God's Great Grace
In chapter 1 Paul discussed God’s eternal plan in choosing those who are predestined to sonship and the fact that all believers on earth and in heaven will be brought together under Christ the Head of the church. Chapters 2–3 explain the execution of this eternal plan by showing how God makes sinners saints and then places them into the church, Christ’s body. In 2:1–10 Paul discussed how sinners who deserve nothing but God’s wrath can become trophies of His grace.
At the outset it should be noted that the grammatical subject of this long sentence (vv. 1–7) in Greek is “God” (v. 4) and the three main verbs are “made … alive with” (v. 5), “raised … up with” (v. 6), and “seated … with” (v. 6). The object of each of these verbs is “us,” that is, believers (vv. 5–6). Thus the main assertion in verses 1–7 is that God has made believers alive, raised them up, and seated them with Christ. All the other clauses in these verses are subordinate to this main assertion.
We were dead, but God made us alive in Christ. We were not strugglers in need of a helping hand or sinking swimmers in need of a raft; we were stone-cold dead—spiritually lifeless, without a religious pulse, without anything to please God. But he loves the loveless, gives life to the lifeless, and is merciful to those deserving no mercy.
This death is spiritual, not physical, for unsaved people are very much alive physically. Death signifies absence of communication with the living. One who is dead spiritually has no communication with God; he is separated from God. The phrase “in your transgressions and sins” shows the sphere of the death, suggesting that sin has killed people (Rom. 5:12; 7:10; Col. 2:13) and they remain in that spiritually dead state. “Transgressions” (paraptōmasin, “false steps”; cf. Eph. 1:7; 2:5) and “sins” (hamartia is, “acts of missing the mark”), though slightly different in their root meanings, are basically synonymous. Both suggest deliberate acts against God and His righteousness and thus failure to live as one should. The plural of these two nouns signifies people’s repetitious involvement in sin and hence their state of unregeneration.
Mankind’s unregenerate condition is further delineated in three ways: (1) The unregenerate follow the ways of this world. Unbelievers follow the lifestyles of other unbelievers; they experience the world’s peer pressure. “This world” (kosmos) is the satanically organized system that hates and opposes all that is godly (cf. John 15:18, 23).
(2) The unsaved follow the ruler of the kingdom of the air, that is, Satan. “The whole world is under the control of the evil one” (1 John 5:19), also called “the god of this Age” (2 Cor. 4:4). In the middle of the Tribulation he will be cast down to the earth, no longer to rule the world or have access to God’s presence (Rev. 12:9). The unsaved are now in the clutches of this “ruler” and follow in his opposition to God.
(3) The additional description, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient, may be a further elaboration of the distant antecedent, “ways of this world,” but this seems too remote. Some (e.g., NIV) suggest that it refers to “the ruler,” meaning that Satan personally works in sons of disobedience. However, it seems that “the spirit” is the same as “the kingdom (exousias, lit. ‘authority’) of the air.” This is the nearest antecedent and makes sense grammatically. This “spirit” then refers to the impersonal force or atmosphere, which is controlled and directed by Satan (1 John 5:19). This spirit is presently “at work” (energountos) in unbelievers. “In those who are disobedient” is literally, “in the sons of disobedience.” The word for sons (huiois) has the idea of a distinctive characteristic. “A son of disobedience” is one who is a distinctly disobedient person. The Greek word translated “disobedience” and “disobedient” is used several times in the New Testament (Rom. 11:30, 32; Eph. 2:2; 5:6; Heb. 4:6, 11). It suggests conscious and active rebellion and opposition against God.
rich in mercy. God’s compassion toward us stems from his great love rather than any good we do.
2. THE NEW POSITION: ALIVE IN GOD (2:4–10)
The wrath of God, however, is not the entire story. Its dark background contrasts with the glorious exhibition of God’s grace toward the unregenerate. Verses 4–10 set forth the grace of God which works on some unbelievers and gives them life (vv. 4–5), raises them (v. 6a), and seats them in heavenly realms with Christ (vv. 6b–10).
In the future eternal state, God will show all His Creation the incomparable riches of His grace. “Show” is endeixētai, which means “display or demonstrate” (cf. Rom. 2:15; 9:17, 22; 2 Cor. 8:24; Titus 2:10; 3:2).
The context would drive an additional point home especially forcefully to readers once enslaved by fear of Fate or the stars: to be “seated with Christ” means in 2:6 what it meant in 1:20–21—to be enthroned over the evil powers. Christians need not fear demons, Fate or anything else; their lives are ruled by God.
show … his grace. The climactic purpose of God’s act of salvation in vv. 4–6 is to demonstrate his grace for all eternity.
Therefore since no person can bring salvation to himself by his own efforts, no one can boast (cf. Rom. 3:27; 1 Cor. 1:29). Their boasting can only be in the Lord (1 Cor. 1:31).
God redeemed Israel before he gave them commandments (Ex 20:1); it was always his purpose for good works to flow from his grace, even if Israel (like many people today) did not always grasp that point (Deut 5:29; 30:6, 11–14). Most Jewish people in Paul’s day agreed that they were saved by God’s grace in the covenant, but they did not extend this idea to non-Jews, who could not inherit the covenant by virtue of birthright.
Faith alone justifies, but, the Reformers would say, the faith that justifies is never alone. Good works are not the root of our redemption, but they are the necessary fruit. If God has prepared good deeds beforehand, we must consider how and where we will walk today in order to fulfill his eternal purposes for us in Christ.
handiwork. The Greek word can connote the skillful work of a craftsman. created. The transformation of believers from death to life is so radical that it is considered a new act of creation (4:24; 2 Cor 5:17). The scope of this new creation is more than the individual. It also includes the community of faith (vv. 14–16; Gal 6:15), and, together, the new creation of the individual and the community anticipates that of the cosmos (Eph 1:10; Rom 8:18–25). See notes on Eph 2:15; 4:24; see also “Creation,” p. 2330. for us to do. Or “that we should walk in them.” The occurrence of the Greek for “walk” here and in v. 2 contrasts our former and present lifestyles. Instead of “walking” in “transgressions and sins” (v. 1), God has created us anew to “walk” in “good works.” These good works are not the basis of but the evidence of God’s new creative work in us.