests {
 	}
 
 	@Test
-	public void testProcessMessageWithDollar() {
+	public void testProcessMessageWithDollarInBrackets() {
 		ExpressionEvaluatingMessageProcessor processor = new ExpressionEvaluatingMessageProcessor("headers['$id']");
 		StringMessage message = new StringMessage("foo");
 		assertEquals(message.getHeaders().getId(), processor.processMessage(message));
 	}
 
+	@Test
+	public void testProcessMessageWithDollarPropertyAccess() {
+		ExpressionEvaluatingMessageProcessor processor = new ExpressionEvaluatingMessageProcessor("headers.$id");
+		StringMessage message = new StringMessage("foo");
+		assertEquals(message.getHeaders().getId(), processor.processMessage(message));
+	}
+
 	@Test
 	public void testProcessMessageWithStaticKey() {
 		ExpressionEvaluatingMessageProcessor processor = new ExpressionEvaluatingMessageProcessor("headers[headers.ID]");
@@ -58,6 +71,30 @@ public class ExpressionEvaluatingMessageProcessorTests {
 		assertEquals(message.getHeaders().getId(), processor.processMessage(message));
 	}
 
+	@Test
+	public void testProcessMessageWithBeanAsMethodArgument() {
+		StaticApplicationContext context = new StaticApplicationContext();
+		BeanDefinition beanDefinition = new RootBeanDefinition(String.class);
+		beanDefinition.getConstructorArgumentValues().addGenericArgumentValue("bar");
+		context.registerBeanDefinition("testString", beanDefinition);
+		ExpressionEvaluatingMessageProcessor processor = new ExpressionEvaluatingMessageProcessor("payload.concat(@testString)");
+		processor.setBeanFactory(context);
+		StringMessage message = new StringMessage("foo");
+		assertEquals("foobar", processor.processMessage(message));
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void testProcessMessageWithMethodCallOnBean() {
+		StaticApplicationContext context = new StaticApplicationContext();
+		BeanDefinition beanDefinition = new RootBeanDefinition(String.class);
+		beanDefinition.getConstructorArgumentValues().addGenericArgumentValue("bar");
+		context.registerBeanDefinition("testString", beanDefinition);
+		ExpressionEvaluatingMessageProcessor processor = new ExpressionEvaluatingMessageProcessor("@testString.concat(payload)");
+		processor.setBeanFactory(context);
+		StringMessage message = new StringMessage("foo");
+		assertEquals("barfoo", processor.processMessage(message));
+	}
+
 	@Test
 	public void testProcessMessageBadExpression() {
 		expected.expect(new TypeSafeMatcher<Exception>(Exception.class) {
@@ -90,8 +127,8 @@ public class ExpressionEvaluatingMessageProcessorTests {
 				description.appendText("cause to be UnsupportedOperationException but was ").appendValue(cause);
 			}
 		});
-		ExpressionEvaluatingMessageProcessor processor = new ExpressionEvaluatingMessageProcessor("payload.error()");
-		assertEquals("foo", processor.processMessage(new GenericMessage<ExpressionEvaluatingMessageProcessorTests>(this)));
+		ExpressionEvaluatingMessageProcessor processor = new ExpressionEvaluatingMessageProcessor("payload.throwRuntimeException()");
+		assertEquals("foo", processor.processMessage(new GenericMessage<TestPayload>(new TestPayload())));
 	}
 
 	@Test
@@ -108,17 +145,23 @@ public class ExpressionEvaluatingMessageProcessorTests {
 				description.appendText("cause to be CheckedException but was ").appendValue(cause);
 			}
 		});
-		ExpressionEvaluatingMessageProcessor processor = new ExpressionEvaluatingMessageProcessor("payload.check()");
-		assertEquals("foo", processor.processMessage(new GenericMessage<ExpressionEvaluatingMessageProcessorTests>(this)));
+		ExpressionEvaluatingMessageProcessor processor = new ExpressionEvaluatingMessageProcessor("payload.throwCheckedException()");
+		assertEquals("foo", processor.processMessage(new GenericMessage<TestPayload>(new TestPayload())));
 	}
 
-	public String error() {
-		throw new UnsupportedOperationException("Expected test exception");
+
+	@SuppressWarnings("unused")
+	private static class TestPayload {
+
+		public String throwRuntimeException() {
+			throw new UnsupportedOperationException("Expected test exception");
+		}
+
+		public String throwCheckedException() throws Exception {
+			throw new CheckedException("Expected test exception");
+		}
 	}
 
-	public String check() throws Exception {
-		throw new CheckedException("Expected test exception");
-	}
 
 	@SuppressWarnings("serial")
 	private static final class CheckedException extends Exception {