Paul believed sin caused double alienation. In his view, sin divides us from God and one another. The entirety of Ephesians 2 demonstrates how God has dealt with that double alienation. The first half, which we’ve already studied, taught us how God dealt with our alienation from Himself. The second half, which we’ve now come to, teaches us how God dealt with our alienation from one another.
Read moreUnited To God — What We Are (His Workmanship), Ephesians 2:10
Paul has taught us what we were in our past life, along with what God has done to give us new life (Ephesians 2:1-9). Next, he shows us what we now are. Why have we been united so powerfully to God in Christ? What has God remade us to be? Paul says, “We are His workmanship.” We are not our own workmanship, but God's, for He has made us. All the credit and honor are His, and His alone. But what did God remake us to be? Paul says we have been created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
Read moreUnited To God — How God Did It, Ephesians 2:8-9
We have taken time to learn why and how God worked to save His people, but how did God perform this gracious salvation? We’ve seen what we were and what God has done about it, but how does He accomplish His miraculous deliverance? Paul tells us it comes through faith, not as a result of works.
Read moreUnited To God — What God Did, Ephesians 2.5-6
We have now observed why God saved us, but what did God do to rescue us from our previous condition? Spiritually dead, followers in every way, and under the judgment of God, what did God do to snatch us from that old life of despair? In two short verses, Paul tells us God "made us alive together with Christ," "raised us up with" Christ, and "seated us with" Christ. Earlier in this chapter, Paul taught us of the three things we were. Here, we learn of three things God has done to override our previous condition.
Read moreUnited To God — Why God Did It, Ephesians 2.4-5
Up to this point in our passage, Paul has explained to us the utter lostness of humanity (see Ephesians 2:1-3). We were dead. We were followers. We were children of wrath. Without the cross of Jesus Christ, this would have been the end of the human story. Paul writes those beloved words, “But God"—sweet medicine for humanity! Destruction was ours, but God intervened. The story does not turn because of man — as in “but man” — but with God. He interjects Himself into our condition, our brokenness.
Before looking at what God did to intervene, let us look first at why He did it. Paul gives us three major reasons.
Read moreWhat We Were: Under Wrath, Ephesians 2:3
The opposite of God’s wrath is not God’s love, but God's apathy, and God cannot be apathetic. His wrath flows from His love, for He hates what sin does to people He loves. He cannot abide with sin. As Jesus said, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on Him" (John 3:36).
Read moreWhat We Were — Followers — Ephesians 2:2-3
Perhaps, when thinking of that old life of spiritual deadness, believers might remember themselves as brimming with originality. But it would be wrong to think this way, for our past life was not a self-willed one. Instead, Paul shows us we were all followers. Again, Christ has made a way of escape, and believers have experienced that rescue. We are no longer spiritually dead, and we are no longer hopeless followers. But what had we followed?
Read moreUnited To Life — What We Were- Spiritually Dead — Ephesians 2:1-2
Paul had prayed for the Ephesian church — and us — to know three things. He longed for us to know the hope of our calling, the riches of our inheritance, and the immeasurable power of God toward us who believe. It was his third prayer, an understanding of God’s power toward us, Paul felt most strongly. He expanded upon the concept of God's power by telling of the resurrection power God released upon His Son, followed by the influential position Christ currently holds as the head of His church. He wants to fill all things, and He wants to use His church to do so. The power of God is a necessity in the church’s mission to fill all things with Christ.
Read moreUnited To The Power Of Christ, Ephesians 1:20-23
Of the three realities Paul longed for the church to realize, this last one seems to have pressed most deeply upon his heart, which is why he expanded upon it more than the first two. What would God’s people be if they knew of God’s great power toward them? Consider God's power.
Read moreKnow God's Power, Ephesians 1:19
The third, and final, request of Paul in this opening prayer is for the church to know the profound power of God “toward us who believe.” To add emphasis and color to this power, Paul unleashes an arsenal of words...
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