Writing to “the saints who are in Ephesus” (1:1),1 Paul elaborates on the glory that will be Christ’s in a time to come. God’s plan is to unify all things under the authority of His Son (v10). In a future day all powers will bow to Him and all created things will acknowledge Him as Head. His inheritance will be immeasurable, and includes all things in heaven and on earth. Remarkably, in the purposes of God, we also have been made participants with Christ in His inheritance. While there will be much to enjoy in eternity, our present possessions are incalculable. We have been adopted as sons; we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins; we have the seal of the Holy Spirit and access to the Father, to name a few.
The wonder of this is that it was entirely God’s prerogative! It is God’s free grace that has saved us and brought us into the wealth of this spiritual inheritance. The blessings of God do not come by human merit or works. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God” (2:8).
What God’s grace is doing in the Church (all who are true believers) will be a source of wonder to principalities and powers in heavenly places (3:10). Creatures who have never experienced grace will see members of a fallen and degenerate race lifted out of rebellion to the heights of spiritual blessedness!
Let’s take a more detailed look at Ephesians 2:4-6, where we find four aspects of this amazing grace.
Aspect #1: He Loved Us – His Mercy
God’s affection toward us is in no way prejudiced by our rebellion against Him. In spite of our waywardness, His love was demonstrated. In His tremendous heart of compassion, God looked upon a world lost in sin. Being infinitely just, He could not overlook transgression. Yet loving us, He was not willing that any should perish. Consequently, He gave His Son to suffer and die on a cross, and, in so doing, His justice was satisfied, and His love toward us was expressed to the fullest degree. Paul’s desire for the believers was that they “may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height – to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge” (3:18-19). What a “great love with which He loved us”!
Aspect #2: He Made Us Alive – His Grace
In our sin, we were spiritually dead. Our outward actions betrayed our inward spiritual brokenness, that we were alienated from God and were “by nature children of wrath, just as the others” (2:3). Our sin condemned us, and apart from God’s salvation, that would have involved eternal separation from God – eternal death. But by virtue of Christ’s death, God freed us from the legal guilt of sin and brought us a new kind of life. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2Co 5:17).
One of Charles Wesley’s best-loved hymns was written in 1738, soon after he was made alive in Christ. Verse four says:
Long my imprisoned spirit lay
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray –
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.
Aspect #3: He Raised Us Up – His Power
God not only has made us alive with Christ, but He raised us up with Him. Paul prayed earlier in this letter (1:19) that the Ephesians would know the “exceeding greatness of His power,” and he goes on to describe it as the power that raised Christ from the dead. The Lord Jesus was not made alive to stay in the tomb, but was raised out of it, free from any association with death. In like manner, we have been raised out of our spiritual death to a newness of life. The same mighty power of God that raised Christ also raised us with Him and can be experienced in our lives today. What a tremendous spiritual resource is ours!
Aspect #4: He Made Us to Sit – His Blessing
It is fitting and proper that Christ, having completed the work of salvation, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. But it is nothing short of astounding that God made us also to sit with Christ in the heavenly places. Christ’s place at His Father’s right hand is a position of favor, authority and victory. Note in Ephesians 1:3 that being seated in the heavenly places is linked with “every spiritual blessing.” Through our Savior, we are accepted, protected and victorious. Though beset with trial and care, tempted and tested, what comfort we are afforded in the truth that we are seated with Christ. Because of this, no power, visible or invisible, can ultimately prevail against us. Though the conflict between good and evil continues, we are joined with the One who will end that battle and win.
As noted by other writers in this series, a fourfold description is often followed by a famous passage. This is obvious here, as we move down a few verses to the well-known portion of Ephesians 2:8-9.
The sovereign work of God in saving us by grace through faith provides the foundation for the practical exhortations that follow in the last half of the epistle. The principles that Paul gives us will require the outworking of what God has worked in us. His mercy, grace, power and blessing will be necessary for a fruitful Christian life. Although God has given us His Spirit, we can still choose to live according to our old nature, thus the injunction in 5:18 to “be filled with the Spirit.” The effect of this filling is seen in another quadruplet in verses 18-21.
As we ponder what God has done for us in Christ, our hearts will worship and be drawn to Him. How insignificant we are, yet how sublime our spiritual position in Christ! Even now we are seated with Christ, and in the ages to come He will show “the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (2:7).
1 Bible quotations in this article are from the NKJV.
