Ephesians

Pastor Gordon Crook

Part 5

Chapter 2

“And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; 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: 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.” Ephesians 2:1-4

“Quickened” – “make alive.” Notice again, that this is God’s work. He is the one that has made us spiritually alive in Christ Jesus. Also notice that we were dead. We had no power to make ourselves alive. Remember God’s power from chapter 1. He brought Jesus from the dead so that we could be made spiritually alive.

It seems to me that many today do not understand just how terrible sin is. We often gage people by how “good” we think they are, and human philosophy suggests that there is “good” in every person. Scripture has a different view. We were “dead” in sin and trespasses. Not physically dead, but spiritually dead. And only He can change that to life because of Jesus and His resurrection.

Paul instructs us as to the fact that we were (outside of Christ) yielding to spiritual powers that kept us in sins and trespasses. We were following the time frame of this world that is under the dominance of spiritual powers that are contrary to God. This is the period that we live in, and it will only end when Jesus returns to put down all opposition to Himself. “Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing [that is] not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him.” Hebrews 2:8. Clearly not everything is currently in subjection to Jesus, but it will be at the end of this period (age).

He refers to us “having” (past tense) our “conversa-tion” (way of living) according to this world. That past tense means that, as God’s redeemed children, we should no longer be yielding to those powers, but to the life of Christ that is now in us. God didn’t just make us “good” people, He made us ALIVE in Christ Jesus. We should be living in that power.

He refers to the “children of disobedience” which is all of those that have not put their trust in Jesus. As God’s precious children, we no longer fit that description. Are we sometimes disobedient? Certainly, but not “children of disobedience,” which refers to belonging to the prince of the power of the air, but rather “children of God.” “Children of wrath” refers to our condition outside of Jesus Christ. All of those who reject Him will be under His wrath. Again, this no longer applies to those who have put their trust in Jesus for redemption.

Notice that those that are rejecting Jesus and choosing to live their lives outside of Him, they live fulfilling the desires of their flesh. It is clear that we are not to live this way. We have a new life; the life of Christ in us, to which we should be yielding. If we are indeed yielding to Him, then we will be fulfilling the desires of the Spirit. Remember that the fruit (visible output) of our life is the result of the Spirit. Galatians 5:22-23. The works of the flesh, Galatians 5:19-21, are the result of fulfilling the desires of our flesh.

But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:” Ephesians 2:5-6

Thank God that He made us alive even while we were in this “dead” condition. He did not wait until we were able to do something to get out of that condition. He did not wait until we could show some change in behavior. We were “dead;” unable to do anything to make ourselves alive, but God showed mercy and love towards us. Romans 5:6-8. We must not ever reduce this to some simple concept that we just talk about lightly. This is more amazing than all of the knowledge we have about the entire universe. 

What I really love about God is that He never does just the minimum. He always goes far beyond what would be considered sufficient. He did not just make us alive (that would be more than we could expect), He raised us up and sat us in heavenly places in Christ. 

We might consider our situation today, looking around us, and think that we have missed out on that placement. This is exactly how the enemy will attack our minds. However, we must realize that when God says something is so, He sees the end from before He stated it. I recognize that there is still coming a day when we will literally be sitting with our Lord in the heavenlies, but even now, we are already provisionally there. Many of God’s children fail to lay hold of this truth and miss out on the amazing power that is ours because of Jesus.

“That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2:7

And finally, we get to God’s overall purpose. He is not making us “good” people, He is working something far greater that He will be able to show for all eternity. He will not be showing how great we were able to make ourselves, but how great His grace is. He will be showing the power of His grace to take a wretch like me and make something that is glorious. His work, not mine. 

This is why it is important to quit trying to add our attempts to the finished work of Jesus. Paul refers to it as frustrating the grace of God. Galatians 2:21. There is so much push in Christendom today to bring people back under the law. You must keep the Torah, they say. Jesus has done all that is required and we are now God’s work by grace.

Continued