The Work of Sin

Discussion:

How do verses 1-3 describe being ‘dead in trespasses and sins?’ Explain each phrase.Explain the paradox of how sinners are both dead in sins, yet alive in other ways.

Spiritual Resurrection (Regeneration) is the sugject of this passage. However, it should be observed that this is not unrelated to physical resurrection. One is the consequence of the other. Just as physical death is the inevitable consequence of spiritual death (Adam died spiritually on the very day that he sinned, and physical death followed later, Gen 3:7), so spiritual resurrection insures physical resurrection in due time. - Homer Kent, JR Ephesians the Glory of the Church

What are the dangers of ‘stretching the metaphor’ of being dead?

What are verses 1-3 saying about desperate predicament that sinners are in?

Satan’s kingdom is in view here. Scripture insists on his reality. His abode is not some distant realm, but that nebulous region immediately surrounding men’s spirits. Paul uses the Greek work for air to picture his presence and proximity to our souls. With his agents, he operates just beyond the wall of the flesh, unseen, unfelt- as close as the air we breathe. As the body is required to inhale the smog about it, so is the human spirit subjected to satanic incluence. The unholy spirit is as close to us as the Holy Spirit, operating in similar fashipn. - C. S. Lovett - Personal NT Commmentary

What is it about being ‘dead in sin’ that is both self-deceiving deceiving to others?

What remedy do verses 4-6 give us for being dead in sin? 

What do they verses tell us about God? Explain.

What do they verses implicitly say about what God saw in us that made us ‘worth’ saving?

What do we ‘contribute’ toward our salvation?

Read verse 7 and explain it!

What should be our response to this?

Our State by nature

Ephesians 2:1–7 NRSV

You were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else. But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, 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 immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

We were separated by:

The World

The Devil

2 Corinthians 4:4 NRSV

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.

The Flesh

Ephesians 2:4 NRSV

But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us

C. Redemption: clearing the ground (2:1–10). Returning to the first blessing, redemption, Paul elaborates what is implied in it. Through the work of Christ, by divine fiat, God has swept clear the ground upon which he recreates the spoiled creation.

The human predicament is described first from the Gentile perspective (2:1–2; see v. 11, and cf. v. 3, which refers to Jews). They were formerly dead, in the estimation of God, since they had led their lives in transgressions and sins. Their life-style, their code of behavior, had been determined according to this present worldly age, the selfish and competitive principle which underlies all cultures, all political and economic systems. And behind that worldly system stands the satanic “ruler of the kingdom of the air” (“air” probably referring to the presumed dwelling-place of the spirit world), who even now encourages people, both groups and individuals, in their disobedience against God.

But among such disobedient people Paul now includes—along with the Gentiles—the Jews themselves (v. 3). Jews, too, live under the influence of their fleshly, sinful human desires. Existence on earth consists of a continual struggle to satisfy the selfish demands of body and soul. Consequently, the Jew is by nature under the wrath of God, just like the rest of humanity, namely, the Gentiles.

This is no insignificant remark! First, it clearly precludes any member of humanity from supposing that he or she is not subject to judgment. All of the human race is subsumed under the headings of either Jew or Gentile, and both groups are by nature condemned. Second, this is a statement of a Jew to Gentiles, and as such it embodies, in a redeemed person, an attitude which is evidence of the newly created family of God (see vv. 11–22).

Our standing in Grace

Explain the importance of the short phrase, “But God.”

What was his motivation for saving us?

What does it mean to be “made alive?”

How are we seated in the heavenly places with Christ?

If we are already made alive, have already been sealed with the Holy Spirit, and already possess eternal life, what does it mean “that in the ages to come He might show us” more?

What does He have left to show?

Titus 2:11–12 NRSV

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all, training us to renounce impiety and worldly passions, and in the present age to live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly,

God’s intervention

His Mercy

Titus 3:5 NRSV

he saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy, through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.

His Love (Lavish,extraordinary)

God’s implementation

Ephesians 2:5–6 NRSV

even when we were dead through our trespasses, 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,

we are quickened - made alive by the word

we are raised

we are seated together - co-heirs with Christ

God’s investment

to show us the riches of His grace.

The human predicament is absolute; there is no escape. There is no way for people already condemned to avoid condemnation. Only from the outside can any effective solution come. Thus when Paul begins, “but … God” (v. 4), it is with just such an outside solution in mind. God’s character as a boundlessly merciful God, who loves human beings with a “great love,” has changed the picture. He remedied the hopeless situation in three ways with one sweeping act in Christ.

First, together with Christ, he brought these dead Jews and Gentiles back to life (the “we” in v. 5 now includes the Gentile readers). Anticipating the sum of the matter (stated in vv. 8–10), Paul asserts excitedly at this point that this salvation from death is wholly God’s doing, an act of his grace (v. 5). He returns immediately to the point, however, to state the two remaining ways in which God interfered. Second, God raised us up together with Christ, and third, he seated us together with Christ in that same heavenly place of honor which he assigned to Christ himself (v. 6). In other words, just as Christ is the manifestation of God to us on earth, so Christ, as the head of his body, the church, is the manifestation of us to God. In Christ, God and humanity meet and are at peace.

God’s purpose in restoring us and honoring us, in being kind to his rebellious creatures, is that he might demonstrate for all time the surpassing bounty of his forgiving grace (v. 7). The point is not that he needs the praise which would come from that demonstration, but that the creation needs to offer it.