Ephesians

Ephesians 2:1-3

This is a good place to remember that chapter breaks are manmade.  The ‘and’ starts another idea but it is closely connected to the previous statements.  Make sure you read through the chapter break to get the flow of Paul’s idea.  The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is at work in our life.  That power raised Him and seated Him in heavenly places with authority and power over all.  He gave Christ to the church and the church to us.  Then in chapter two, verse one it gets personal.  He’s no longer talking about these big concepts and big ideas of a long time ago.  Now he’s talking about you, today, now.

This ‘you’ in the context of the letter is Paul pointing his finger at the individuals of this gentile church.  This was real, it was alive and it was for them!  The ‘you’ Paul is pointing to are the ones He’d already made alive; who had once been dead. 

The power of God that raised Jesus from the dead is the power that made these gentiles alive.  They were previously in their sin, separated from God, under the rule of the devil and without hope.  In that dead state, they did not know their state and were indifferent to God.  Like us, they may have believed in Him, but they had no concept of their need for Him.  If if they did come to realize their death, they had no hope of delivering themself to life. 

How is life and death determined?  We check the body by looking at the vital signs: pulse, breath, reflexes, reactions.  To check for spiritual death the spiritual vital signs would need to be checked.  Is there fruit of the spirit?  Is there salt and light?  Is the power on?  Is the Word present?   If there are no works, no power, no light, no salt, then the spirit is inoperative and inactive.  This is a spiritual flatline.  The Ephesians were dead!  We were dead! 

The word translated ‘trespasses’ speaks of losing our way, straying from the right road or losing our grip and slipping away from the truth.  The word translated ‘sins’ means missing the target.  These sins and trespasses are the norm in the course of this world – the spirit of the age.  This is just the way the devil would have it.  This is his work; and he’s about that business for a time.  Our world says it’s okay to rebel and fail.  It’s okay to miss the mark.  It encourages you to not worry about such things, as long as you tried, it doesn’t matter if you failed. 

We all walked in this ‘course’ of the world.  This is the way and pattern of serving our self and ruling over our own life.  We know we aren’t perfect but we establish we are better than most.  But this course is the agenda of the prince of the power of the air.  In those days, the ‘air’ was though to be the space between heaven and earth.  The devil rules in this space because of the fall of Adam who yielded to Satan instead of the Lord. 

This spirit of the age, driven by the devil, is at work in the sons of disobedience.  Lange says these sons are nourished by disobedience.  Paul reminds us we all once conducted our self in this manner.  We all came from rebellion and disobedience; we were all dead in our sins & trespasses.  We often don’t think of ourselves this way.  We become quite good at justifying our sin and cleaning up our trespasses so they appear as no big deal to us.  Sinners are those other people, the immoral, thieves and liars. 

The past of the Ephesians was a dark and sordid tale.  Their conduct was that of the lust of the flesh.  They fulfilled the desires of the flesh and mind.  It was very natural and normal for them to be children of wrath.  This wrath is God’s anger toward sin.  This the offense of a holy and righteous God when His creation continues to sin and trespass without any regard to Him.  God’s wrath is His righteous reaction to bring the wages of that sin. 

The wages of sin is death. (NKJV; Romans 6:23; 1982, Thomas Nelson)

We once were owed these wages.  This is our dark and sordid past as well.

Ephesians 2:4-5

We, like the Ephesians, were destined to feel the sting of death, forever separated from our maker.  We all were that picture of the nasty, vicious, ugly mutt that bites the hand of its master.  We were filled with hate and pride and self-preservation, sons of another father, without hope and disobedient.  The only thing on our horizon was an eternity of darkness, flames and torture forever (even the flames don’t produce light).

“But God” have been described as two of the sweetest words in the bible.  We, like the Ephesians, were dead in our sin and without hope.  This was an eternal state of hopelessness, facing eternity of torment apart from God.  He is the great exception!  What looked like an unchangeable situation was changed by God.  Why would He do this?  Why would He go to such great extents for children deserving of wrath, of the sons and daughters of disobedience.  Because He is rich in mercy.  He loves His creation, even when they were dead in trespass and sin.  What an incredible God!  This is His power on display.  For the Ephesians, in their difficult setting, Paul wanted them to see the incredible power of God is personal, for each of them.  His power was at work in their life.

God is rich in mercy.  He is characterized by this wealth of mercy displayed repeatedly to us through the scriptures.  It is His willingness to refrain from giving man what he deserves to, instead, do a special work, to save us through grace.  The riches of mercy are because of His great love extended toward us.  It’s agape love, unconditional, sacrificial; a gift.  In our trespasses and sin, we had proved ourselves His enemy and were dead but He made us alive with Christ.  Paul wanted the Ephesians to once again remember His amazing grace upon their life.  As it was for them, so it is for us.  It is personal, intimate, a transaction initiated by God on your behalf.  He brought you hope when you were without it.  You, saved by grace, display His power.

“….but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

(NKJV; Romans 6:23; 1982, Thomas Nelson)

Ephesians 2:6-7

Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.  (NKJV; Romans 6:4; 1982, Thomas Nelson)

When we are baptized, we go under the water.  This displays the state of our death.  As we are raised out of the water, it is being raised to newness of life.  It is the picture of being born again.  The Lord provided for us to be raised up together with Christ.  As His power was displayed in the resurrection of Jesus, it is as though we were raised up with Him that day. 

This is an amazing thought, but it doesn’t end there.  We were raised to be seated together with Him in heavenly places.  Paul keeps pointing to these heavenly places and the heavenly realm, lifting the eyes of the Ephesians to a higher ideal than anything they might see with their eyes in the fallen world they found themselves in.  Lift your eyes church. 

We have a seat in the heavenly places.  This is a present truth.  This seat is not so much a location as it is a position.  To be seated with Christ is to share in that position of being at the right hand of the Father.  It is sharing in the authority and power.  It would seem to follow that such position and authority would come with responsibility and duty.  There is a right response to ascending to such a place. 

To the Ephesians, this meant there was no reason to fear any lesser perceived gods, goddesses, demons.  We are seated with Christ is over all principality and power; He is the King of kings and we get to say, “I’m with Him.”  And we can know He is with us.  There is nothing in this world we should fear; no spiritual power, fate of the stars, or even biblical prophecy. 

He made is sit together with Christ that in a coming age He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness.  The position we have in Christ is an amazing present truth, but there is a greater truth, a future reality to come.  The father will show His exceeding riches of grace toward us in Christ.  From generation to generation, God has shown His power over sin and death and over the prince of the power of this age by delivering His children from the devil’s grasp.  The exceeding riches continue today.  It is His power displayed upon the world.  The ultimate show of power is yet to come and it seems to be coming soon.  Our citizenship is in heaven, and we’ll all join together there soon.

²⁰ For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹ who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.  (NKJV; Philippians 3:20-21; 1982, Thomas Nelson)

Our citizenship is in heaven.  Our place is no longer in the world.  We are no longer of the world.  If we know this and believe this, why would we ever live otherwise?

Ephesians 2:8-10

This salvation grace is a display of God’s undeserved generosity toward people.  We simply do not want what is owed to us.  Salvation is available only because of grace flowing from His love for us.  We access this through faith.  This is an expression of confidence that God is who He says He is and can do what He says He can do.  The expression of faith is to look to the cross and agree with God that we are fallen, sinners and trespassers by nature. That cross is what we deserve, but Jesus took it for us.  Our faith lays claim to the gift of salvation purchased by Jesus on the cross.  God made that available to us. 

This salvation offer is about God, not us.  It’s a common misconception that at the judgment, all your good deeds will be put on a scale opposite of your sins.  People believe if the good outweighs the bad God will allow them to go to heaven.  There are no bible verses to support this thinking.  This is the man judging himself by his own standard, saying, “If I can do one more ‘good’ than I’ve done bad, I can sneak under the wire.”  There are a lot of people deceived into thinking they are a good person.  They are pretty good in their own eyes and therefore believe God will forgive them of the rest.  The bible says, there is no one good, not even one.

It is strictly by grace that we are saved.  We can’t fully understand the Spiritual death we were in; and therefore, we can’t possibly begin to fully understand the grace in which you now stand.  What a precious gift, one that no other can give.  It is a gift we cannot give ourselves.  It is as priceless as it is eternal.   It’s all about God and not us.  We are not part of the equation. We only receive it.  There is no boast but the boast of our awesome God.  He is ‘my’ God because of what He did. 

Our lives become a frame into which God will put His work.  The good things, the righteous and holy things in our lives come from God and the work He is doing in our life.  We are the workmanship of God.  As we live, move and breathe, we display God’s power.  The Greek word for this workmanship is Poiema.  It means “work of art” or poem.  God didn’t just save us from spiritual death, He made us into his work of art.  We are His poem.  Our new life was given by Him, God initiated this gift, we receive it in faith.  We are His workmanship, created for good works.

There is an expectation and right response that good works follow salvation.  This is the purpose of our new life?  This is the maturing process.  We love, even when we aren’t loved back.  We extend grace, to those we would otherwise think as undeserving.  We suffer, because Christ suffered.  We mourn over sin in a world that celebrates it.  We live in meekness; the power of God under His control.  It’s the all-powerful master showing Himself to the world through us. 

Good works are one of the vital signs that show Spiritual life.  When this vital sign is missing, it is a sign something is wrong.  Either, the life is unhealthy and infected by sin, or there isn’t a life at all, just empty dead religion. 

See Romans 3; Philippians 3; Philippians 1:6; John 17:1-5; Hebrews 10:1-14 

Ephesians 2:11-13

Paul draws a conclusion based on our salvation by grace and the fact we are his workmanship.  As a gentile, we were outside the law and therefore considered ‘Uncircumcision’ by the so-called ‘circumcision’.  It is so-called because it was established in the flesh, but didn’t reflect the heart of standing in God.  Circumcision was given to Abraham as a sign of the covenant.  Abraham was saved by faith; he believed the promises of God and it was credited to him as righteousness.  The ‘uncircumcision’ was a derogatory label placed on the people with no sign of the covenant; they were labeled and seen as outsiders. 

The Gentiles were despised by the Jew.  The Jews were the chosen race and they looked down on the gentiles.  The gentiles were considered uncircumcised dogs to the gentiles.  Prior to Jesus, there was a complete separation or segregation.  The gentiles were aliens.  They had no citizenship.  God brought the Israelites to the Promised Land and gave it to them.  The Gentile could live there among them but he was an alien.  He could be in the nation, but not part of the nation. 

The gentiles also had no covenant.  The covenant promise came to the Jews.  God didn’t make any covenants with any gentile nation.  And the Jews never let the gentiles forget about this.  The Pharisees would include in their daily prayers…. “Thank you, Lord, that I am not a Gentile.”  But this was never God’s plan.  The Lord was going to save the entire world through the Jews.  The Jews weren’t to keep God to themselves – as if they could.

Paul said because of this plight, being an alien with no covenant, gentiles were left with no hope.  The ancient world was full of philosophies, traditions and religions.  These are all attempts to find hope in thought or actions.  Each is a last-ditch effort to hold onto the idea of being the master of my fate and the captain of my soul.  Yet, in spite of the sinful inclination, there is need to find hope. 

God created mankind as eternal creatures.  Eternity is written on our heart.  We have an inner longing for eternal things.  Yet we know that sin has damaged that hope.  Men responded by trying to find a way, some thing, action or deed to be right with God.  This lack of hope led to a bleak existence for the gentiles.  They responded to this hopelessness by creating some desperate acts of religion.  You see this desperate search for hope when human beings sacrificed their young or cut themselves or any number of other things.  They created gods, gave them names and then manufactured bizarre ways to please their god.

The gentiles were completely without God.  You might ask, “How did this happen?”  You might even feel compelled to complain to God and say this wasn’t fair to the early gentiles.  Remember, from the beginning there were no Jews or gentiles.  There was only mankind, the human race.  Man knew God, the one and only God.  Since then, men have rejected the one true God and sought after other gods.  Paul said, prior to Christ, gentiles had no land, no home, no covenant, no promise.  They were without hope and without God but then, by the blood of Christ, we were brought back to Him. 

Therefore, remember how it once was, to be in that place.  Remember you were:

1. Without Christ
2. Aliens in Israel (strangers in the Promised Land)
3. Strangers from the covenant promises
4. Without hope
5. Without God

But now, in contrast, in Christ Jesus, all these things that were once far away are now near; by the blood of Jesus.  There is no longer any separation from God. 

Mankind is still looking for answers, for hope, for anything to restore a sense of something greater and something lasting.  Unfortunately, many men look in all the wrong places.  They reject God, the source of hope and embrace false gods and complain of the hopelessness and futility of life.  Hope and purpose, salvation and forgiveness are found only in Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 2:14-18

As a Gentile in the times of the ancient temple you had to stay in the gentile court.  This was the wall of partition between the Jews and Gentiles.  If you remember, Paul is writing this from prison in Rome.  You have to go back to Acts 21 to find where this all began with Paul and how he ended up there.  He was arrested for violating this separation that he is talking about here.  He was accused by the Jews of taking a Gentile into the temple court.  This physical wall of separation was very serious to them and no mere gentile was allowed in there.  This separation came from the law.  The law was given by God to the Jews.  This set them apart.  They were peculiar in their world.

You can picture this temple with its walls and boundaries.  The Holy Place was in the center.  There was a progression of holiness as you moved inward through the temple.  The court of the gentiles was around the outside.  They were allowed into this court only and no further.  There was a four and a half too wall of separation with signs posted that said,” No gentiles beyond this point by penalty of death.”  And the Roman government enforced their religious law in this case.  If you remember, this is what Paul was arrested for when accusations were brought that he took a gentile into the temple courts at the end of his 3^rd missionary journey.  The Jews had took the wall of separation even further.  They built a metaphorical wall in society that separated themselves from all others.  This created a mutual hatred between Jew and gentile; putting down the gentiles as unworthy and unable to attain righteousness and it elevated the Jews to a place of self-righteousness.  God never intended this.  By Abraham, all the world was to be saved.

The next progression is the court of women.  Even Jewish women were allowed further than the gentiles.  The next boundary was the court of Israel.  Jewish laymen could enter this court.  This is where the altar was.  And then there was the holy place where the priests were allowed.  Beyond that, behind the veil was the Holy of Holies.  This is was where the Ark of the Covenant was in the early days and once a year the High priest entered here to atone for sin.

When Christ came along, He fulfilled the law and did away with all the peculiarities that separated the Jews from the Gentiles.  With the law gone, there was no reason for enmity between the two.  In Christ by his work on the cross, we know the veil was rent from top to bottom.  There was no longer any separation between men and God.  Jesus Christ, our High Priest made atonement once for all men.  In this he fulfilled the law, all these barriers were removed.  The walls were broken down.

We are all one in Christ.  There are no divisions of any kind.  The enmity that once existed has been put to death by the cross.  This is a fascinating play on words.  The cross, a cruel and torturous instrument of death, brought death to enmity that gave us life.  The instrument of death brought us life.  The gospel message was preached to those who were near, the Jews, and to those who were far off, the gentiles.  His purpose is one new man in one body.  There is no longer a separation.  And now, in Christ we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.

Ephesians 2:19-22

This was huge to the gentiles.  This was amazing news.  They were no longer the riffraff of the world.  Now they were fellow citizens in God’s household.  This household was laid on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets.  The prophets were the foundation to the Law and God revealing himself through the Jews.  The Apostles were the foundation of the gospel message.  Jesus is the cornerstone of this one body.  This cornerstone is the means by which the two parts were brought together and made one.  We are all joined together now as a Holy temple to the Lord.   The cornerstone holds it all together.  We are a dwelling place where God lives by the Spirit.

It’s as if Paul is reminding them of their current state and how they arrived there:

1. To those alive in Christ.
   1. You were once dead.
      1. You were at enmity with God
      2. Characterized by sin and its affects
         1. Sons of disobedience
         2. Walking the course of this world.
      3. God’s wrath abided on you
   2. But God (the great exception to an seemingly unchangeable condition)
      1. Rich in Mercy
      2. Because of His great love
      3. Made us alive!!
         1. Together with Christ
         2. By grace you have been saved
      4. Raised us up together
      5. We sit together in heavenly places
         1. Not a place as much as position
            1. Work complete
            2. Victorious over sin and death
         2. In a coming age, He’ll show the riches of His grace – kindness toward us.
   3. It is by grace we are saved
      1. Through faith
         1. not based on you or anything you’ve done or not done.
         2. Not performance, name, education, pedigree, heredity or anything else.
      2. A gift of God
         1. Not by works
         2. No one can boast
            1. God is our boast
   4. We are His workmanship
      1. Created in Christ for good works
         1. Works prepared beforehand
         2. Works designed for us to walk in.
2. Therefore, we are brought near (11)
   1. 1. Once Christless & far off
      2. Once aliens, with no attachment to God’s ways
      3. Once strangers, with no attachment to God’s covenant
      4. Once hopeless and helpless
   2. Once at war, we now have peace
      1. We are near
      2. No separation from God’s ways
      3. No separation from God’s covenant
      4. We have hope and a Spirit that helps.
      5. Unity in Christ, to God
3. The gifts of unity (19)
   1. 1. Members of God’s house
      2. Joined at the cornerstone, Jesus

©2010, 2017, 2023 Doug Ford