Prison Epistle (Lesson 6)

5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

God’s love (v. 4) did three things for the believer and did them while we were spiritually dead:

“Made us alive together with Christ,” v. 5

“Raised us up together,” v.6

“Made us sit together,” v. 6

5 even when we were dead in trespasses,

By the same power with which God raised Jesus from the dead (1:19-20), He raised the believer to a new status. He did this “even” at the point when we were degenerate, at the very time when we were dead spiritually or unregenerate. We can do nothing to save our souls. We cannot give birth to ourselves spiritually.

Non-Christians are dead spiritually toward God (v.1). They are hopelessly, helplessly dead. God’s act of love (v.4) toward us occurred when we were “dead in trespasses,” while we were dead to God. God did not do what He did when we were saints but when we were absorbed in sin, the very thing that God loathes. Notwithstanding who we were, God did what He was.

5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

Now we come to the first action that God did for us in Christ.

made us alive together with Christ

Both verse one and this verse say that we were dead to God at one time. Spiritually dead people need to be made alive to God. This is what salvation does (Jn 5:24). God does this for us “together with Christ.”

People spiritually dead toward God can be made alive with Christ. New life for the believer comes because he or she shares what happened to Christ, the resurrection and exaltation of Christ. There is a close relationship between the believer and Christ. That relationship affects the Christian’s future because we share “together” His destiny (Ro 4:17; 8:11).

5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

Paul paused for a moment to make a parenthetical statement: God’s making us alive in Christ was by the grace principle.

(by grace you have been saved),

How did God make us alive together with Christ? By grace. Verses eight and nine will enlarge on His grace. No one is beyond salvation. Because man did not deserve to be saved and he could not save himself, God introduced His grace. Man needed a non-meritorious system if he was to be redeemed.

The word “grace” occurs about 100 times in just Paul’s writings alone. Grace is God’s provision for man without his deserving it. This is a central theme in Ephesians (1:3-14). God lavished His grace on believers (1:6-8). Grace is the cause of our redemption (1:7). Paul did his ministry by grace (3:2, 7-8). Verse seven explains that God will lavish His abundant grace in time and eternity.

God’s act of making sinners alive with Him is an act of unadulterated grace. This grace made us “alive together with Christ.” This is exclusively God’s initiative in grace. He did it all through Christ.

The phrase “have been saved” confirms the permanence of our salvation (perfect tense). Christians are in a saved state; they are saved from hell and possess heaven right now and for eternity. Salvation began at some point in the past; we do not wait for eternity to be saved. This is not the act of saving but the fact of having been saved.

6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

Paul now developed further the idea of God making the believer alive by Christ. Both being raised with Christ and being made to sit with Him in heaven happened “together” with Christ. Verse six is an amplification of verse five. Being made alive will result in being raised and sitting together with Christ. This is a way of expressing our union with Christ or our position in Christ.

6 and raised us up together,

“Raised up” here refers to positional resurrection; it is our status with God forever. God raised us “together” with Christ. God raises us up together with Christ with the same power He used in raising Jesus (1:19-20). He not only gave us new life (v.5) but He raised us with Christ. Resurrection with Christ has already taken place. The Christian experiences the life of Christ because he received new life in Christ. “Together” means that God sees us in His Son.

and made us sit together

Jesus died, rose, and was seated physically with the Father. The believer died to his sin, was raised, and was made to sit together in union with Him. The analogy between what God did in Christ and what He did to believers is striking. God deems us worthy of Christ’s victory of being seating at the right hand of God.

The Greek of “sit together” means that this seating is an accomplished fact (aorist indicative). God has already seated us positionally in heaven because of our status in Christ. This is our position or status now as Christians. This means that in God’s mind we hold privilege and security before Him.

The word “together” occurs three times in this passage (2:5, 6—twice). This means that God sees us in His Son.

in the heavenly places

Christians presently hold an exalted place in God’s economy. It is a place of God’s favor upon us. It is the abode wherein we worship God. Non-Christians know nothing of this place. They function horizontally, not vertically.

in Christ Jesus,

Union with Christ is the basis for our present position with God. By virtue of this status with Christ we partake of Christ’s life and exaltation. Christians presently share in Christ’s resurrection, exaltation, and session by their positional status in Christ Jesus.

7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

God made believers alive, and raised and seated them with Christ, in order to “show” His rich grace from now until the eternal state.

7 that in the ages to come

The “that” here shows God’s purpose in saving us by the riches of His grace. This grace will manifest itself in the economy of the church and also in eternity. God wants people to see what free salvation of the souls does to people.

“Ages” is not the same as “age.” Age in the singular would refer to eternity, but ages in the plural refers to successive generations in all future time.

He might show the exceeding riches of His grace

We saw God’s grace in verse five; now, in this verse and verses eight and nine, we will see a further development of God’s grace.

The word “show” means to make visible or apparent, to display. God shows abundant grace to great sinners and He wants to display what He did to others. He will display the trophies of His grace for everyone to see. Anything that distorts God’s grace and the unmerited nature of it is inconsistent with its essence and what He wants people to know about how He operates.

The emphasis is not on simply God’s grace, or the riches of His grace, but the “exceeding” riches of His grace. The word “exceeding” means surpassing or super grace. There is nothing trivial about God’s grace (Ro 5:20).

in His kindness [goodness] toward us

God manifests His grace by His goodness or kindness toward us. His kindness toward us revolves around Jesus Christ. “Kindness” means goodness. This is about the active manifestation of God’s goodness by grace; His goodness is an activity as well as an attitude. His activity was sending Jesus to die for our sins. God’s goodness is exercised through Christ and for His sake; it is not found in us whatsoever.

God’s kindness is expressed by His grace. We saw God’s mercy, love, grace and now His “kindness” or goodness toward us. The character of God has our best interests in view. It is wonderful to know a God like this.

in Christ Jesus.

Grace, kindness, and mercy all center in our position in Christ.