And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:1-7.
Much has been written and preached about Ephesians 2:8 and 9.
Today we want to look at the lead-in to those verses.
Apostle Paul initiates the discussion by fast referencing our Before Christ condition. We were dead. Dead men walking. Spiritual death had overtaken us by the means of trespasses and sins. In God’s purview we were without life. Dead. The apostolic elaboration describes further the downward spiral of the ungodly man.
Walking according to the course of this world. Unmindful of God’s ways.
Fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. An Unrestrained lifestyle. If we desired it or thought about it we engaged.
Were by nature children of wrath. Unrelated to God the Father by every measure.
This last one certainly destroys the ignorant religious concept that “we are all children of God.” Jesus told some folk, in John 8:44: Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.
You can change fathers though. John 1:12: But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. But I digress.
So our previous choices, conduct, and connection pretty well establishes the fact that we were done in this life and hell bound in the next.
Enter God.
A God of Mercy, Love, and Grace. The salvation triplets. By these:
He quickened us.
He raised us up.
He made us to sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
The believer is a testimony to the rich kindness of God that he would take us from death to life, from hell to heaven, and from the grasp of the prince of the power of the air to the seat next to his dear Son.
Now, after seeing where God has brought us from to where we are
today in Christ we can better appreciate and understand verses 8 and 9:
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it
is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. -PJF-
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