God's Love for Mankind.Ephesians 2:1-10 ESV

Verse 1

Who! and you: Paul is speaking to the Church at Ephesus. you were dead (past tense).

These were non-Jews Paul is referring to here (1:11)

let me point out that you has application to all of us in this present life, even though the apostle Paul wrote this to the people in Ephesus centuries ago.

What! made these people dead?

> trespasses: is an offense against humans or against God. a violation of moral standards. wrongdoing.

>Sins: acts of missing the mark

trespasses and sins has a result upon the life of an individual. It alienates people and makes them hostile in mind, causing them to do evil deeds.

trespasses and sins describes the evil that controls and characterizes human life apart from God. They are both the cause of death and the evidence of death.

according to Isaiah 53:10–12 “Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.”

This suffering Servant is responsible for dealing with the problem of trespasses, sin, and guilt by dying for God’s people.

This suffering Servant is Jesus Christ and he has fulfilled this statement in Isaiah 53:10-12.

dead here refers to being separated from God and being under the rule of the evil one.

there is no middle ground. you are either dead or alive.

This death is spiritual, not physical, for unsaved people are very much alive physically.

Death signifies absence of communication with the living.

So. one who is dead spiritually has no communication with God; he or she is separated from God.

just as a dead body does not respond to stimuli, the spiritually dead person cannot respond to spiritual stimuli unless enabled to do so. Only God provides this ability. (V.5) God “made us alive together with Christ Jesus.”

Verse 2:

What! causes mankind to be spiritually dead?

he has an unregenerate condition

unregenerate simple means that he or she has not been willing to reform or show repentance for their transgression.

There are three ways to recognize an unregenerate or unsaved person:

the unregenerate follow the way of this world.

unbelievers follow the lifestyle of other unbelievers; they experience the world’s peer pressure.

My friends this world is the satanically organized system that hates and opposes all that is godly.

John 15:18 ““If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.”

John 15:23 “Whoever hates me hates my Father also.”

2. The unsaved follow the ruler of the kingdom of the air, that is Satan.

This entire world is under the control of the evil one. 1 John 5:19 states: “We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.”

Satan is also known as “the god of this age”, 2 Corinthians 4:4 states “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.”

In the middle of the Tribulation 3 1/2 years Satan will be cast down to the earth, no longer to rule the world or have access to God’s presence. Revelation 12:9 “And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.”

as an unsaved person you are now in the clutches of this “ruler” and follow in his opposition to God.

3. the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient, consumes the unsaved individual.

this “spirit” is an impersonal force or atmosphere, which is controlled and directed by Satan, 1 John 5:19.

This spirit is presently “at work” in the unbelievers. In those who are disobedient, in the sons of disobedience the Bible states.

by the way this word “disobedient” suggests conscious and active rebellion and opposition against God.

Breakdown Eph. 2

Mankind condition out of Christ (V. 1-3; 11, 12).

Mankind Conversion through Christ (V. 4-10; 13)

Mankind Provision from Christ (14-22)

Application Eph. 2:1-10

You are to no longer walk in the ways of this world. (verse 1-2).

You are immeasurable rich of God’s grace in kindness through Christ Jesus. (verse 7).

You are saved by grace through faith in God. (verse 8-9)

You are to walk in the good works that God has prepared for you. (verse 10)