A Royal Position

Having described our spiritual possessions in Christ, Paul turned to a complementary truth: our spiritual position in Christ. First, he explained what God had done for all sinners in general; then, he explained what God had done for the Gentiles. The sinner who trusts Christ has been raised and seated on the throne (Eph. 2:1-10), and believing Jews and Gentiles have been reconciled and set into the temple (Eph. 2:11-22). What a miracle of God's grace! We are taken out of the great graveyard of sin and placed into the throne room of glory.

Perhaps the easiest way to approach this long paragraph is to see four specific works.

1. CHILDREN OF DISOBEDIENCE (2:1-3)

He is dead (v. Eph2:1

Ephesians 2:1 KJV 1900

1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;

Of course, this means he is spiritually dead; that is, he cannot understand and appreciate spiritual things. He possesses no spiritual life, and he can do nothing of himself to please God. Just as a person physically dead does not respond to physical stimuli, so a person spiritually dead is unable to respond to spiritual things. A corpse does not hear the conversation going on in the funeral parlor. He has no appetite for food or drink; he feels no pain; he is dead. Just so with the inner man of the unsaved person. His spiritual faculties are not functioning, and they cannot function until God gives him life. The cause of this spiritual death is "trespasses and sins" (Eph. 2:1). "The wages of sin is death" (Rom. 6:23). In the Bible, death basically means "separation," not only physically, as the spirit separated from the body (James 2:26), but also spiritually, as the spirit separated from God (Isa. 59:2).

The unbeliever is not sick; he is dead! He does not need resuscitation; he needs resurrection. All lost sinners are dead, and the only difference between one sinner and another is the state of decay. The lost derelict on skid row may be more decayed outwardly than the unsaved society leader, but both are dead in sin—and one corpse cannot be more dead than another! This means that our world is one vast graveyard, filled with people who are dead while they live (1 Tim. 5:6).

He is disobedient (vv. 2-3a); this was the beginning of man’s spiritual death, his disobedience to the will of God. God said, in the day that thou eateth, thereof thou shall Surley die Genesis 2:17.

Conversely, Satan said, “You shall not surely die“ Genesis 3:4

Adam chose, knowing full well what it would mean for him, both men and woman send by disobeying God and experience, immediate spiritual death, and ultimately they would experience physical death.

Since then, mankind has lived in disobedience to God. Three forces encourage man in his disobedience: the world, the Devil, and the flesh.

The world, or world system, pressures each person to try to get him to conform (Rom. 12:2). Jesus Christ was not “of this world,” and neither were His people (John 8:23; 17:14). But the unsaved person, either consciously or unconsciously, is controlled by the values and attitudes of this world.

The Devil is the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience." This does not mean that Satan is personally at work in the life of each unbeliever since Satan as a created being is limited in space. Unlike God, who is omnipresent, Satan cannot be in all places at one time. But because of his demonic associates (Eph. 6:11-12) and his power over the world system John 12:31), Satan influences the lives of all unbelievers and also seeks to influence believers. He wants to make people "children of disobedience" (Eph. 2:2; 5:6). He GOwas disobedient to God, so he wants others to disobey Him too.

One of Satan's chief tools for getting people to disobey God is lies. He is a liar John 8:44), and it was his lie at the beginning of human history,

"Ye shall not surely die," that plunged the human race into sin. The unsaved multitudes in today's world system disobey God because they believe the lies of Satan. When a person believes and practices a lie, he becomes a child of disobedience.

The flesh is the third force that encourages the unbeliever to disobey God. By the flesh Paul does not mean the body, because of itself, the body is not sinful. The flesh refers to that fallen nature that we were born with, that wants to control the body and the mind and make us disobey God.

Dog Does What It Does," and many dog lovers came out to hear him. What he had to say was obvious, bur too often overlooked: "A dog behaves like a dog because he has a dog's nature." If you transplant into the dog the nature of the cat, his behavior would change radically. Why does a sinner behave like a sinner? Because he has the nature of a sinner (Ps. 51:5; 58:3). This sinful nature the Bible calls

"The flesh."

Is it any wonder that the unsaved person is disobedient to God? The world controls him, the flesh, and the Devil, the three great enemies of God. And he cannot change his own nature or, of himself, overcome the world and the Devil. He needs outside help, and that help can come only from God.

He is depraved (v. 36).

The lost sinner lives to please the "desires of the flesh and the wishes of the mind” (literal translation). His actions are sin-

Eil because his appetites are sinful. When you apply the word depraved to the unsaved person, you are not saying that he only does evil or that he is incapable of doing good. You are simply saying that he is incapable of doing anything without merit to salvation or meeting the high standards of God’s holiness. Jesus said that lost sinners do good to each other (Luke 633) and to their children (Luke 11:13) but they cannot do anything spiritually good to please God. The people on Malta who kindly assisted Paul and his friends after the shipwreck certainly did good works, bur they still needed to be sexed (Acts 28c1-2)-

He is doomed (x 3c). By nature, children of wrath! By deed, children of disobedience! The unsaved person is condemned already (John 3:18).

The sentence has been passed, but God, in His mercy (2 Peter 3.8-10). Man cannot save himself, but God, in His grace, steps in to make salvation possible. "Bur God'—what a difference those two words make! This leads to the second work!

2. GOD’S RICH GRACE (2:4-9)

The focus of attention now is on God, not on sinful man. "Salvation is of the LORD" (Jonah 2:9). We are reminded of four activities that God performed on behalf of sinners to save them from the consequences of their sins.

He loved us (v. 4). By nature, "God is love" (1 John 4:8). But God would love even if there were no sinners because love is a part of His very being. Theologians call love one of God's attributes. But God has two attributes: those He possesses of Himself (intrinsic attributes, such as life, love, and holiness) and those by which He relates to His creation, especially to man (relative attributes).

For example, by nature, God is truth, but when He relates to man, God's truth becomes faithful. God is by nature holy, and when He relates that holiness to man, it becomes justice.

Love is one of God's intrinsic attributes, but when this love is related to sinners, it becomes grace and mercy. God is "rich in mercy" (Eph. 2:4) and in "grace" (Eph. 2:7), and these riches make it possible for sinners to be saved. It is a shock to some people when they discover that we are not saved "by God's love," but by God's mercy and grace. In His mercy, He does not give us what we do deserve, and in His grace, He gives us what we do not deserve. And all of this is made possible because of the death of Jesus Christ on the cross.

At Calvary, God displayed His hatred for sin and His love for sinners (Rom. 5:8; John 3:16).

He quickened us (v. 5). He made us alive, even when we were dead in sins. He accomplished this spiritual resurrection by the power of the Spirit, using the Word. In the four gospels, it is recorded that Jesus raised three people from the dead: the widow's son (Luke 7:11-17), Jairuss daughter (Luke 8:49-56), and Lazarus John 11:41-46). In each case, He spoke the Word and this gave life. "The Word of God is quick (living) and powerful” (Heb. 4:12); these three physical resurrections are pictures of the spiritual resurrection that comes to the sinner when he hears the Word and believes (John 5:24).

But our spiritual resurrection is much greater because it puts us in union with Christ: God "made us alive together with Christ." As members of His body, we are united to Him (Eph. 1:22-23), so that we share His resurrection life and power (Eph. 1:19-20),

He exalted us (v. 6).

We are not raised from the dead and left in the graveyard. Because we are united to Christ, we have been exalted with Him and are sharing His throne in the heavenlies. Our physical position may be on this earth, but our spiritual position is "in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." Like Lazarus, we have been called from the grave to sit with Christ and enjoy His fellowship (John 12: 1-2),

He keeps us (vv. 7-9).

God's purpose in our redemption is not simply to rescue us from hell, as great a work as that is. His ultimate purpose in our salvation is that the church might glorify God by His grace (Eph. 1:6, 12, 14); so, if God has an eternal purpose for us to fulfill, He will keep us for all eternity. Since our good works have not saved us, we cannot be lost by our bad works. Grace means salvation entirely apart from any merit or work on our part. Grace means that God does it all for Jesus' sake! Our salvation is the gift of God.

(The word in Eph. 2:8, in Greek, is neuter, while faith is feminine; therefore, that cannot refer to faith.

It refers to the whole experience of salvation, including faith.) Salvation is a gift, not a reward.

Salvation cannot be "of works" because the work of salvation has already been completed on the cross. This is the work that God does for us, and it is a finished work (John 17:1-4; 19:30). We can add nothing to it (Heb. 10:1-14); we dare take nothing from it. When Jesus died, the temple’s veil was torn in two, from the top to the bottom, signifying that the way to God was now open. There is no more need for earthly sacrifices.

One sacrifice—the Lamb of God—has finished the great work of salvation. God did it all, and He did it by His grace.

Sin worked against us and God worked for us, but the great work o conversion is but the beginning.

3. GOD’S WORKMANSHIP (2:10-14)

"For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus." The Greek word translated "workmanship" is poiema, from which we derive our English word poem. It means "that which is made, a manufactured product." In other words, our conversion is not the end but the beginning. We are a part of God's "new creation" (2 Cor. 5:17), and God continues to work in us to make us what He wants us to be. His purpose is to make us more like Christ (Rom. 8:29).

But how does God work in us? Through His Holy Spirit, "both to will and to do of his good pleasure" (Phil. 2:13). Christ finished His work of redemption on the cross, but He arose from the dead and returned to heaven. He carries on His unfinished work of perfecting His church (Eph. 4:7-16; Heb. 13:20-21). Christ is equipping us for our walk and our work here on earth. To do this, He uses three special tools: the Word of God (1 Thess. 2:13), prayer (Eph. 3:20-21), and suffering (1 Peter 4:11-14). As we read God's Word, understand it, meditate on it, and feed on it, the Word cleanses and nourishes us. As we pray, God's Spirit works in us to release power. And as we suffer, the Spirit of God ministers to us. Suffering drives us back to the Word and prayer, repeating the cycle.

Too many Christians think that conversion is the only significant experience and that nothing follows. But this is wrong. We can use Lazarus’s resurrection as an example. After Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, He said, "Lose him, and let him go” John 11:44); in other words, "This man is now alive. Get him out of the graveclothes!" Paul had this concept in mind in Ephesians 4:22-24 when he wrote, "That ye put off concerning the former conversation [behavior] the old man, which is corrupt... and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." Colossians 3:1

Colossians 3:1 KJV 1900

1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.

The same resurrection power that saved you and took you out of the tomb of sin can help you live for Christ and glorify Him daily. At great expense to Himself, God worked for us on the cross. And today, based on that price paid at Calvary, He is working in us to conform us to Christ. God cannot work in us unless He has first worked for us and we have trusted His Son. Also, He cannot work through us unless He works in us. This is why it is crucial for you to spend time daily in the Word and prayer and to yield to Christ during times of suffering. For it is through the Word, prayer, and suffering that God works in you.

The Bible shows many examples of this principle. God spent forty years working in Moses before He could work through him. At the beginning of his ministry, Moses was impetuous and depended on his strength. He killed an Egyptian and had to flee Egypt, hardly a successful way to start a ministry. But during those forty years as a humble shepherd in the desert, Moses experienced God's working in his life, a work that prepared him for forty more years of magnificent service.

There are other examples. Joseph suffered for thirteen years before God put him on the throne of Egypt, second to Pharaoh. David was anointed king as a youth but did not gain the throne until he had suffered many years as an exile. Even the apostle Paul spent three years in Arabia after his conversion, undoubtedly experiencing God's more profound work to prepare him for his ministry. God has to work in us before He can work through us, leading to the fourth work in our passage.