Ephesians 2:1–10 . . .

“Made Alive by God’s Grace”

In the previous passage, 1:15–23, Paul combined his thanksgiving declaration with an encouraging prayer for the church body of Ephesus, exhorting his readers to know God better. (See highlights in my previous commentary.) He concluded his prayer by drawing attention to the power of God, the need for prayer, and the hope Christians are to have for God’s purposes and promises.

Paul begins this second chapter by underscoring the reconciliation that Christ brings about. He’ll summarize the condition of mankind, the kindness of God, and the nature of the salvation that God has provided to those who are lost in Christ. In today’s ten-verse passage, the apostle will remind the Ephesian church members of their miserable condition of enduring a stagnant life of sin, unbelief, and disobedience (vv. 1–3). But he'll counter that assessment by emphasizing the glorious change brought upon them by the grace of the Lord Jesus, which has saved them by their faith.

Herein we can easily find three key elements: (1) Paul’s focus on fallen man who has a hopeless “dead” condition due to his sin (vv. 1–3); (2) the central point he makes about God and his mercy and grace, while providing for man’s salvation in Christ (vv. 4–6); (3) his prioritization of realizing the advantages of salvation so man can naturally praise God for the grace and gifts he bestows on his children, “his handiwork” (vv. 7–10). The three define the essence of Jesus’ gospel message.

Hopelessness Without Christ (2:1–3)

Now in chapter 2, Paul elaborates on key ideas from his poem in chapter 1, especially God’s grace and this new multi-ethnic family of Jesus. He begins by retelling the story of how non-Jewish Christians came to know Jesus. Before hearing about Jesus, they were physically alive but spiritually dead. They were trapped in a purposeless life of selfishness and sin, deceived by dark, spiritual forces of evil.

Immediately, Paul shakes up his Ephesian audience by telling them, “You were dead in your transgressions and sins” (v. 1). As he approaches the subject of salvation, he begins to explain the human condition of sin (vv. 1–3) but then tells them that God, in his great love and mercy, saved them. Paul will go on to assure them that they’re Christians who’re very much alive! They’ll turn from being dead to being alive by God’s work in them.

Apostle Paul concluded chapter 1 by contemplating one fundamental example of God’s power: Jesus’ resurrection. He begins this chapter by giving thought to what the implications of Jesus’ resurrection power are for Christians. While very much alive today, it’s urgent that the Ephesian church body — and us today — never fail to recall from where they’ve come: In reality, all Christians were once dead in transgressions and sins. But Jesus brought them (and us) back to life, living as new humans with a new purpose and new tasks.

When Paul writes in v.2, “in which you used to live,” he’s telling the Ephesians and us that we once lived in “transgressions and sins,” according to “the ways of this world,” orchestrated by Satan whom Paul calls “the ruler of the kingdom of the air.” Satan is still very much active among those today who rebel against God, “those who are disobedient.”

Christians have received their redemption from sin and death through Christ’s victory over the powers of Satan (vv. 1–2). The forces of evil exert their influence, Paul writes, from the “kingdom of the air,” which can be found between God’s heavenly realm and on earth. Pastor/teacher Bob Deffinbaugh adds this in his “Man’s Problem: Dead in Sin” commentary: “In and of ourselves and apart from God, we are desperately and hopelessly lost. We are not ‘sick,’ we are ‘dead.’ We are without life, without hope, without potential, without “worth.” Any value or hope we may have must come from outside of us. And, so it comes from Christ. This is the good news of the gospel, which Paul explains next, in vv. 4–6.”^[1]

Made Alive When We Were Dead (2:4–6)

The movement from “death” (vv. 1–3) to “life” (vv. 6–10) makes today’s passage attractive during the season of Lent, as Christ-followers anticipate the resurrection. Just as Paul emphasizes herein a nonhuman force that disrupted the human condition, e.g., v. 2’s “the ruler of the kingdom of the air” (NIV) or “the prince of the power of the air” (ESV) or “the rule of a destructive spiritual power” (CEB), so does he focus attention on God’s activity — albeit through Christ — to alter the human condition from death to life (v. 5). The whole passage builds toward v. 10 (CEB): “We are God’s accomplishment,” which we ought to see as a way of life that includes purposeful, human activity.

Looking closely at vv. 4–5, Paul clearly explains why God decided to reconcile man. The reasons are found entirely in God: the rich mercy and extraordinary love that he bestows on all his children. Thankfully for every Christian, behind the good news of God’s salvation that he has provided us through Jesus, is the fact that his mercy and love is fully granted to and received by us.

God’s love isn’t a response, it’s a cause. He started loving us Christians while we were still dead! He didn’t wait until we became lovable. He loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses, presenting absolutely nothing lovable in his eyes (Romans 5:8). Motivated by his mercy and love for us, he’s come to rescue fallen mankind by providing us a personal, loving relationship with his Son, our Lord Jesus.

Pastor Deffinbaugh summarizes the value of vv. 5–6: “So it is with God’s grace. God sent Jesus Christ to the world to suffer and to die in the sinner’s place. He did this because we were in such terrible shape. He did this so that He could demonstrate His grace and power in transforming a ‘dead’ man or woman into a living sacrifice, a living testimony of His grace and power. God’s motivation in saving us should not flatter us but should glorify Him.

“While because of our sin we were dead, in Christ we are made alive (v. 5). Though we were formerly dead, we have been raised up in Him (v. 6). And although we were formerly enslaved to our own passions, to the world, and to Satan, in Christ we are seated in the heavenly places, now free from all heavenly and earthly powers that oppose God. We have become enslaved to Him who by love delivered us from our bondage to sin and to death.”^[2]

Saved by Grace through Faith (2:7–10)

Paul continues to lay out the eventuality of Christ-followers receiving a position alongside Christ (vv. 6–7). To be “seated with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus” signifies a future hope in the present order; that is, Christ-followers ought to be less fearful of the forces in rule today because of God’s work in Christ and the placement of those instruments in the sphere of God with Christ.

Charles Spurgeon (an English Victorian Baptist preacher; 1834–1892) declared this about v. 7’s “he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus”: “From this verse it is clear that Paul fully expected the gospel of the grace of God to be preached in the ages to come. He had no notion of a temporary gospel to develop into a better one, but he was assured that the same gospel would be preached to the end of the dispensation. Nor this alone; for as I take it, he looked to the perpetuity of the gospel, not only through the ages which have already elapsed since the first advent of our blessed Lord, but throughout the ages after he shall have come a second time. Eternity itself will not improve upon the gospel.”

Notice the two lines of supporting evidence for Paul’s statement that God has saved us, in order to demonstrate the full extent of riches we receive through his grace. Each affirmation begins with the word “For” (vv. 8–9, then v. 10). The first concentrates on the cause of our salvation; the second on its effects. Together, they document that we receive the most valuable gift of salvation because of God’s love and abundance of grace.

Paul writes in v. 8, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith…” He can’t speak of this glorious work that God does in us without reminding us that it’s a gift of grace that God intentionally gives to the undeserving. We’re not simply saved by our faith but by the grace he conveys to us through our faith. As he emphasizes in Colossians 2:12 and 3:1–4, the use of the past tense shows that the resurrection and glory of Christians in heaven is considered an already accomplished event. That said, our victory over sin has been won by Jesus Christ! This is another instance that documents one’s salvation as being a continuing process, not a one-time-saved event.

According to Rick Renner in Sparkling Gems from the Greek, the Greek word poiema is used by Paul in v. 10 when he writes, “For we are God’s handiwork (or workmanship or masterpiece), created in Christ Jesus to do good works…” It’s from poiema that we derive our word poetry. That Greek word carries the idea of something that is artfully created; God has created us as works of art, living poems. However, our art has become obscured: “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins” (v. 1). Indeed, God is restoring us, his masterpieces: “God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ” (vv. 4–5).

Paul’s use of poiema denotes one who has the extraordinary ability to write or create a literary masterpiece. This tells us that when we’re saved, God put forth his best efforts and creative powers to marvelously fashion and recreate us in Jesus Christ.

Using poiema in v. 10 unmistakably means that God wielded his fullest, greatest, most creative powers when we became born again. We weren’t simply mildly saved; rather, God took us into his hands and made us new in Christ Jesus as he released his most powerful, most creative forces and made us a workmanship that would be worthy to bear his name.

As we go through challenges and difficulties, we might take comfort in knowing that the Divine Artist and Creator is at work. We can’t achieve our salvation through our good works. But, as Christians who’ve become “God’s handiwork,” after having received his gift of grace, we’re obliged to live a new life that confirms God’s calling of us “to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” When we do the good works that Christ has created in us, they can be seen as being valid evidence that we’re walking as one of God’s chosen. Know too that God is working in you to reveal his masterpiece.

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