Ephesians 2:1-7
SPIRITUALLY DEAD
MADE ALIVE IN CHRIST
Ephesians 2:1 (KJV) And you hath he quickened, who were
dead in trespasses and sins;
Paul was still addressing the saints, the
believers, the saved. God has made us alive. We were spiritually dead because
of our sin nature and incapable of pleasing God through works. Dead men cannot
do anything unless they are made alive again. Since we started out dead
spiritually, the Lord does not “Resuscitate” us but “quickens” us by
breathing the life of the Holy Spirit into us. Before we could come to Him, the
Holy Spirit had to make us alive by drawing us to the Lord. Only then would we
be capable of surrendering our lives to Jesus which in turn enabled us to do
good works.
Ephesians 2:2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to
the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the
spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Before they were saved, they were enslaved to
Satan and his ways, the ways of the world apart from the Lord. Therefore, by
walking in the way of God’s enemy Satan, they were enemies of God. This is true
of all who have not been made alive, quickened, in Christ.
Matthew 12:30 (KJV) He that is not with me is
against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.
Ephesians 2:3 Among whom also we all had our conversation
in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh
and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
Lest we think Paul was above everyone else,
he lumps himself in with other people as they were before being saved. In short, before we were in Christ, we were all deserving of
God’s wrath. That way of life is the way of dysfunction, chaos, disorder.
Anything that is counter to God creates all of this. It is the way that leads to all kinds of sin and evil. Since we
were spiritually “dead,” we could not pull ourselves up out of the quicksand of
the world. The Lord, in His grace, had to reach down and pull us up! Can a corpse bring itself up out of the grave? Not unless God
breaths vitality into him or her. The same that is true of our mortal bodies is
true of our spiritual beings.
Ephesians 2:4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great
love wherewith he loved us, 5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us
together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
Jesus was resurrected after the crucifixion,
and those of us who have trusted Him, have been made alive by God’s mercy and
grace. When we enter into that trust relationship with Christ, we are
immediately adopted into God’s family and are alive, not only physically, but
spiritually. God chose to do this, not because we earned
or deserved it, but strictly because of His mercy and grace to those who
believe. Jesus died for us while we were still the enemies of God and
helplessly entangled in sin:
Romans 5:6-11 (NASB) For while we were still
helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will hardly
die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare
even to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we
were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been
justified [b]by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.
10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of
His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. 11
And not only this, [d]but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
We are able to love God because He first
demonstrated His love to us by sending Jesus to die for us and having His Holy
Spirit draw us near to Him.
1 John 4:19 (NASB) We love, because He first
loved us.
Ephesians 2:6 And hath raised us up together, and made us
sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
After the Father raised Him from the dead,
Jesus ascended back to Heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. What has
been done for Christ will eventually be done for all those who are “in Him.”
God sees the future as already done, so Paul says “he has made us sit together
in heavenly places.” After Jesus took His place
alongside the Father, He became our chief Advocate, interceding for all who
have accepted the great gift of salvation by trusting in Him. His purpose in
the incarnation was to die for us, which He fulfilled. His purpose in Heaven is
to be our High Priest interceding on our behalf, and He is now fulfilling that
purpose.
Ephesians 2:7 That in the ages to come he might shew the
exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ
Jesus.
Our salvation, sanctification, and future
inheritance are intended to display the grace of God through Jesus. God’s
mercy, grace, and kindness to us are still for the purpose of bringing glory to
Himself. Because of what Jesus did and is doing, we
are able to glorify God. The Father enjoys His adopted children and lavishes
His grace, love, and gifts on us. We, in turn,
praise Him and glorify Him among others. He allows the joy of being a part of
guiding others He has chosen to surrender their will to His.
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