God Saves His Church (Eph. 2:1–10)

Series: Ephesians: Building the ChurchText: Ephesians 2:1–10

By: Shaun Marksbury Date: January 22, 2023

Venue: Living Water Baptist ChurchOccasion: PM Service

Introduction

You probably know that the word “gospel” means good news, the perfect term for the fact that Jesus Christ paid the penalty for repentant sinners and saves them unto eternal life. Christians often think about the gospel message in evangelistic encounters, then. However, they err if they begin to think of it as merely elementary. Sometimes we wrongly reduce it to a moment, that time we first pray a prayer. Even though many Christians would confess their continuing need for grace, we don’t often think of our need to continually reflect upon the gospel.

It’s because we lack meditation on the gospel that we settle for subpar teaching in our churches and lack genuine love for one another. We can fail to see that the gospel is a message about Christ and what He did — His death, burial, and resurrection (1 Cor 15:1–4) — so the sermons we listen to are about ourselves and what we do. In other words, we settle for Christ-less, gospel-less moralistic calls or therapeutic platitudes. As such, when we seek to love and serve one another, we do so uninformed by the love of God present in the gospel, leading to living that can be out of step with the gospel. The Bible becomes a book about what we get out of it.

Consider that this isn’t written to simply me. Meditating on the biblical gospel forces you to realize that it’s not a message just to you as a sinner, but a message to a group of people. Instead of thinking of the gospel as a message written to individuals, it is a message for all God’s people, past and present. This follows in our passage, where Paul uses of the plural “you” or “y’all” and “us.” We read words written to all. It’s a message to the church, not simply a call to the lost.

Just as individuals encountering the good news of Christ are thereby changed, so are local fellowships. Within a local body of believers, sin can still creep in and damage fellowship, but practicing the truth and grace of God that we discover through the gospel rebuilds a loving unity in the fellowship. Churches grow through gospel proclamation — not simply because sinners repent and trust in Christ, but also because Christians reflect upon the grace that provides them firm footing for this life.

We need to learn the lessons Paul was teaching if we want to have God-honoring fellowship — the good news of what Christ as done for believers. If we can understand this and continue to reflect upon it, then our practical concerns can be met, such as walking in the Spirit and standing firm against the devil. Likewise, we’ll also see our church growing in the spiritual unity as God intends. So, as a church, let’s consider the gospel this morning, the fact that God saves His church from His wrath (vv. 1–3), by His grace (vv. 4–9), and for His work (v. 10).

God Saves His Church from His Wrath (vv. 1–3)

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

Paul prayed in 1:19 that the church would know “what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.” Just as that power was working in Christ, it works in the church (1:22–23). That work can be demonstrated by considering what God has already done for believers. So, Paul highlights that each believer was once dead, disobedient, depraved, and thus doomed before God, and then he’ll move on to talk about what God did.

The believer was dead (v. 1)

We first read that before faith in Christ, we were dead. How is it that living, breathing people can be at the same time dead? If death is a state of separation from life, and spiritual life is found in God, we are spiritually dead if we are separated from God. Spiritually speaking, we might as well be skeletons in the valley of dry bones, long-decayed, unable to call out to God.

We read that trespasses and sins marks this death. Trespasses are violations of boundaries established by God, and sins are acts that miss the mark of God’s holy standard. To live in such error is evidence of death, separation from God. A dead man is unable to change his ways.

It’s important to understand we’re not born innocent and fall into death and separation from God when we first sin. Rather, everyone is born dead and therefore sins; the sin evidences spiritual death. This describes the natural state of the individual outside of God (cf. v. 3; 4:18–19); we can find life only in Christ (v. 5). Otherwise, the news gets worse.

The believer was disobedient (v. 2)

We’ve already touched on this with “trespasses and sins,” and we see that we walked in them. We were dead men and women walking! To “walk,” biblically speaking, is how one operates morally or ethically, and we lived as the dead. Again, with the past tense, Paul describes a former manner of life, one of unbelief.

How do unbelievers walk? The NASB has “according to the course of this world,” meaning according to the current age. The concept is the moral or ethical state of the world as defined by God. The world lives at enmity with God, which is why Scripture says, “You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God” (James 4:4).

Consider the parallel to “course of this world” here: “the prince of the power of the air.” The identity of this prince is, of course, Satan (cf. John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11; 2 Cor. 4:4) or the evil one (Eph. 6:16). His power is his domain, which includes evil spirits and perhaps even the men they inspire. Those who follow the world’s ways are blind to the fact that the devil is leading them.

This evil spirit “is now working in the sons of disobedience.” Not “was” working, as though the Ephesian’s conversion stopped the deeds of Satan; some might get saved, but others remain sons of disobedience. Satan has sway “in the sons of disobedience,” those who are inclined, given over to, or characterized by their disobedience. Accordingly, the wrath of God is coming upon the “sons of disobedience” (v. 3; 5:6), but let’s consider one more factor before we discuss that.

The believer was depraved (v. 3ab)

With this verse, Paul switches the pronouns. Paul includes himself and presumably the Jewish people in this condemnation. The Ephesians weren’t the only dead and disobedient ones. Everything Paul said of the Gentiles in the first two verses apply also to the Jews, so now he simply says “we,” and he turns to speak of depravity. Indeed, everything he’s been describing is a depraved state, which is why theologians use the term “total depravity” to describe how sin affects every aspect of people without Christ — we have our minds, hearts, and wills twisted by this state.

Consider the lust or desires Paul describes here which marks all unbelievers. Lust, as one teacher put it, is something you desire so much that you’re willing to sin to get it or sin if you don’t get it. Paul writes that we all had “the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind,” meaning that there are sinful practices as well as thoughts in which we all engaged.

In Galatians 5:19–21, Paul gives us some examples of how this manifests: “Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” So, the final point follows naturally:

The believer was doomed (v. 3c)

Sin is a part of who we are. It’s our nature. We’re born in Adam, and we’re born under the wrath of God. Paul adds these words — “even as the rest” — because all people deserve God’s wrath. The righteous Judge of creation will condemn sin, leaving all convicted and sentenced to an eternity in hell.

Thankfully, Paul’s been discussing the past realities of believers. Not everyone is without hope; there’s good news. That brings us to the next point.

God Saves His Church by His Grace (vv. 4–9)

But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Verse four begins with two beautiful words to follow those previous verses — “but God.” All of the condemnation we know we deserve for acts done both in the distant and even recent past, all of it is annulled in Christ. Christians are saved, and we’ll read that God saves us because He loves us, that He saves us by quickening us, that He saves us to the end, and that He saves us only by His grace. Let’s consider the first of those.

He Saves Us Because He Loves Us (v. 4)

There are perhaps a couple of ways to read v. 4. The RSV has that God saved us “out of the great love with which he loved us.” The KJV has “for His great love,” but the “for” there means the same as we have in the NASB. In fact, most other translations read “because of” here. That’s the correct rendering: God saves because He loves us with a great love.

This means that we first see salvation as an act of God’s love. In fact, not only does God love us, but we learn here that He loves us first. That’s what 1 John 4:19 says — “We love, because He first loved us.” As you struggle with whether you have done enough for God (and you realize you never can), take comfort in that you only love Him because He has already shown you so much love.

When we consider this with chapter one and talk about divine election, we sometimes use the term “unconditional election” to emphasize that God doesn’t save us based on what we do. That is clearly taught here, but don’t interpret “unconditional” to mean God didn’t have a reason. He did, and that reason was love. As such, He saves us by making us alive, as the next verse says.

He Saves Us by Quickening Us (v. 5)

“Quickening” is old English word simply means to bring life. It’s here that we get to the main verb of the entire section. After repeating the thought of v. 1, that we were dead, Paul writes that God “made us alive together with Christ.” So, God corrects the problem we had; we were dead, and so, He makes us alive.

Interestingly, the quickening is also past tense. We have new life because Jesus was raised from the dead, which we read about in 1:19–23. Just as God wrought life in Christ, He breathed life into believers. This happens though the Holy Spirit at His appointed time.

Parenthetically, it seems, Paul adds “by grace you have been saved.” He’ll revisit this thought in vv. 8–9. For now, note again that this is also past tense, as well as perfect in the original language. In other words, the work of new life is wrought by God alone and is complete for the believer. It is unearned on our part, but He will save us so completely that we never fall again, as we read next.

He Saves Us to the End (vv. 6–7)

Notice the statements that are also stated as past fact. God “raised us up with Him,” and God “seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” Positionally, we are to believe these are past realities that have present results. Experientially, we know this speaks of a future time, but we can know presently that God will preserve us, giving us the strength to persevere to the end. Theologically speaking, this is the perseverance of the saints.

For now, it’s true that Satan still has sway in the heavenlies (3:10; 6:12). This sway, however, will never affect our standing before God, no matter how much he accuses us. We can be confident that there is no condemnation in Christ (Rom. 8:1).

The purpose of salvation is to put His glory on display. As verse 7 indicates, we’ll continue reflecting upon His grace in the final state (cf. 3:10; Rv 7:10–12). We may recognize today that we’re unworthy, but that’s the point of calling it grace. He’s glorified through forgiving sinners such as us and extending grace to them.

This means that we are eternally secure. Our great Savior delivers us until the end. When He saves, God saves to the uttermost, and we will persevere to the end. If it depended upon us to keep, it wouldn’t be his grace, bringing us to the last point.

He Saves Us Only by His Grace (vv. 8–9)

Our final point about God saving the church guides our understanding of the entire section. Paul is revisiting his statement from v. 5. This is “the grace” of God he mentioned earlier. Grace is set as the means or method of our salvation here.

Faith is our trust in His work, and it’s the vehicle for God’s grace. Faith is the instrumental means by which God communicates salvation to us. Otherwise, salvation could be applied to those who might not believe, or to those who have never heard. God’s grace comes through faith.

You might be tempted to think of God’s grace as God’s part of the deal and your faith as your part, but that’s still not quite right. We read “and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.” To quickly mention the original language, the demonstrative pronoun here is neuter, finding no immediate antecedent of the same gender. It seems that the “gift” here refers to the entire idea of salvation — the grace and the faith (2:4-8a, specifically 2:8a). You were dead, so you should even see your faith as part of God’s gift to you.

This expression “and that not of yourselves” helps to explain salvation, and it’s further balanced by “not as a result of works” (v. 9). This probably includes the Mosaic Law, but there is no reason here to restrict “works” to it. No work of man can produce salvation. God wants to exclude human boasting, so you can’t say you were saved because of anything you did. It wasn’t because you prayed a prayer, walked an aisle, or signed a card.

He did all the saving. His grace then results in faith in our lives. We sometimes talk theologically as irresistible grace, which might wrongly evoke images of God forcing unwilling people into heaven. While, as lost sinners, we were once unwilling to bow to God, His grace awakens us to our need for Him, correcting the corruption caused by sin, which results with a natural desire to call out to Him for salvation. This is why every Christian first thinks salvation was their choice alone; it’s only through study that we realize just how mightily God was working to produce that moment within us. The miracle of salvation is that He takes people who don’t want Him and transforms their hearts to honestly desire Him.

This is why God deserves all the glory. It might seem strange that God wants all the glory in our salvation until you realize that it’s good news. One study notes, “All false gospels add works to grace. Mormons, for example, state, ‘For we know that it is by grace that we have been saved, after all we do’ (2 Nephi 25:23, emphasis added).” What horrible news it would be if God only extended His grace to those who worked as hard as they could for it! Instead, God does the whole work of salvation, leading us to the last point:

God Saves His Church for His Work (v. 10)

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

We read here that “we are His workmanship” or handiwork. In Christ, we died to sin; as 1:7 says, “we have redemption through His blood” (not the rest of the lost world), we have “the forgiveness of our trespasses.” Christ was then raised to new life, and so are we also have new life. As Scripture says, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come” (2 Cor 5:17).

We’ve already read that God did this because He loves us and for His glory, but we another reason here: for good works. Holy living is marked by good works, all of which evidences true discipleship (cf. John 15:8). The good works here are those God defined beforehand. Indeed, we could not call them good works lest they come from the Good Workman.

Conclusion

God saved us, and there is, of course, an implicit imperative here. He wants us to walk differently now, in these good works, so we should now no longer follow the course of the world and the devil. Even so, for today, consider that God made it so that we would walk in these good works. We could not walk in them if God had not graced us with them.

The good news of the gospel is that God extends grace to those who don’t deserve it. If we embrace this as a church, it will redefine how we walk as individuals as well as how we walk together. We will experience true unity as we reflect upon these truths and worship Him who completed the work on our behalf. We’ll treat each other with more grace, recognizing the divine grace He poured out upon us.

I hope that those struggling with their assurance of salvation will find the good news of the gospel. It’s not up to you — it’s up to Christ, and He’s already accomplished it. If it was up to us, we’d ruin it; we’d still sin and would otherwise draw the wrath of God.

If you’re concerned that God has not done any of this work for you, remember what we read about the spiritually dead. You would not be concerned about God and His ways if He was not already working faith in you. Call upon Him and be saved from your sins and the wrath that is to come.