Quite a few years ago a movie was made about nostalgia and reminiscence. It was entitled, "The Way We Were." Paul begins this chapter in the same way. He begins with the way we were. But there is nothing fond or nostalgic about that former condition.
There are three views concerning man and his condition before God. View #1 says, "I'm okay, you're okay." It sees man as basically healthy and with no serious needs outside himself. View #2 says, "I'm okay, you're not so hot." In this view, man is sick but can improve through self effort. He needs a doctor or a coach. View #3 says that we are all dead in sin; that man is dead in his relationship to God and needs a resurrection. It is this third view that is Biblical. It seems a very pessimistic view. And it is pessimistic with regard to its view of man. But is is greatly optimistic with regard to its view of God.
THE WAY WE WERE.
"And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. "Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest." (Ephesians 2:1-3).
Notice how this section begins. With the word "AND." This takes us back to the previous chapter. There is a correlation of thought between chapter 1 and chapter 2.
Ephesians 1 gives us the past, present and future of God's great plan of salvation. Ephesians 2 gives us the past present and future of the people whom God saves.
Ephesians 1 gives us God's perspective. Ephesians 2 gives us our perspective.
Ephesians 1 starts with God's election prior to the creation. Ephesians 2 starts with our lost condition prior to salvation.
Ephesians 1 ends with all things in subjection to Christ. Ephesians 2 ends with the church being built up into a dwelling of God.
In this chapter, Paul is going to focus upon God's plan of salvation from OUR perspective. To do this, he begins by going back to look at a time when we were lost.
The picture is not a pretty one. Indeed, it seems a rather callous thing that Paul does. How would you like someone to point out all of your past sins? Why does Paul do this? Aren't all of these past sins forgiven and forgotten? Why does Paul dredge them up? It is because you can never fully appreciate the salvation that God has provided until you see the hopeless condition out of which you were delivered. If you ever forget where you WERE, then you will not be able to appreciate where you ARE.
Paul describes the way we were in verses 1-3. There are four aspects to this description. We were Dead, Disobedient, Depraved and Doomed.
Dead: And you were dead in your trespasses and sins (2:1). Disobedient: You formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience (2:2). Depraved: We too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind... (2:3) Doomed: And were by nature children of wrath (2:3).
1. We were DEAD: And you were dead in your trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1).
This is speaking of spiritual death. Notice that death does not indicate inactivity, but separation. You may have been very active in your spiritual death - most unbelievers are. But you were spiritually dead. There was nothing in you that was connected to God.
Too many times we think of unbelievers as being spiritually sick. Give them a "spiritual pill" and they'll get better. But the Biblical picture of man's condition is much worse than that. He is dead. He doesn't need a teacher. Or a guide. Or a doctor. He needs a miracle. He needs a resurrection.
In the last chapter we read of the power that raised up Christ from the dead. Now we see the importance of that power - it was necessary because YOU were spiritually dead. The same power that raised up Christ from physical death was necessary to raise you up from spiritual death.
2. We were DISOBEDIENT: In which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience (Ephesians 2:2).
We saw in verse 1 that we were described as DEAD. Here in verse 2 we see that we were among the WALKING dead. We were zombies. And we walked in a set path. It was not in the path of obedience toward God. Our path was in accordance to that which is set against God. Our path was in accordance to two courses.
First, we walked in the way of the world. The world is in rebellion toward God. It is in sin. And it suffers the natural result of sin.
Have you ever noticed what it is that your kids tell you when you tell them that they can't do something. "But everyone else is doing it!" They are appealing to the course of this world. And it is an appeal to a sinful standard.
Secondly, we walked in the way of the devil. He is not called the devil in this passage (he will be so identified in Ephesians 6:11). Instead, we see him described with two other titles.
He is called he prince of the power of the air. Satan is elsewhere called "the prince of this world" (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11) and was described by the Jews as the "prince of demons" (Matthew 9:34; 12:24). In both Jewish and Greek thought, the air was the abode of the demons. These demons were unseen powers (see the use of the term "powers" in Ephesians 6:12). There is a point here. It is that the forces of Satan are not "down there" but rather "up here." Satan is not far away and long ago. He is in the nasty here and now. We shall come back to this subject in Ephesians 6.
Satan is also called, "The spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience." His activity is not merely in the past. He is still working. His work is seen in every disobedient act.
3. We were DEPRAVED: Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind... (Ephesians 2:3a).
Up to this point, Paul has been speaking in the 2nd person plural - all of YOU. Paul is speaking to the church at Ephesus. They are predominantly Gentiles. But now there is a change. Now he switches to the 1st person plural - WE. If verses 1-2 relate specifically to those who were raised as pagans, verse 3 relates to those who had a religious upbringing. They were no less in need of a savior. Indeed, the fact that BOTH groups were dead in their sins will be reiterated in verse 5: "even when WE were dead in our transgressions..."
4. We were DOOMED: And were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. (Ephesians 2:3b).
Instead of being children of God, we were "children of wrath." We were on a road to judgment and we were following the one whose destiny was eternal judgment. This is what we were BY NATURE. The reason that unbelievers act like unbelievers is that they are unbelievers by their very nature. It does not matter if they are religious. They are just as lost as the most lost pagan. It is their nature.
This is why it is useless to talk about reform without regeneration. It is like taking a pig and washing him and dousing him with perfume and dressing him up in a suit and a tie and putting little shoes on his feet and giving him lessons in etiquette. Let him alone near the slop pile and you will see him acting the part of a pig. Why? Because he has a piggy nature.
You need a new nature. You need that old person who was by nature a child of wrath to be crucified, dead and buried and you need to be reborn and resurrected as a child of the King. And that is exactly what God has brought about in Christ.
A RADICAL REMEDY.
"But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 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." (Ephesians 2:4-7).
A chess master student was walking through an art museum when he came upon a painting entitled, "Checkmate." It depicted a cowering man playing a game of chess against a looming figure who represented Satan. The master stopped and gazed for a long time at the painting, noting the terror of the man and the smug satisfaction of his opponent. And then his gaze move down to the chessboard and he examined the artist's rendition of the pieces on the board. And suddenly, the master cried out, "Wait, there is one more move!"
So it is with us. In the first three verses of this chapter, God shows us the hopelessness of our former condition. We were dead, disobedient, depraved and doomed. But then the Master points out that there is still one more move. And it is one that makes all the difference in the world.
This section is introduced with the conjunction, "BUT." We were dead, BUT God made us alive. We were disobedient in following after the world and the devil, BUT God raised us out of the world and out of the domain of the devil. We were depraved, BUT God seated us with Christ and gave us a new nature. We were doomed, BUT God showed us the surpassing riches of His grace. With this simple conjunction, we are transported from death to life - from the darkness of the grave to the light of everlasting life.
1. Your Salvation is caused by God's LOVE.
"But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us" (Ephesians 2:4).
God saved us because He loved us. His love is the motivation for His being rich in mercy toward us. What is mercy? It speaks to the COMPASSION of God. It is the quality that looks at desperate need and then moves to fill that need.
There is a fine shade of meaning between the concepts of God's mercy and God's grace. Grace refers to unmerited favor. Mercy focuses upon compassion. In grace, the focus is upon the NEED of man. In mercy, the focus is upon the MISERY of man.
God is RICH in mercy. His mercy is everlasting. That is good, having seen the depth of our misery. Gordon Clark points out that the defectiveness of the Arminian view of the greatness of God's love.
"Since for them Christ's death does not necessitate the salvation of any particular person, God can only love mankind in general. Christ did not die for me; he died only for an unidentified group of people who would happen to be wise enough to exercise faith later on. But it is hard to speak of love's being directed to no one in particular. No doubt some liberal politicians have or profess to have sympathy for the poor; but can Jim Blunt of Arkanabama speak of the great love with which Senator Ted Kennedy loved me?" (Ephesians, Gordon Clark).
The point is well made. It is true that God so loved the world in the general sense. But that love also became personal. He loved US.
2. Your Salvation is for LIFE.
"Even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ" (Ephesians 2:5a).
By saying that your salvation is for life, I do not mean that your salvation is forever. It is that. But that is not what I mean by this statement. I mean that your salvation is for the PURPOSE of life. You have been saved so that you can be alive. God has made you alive together with Christ. Christ has given you a new life. You no longer have to merely exist, you can now really live.
You have died, been buried and have been resurrected from the dead. You might say, "My body doesn't show it." That is because your body hasn't caught up with you, yet. But it will one day.
3. Your Salvation is by GRACE.
"...even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)..." (Ephesians 2:5).
The parentheses at the end of verse 5 is an important one. It tells us that your salvation is on the basis of grace. Grace is the unmerited and undeserved favor of God. That means you don't deserve to be saved. You can't earn it and you can't deserve it. You aren't saved because you aren't guilty. You are saved in spite of the fact that you are guilty. We shall have more to say about this when we get to verse 8.
4. Your Salvation is COMPLETE.
"And raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:6).
What does it mean to be seated? It means that the work is finished. That the victory is complete. When a priest went into the temple, the one thing that he never did was to sit down. He was always standing in the presence of God. Even when the animal sacrifice had been offered, he still stood. Because the next day there would have to be another sacrifice offered. And another. And another. It was never-ending. But Jesus was the final sacrifice. When He died upon the cross, He said, "It is finished!"
5. Your Salvation has a PURPOSE.
"So that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus." (Ephesians 2:7).
The purpose of your salvation is everlasting. It is so that throughout eternity you might be a trophy of God's grace and His kindness in Christ. You will be the display of what God has done to deliver a human life from the bondage of sin.
In the second year of the War Between the States, an informer in the prison camp at Palmyra disappeared. The Commander in charge ordered that 10 men would be shot in reprisal. One of those men was William T. Humphrey, a husband and father of a number of children.
Hearing that Humphrey was under the sentence of death, a young man named Hiram Smith came forward, explaining that he was unmarried and without a family. He asked permission to take the place of Humphrey, stating that perhaps it would be better for a single man to die than a man with a family.
If you go to the cemetery of the Mount Pleasant Church in the town of Mount Salem, you will find a stone that has been erected with the following inscription:
"This monument is dedicated to the memory of Hiram Smith. The hero who sleeps beneath the sod here was shot in Palmyra, October 17, 1862 as a substitute for William T. Humphrey, my father."
That is what Christ has done for us. He has become our substitute. And as a result, we have become an eternal monument to the riches of His mercy and to the overabundance of His grace.
