Sermon Tone Analysis

*/Ephesians 2:11-13/*

 

Let’s briefly review Eph.

2:8-10.

This is the section Paul devotes to our New Position Individually.

In v. 8 we have a famous verse on salvation.

*/For by grace you are saved through faith: and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God:” /*For by grace you are saved emphasizes the present results of salvation.

You are presently ‘safe’ emphasizing eternal security of the individual Christian (contrary to Campbellism).

The controversy in this verse centers on the word */this/* or */that /*in some translations.

What does */this /*refer back too?*/ /*Well, */this /*is neuter so it can’t refer to */faith /*which is feminine, it can’t refer to */grace /*because */grace /*is feminine, and it can’t refer to */saved /*because */saved /*is masculine.

So, what does it refer too?

Well, it turns out that it refers to everything from v. 4 to v. 8 ending with the word */faith/*.

This is consistent with other uses of the neuter */this /*in Ephesians, as in Eph.

1:15 which refers back to 1:3-14, 3:1 referring back to 2:11-22, and 3:14 which refers back to 3:1-13.

The neuter */this /*can refer back to a complex of things in both masculine and feminine genders.

Such is the case here as well in 2:8.

What is debated is whether */faith /*itself is a gift of God.

Reformed theology says */faith /*is a gift in the sense that God first regenerates an individual placing the seed of faith within a person so that person can give the faith back to God.

This amounts to an unscriptural plan of salvation.

Regeneration is never said to precede faith.

What they are trying to avoid is humans adding anything to the plan of salvation, such as faith.

They say that if we have faith then we would have something to boast about before God, our faith.

However, we know from Paul’s writings that faith is not a work, it is not added to salvation, it is the means through which God saves.

It is receptive.

It is the empty hands of faith receiving salvation.

The reception of a gift never adds anything to the gift itself.

The Bible is clear that a human must believe in order for God to give them the gift of salvation.

The gift here is not “faith itself” but the fact that God designed a */by grace/*/ *through faith */salvation.

This conclusion does not preclude the fact that for a person to have faith God must initiate the process (John 6:37, 44, 65).

Paul then goes on to say that this by grace through faith salvation does not find it’s source in human beings by saying it is */not of yourselves/*.

He also adds that it is */not of works/*.

Salvation is not given on the basis of anything within us or because of our human efforts.

God hates human effort.

Human effort nullifies grace (Rom.

11:6).

If it was by human effort then we could boast, but it’s not */so that no one may boast.

/*We are to boast in God and in the cross of Christ!

Since human faith is not a work, since faith doesn’t save (God saves), and since faith doesn’t change salvation in any way, then just because a human believes does not mean he has anything to boast about (Rom.

4:4-5).

In fact, we know from elsewhere that it is God who enables a man to believe in the first place.

But God does not first give a person faith just so a person can then give it back to God.

That’s not biblical Christianity.

So, we have three things Paul is affirming and two things he is rejecting: 1) God = source of salvation, 2) grace = basis of salvation (objective), 3) faith = means of salvation (subjective).

The two things Paul is rejecting are that 1) man = source of salvation and 2) works = basis of salvation.

In v. 10 Paul goes on to tell us the reason why salvation is not by good works.

It is because we are His workmanship; literally, we are His “work of art” (NJB).

God’s goal was that we would be created in Christ Jesus /for/ good works, not /by/ good works.

Salvation is not the end.

It’s the beginning.

God saved us to walk in good works.

We are never saved /by/ good works but we are saved /for/ good works.

These works have been */prepared beforehand/*, that is, before we were in Christ Jesus.

In fact, they were prepared before the foundation of the world along with our election (1:4).

The purpose of His preparing them beforehand is so that we might walk in them.

They are already prepared.

We need not /do/ them, just walk /in/ them.

We do not do a good work for God, God does a good work in and through us.

It is grace through and through.

It is grace from beginning to end.

We are therefore saved by grace through faith and we walk by grace through faith.

*E.

NEW POSITION ORGANICALLY (2:11-22)*

 

            Paul has clearly demonstrated the dead condition of all men, Jew and Gentile without distinction, and the gracious provision of God making us alive, raising us, and seating us with Christ in the heavenlies by saving us according to a by grace through faith salvation.

This was wholly of God and not of works lest any man could boast.

We are to boast in God and in the cross of Christ.

Further, salvation is not the end, we are the artwork of God created in Christ Jesus for good works.

We are not saved by good works but for good works.

He prepared these works beforehand so that we might walk in them.

We are not doing a good work for God but rather He is doing a good work through us, earthen vessels.

*But even this is not the end.

We are not left alone but are united with other believers into an organic unity.

This is Paul’s next point in 2:11-22, the second main division of chapter 2. Eph.

2:1-10 was our New Position Individually, but here Paul embarks on our New Position Organically.

“This forms the basis of the discussion for the rest of the epistle.”*[1]*

vv.

11-22 can be divided into three parts:*

 

            1.

Statement of the Organic Union (2:11-13)

            2.

Explanation of the Organic Union of Jews and Gentiles into One New

Man (2:14-18)

            3.

Consequences of the Organic Union (2:19-22)

 

Tonight we’ll look at the Statement of the Organic Union (2:11-13)

* *

*1.

Statement of the Organic Union (2:11-13)*

* *

*            *In Eph.

2:11-13 Paul explains that this organic union takes place */in Christ/*.

Before the cross Jews and Gentiles had nothing to do with one another.

These two people groups were strangers.

The union is not between Jews and Gentiles per se, but between Jews and Gentiles who believe in Christ.

* *

*/Greek Text 2:11 /**/Dio.

mnhmoneu,ete o[ti pote.

u`mei~/j ta.

e;qnh evn sarki,( oi` lego,menoi avkrobusti,a u`po.

th~/j legome,nhj peritomh~/j evn sarki.

ceiropoih,tou( /**/ /*

*Translation 2:11 Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, the ones who are called 'uncircumcision' by the so-called 'circumcision' in the flesh performed by hands,*

* *

*                        a.         Past Disunion (2:11-12)*

* *

*            *In Eph.

2:11-12, before stating the organic union in Christ, Paul states the previous disunion.

This is similar to Paul’s structure in 2:1-10.

Remember how Paul wanted to sketch a portrait of our lost condition before describing our saved condition by the grace of God.

So, now Paul wants to state our Past Disunion so that we will appreciate our Present Union in Christ.

So, in 2:1-10 Paul described us going from sinner to saint.

Here he describes the Jew~/Gentile going from hostility to union in Christ.

* *

*                                    (1)        Uncircumcised (2:11)*

* *

*            **Dio.