One of the most contentious messages that Christians proclaim is that we as people aren’t so great. We have all thought ourselves to be good people and for the religious type, they have all concluded at some point that because of this inner goodness, that they will be in heaven. The Christian message however is that the vertical line to heaven was cut off by sin and this means that we need to be reconciled to Him prior to entering heaven. The creation was insufferably separated from its creator and a reparation of sort needed to happen to get it back. That restitution came through Jesus Christ in His shed blood on the cross. Jesus bore the penalty of sin in His body and at the same time satisfied the requirements of righteousness on our behalf. He took away our sin by paying the penalty we owe for them. We couldn’t accomplish the reconciliation ourselves and hence He substituted on our behalf. This exchange happened when that sin and unrighteousness that had separated us from God was replaced with an imputed righteousness and the forgiveness of our sins. When an individual believes in Christ, they believe that Jesus is the Messiah, that His death paid their debt and satisfied God’s wrath on their behalf and that He rose from the dead to grant us a new life in Him.
Yet this new life still has traits of the old. For instance, we still require food, sleep, and we still make messes around us. The difference between the old life and the new life is that there are considerable affections that are new to the soul. But not only affections, but a new purpose. When you become a Christian, your endeavours change. If you become a farmer, you’re expected to farm. If you’ve taken on the task of a deep-sea diver, you’re expected to get wet. In the same way, when you become a Christian, you’re expected to work as a Christian. These works don’t entitle you to becoming a Christian, but they are the outsource of a new life.
The Text
But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, 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 surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. (Ephesians 2:4-10)
Mercy & Love
Contrasting their former and present spiritual states, Paul diverges from man’s life without the Living God to what happened when God intervened. God interfered in this necromantical life to bring about a change. This happens to us all who become Christians. What brought about this intercession wasn’t something attractive He saw in our actions or because He owed it to us but because He was rich in mercy. This mercy wasn’t based upon any obligation, but compassion which in return was complimented by a love for His enemies. God set His love upon those who ignored Him and hated Him. But God’s mercy wasn’t extended exclusively towards Jews, even Gentiles received God’s favour. The love which resulted in them being made alive (v.5), was manifested to these multiple ethnic groups (Ephesians 5:25). A love which was demonstrated to us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8) and a love that continues to keep us (Romans 8:39). There is the true love, a love embodied in truth, purity, honour, and sacrifice. A love that can’t be defeated or restricted since it flows from the mercy seat of the living God and consider for a moment that it was poured out upon us!
New Beginnings
The next portion in this letter moves to address the contrast between the state of man at birth verses the new man who’s been born again. Paul previously defined the expression “being dead” in the first three verses and now moves to show how God made us alive. Believers, whether in the 1st or 21st century have experienced a spiritual resurrection. This regeneration is linked with the forgiveness of our transgressions (Colossians 2:13) but further with the resurrection of Christ. Paul emphasizes that God made us alive with Christ. It’s important to be clear. As we’ve already indicated, it wasn’t an action or a decision on our part which caused us to be born again, but an act wrought in us. Paul states that He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, (Titus 3:5). We must be born again even to be able to see the kingdom let alone enter it (John 3:3-5). Where most Christians miss the boat is that they believe that the new birth is a by-product of faith. So, they utter: “You must believe to be born again”! But this is entirely putting the cart before the horse since it’s quite clear that this new birth precedes our coming to faith. The apostle John could say that Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. (1 John 5:1 ESV). Being born again is becoming a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15-16). This new creature forsakes trespasses and sins and now lives as a reconciled man/woman to God. Paul brings home this point by highlighting that it was by grace that they’d been saved. Grace (χαρις) is rooted in the term “charity” but not a charity that we have towards others but a charity that God expresses towards us. It is an act of unmerited favour to you without you adding anything to it. Grace was the central point in Paul’s ministry (Acts 20:24; Romans 3:21-26; 5:2,8) and should be ours also. This salvation is the result of the grace afforded to us and while Paul refers often to a future aspect of salvation (Romans 5:8-10; 1 Corinthians 3:15; 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14), in this case he’s focusing upon the present aspect.
The Life of Kings
V.6 is an explication of what being made alive with Christ looks like. The power that brought the resurrection of Christ and His ascension is now working in them in that they were made alive and raised up with Christ and seated with Him in the heavenly places. The emphasis here is that this is a past act, not a future hope. There are two aspects to consider in this text:
- Their spiritual resurrection has demonstrated the guarantee that they are the recipients of the hope of the resurrection and ascension first experience by Christ and so it can be said that they already possess it.
- They are to live a life that reflects that they’ve already been resurrected by forsaking their pass life of transgression and sins to live a life that is pleasing to God. The seating in the heavenly places seems to focus upon their dominion either over sin or over the former things such as the world, the devil and the flesh.
Christians are not to remain idle in their faith but through the secured blessings in Christ, they are to live their lives as a people who do good works towards others and resist the three great enemies. They are a new creation on this old earth who have become kings and priests to God, and they can enjoy the life of kings today! We can have dominion over the enemies because Christ has conquered these adversaries.
V.7 shows the purpose of God’s raising us and seating us mainly that we might show the surpassing richness of His grace and kindness in all ages. God’s desire is to put His works of grace and kindness on full display for all time. The grace is referred to as the riches of His grace demonstrating the unmatching value of that which God demonstrated in Christ through the redemption in His blood and the forgiveness of our trespasses (Ephesians 1:7). This is all to the praise of the glory of His grace (Ephesians 1:6). This act of redemption will be praised for all time and God’s glory will be the center of all our admirations. So, Christians are to show off their kingliness to the praise of the glory of God’s grace.
The Gift of God
The apostle now expands the argument on how God has shown us the riches of His grace. This is an increase on what was previously mentioned in v.5. As we already mentioned, Grace (χαρις) is rooted in the term “charity” as an act of unmerited favour. But this grace doesn’t stand alone. The salvation found in Christ needs to be received. Men and women are called to respond to the call of the gospel with faith. Faith by trusting in the finished work of the Messiah. The grace and faith are also linked with salvation and justification in Paul’s message (Acts 15:11; Romans 3:24; Galatians 2:16). To negate any human merit, Paul emphasizes that this salvation is not based upon us. There is nothing that we add or participate in to earn this salvation. Paul drives this point home when he states that it is a gift of God. A gift is given freely and without the expectation of a payment or any charitable contribution demanded. Yes, it really is for free even though it cost the Son of God His life. For some, it may seem odd that we can say that we’ve contributed nothing to our salvation since one could argue that faith is our contribution. But the pronoun “it” (it is the gift of God) is in the neuter and summarizes that both the grace and faith are a gift of God. This doesn’t mean that we are not responsible to believe but that even the faith that we have put forward comes from God. Paul could say in his epistle to the Philippians that it was granted to the Philippian believers to believe (Philippians 1:29), and those who are granted faith are identified as being appointed to eternal life (Acts 13:48).
To drive the point home, Paul states in v.9 that this salvation and having been made alive with Christ was not the result of works. Not to beat the dead horse but salvation is not something we earn by doing good works towards God as a means of payment or reward for our service. Some have attempted to distinguish the works of the law and the works of faith to show that we can be saved by doing our part in faith, just not of the law. This is based upon the expression works of the law used by Paul especially in Romans (Romans 3:20, 28; 4:2). The problem is that whether we are presenting works of the law or works of faith before God as a means to win His favour, these are still works in contrast to faith alone. It would grant us a reason to boast regardless of the type of works we offer. To boast was to essentially stand before God and brag about our works to get us into the kingdom. The point Paul is focusing upon is not that a Christian would even participate in this type of prideful display but that he would not even have the opportunity to do so. The nature of salvation through grace and faith as the gift of God would prohibit this (Romans 3:27). But not only will an individual not be able to boast, but others may not boast about bringing that person to salvation (Galatians 6:13). The only boasting that we will be able to make is in the Lord Himself (Romans 5:9-11; 1 Corinthians 1:31). We will be tossing crowns before Christ’s feet because it’s all of Him.
Handcrafted
Paul now continues the argument in v.10 that our salvation is totally the work of God. Paul continues the notion of creation. When we think of a workmanship, we are considering something that was crafted with a purpose. There is intent in the design and how the product is essentially meant to be utilized. While works are not an end to salvation, they are an end as to how we will live our lives. God created us unto good works. Because we are a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17), then we do new creation good works that exhibit His righteousness and glorify His Son. God expects us to “walk in them” meaning that we are not expected to remain idle. We are, as the new creation of God, to live a life that is fitting of this new creation. This walking is in contrast to the walking in our trespasses and sins. The transformation that a believer experiences by being granted a new heart (Hebrews 10:16) extends into action. God expects us to bear good fruit (Matthew 7:17; Colossians 1:10). These works that we project are works that have been prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. These are the works that we are to live in the new creation rather than in the old world. We are to forsake the ways of this world and move toward living as the new world.
This was an encouragement to these believers in Asia Minor. Much like being called the inheritance of God or being seated in the heavenlies, God’s workmanship is now attributed to them. They’re not like everyone else but have been customed-made in a special way to something much more glorious than all the beauties of pagan Rome. Christians today serve in this way as well. While our surroundings seem poised to make you look at the same time peculiar and bland, we must continue to encourage ourselves in knowing that we are special. We are new creatures handcrafted by the Almighty to shine in this world.
The Moncton Herald 