Ephesians 2:1-11 says this:"And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body[a] and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.[b] 4 But[c] God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
11 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands—"
I'm just going to write out some observations that I pull from this text. This was given to us as an assignment in my preaching class. These observations will likely be unrefined and everywhere as my mind contemplates on this passage and, prayerfully, the Spirit teaches.
OBSERVATIONS:
-Paul loves to use "Were, But" comparisons. This is one. You were dead in sin, but God made you alive.
-Sin is both how and why we were dead.
-Some people look at verse 2 and think that this passage does not apply to them because they were saved at an early age and never really "walked in the ways of the flesh." This is heresy. All men have sinned and fall short (Romans 3:23) and God views each as guilty as the others. For a person to ever think scripture doesn't apply to them because they are over it, is for a person to think much too highly of themselves, placing themselves in the throne of God.
-Paul is also gut-checking the Ephesians, reminding them that they are not any better than those in the culture around them that still outwardly pursued the pursuits of the flesh.
-Paul explicitly states here in verse 4 that all people are by nature children of wrath. He recognizes that to serve God exclusively cannot be done without relying wholly on His strength. People cannot do things that are against their very nature. It is against a humans nature to fly, therefore we don't (not airplanes). Just like it's against a human nature to show grace, and glorify another (God), so we don't unless God glorifies Himself through us, or works His grace through us.
-Then comes the But. God, who is rich in mercy, mercy is getting what you don't deserve. God delights in pouring out what His children don't deserve on them. I'm not talking about common grace here, like a house, car, job, etc. He gives those blessings to the lost and saved alike. I am referring to the eternal joy and hope that a Christian who truly believes the bible has. God's mercy is at its peak at the cross. God gave Himself, the ultimate of what we do not deserve.
-God's great love, with which He loved us. Agape, unconditional love, past tense verb here, "loved us" meaning that He loved us unconditionally even before we acknowledged Him. While we were lost. Incredible! His love is also stated as the source of His mercy in this passage, or translation at least. Because He loves us, He lavishes mercy on us. Christ went to the cross, because He loved us.
-Christ is the pinnacle of all God's love, we know quite a bit about how God felt about Christ. We know that God the Father exalts Him to the highest place over all creation. He sits at God's right hand, at the place of honor. Now, Paul claims here that we were made alive together with Christ. We know that Christ defeated death on the cross. So can we! The death referred to here as sin CAN be defeated because of God's love and mercy, through Christ's defeat of it on the cross. Incredible!
-Paul explicitly says, by grace we are saved twice. Grace is the flip side of mercy, it is not getting what you do deserve. We were all born in sin and we all deserve an eternity in hell. But God's grace is sufficient through Jesus Christ that we don't get what we deserve if we believe and live lives that glorify Him.
-We were made alive; allowed to live. But that's not all. Not only did He save us from His judgment, He has chosen to exalt us with Christ. He makes much of those who make much of Him. This does NOT mean that we should worship God because He makes much of us. But because He allows us to make much of Him. That is what we were created for.
-Verse 10 says that we are God's workmanship. A few applications come to mind. One, God created you with His will in mind. If you feel like you're not what you want to be physically, God knew exactly what you were going to look like every day of your life. To say that you are not created for a purpose, or that you cannot fulfill that purpose because of your self esteem is to say that God does not know beauty as well as we do. Ridiculous! Another application; God created us with a purpose. He spent time and energy to make us in His image; for His glory. Don't lose sight of that. Christian you have a purpose and it is NOT only to fill a pew every Sunday. Your purpose is stated in the rest of that verse.
-Created in Christ Jesus for Good works. Now we know that works ≠ salvation. But flowing forth from salvation should be godliness. Good works are part of every true Christian's life. It's that simple.
-Verse 11 refers to the uncircumcision and the circumcision. Paul is being a little bit of a smart alec here and i love it. Paul's entire ministry was plagued by Judaizers (those who believed you must be Jewish first then Christian). He uses a derogatory term for them here. But they coined it. Regardless, sometimes Paul smarts off.
-The main point in this passage: God did everything good in you. He sought you while you were a filthy sinner and chose you out, to exalt you to the highest place alongside Christ. Not so you can boast, but so He will be glorified through your joy.
Thanks for reading. I know they don't all make sense. If you have a question, just comment and I'll see what I can do with it.
Desiring deeper understanding,
Jeremy
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