*It would be most helpful in this study to read Eph. 1:15-2:7 a few times through in order to see the connection that Paul is making in this passage of Scripture.
Ephesians 2:1-3
Beginning with Ephesians 2, we find Paul giving a descriptive account of the former life of every believer. We must keep in mind that Paul is addressing the Church as a whole, which makes it readily applicable to believers today, and that he would have written this letter without chapter breaks. When we find a chapter break in the Bible, our minds will often “break” the thought and automatically begin a new thought. We should not make that mistake here. William MacDonald agrees.
The chapter break should not obscure the vital connection between the latter part of chapter 1 and the verses that follow. There we watched the mighty power of God as it raised Christ from the grave and crowned Him with glory and honor. Now we see how that same power has worked in our own lives, raising us from spiritual death and seating us in Christ in the heavenlies.”
This shows us that while it is very important to examine the details of Scripture as we maneuver through each and every verse, we cannot afford to lose sight of the larger context. It is with the larger context that we see the connections that the original author was trying to make in communicating Truth to us.
Looking to Ephesians 2:1-3, Paul explains the former position and condition of every believer. Positionally, we were “dead,” being spiritually separated from our Creator. Our condition was formerly in accord with the systematic schemes of Satan. Some may reject this assessment or even scoff at the notion that an unregenerate person had any association with Satan. Afterall, they were not part of the church of Satan, nor did they have a pentagram posted in their front yard. How could they be linked to such a despicable character? “Satan is the leader of the evil spiritual power operating today, namely the spirit which energizes all sinful men.” Sin stands as the chief identifier, the marked quality, and the very essence of Lucifer as the “god of this world (who) has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ” (2 Cor 4:4b). It is precisely the rejection of Paul’s factual assessment that demonstrates the devil’s work. The unbelieving have been deceived and are blinded by the father of lies as to the seriousness of their estate.
“He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44b).
One does not have to be a card-carrying member of the church of Satan in order to be affiliated with him and assimilated into his schemes. One simply needs to be lacking in God’s life and allow for their fleshly whims to dictate their desires and choices. As seen previously, all are born in depravity, unable to conjure any good that would catch the eye of God. This should not be offensive, but a life-shattering fact that creates a desperate need.
In his desire for us to understand “the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe” (Eph 1:19b), Paul paints a picture that demonstrates the need for this great exercise of power, showing all men to be exceedingly sinful. Sin is so heinous and damaging that the power of God is the only force in existence that can successfully come against its consequences and effects mankind’s destiny.
Paul begins v. 1 with the phrase “And you,” which should not be seen as another attempt at segregating the audience of this letter into Jews and Gentiles. Again, with the unifying nature of the book (Eph 2:11-22; 3:6), this becomes a difficult case to argue for, especially since it is not explicitly stated in the text. The “you” of 2:1 is reminiscent of the “you” that we observed in 1:13, which was used to make an emphasis concerning a significant event that had happened to the believing recipients of this letter. We should not think that Paul is segregating himself from his readers as if he had not previously been “dead in trespasses and sins” himself, but that his use of “you” emphasizes their previous destitution and how the power of God has brought them to a privileged position that was now an “already blessing” that they were enjoying, just as the sealing of the Holy Spirit was something that had already happened to them as emphasized in 1:13.
Being “dead in trespasses and sins,” speaks to our previous standing of separation from the God of the universe. While this was not God’s intention when man was created (Gen 1-2), it is the abnormal reality of mankind since the events of Genesis 3:1-7. “The spiritual faculties we need are not operative when we are born.” When Paul speaks of trespasses, he is speaking of “making a false step so as to lose footing” like someone stumbling off of the path. These are choices that one makes unwittingly, while “sins” speaks to “missing the mark” or “to act contrary to the will and law of God.” Sin is the result of operating according to what you believe is true and not according to what God has said is true. Wood understands these words in this manner: “’Transgressions’ (paraptōmata) are lapses, while ‘sins’ (hamartiai) are shortcomings.”
Sin is dangerous and has far-reaching implications. Sin has separated us from the Creator God. This was not the original design (Gen 1-2) and broken fellowship was not the intended situation. Sin is a powerful force that has thoroughly tarnished the creation, causing the entire human race to suffer in indescribable ways. We all testify to this fact when we grieve at a funeral. We express such disheartening emotions because something within each of us testifies that death is an abnormality, an intruder that scars the lives of those it touches. It was not the original design of God. Clough writes that, “both man's body and his spirit were systematically damaged in the fall. None of Adam's progeny have been normal, physically or spiritually, save One. Sin damaged every area of man's original design.” This is why treating sin lightly demonstrates a severe misunderstanding of the ravaging effects and distorted reality that sin perpetuates.
With v.2, Paul explains the idea of transgressions and sins as a way “in which you once walked, following the course of this world.” The word “walked” speaks of spiritual matters, meaning “to conduct one’s life, comport oneself, behave, live as habit of conduct.” Our pattern of living before coming to faith in Jesus Christ was one of habitual and careless rebellion against God, which is exactly the pattern in which this world has been trained to go (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11). Lenski expounds upon this when he writes:
To walk “in accord with the eon of this world” is to live in a way that harmonizes with the whole age in its present corrupt and debased order which is due to the fallen state of mankind and thus contrary to the kingdom of heaven which shall last forever.
The word “course” here is translated as “eon” in the ABP (and above by Lenski) with a derivative of the word found in 2:7 speaking about the “ages to come.” This word is aiōna, is found 29 times in Paul’s writings, and is understood as “a long period of time, without reference to beginning or end,” “a segment of time as a particular unit of history,” and “the world as a spatial concept.” Hoehner writes, “in the New Testament this noun aiōn normally has reference to time, either a specifically limited period of time, as in 1:21 and 3:9, or an unlimited time, as in 3:21.” Context will always determine meaning regardless of the word under consideration, but it may be helpful to consider the occurrences of aiōn as being “age-lasting.” Our former way of life in living out our sin is “normal” in this present age, being an age that will last only until the Second Coming of Christ when the future age will be ushered in (Eph 1:10). The picture of our formerly being in lock-step, both in rank and file with the mangled distortion that the world is, without any notion or defining quality that would cause someone to think that we didn’t belong to the system that Satan has orchestrated (the “world”- kosmos). Our previous station was one that was truly lost; a carefully crafted, satanic order that we blended into perfectly.
This present age, due to the Fall, is managed and ruled over by Satan, who is described as “the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.” The forfeiture of the right to have dominion by Adam and Eve (Gen 1:26-28) was brought on by the Fall (Gen 3:1-7) and in forfeiting this right, the declared enemy of God and man now presently rules (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11). Obviously, this ascension of Satan as the “god of this world” (2 Cor 4:4) is not due to faithfulness in ruling, but the failure of the appointed heirs in being faithful. The phrase “prince of the power of the air” is unusual in Scripture. Dickason writes:
This title might be rendered “the ruler of the empire of this atmosphere.” It pictures Satan’s position and activity as a dominating leader operating a kingdom that centers in the atmosphere of the earth. It is a limited empire, but it includes all fallen men and angels. It is closely associated in Ephesians 2:2 with the cosmos and is probably another description of the same entity.
In the elaborative phrase “the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience,” Beal and Radmacher note that, “The word ‘spirit’ is best understood as an influence rather than a reference to the person of Satan.” This would be a similar understanding to the use of “spirit” as addressed previously in Ephesians 1:17, except with an (obviously) negative connotation. Satan’s ways are the essence, characteristic, and quality of disobedience and defilement. Daily struggles are experienced by all people, being the result of either the world, the flesh, or the devil. But Paul’s description here emphasizes a purposeful, rebellious attitude without regard to God’s will. Peter writes, “Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Pet 5:8). While Peter is addressing believers, we must note that this verse doesn’t specify that Satan is looking for only believers to devour. His desire is for any and all who will fall into line with his self-centered system. One of our greatest obstacles in this corrupt age is convincing the unbeliever that he has been bit!
Many believe our “everyday occurrences” to be normal, when in reality they are situations conducted by the enemy of God to hinder the work of believers and to distract the minds of the world at large, blinding them from the things that really matter in life. We see this when Paul writes, “If our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Cor. 4:3-4, emphasis added). It is not that mankind is so dead in their sins that they are incapable of believing, but that the enemy is actively at work to blind the world from seeing the gospel of God’s grace. Unknowingly, we may have formerly been used in hindering the purposes of God, having been blinded to the truth. Being deceived and duped is a most desperate state.
A phrase like “the sons of disobedience” will immediately grab your attention, especially since it occurs again in Ephesians 5:6, which says “Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.” It is clear from this context and the present context in 2:2 that Paul is speaking of those who are in an unregenerate state. Those are indeed the ones who presently are and will be the recipients of God’s wrath (Rom 1:18-32). Hoehner notes that:
Disobedience comes from unbelief, for the person is not persuaded or convinced to trust what has been stated. The genitive is one of quality that could be labeled as an attributive genitive, “disobedient sons,” or simply a descriptive genitive, “sons of disobedience.” So, the unregenerate are characterized as disobedient because they do not believe in what God has provided. It shows that unbelief is more than the absence of trust—it is a defiance against God.
Formerly, every believer was a “son of disobedience.” It is not just the wiles of the devil that blinded us, distracted us, and derailed us, but it is our willing appeasement of our flesh and our willful indulgence in sin that makes the statement that we are anti-God, whether we fully realized such a proclamation or not. Being “sons,” in the Scriptures always has a connection with consideration with the father of that son. For instance, in John 10:26-29 Jesus speaks of His ability to keep His sheep and that His Father is also holding His sheep in His hands. He then states, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). This ignites a murderous spirit among the Jews who witnessed this, with them picking up stones to kill Him (John 10:31). They understood the connection that Jesus was emphasizing between son and father, understanding that one was part and parcel of the other.
In this present statement by Paul, the “sons of disobedience” are uncompromisingly linked to their father, Satan. All that is characteristic of them is characteristic of him. Jesus tells the Jews:
You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44).
How can it be denied that our culture is systematically degrading since “the whole world lies in the power of the evil one” (1 John 5:19b)? From lying to murder, the governing forces, both human and otherwise, preach the mark of Satan’s ruling tenure since the garden. This is because the unregenerate men and women of the earth are his sons and daughters, both knowing and unknowingly. They do as their father does.
Moving into v. 3, Paul includes himself as once being someone who lived in this depraved station as well. The word “lived” in the NASB95 is translated as “behaved” in the ABP. The word can mean “to conduct oneself in terms of certain principles,” which corresponds perfectly with Paul’s overarching point in speaking of the “course of this world” (2:2b). These things are an outworking of the flesh and the passions that arouse it. “All human beings sin and are guilty in the sight of God on account of an inherently sinful disposition, which can be traced back to Adam. Acts of sin thus arise from a sinful human heart.” When we speak of the “passions” of which our sin emanates out from, we are speaking of the sickness of the heart; meaning the moral and intellectual central seat of our being. In discussing the unregenerate heart in light of the Biblical evidence, Ryrie notes:
The heart of the unsaved man is characterized in rather severe terms. This means that the intellectual, emotional, volitional, and spiritual aspects of his life are all affected in these ways. His heart is called hard and impenitent (Rom 2:5). The word hard means calloused or insensitive to spiritual things. It is also impenitent or unrepentant which would naturally follow from being insensitive. It is blinded (Eph 4:18), it is evil (Jer 3:17), and it is uncircumcised (Acts 7:51). It can be deceived (James 1:26), and it can deceive (Jer 17:9). It can also sink to the perverted state of being without natural affection (Rom 1:31).
It is frightening to think about the lengths and depths to which sin has ravaged the human heart. Every act of the unregenerate person is separated from God. Every act is dead regardless of the intentions behind them. Every human act originates within the heart whose origin is founded in the fact that body, soul, and spirit are descended from a family tree that finds its roots in Adam and his sin being encouraged and provoked by the devil. Badger remarks that:
We are as guilty as Adam. All of humanity is simply an “Adam-in-extension.” Since we have a direct relationship with Adam (having been spiritually and physically in him while in the garden, transgressing against God, receiving the guilty verdict, and receiving the death penalty), his sin is ours and his guilt is justly and directly (or immediately) placed to our account at the time of our personal individualization at conception.
This state is “carried out” by the desires of our bodies and minds. The body is the instrument by which depravity is manifested. The mind does not speak of the brain, but of the pattern of our thinking processes and the exposure of what we believe to be real or not, which leads to an eventual action in any given situation. We must remember what sin is: sin is operating according to what you believe is true and not according to what God has said is true. We operate our bodies according to what we believe. Thus, the actions of the body are the outflow of the thought processes in the mind (heart). The unregenerate man always thinks and acts apart from God’s truth.
Paul finishes v.3 in stating that every believer, at one time, was “by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” It’s no secret that all of humanity starts out in the same boat. Some go down with the ship and some believe on the Lord Jesus Christ so that they will be saved (Acts 16:31). The word “nature” here means “the natural character of an entity.” This is the “go to,” default behavior that we are disposed to as a result of our depravity. We see this even in a child’s early stages. You can find instances as early as one year old where the child is already seeking to divide mother and father by refusing to submit to the word “no” and searching for the parent or authority figure that will say “yes.” When corrected, the child resorts to tantrums, fighting against the objective authority that is in their lives. This is where every single person starts out, and this is where every single person stays unless they believe in the Lord Jesus Christ when He is preached to them (Rom 10:17; Eph 1:13; Jas 1:18; 1 Pet 1:22-23).
As dark as our former state was, it is not without hope. The depravity of mankind has been given a solution. God is intimately involved, already working, and desires for all men to be saved (1 Tim 2:4). He is our Provider and our Hope!
Ephesians 2:4-7
“But God” must be the most beautiful phrase in all of Scripture. Paul’s use provides a wonderful segue from an existence of never-ending darkness into a realm of light and life, such as only can be divinely provided for us! “But God” absolves the separation and brings the Christian into a reconciled relationship with his Creator (2 Cor 5:17-18). This is a 180 degree shift that is undeserving by One who is “rich in mercy.” Chafer expounds upon this glorious “about-face” when he writes:
With full recognition of the depths to which man has fallen, it is nevertheless declared that there is abundant salvation for all who believe: a salvation which so far exceeds the ruin that it not only reverses all that man lost by the fall, but it lifts him up far above his original unfallen state to the highest conceivable position in heaven, there to share forever the fellowship and the glory of the Triune God.
Ephesians 2:4 begins by explaining that God is rich in mercy. This is not just in the present, but it has always been of God from eternity past. Mercy is perfected in God and He is perfectly merciful, being an attribute that signifies His absence of rigidity and malevolence. He is not spiteful, vindictive, or hostile. He is benevolent, charitable, and exuding pity and generosity over His creation.
If God had not been a merciful God, He had not been the God who saves. Hidden away in the word “mercy” is the word “compassion.” It was the compassion of God, which quickened His mercy and made it potent. Mercy means far more than forgiveness. Mercy suggests that God, in His omniscience and His omnipotence, sought out and found out a way whereby He could be just, and yet the justifier of him who believes.
When we think of the mercy of the court, we think of a judge passing over the guilt of the condemned. When we think of the mercy of God we think of Christ bearing the guilt, sustaining the law in all of its majesty, and yet, saving the guilty. God saves the guilty not because He is sorry, but because He has found a substitute, Christ; because, upon that Substitute is placed the punishment due the sinner, that in mercy He might redeem the sinner.
This verse speaks to us of God’s motivation in providing deliverance for the believer in Christ. It is the motivation of love; but not just any love, this is “great love,” His selflessly-distributed affection” (agape) which moves Him to provide a sacrifice for sin. God exposes His mercy by demonstrating it through the selfless love that He shows for people. In fact, God loves the whole world (John 3:16). What is even more is that the love of God is demonstrated in the fact that God gave His best to have a relationship with sinners (Rom. 5:8). We see an example of this in His pleading with Israel, that they would listen to His voice and follow His counsel and live (Ezekiel 18), as well as in the weeping of Jesus Christ when He says,
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. Behold, your house is being left to you desolate! For I say to you, from now on you will not see Me until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’” (Matt 23:37-39).
The extensive love of God is clearly manifested in the expression of frustration and sadness that God feels when people do not heed His voice (John 3:9-10). We also see a glimpse of this regarding believers in Hebrews 12:6, stating, “For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives.” While one initially fails to see the love in something like chastening, it is the fact that chastening is even occurring that demonstrates the love in question.
Moving to Ephesians 2:5, Paul again touches upon his statement in 2:1 for the purpose of showing the great measure of mercy that God has shown us. Even while we were all dead (and at one time we were all dead), God made us alive! Our spiritually dead state is rectified by God’s doing. It is God alone who gives life! This concept is captured succinctly in Colossians 2:13-14, where Paul writes:
And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
We have been made alive because God has taken care of the sin problem by placing it upon His Son. All debt that we have incurred or inherited (from Adam) and every demand that the Law places upon us has been met, extinguished, and relieved by God’s provision in Christ (Rom 10:4). It has been nailed to the cross. This has given way to greater grace in our resurrection and ascendancy with Him (Eph 2:6). Westcott exclaims, “He quickened the dead with life: He restored them to the full use of the powers of their former life: He raised them, without the loss of the perfection of their humanity, to a life in the heavenly order.”
As a quick side note, there are some theologians who understand this matter of God making “us alive together with Christ” as support for the erroneous notion that God arbitrarily causes only select people to be born again, and then he proceeds to give them the “gift of faith.” R.C. Sproul writes:
Here is a theological formula that may strike you as strange: “Regeneration precedes faith.” We have seen that regeneration, or spiritual rebirth, is the beginning of the Christian life. If regeneration is the first step, obviously it must come before the second step. Spiritually dead people do not suddenly develop faith, causing God to regenerate them. Rather, faith is the fruit of the regeneration God performs in our hearts: “Even when we were dead in our trespasses, [God] made us alive together with Christ” (Eph 2:4b). We are born again (regenerated), then we come to faith, then we are justified, and then we begin to undergo the lifelong sanctification process (Rom. 8:30). All these events comprise the whole complex of the Christian life.
We can agree with Sproul’s opening line that his “theological formula” is certainly strange, because it is without support. This is a contrived understanding that seeks to derive a theology from this one verse and fails to see the context as a whole. Sproul’s notion that one is born again before he or she believes is unfounded in Scripture, but is a necessary conclusion because of the philosophical viewpoint that he holds on the nature of one being “dead’ spiritually. Countering this, Rene Lopez writes:
Nowhere does Scripture teach the inability of individuals to respond to God’s drawing. In fact one finds just the opposite. For example Jesus said, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink” (John 7:37). And “the Spirit and the bride say ‘Come’” (Rev. 22:17). Otherwise how could God blame people for not acknowledging Him or believing in Christ (John 5:40)?
Let us keep in mind that Paul is not talking about individuals, but the Church as a whole, including himself by using the pronoun “us” (PIP) and the word “together.” Being “made alive” is found to be “together with Christ,” which clearly reflects the “immeasurable power of God” which Paul prayed about in 1:19. The elaboration that follows this concept states “by grace you have been saved,” being later expounded upon in 2:8-9. In considering the context of this passage (moving forward to 2:10), it is clear that one is made alive by God at the moment that they believe in Christ, and not before.
In better understanding “by grace you have been saved,” Ed DeZago writes:
Paul breaks off in a parenthetical outburst. This idea of grace has, thus far, appeared throughout this letter and this phrase will be repeated again in verse eight. Concerning the nature of grace, Romans 11:6 provides insight, “But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.” Grace is God’s favor apart from any meritorious efforts by the recipient. The last phrase is a perfect passive participle. The perfect tense stresses the present reality based upon a completed past event. The passive voice indicates that those saved did not do the action but were acted upon. Thus, the believer is presently saved by a completed act of God in and through Christ and the believer did not do anything to save himself but, rather, was conferred grace by God (see 2:8-9). We receive grace. We do not merit grace.
No serious student of the Scriptures would argue that God is not the One who makes those who are spiritually dead in trespasses and sins alive in Christ. But we would find serious discrepancies about the various viewpoints as to how He goes about it. The way that people are saved is “through faith.” It is only by God’s grace that salvation comes to mankind. Faith is the channel by which salvation is applied to the one believing; it is the response that one gives upon hearing the Word of God (Rom 10:17; Eph 1:13; Jas 1:18; 1 Pet 1:22-23). There is nothing meritorious about responding to God. God has done all of the work in conquering sins and death through Jesus Christ (Rom 8:2). All of the work necessary in salvation is accomplished in Christ. Faith is simply being convinced that this is true! It is a response to hearing the good news, a response that every single person can exercise if they hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
By being made alive “together with Christ,” we have also received a privileged position in being seated in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. God has raised us, not just from the spiritual dead, but He has raised us up to a position of privilege, one that is certainly characterized by grace, and is definitely undeserved favor (grace) from God our Father. Being raised up “with Him” emphasizes the importance of resurrection. When God makes us alive with Christ, He resurrects us from the spiritual dead, and just as Christ has ascended to the right hand of the throne of God (Eph 1:20; Acts 7:55; Heb 12:2), we too are seated in the heavenly realm because we are in Christ Jesus. Our glorious location “in Christ” is not just a place of present redemption, but is a living location of celestial allotment in having a “seat” (“sat down together” -Luke 22:55) Alongside our living Lord. In looking back to the previous chapter, but still in the immediate context, this demonstrates another exercise of the “surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe” (1:19) which is seen clearly in Christ as the prototype. Hoehner understands this location as “the place of heavenly realms.” He goes on to note:
From this position the believer derives every spiritual benefit. Hence, the position of being seated with Christ in the heavenlies gives the believer a heavenly status with heavenly power to overcome the power of sin and death. The believers are not only in the heavenlies but also in Christ Jesus. This last prepositional phrase is not connected to the previous prepositional phrase “in the heavenly realms” but is joined to the verb “to be seated together with him.” This is not redundant, for it underscores the reason we are seated in the heavenlies with Christ, namely, because we are in him. It is our union with Christ that gives us the right to be in the heavenly places.
Clearly it is grace upon grace, and blessing upon “already blessing” for the believer in Christ! This is truly a demonstration of His great power “toward us who believe” (1:19), culminating in an exceedingly great purpose!
With Ephesian 2:7, we find that God has done this immeasurably great life-giving, resurrection, and ascension work (1:19; 2:5-6), by His grace (2:5), according to His great mercy (2:4), being motivated by His great (agape) love (2:4), for the purpose of demonstrating His immeasurable grace in the coming ages. Here we see the use of the word aiōn, which is speaking of eternity future. This was previously translated as “course” in 2:2b, but unlike the reference being to the present orchestrated system of Satan, 2:7 is obviously pointing to a future age, being that of the Millennial Kingdom, a subject that has already been addressed in 1:10. In understanding the words “might show” we get a better glimpse into the text. McCalley writes:
The verb might show (deiknumi) is always found in the middle voice in the New Testament. It therefore means to show for oneself, that is, for one’s own glory. Believers saved by grace are God’s publicity program of the ages. Ephesians 1:19 spoke of God’s surpassing power, and now the same is said of His grace. The superabundance of grace corresponds to the superabundance of power. God is as gracious as He is powerful. If the raising of Christ from the dead and placing Him at the Father’s right hand is the supreme demonstration of power, then the raising of those once dead in sins and seating them in heaven is the supreme demonstration of God’s grace.
Chafer notes that, “It is disclosed that the supreme purpose of God in salvation is that His grace in all its ‘exceeding riches’ might have an adequate manifestation.” The chief end of all of history is that God would be glorified. Everything in existence will one day point to a glorifying end in showing God as being Supreme over all things and being exalted as the great Master and Creator of the universe. While many would assume that the end goal of history is a redemptive one, the Bible points to the glory of God as taking precedence over the salvation of sinners. Christopher Cone writes, “The redemptive achieves the doxological. The redemptive is a means to an end- the doxological end.” Having been redeemed or not, glory will be had by God on the last day. The “surpassing riches of His grace” in the Church will be on full display throughout the eternal halls of history for visible and invisible to behold.
This grace that demonstrates His infinite glory is noted by Paul as being manifested in His “kindness” toward us in Christ. “Kindness” is the word chrēstotēs, meaning “the quality of being helpful or beneficial, goodness, kindness, generosity.” It is simply God’s nature to be kind and helpful to those who were dead in sins, so as to bring them to a point where they give Him glory for ages upon ages. Magnificent is the expansive grace of God!
Now, why does God do this with sinful creatures? Because God is demonstrating His use of helpless, lesser creatures that can accomplish His divine goal of ultimate glory over a once highly exalted angel who sought such glory for himself (Eph 2:2). Let us quickly review the pre-chronological occurrence of the first sin:
You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created
Until unrighteousness was found in you. By the abundance of your trade
You were internally filled with violence, and you sinned (Ezek 28:15-16a).
Satan’s desire was to ascend to the heavens and make himself like the Most High (Isa 14:13-14a). This was the outward expression of the “unrighteousness” that was found within him. Being cast “as profane from the mountain of God” (Ezek 28:16b), his efforts to rule eternity were over, but the realm of God’s creation for mankind would be his next endeavor, and one that he would be successful with… for a time.
Satan now stands mocked by the cross of Christ and beaten by the grace of God in His making justification available to sinners. Colossians 2:15 says, “When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.” Every saved person is a reminder of the enemy’s certain condemnation. And every sinner who is made alive by God through faith in Jesus Christ is exalted to a position that is impossible for Lucifer to ever hold again. Believers are exalted to the heavenlies as a display unto the world, visible and invisible, that God’s power reigns, that God’s purposes triumph, and that God alone will be exalted, as demonstrated through the exaltation of His Son, and with Him, all who believe in His Name! Being rich in mercy, His love motivates Him to take lesser creatures and exalt them to greater graces alongside the Lord Jesus Christ!
IT IS THE STRENGTH OF GOD IN THE RESURRECTION AND ASCENSION OF CHRIST (1:19b-23) THAT IS ALSO EXERCISED IN THE REDEMPTION, RESURRECTION, AND ASCENSION OF THE BELIEVER (2:1-10).
May He be praised for His glorious grace (Eph 1:6, 12, 14)!