Ephesians
2
SPIRITUAL
HISTORY OF THE EPHESIANS – (vs. 1-10)
This
passage corresponds to Genesis 1. It is a history of creation, and we note the
same
great
stages.
ü It is
a state of death, implying previous life, but present
insensibility and
helplessness. The
element of death is “trespasses and sins “ — their
killing power.
ü
Yet a state of unholy
activity,
Ø in respect
of the objects pursued — “the course of this world;”
Ø the
authority obeyed — “prince of the power of the air;”
Ø the
companions accepted — “the sons of disobedience.”
ü A state of unholy
indulgence; seeking the fulfillment
Ø of the
lusts of the flesh, the lowest part of our nature;
Ø the lusts of
the mind, a little higher, but still most unworthy to
be the chief
aim.
ü A state of condemnation; “by nature,” by our
very constitution, we are
children of wrath. And this
true of all.
“But.” Force of
contrast. “The darkest hour precedes the dawn.”
ü God’s
work. God says, “Let there be light, and there is light.” (Genesis 1:3)
Ø The source
of light and order — God, not man.
Ø The
attributes giving birth to the new creation:
o God’s
mercy;
o God’s
love.
o The
fullness and intensity of these attributes: He is “rich” in
mercy and His
love is “great.”
o Our
condition when visited by mercy and love: “even when
dead in sins.”
ü Results
of God’s interposition.
Ø “He hath quickened us with
Christ.”
Ø “Raised us up together.”
Ø Seated us
with Christ in heavenly places.
ü Purpose
of God in this process — to “show the exceeding riches of his
grace.”
stages
(vs. 4-10).
ü The
Great Change. “Ye are saved.”
ü How
Effected.
Ø On the
part of God, salvation is “by grace.”
Ø On the part
of man, salvation is “through faith.” God offers
it,
and faith
receives it, as a
free gift.
ü Relation
of Salvation to Works.
Ø Works do not
procure salvation; for then boasting would come in.
Ø Works are the
product of God working in us; “We are his
workmanship.”
Ø Works are
the result of a Divine foreordination.
Ø We are
not only to do good works, but walk (habitually) in
them.
ü Grandeur
of this Work. Creation was grand; new creation is grander. To
bring a world out of
nothing was great; to restore a world from chaos is
greater. At the first creation, God saw all that He had
made, and it was
good. At the new
creation, He experiences even a deeper emotion of joy.
ü Imperfection of the New
Creation in this Life in Human Souls. Let us
seek that in us it may become continually more
complete and more glorious.
It is not that we
are called to work, but rather to allow God to work — to
have all within us open
and unobstructed for the full and free exercise
of
God’s
almighty renewing power.
1 – “And you
hath He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins.” The
apostle returns
from his digression, (ch. 1:19-23) in which he had
shown the marvelous
working of
the Divine power on Christ, to show the working of the same power
on the
Ephesian converts themselves. The ὑμἀς – humas -
you - is not governed by any
verb going before;
it manifestly depends on the συνεζωοποίησεν - sunezoopoiaesen –
hath quickened; He makes
together live - of v. 5, but it is separated from it by a new
digression (vs. 2-3), on which the apostle immediately starts. While the same quickening
power of God was exerted on Christ and on the Ephesians, it was exerted to very
different
effects: in the case of Christ, raising Him literally from
the dead and exalting
Him to heavenly glory; in the case of the Ephesians, raising them from spiritual
death
and exalting them to high spiritual privileges. We may observe the change
from the
second to
the first person, and vice versa, in this
chapter as in ch. 1. Second person
(vs. 1, 8,
11); first (vs. 3, 10, 14); and the two streams brought together (v. 18). The
chapter
closes beautifully with an emblem of the Church as
the one temple of which
all
believers
are parts. The death ascribed to
the Ephesians in their natural state is
evidently spiritual death, and “trespasses and sins,”
being in the dative (νεκροὺς τοῖς
παραπτώμασι καὶ ταῖς
ἁμαρτίαις
– nekrous tois paraptomasi
kai tais hamartiais – dead
to the offenses and the
sins), seems to indicate the cause of death — “dead through
your trespasses and your sins” (Revised
Version); “dead of your trespasses,” etc.,
is
suggested by Alford. It is not easy to assign a different meaning to the two nouns
here; some
suggest acts of transgression for the one, and sinful
tendencies or
principles
for the other, but this distinction cannot be carried out in all other
passages.
The KILLING EFFECT of SIN is indicated. As sins of
sensuality kill truthfulness,
industry, integrity, and all virtue, so sin generally, affecting as it
does our
whole nature, kills, or does not suffer to
live, the affections and movements of the
spiritual
life. A state of “death” implies
previous life — the race lived before; it
implies
also a state of insensibility, of utter powerlessness and helplessness.
Spiritual Death (v. 1)
In this
verse the apostle sets forth the greatness of Divine power in man’s salvation
by
setting
forth the greatness of his sin and misery, represented under the aspect of
spiritual
death. Let
us understand the nature of this death.
applied to living
men. But there are certain suggestive points of similarity
between natural and spiritual death.
ü The
dead have all the organs of sense, but no sensibility. As the
psalmist said of the
idols of the heathen, so are the dead: “Eyes have they,
but they see not: they have ears, but they
hear not” (Psalm 115:5-6).
So the spiritually dead have no
susceptibility in regard to the
things of
God;
they see not the beauties of holiness; they see not God or Christ.
ü The
dead have all the machinery of motion, but the machine is at rest.
So the spiritually dead
have all the natural faculties of life — judgment,
memory, imagination,
feeling, conscience — but they are unable to renew
themselves into
spiritual life. The inability is not natural, but moral, and
therefore sinners are
responsible for it. They cannot,
because they will
not. “Ye will not
come unto me, that ye may have life” (John 5:40).
ü The
dead are cold to the touch. The living body retains its heat very
much in the same manner
as a fire retains its heat, and, in a very true
sense, we are all literally burning out like the fuel that is consumed
in our fires. The dead are cold as the grave that covers them.
So are
the spiritually dead; they have no warmth of Christian love
going out
either to God or man. Though intellectually alive to
all purely worldly
interests, they are coldly
indifferent, or even hostile, to the
interests of
the kingdom of grace.
ü The
dead go onward to corruption. The
process of corruption may be
arrested for a time by
the skill of man, but it will prevail in the end, and
man
returns to the dust whence he came, as the spirit has returned to the
God who gave it. So the
spiritually dead are corrupt, constitutionally, in
virtue of the sin of
Adam, and they are still more corrupt through
temptation to actual
transgression. The absence of love to God interposes
no check
to
the progress of corruption in a human heart. What a terrific
picture is that of a dead soul!
see our dead
surrounded successively by the shroud, the coffin, the hearse, the
grave. So likewise the spiritually
dead are surrounded by “trespasses and sins.”
These two expressive terms indicate, not simply the cause of
death, but its
conditions and circumstances.
ü Trespasses. This term is exceedingly expressive as embodying
what is
involved in the original
term.
Ø
It suggests the idea of a landmark fixed by God,
which He has
commanded
us not to pass. Yet who can say that he has not passed
the
landmark? Who can say that he has not trespassed upon God’s
preserves? For what God had reserved for Himself out of
all the trees
of
the garden of Eden, our first parents trespassed upon; and who
among
ourselves has not again and again trespassed upon that reserved
territory
of love wherewith God has surrounded Himself and surrounded
each
one of our neighbors?
Ø
The word suggests the further idea of a barrier
which God has placed in
our way, and told us that we are not to force it
or pass it.
o
There is the barrier of His Law, which He has strengthened
by terrible
penalties, and upon which He has inscribed His
own
fearful curse: “Cursed is
every one that continueth
not in all
things which are written in the book of the
Law to do
them” (Deuteronomy 27:26;Galatians 3:10).
Yet
who can say that he has not passed this
barrier,
though
God’s curse was inscribed upon it?
o
There is the barrier of conscience which God has built
up strongly in every man; and who can say that he has
not
again and again passed this barrier, often bringing the
artillery of worldly advantage or pleasure to bear against
it and break it down?
ü
Sins. This term points to the sinful movements of the
soul — sins of
thought and purpose, as trespasses seem to point
to the various
developments of a sinful nature. The sins are the fruit of moral corruption
which has its seat in the heart, and radiates thence to every
department of
human
conduct. The principle of sin is not merely negative,
for it is a
positive negation of the Divine will, putting something else in its place. The
term “sins” would, more
exactly than the other, include sins of omission,
which are necessarily much more numerous than
sins of commission. It is a
solemn thought that men are “dead in sin” by every
duty they omit, by
every opportunity they neglect, by every
blessing they despise, as well as
by every
positive transgression of the Divine Law. The radical
significance
of both terms implies a real hostility to God, which is only brought into
prominence the moment the sinful spirit comes
into sharp and painful
collision with the pure Law of God. This dark
picture of the sinner’s state
suggests that:
Ø we ought to
mourn for the dead, as we mourn for our dear ones
who are carried
forth to burial;
Ø that we
ought to pray for the dead, that God may grant them “a
quickening together with
Christ;” (v. 5)
Ø that we ought to warn the dead that, if they die in their
trespasses and sins, they will be buried in their 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:” Wherein in
time past ye walked according to the course of this world.
The idea of a dead creature walking is not
altogether incongruous. It implies that
a
kind of life remained sufficient for walking; but not the true, full, normal life; rather
the life of a
galvanized corpse, or of one
walking in sleep. The figurative use of walking
for living, or carrying on our life, is frequent in this
Epistle (ch. 4:1; 5:2, etc.). (“Enoch
walked with God; and he was
not; for God took him [translated him”]) - “The course
of
this world,” elsewhere “the world,” denotes
the present system
of things, as conducted
by those who have regard only to things seen and temporal, and no regard to God or to
the future life. Where
there is spiritual
death there is insensibility to these things.
According
to the prince of the power of the
air. It is
obvious that this is equivalent to
“the god of this world” (II
Corinthians 4:4), but the explanation of the term is difficult.
Allusion is made to a corporate body, “the power [or,
‘government’] ἐξουσία – exousia –
power) of the air,” and to one
who is “prince” of this
government. There is no difficulty
in identifying the evil one and his host, of whom
But why
should they be specially
connected with the air? The notion, entertained by
some of the
Fathers and others, that storms and disturbances of the atmosphere are
caused by
them, is preposterous; it is
unscriptural (Psalm 148:8) and quite unscientific.
The term
seems to denote that evil spirits, who have some
power of influencing us
by their temptations, have their abode in the atmosphere, or at least
haunt it, being
invisible
like it, yet exercising a real
influence on human souls, and drawing them in
worldly directions, and contrary to the will of God. (Once
again, I recommend The
Spirit World by Clarence Larkin – CY – 2010). The spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience. The fact that this spirit is still working in
others makes
the escape
of the Ephesians from him the more striking. He is not destroyed, but
vigorously
at work even yet. Though Jesus beheld him fall from heaven as lightning
(Luke
10:18), and though He said that the prince of this world had been judged,
(John
16:11) these expressions denote a prophetic rather than an actual condition.
This spirit energizes in the “sons of disobedience.” This designation is striking;
it denotes
persons born of disobedience, bred by disobedience, having disobedience
in their
very nature; compare Romans 8:7, “The carnal mind is enmity
against God,”
and
passages where fallen man is called a rebel (Isaiah 1:2; 63:10; Psalm
68:6; Jeremiah
5:23). It
denotes the essential antagonism of man’s will to God’s will, arising from
man’s devotion to this world and its interests, and God’s regard to what is
higher
and holier — an antagonism often held in check and suppressed — but bursting
out
wildly at times in fierce opposition, like as:
o at the
o the crucifixion of Jesus.
The devil inflames man’s inherent dislike to God’s
will, and encourages outbreaks
of it.
The Walk of
the Dead (v. 2)
The
expression is very significant, “In which ye walked.”
Superstition tells
us that the
dead walk in the shades of night. This is mere folly. Yet, day by
day, we are
really surrounded by the dead — not by spirits of the (lead,
walking
their hour in the darkness of night, but by living men like
ourselves,
pursuing their courses of worldly activity with all their wonted
energy
and zeal, yet “dead while they live,” and
unconscious of their death.
The term
“walking” implies the habitual course and tendency of life. Men
were dead
in sin just as they lived in sin, for the apostle says of the same
sins, “In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them”‘
(Colossians
3:7). The direction of their walking is — away from God,
with their
backs turned upon Him, for unbelief is a departure from the living
God; and
the end of their walking is death, as it is all through, for “it is the
way of death” (Proverbs 2:18), and “their
steps take hold on death”
(ibid. ch. 5:5). Well may we pray with David, ”Lord, search me and
know my heart: ... see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead
me in the
way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23-24).
Three Fatal Guides in
This Walk (v.2)
They are
represented as the world, the flesh, and the devil. These are
inextricably
linked in the common death of men, for “the whole world lieth
in the wicked one” (I John 5:19), and it includes, as its totality
of possession,
“the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of
life.” (ibid. ch. 2:16)
There is no
schism in this dread conspiracy against man’s life.
·
THE WORLD. Sinners
walk “according to the course of this world.” (v. 2)
ü
The world is here to be distinguished from
worldly objects and
pleasures, or mere “things of the world,” which are more definitely
included in “the lusts of the flesh” (v. 3). It
refers to men of the world,
as where it is said, “The whole
world lieth in the wicked one” (I John
5:19), and, “The world will love
its own” (John 15:19). These are “the
children of the world,” who are “wiser in their generation than the
children of light” (Luke
16:8). The world is a great creator of opinion,
sentiment, and habit, and thus
becomes an immense obstacle to the
ü The course of the world. “Every age hath almost a new dress, though it
is the same world, and still carnal men live
according to it” Though
no age is independent of the ages which go before it, each
age has its
own-peculiar drift or tendency, which makes it influential
for good or
evil. We hear of the spirit of the age — the zeitgeist
— the
defining spirit
or
mood of a particular period of history as shown by the ideas and beliefs
of
the time - which is supposed to shape the thought and the
action of
men; but it
cannot command Christian homage, except so far as it works
in the line of truth and righteousness. The Ephesians were
neither before
their time nor after their time, but in their time, living
like other Gentiles,
in the same:
Ø errors,
Ø delusions, and
Ø idolatries;
above all, being specially attached to the worship of Diana.
ü It is the duty of Christian people to oppose the course of this world. The
apostle solemnly commands us, “Be ye not
conformed to this world”
(Romans 12:2), and. the reason is because “we have not received the
spirit of this world, but we
have received the Spirit which is of God”
(I Corinthians 2:12). Let the world be ever so refined, it
cannot divest
itself of carnal principles and ideas, and the saying of our Lord will
always be
true, “The things that are in great esteem with men
are
an abomination unto God” (Luke
16:15). His own mission was
“to deliver us from
this present evil world” (Galatians 1:4). Therefore,
while we use this world, with all
its lawful callings and occupations,
so as not to abuse it, and honor every true
principle that is held by
“them that are
without” (I Corinthians 5:13), let us
resolutely
stem the tide of the
world’s evil tendencies in the
strength of that faith
which will
yet give us the complete conquest of the world (I John
5:4).
·
THE DEVIL. This
enemy, older than the world, has a vast influence in
controling its tendencies and movements.
ü
He is described by two names — “the prince
of the power of the air,”
which seems to point to his headship over the
fallen angels; and “the spirit
that now worketh in the children of disobedience,” in relation to his power
as the “prince
of this world.” (John 12:31)
The moral nature of his influence
may be inferred from the character ascribed to
him in Scripture: as a sinner
from the beginning; as a homicide from the beginning; as an arch-liar —
“the father of liars” (John 8:44) — as a renegade, who, with the
angels
under him, fell from his first estate, probably through pride, as the
principal cause of his fatal fall. His name is
expressly identified with:
Ø
the sin of Adam, the murder of Abel,
Ø
the treachery of Judas, and
Ø
with a constant opposition to the
He is an accuser, tempter, corrupter, and has, in
virtue of
sin, a certain power even in death (Hebrews
2:14). The existence of
such a being is no more a difficulty than the
existence of wicked
men, who
live to
corrupt and destroy their fellow-men.
ü
It is not easy to understand the mode in which he acts upon the minds
and hearts of men, nor to distinguish a direct temptation of Satan
from
those which spring from the world or from our
own hearts. He works in
and through these two things. An evil man or an
evil woman can inject an
evil thought and suggestion into the nature of
another, either by word or by
glance. If God, who is a Spirit, can have access
to our minds so as to
influence us supremely for good, why may not
Satan, as an evil spirit, have
a similar access for evil? Accordingly:
Ø
he is represented as putting it “into the heart of Judas to betray
Christ” (John
13:2).
Ø
He can, like a bird,
pick up the good
seed out of the heart
(Matthew 13:4; Luke 8:12);
Ø
he can fill a man’s
heart so as to instigate falsehood (Acts 5:3);
and
Ø
he can dwell in a
man’s heart, like a strong man in a castle (Luke
11.).
His action is, indeed, “with all
deceivableness
of unrighteousness”
(II Thessalonians 2:10), as if he were bent upon destroying the moral order
of the
universe. (The Progressive Movement in American Politics and
around the world have this characteristic
today! CY – 2019)
ü
Though Satan is the tempter of men, the sins of men are not the less
their own sins. If the tempter were human, there would be no
question
about responsibility. They are called “the children of disobedience,”
because they refuse
to obey God, and therefore “the wrath
of God” is said
to come upon them (ch.
5:6). These are they who are “carried
away captive
by the devil at his will” (II Timothy 2:26). Believers
are
therefore warned not “to
give place to the devil” (ch.
4:27); “to
resist the
devil” (James 4:7), as they
are led to glorify that grace which
originally
translated them out of the
of God’s
dear Son (Colossians 1:13).
·
THE FLESH. The
spiritually dead find an instigation to sin in “the
lusts of the flesh,” as well as
in the suggestions of Satan and the
temptations of the world. The flesh is a large term, which
covers more than
mere sins of the body, for it includes “hatred, variance, emulation, wrath,
strifes, seditions, heresies,” as well as “adultery,
fornication, murder,
drunkenness, and revellings” (Galatians 5:19-20). There is a “spiritual
wickedness” that cannot be traced to the body of man. The
reason of the
term being thus applied is probably, first, to distinguish
it from the spirit;
then because “the things of the
flesh” are the supreme objects of desire to
worldly men, or, as they are differently phrased, “earthly things”
(Colossians 3:2); and, thirdly because it comes by birth: “That which is
born of the flesh is flesh” (John
3:6). Thus the lusts of the flesh have
their outlet in the desires at once of the flesh
and of the mind. They are
described as “ungodly lusts” (Jude
1:18), because they are based on a
disregard for or on an enmity to God; “worldly lusts” (Titus 2:12),
because, in the absence of God, they “run out to all
things in the world;”
“foolish and hurtful lusts” (I Timothy 6:9), because they
end in shame,
disappointment, and ruin; “deceitful lusts” (Ephesians 4:22), because
they fail to answer all a sinner’s expectations. Therefore
we see the glory
and fitness of the gospel, which leads us “to cleanse ourselves from all
filthiness of the flesh and
spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God”
(II Corinthians 7:1). The Apostle Paul suggests the danger
of the flesh
in setting forth the grand principle of his life
— “The life I now live in the
flesh I live by the faith of
the Son of God.” (Galatians 2:20) All life is in
this world exposed to risk of some sort. Spiritual life
exists in a body with
passions prone to evil, as well as
in a world with many seductions and
cares.
Christians must strike the true mean between the sensualism which
dishonors
the body, and the asceticism which, regarding it as an enemy, denies it
those innocent enjoyments
which Scripture and nature equally sanction.
(a la Genesis 2:15-16 – “And the Lord
God commanded the man, saying,
OF EVERY TREE OF THE GARDEN
THOU MAYEST FREELY EAT.
BUT OF THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE OF
GOOD AND EVIL, THOU
SHALT NOT EAT OF IT, FOR IN THE
DAY THAT THOU EATEST
THEREOF THOU SHALT SURELY DIE.” – CY
– 2019) It is not the body
of flesh, but the body of sin in the flesh, that is the real
trouble of the
Christian. We must
learn, by God’s grace, to honor the body as the temple
of the
Holy Ghost; to make it the servant, not the master, of the
soul; to
dedicate it as a vessel unto honor sanctified and
“meet for the Master’s
use.” (II Timothy 2:21)
3 “Among whom also we all had our conversaation in times past in the lust of our
flesh,
fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the
children of
wrath, even as others.” Among whom also we all had
our conversation
in times past in the lusts of
our flesh. The apostle here brings Jews and Gentiles
together. “We also,” as well as
you — we were all in the same condemnation,
all in a miserable plight, not merely occasionally
dipping into sin, but spending
our very lives in the lusts or desires of our flesh, living for
no noble ends, but in
an element of carnal desire, as if there were nothing higher than TO PLEASE
THE CARNAL NATURE! Fulfilling the desires of the
flesh and of the mind.
Desires of the flesh, the grosser and more animal propensities (the
flesh, in Scripture,
has often a wider sense; see Galatians 5:19-21);
and of the mind or
thoughts, διανοιῶν -
diamoion - through
minds; comprehension; mind;
understanding - the objects that we
thought
about, whatever they might be, — the waywardness of our thoughts seems to
be denoted,
the random roaming of
the mind hither and thither, towards this pleasure
and that, sometimes serious, sometimes frivolous, but all marked by the absence of
any controlling regard to the will of God. (For comparison note the word incontinent,
ἀκρατεῖς – akrateis – uncontrolable; without self control;
powerless; impotent; as
applied
to
controlling oneself sexually – in II Timothy 3:3, a sign of the last
times and
instrumental in
bringing back Jesus Christ to the earth prior to THE
JUDGMENT –
CY –
2019) The life indicated is a life of indulgence in
whatever natural feelings may
arise in us, be they right
or be they wrong. And were by nature the
children of wrath,
even
as others. This is a
substantive clause, standing on its own basis, a separate
fact, not merely an inference from the previous statements. The life described
would
have
exposed us to wrath; but beyond
and before this we were by
nature children
of
wrath. “By nature” denotes
something in our constitution, in our very being; and
“even
as the rest (others)” denotes
that this was universal, not a
peculiarity affecting
some, but a general feature applicable to
all. “Children of wrath” denotes that WE
BELONGED
TO A RACE WHICH HAD INCURRED THE WRATH OF GOD;
our INDIVIDUALITY was so far
absorbed by the social body that
WE SHARED THE
of Barak Obama’s “collective salvation” of which there is no doubt, a doctrine of
“the prince of the power of the air”
mentioned in v. 2 – CY – 2010; nothing has
changed
for the better; this being August 30, 2019 - CY) If there be something in this
that seems
contrary to justice, that seems to condemn men for the sins of others,
we remark:
the corporation, domestic, social,
or national, with which they are
identified;
to God’s wrath; and
a subject of difficulty, and in this
case makes a strong demand on our faith.
We should accept the teaching of the
Word of God upon it, and leave our
righteous
Judge TO VINDICATE HIMSELF! “Wrath,” as applied
to God,
must be regarded as essentially
different from the same word when used of man.
In the latter case it usually
indicates a disorderly, excited, passionate feeling,
as of one who has
lost self-control; when used of God, it denotes the holy,
calm,
deep opposition of His nature to sin, compelling Him to inflict the
appropriate
punishment.
The True Fountain of
Spiritual Death (v. 3)
“And were by nature children of wrath, even as others.” The
apostle traces
the
pedigree of all the elements that enter into this spiritual death up to our
birth
itself. He does not say that it is on account of “nature” or natural
depravity
that we are children of wrath, but “by nature;” that is,
we are
simply born
in a state of condemnation. There is no express reference here
to Adam or
to our relation to his sin, though it is certainly implied that we
had our
probation in Adam, and are therefore born in a state of
condemnation.
To say that we are condemned on account of our hereditary
depravity
is to say that we are condemned without a probation. The
doctrine of
original sin is one of the “deep things of God.” (I
Corinthians 2:10)
Pascal well
says, “Original sin is folly in the sight of man, but this folly is wiser
than all
the wisdom of man. For without it who could have said what man is? His
whole
condition depends upon this imperceptible point.” The recognition
of the
doctrine is the starting-point of the
doctrines of special revelation:
ü of redemption through Christ’s blood,
ü of regeneration through the Holy Spirit.
This
passage implies:
·
THAT WE NEED
REDEMPTION FROM THE MOMENT OF OUR
BIRTH The
sacrament of baptism is meaningless on any other theory. “The
wicked
are estranged from the womb.” (Psalm 58:3) Why do all men
certainly sin from the
beginning?
·
THAT ALL
MEN, JEWS AND GENTILES, ARE BORN IN THIS
STATE OF
(I Corinthians 15:22).
·
THAT GOD’S
WRATH IS A REALITY. It is grounded in His
essential holiness, as appears from the fact that God swears
in His wrath
(Hebrews 3:11), and it belongs to the idea of the personal
God as He
acts in history, who cannot look with equal indifference or
equal
satisfaction upon virtue and vice, piety and impiety, wisdom
and folly. It is
not to be regarded as a mere modification of Divine love, as
either
love/sorrow or the anger of love. It is not Biblical to say
that a God who has
wrath is not a God of love. The objective reality of Divine
wrath on
account of sin is an axiom of natural theology (Romans 1:32)
as well as
of revealed; it is presupposed in the atonement, and must be
carried into
any conception we may form of future
retribution.
4 “But God, who is rich in mercy, for His
great love wherewith He loved us,”
But God, who is rich in
mercy. The
preceding verses convey the idea of a
rushing
towards inevitable ruin — towards some frightful
cataract, when all
help from
man is hopeless. Man’s extremity becomes God’s
opportunity. The “but” is very
emphatic, and WONDERFULLY REVERSES THE PICTURE! The
sovereignty of
God is very
apparent, on its gracious side. It interposes to rescue those who would
otherwise plunge into irretrievable ruin. We have
here the filling up of that Divine
saying, “O
The genesis of salvation is declared to be in two of God’s attributes,
of which the
first is “mercy,” or compassion. God has a tender, yearning feeling towards men
brought to misery by their own sins. (“....sin, when it is finished bringeth
forth
death.” James 1:15) And this feeling of God is not shallow or
miserly —
He is rich in mercy. It is an
exuberant, full-flowing feeling in God “Thy mercy ...is
in the heavens,” Psalm
36:5), and may therefore be appealed to trustfully. For His
great love wherewith He loved
us.” The other attribute from which
the plan of
salvation sprang is GOD’S
LOVE! Love is more than compassion.
Compassion
may be
confined to the breast, but love goes forth in
active beneficence. It makes
common
cause with its object. It cannot rest till its object is put right. Two
expressions
are used intensifying this Divine love:
the verb of
love governing the noun of love makes the idea rich and strong. This
view of the
exuberance of the Divine attributes from which
salvation has its rise
is in
harmony with the whole character of the Epistle.
The True Origin of
Salvation (v. 4)
It is
interesting to observe the variety of terms here employed to describe
the source
of all the blessings of salvation. It is no longer a question of
power, as it was in the first chapter (ch. 1:19-20), but of love,
mercy, grace, and kindness.
·
OUR
SALVATION IS OF GOD’S
MERCY. “God who is rich in mercy.”
(v. 4) There is a distinction between mercy and
love, for love is the foundation
of mercy. God is called the “Father of
mercies” (II Corinthians 1:3); mercy is
His delight, for “He delighteth
in mercy” (Micah 7:18); He betrotheth us to
Himself in mercies (Hosea 2:19); He begets
us again “according to His
abundant mercy” (I Peter
1:3); and we are led to pray, “Lord, according
to the multitude of thy
tender mercies, blot
out my transgressions”
(Psalm 51:1). Believers are therefore
well described as “vessels of mercy”
(Romans 9:23).
·
OUR
SALVATION IS OF
LOVE. “According to the great love
wherewith He hath loved us.” The
apostolic saying, “GOD IS LOVE”
(I John 4:8), supplies us with the best Christian idea of God,
as well as
with the right key to explain all His actions. God’s love is
more than kindness,
which is, indeed, one of His attributes, but LOVE is,
properly speaking, the
nature of
Him who unites all
these attributes in Himself. The incarnation
of the only begotten Son is the greatest fact of the Divine love, but is not
disjoined from the deep humiliation and suffering to which
it enabled Him
to descend. The love of God to sinners is:
Ø a great love (ch. 2:4), “a love strong as death” (Song of Solomon 8:6-7);
Ø an everlasting love (Jeremiah 31:3);
Ø an unchanging love (Malachi 3:6);
Ø an invincible love (Romans 8:39);
Ø it is like the Father’s love to the Son, “As thou hast loved me”
(John
17:23).
·
OUR
SALVATION IS OF
GRACE. “By grace ye are saved.”
Ø It is not of works, but of grace (v. 8). It
is “of faith, that it
might be of grace” (Romans 4:16).
Ø We are accepted by grace (ch.
1:6); our calling is by grace
(II Timothy 1:9).
Ø We have a good hope THROUGH GRACE!
Ø Our election is of grace (Romans 11:5).
Ø The grace of God abounds in faith and love (I Timothy
1:14).
Ø We are
under a reign of grace (Romans
6:14); we have our standing
in grace (ibid. ch. 5:2).
Ø It is the greatest of all concerns
to establish men’s hearts in “the true
grace of God” (I Peter 5:12).
·
OUR
SALVATION IS OF
GOD’S KINDNESS. (v. 7.) “The word
here,” says an old writer, “implies all sweetness, and all
candidness, and all
friendliness, and all heartiness, and all goodness, and
goodness of nature.”
Scripture
speaks of GOD AS KIND! (Psalm 36:5;
Luke 6:35), and of
His “loving-kindnesses” (Psalm
63:3; Isaiah 63:7). It is made
the root
of mercy
in God (Titus 3:4); for the apostle here speaks of His kindness
toward us in Christ Jesus. Thus our salvation, first and last, is attributed
to nothing in ourselves, BUT TO:
Ø love,
Ø mercy,
Ø grace, and
Ø kindness IN GOD!
5 “Even when we were dead in sins, hath
quickened us together with Christ,
(by grace
ye are saved:)” Even when we were dead in
sins. Repeated
from v. 1,
in order to
set in its true light the declaration that follows of WHAT GOD DID
FOR US to make more emphatic the free and sovereign mercy of God! Though
sin is the
abominable thing which He hates, loathsome to Him in the last degree,
He did not turn from us when we were immersed in it; nor did He wait
till we
began to
move towards Him: (“....while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us.”
Romans
5:8) He began to influence us even when we were DEAD! Hath
quickened us together
with Christ. (συνεζωοποίησε τῷ Ξριστῷ
- sunezoopoiaese
to Christo
– vivifies
[enlivens; animates] together, quickens with
the Christ).
sunezoopoiaese is the same
word as in v. 1. A parallel is run
between the way
in which
God’s power operated on the body of Christ, and the way in
which it
operates on the souls
of
believers in Him in respect of
The Father,
having “given to the Son to have life in himself,” and “the Son
quickening
whom He will” (John 5:21,
26), by God’s decree we were first quickened by Him, made
partakers
of Christ’s life (John 11:25; compare John 14:19; 15:5; Colossians 3:4;
Galatians
2:20). All the
life we had lost was restored — the life forfeited by
transgression, the life of
a calm and well-ordered heart, the sublime life of fellowship
with God – By grace ye are saved. “by
grace have ye been saved” - This is a
parenthetical clause, more fully dwelt on in v. 8, thrown in here abruptly
by the apostle
in the fullness of his heart, to throw light on this great wonder — that Christ should
impart His
own life to souls dead in
sin. Grace in opposition to human merit is at
the root of the whole arrangement; free, undeserved mercy. It is not anything that
God is bound to by the necessity of His nature. It is the
result of His will, not of
His nature. Had it not
been for His good
pleasure, SALVATION HAD NEVER
BEEN! “Saved” is the
past participle (σεσωσμένοι – sesosmenoi - ), from σώσω –
sozo –
to save - denoting,
not the act of being saved, but the fact of having been saved.
Salvation
in a real sense is a present possession. When we
are one with Christ we are
justified freely by God’s grace, our trespasses are all forgiven. The spirit of new
moral life has been given
to us; we are made alive to God. But while salvation is a
present attainment in a real sense, its full realization is future, for that includes:
Ø
perfect holiness, and
Ø
also the glorification of the body.
In this sense salvation is to come (Romans 8:24; 13:11).
The Believer’s
The apostle
teaches that, in virtue of the union between Christ and His
people, His
death was their death, His life their life, His exaltation their
exaltation.
It is the familiar doctrine of Romans 6:4, “Therefore we
are
buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was
raised up
from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should
walk in
newness of life.” These words indicate a bond of connection
between the
spiritual
life of the believer and the resurrection of Christ. The new life is,
in fact, a
participation in the risen life of the Savior.
·
QUICKENED
TOGETHER WITH CHRIST.
Ø
Consider the nature of this quickening. It implies a previous
identification with Christ in His death. “We are buried with Christ by
baptism into
death.” We have, in fact, died unto sin exactly as
Christ died
unto sin; for “in that He died, He died unto sin once” (Romans 6:10).
Christ died unto sin when He underwent death as
the wages of sin and
exhausted all the woe that sin entails as its
punishment. He died for sin that
He might become dead to sin; the parties having
become dead to each
other, taking their own path henceforth, never
to meet or cross each other
unto eternity again. And we are dead unto sin in
precisely the same sense in
which Christ is dead unto sin; for the apostle
says, “Likewise reckon ye
also
yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin” (ibid. v. 11) because we are
exempted from all its curse on the ground of its
curse being already executed.
How can this be, as we never suffered the curse
of sin? Because we have been
baptized into Christ. Mere water-baptism cannot
accomplish this blessed
result. It
is the Holy Spirit who is the Baptist, for he engrafts us into Christ
and makes
us one body with Him (I Corinthians 12:12-13). We are
united to Christ by faith.
Ø
Consider the effects of this quickening. This new position involves our
seeing what the dead can never see. When we are quickened
by the Spirit
of God:
o
We see God: “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.”
(Matthew 5:8)
We see Him as a Father, because we have seen Christ,
for “he that hath seen me hath seen the Father.” (John 14:9) We see
a Father’s power, love, and
compassion.
o
We see Christ in His person and in His work, as a:
§
sufficient
Savior,
§
willing
Savior,
§
loving
Savior,
with a work accomplished on the ground of which
we shall be
accepted and saved.
o
We see the sin that is in ourselves and the sin that is in the world.
The
dead see nothing. “They have no speculation in their eyes.” Men
of the world do not see sin as sin, but often as
a source of profit or
amusement.
“Fools make a mock at sin.” (Proverbs 14:9) But the
quickened sinner sees the sin of the world as
he sees the sin of his
own heart, and
mourns over it.
o
He sees heaven and hell. The eye of man sees many stars in the sky
on a
dark night, but there are many blank spaces in which no twinkling
glories can be seen. Men of the world see heaven and hell as blank
spaces, or, at best, as dim and shadowy. But the quickened
see them
as supreme and transcendent realities.
§
They see
heaven as the home of Jesus and the saints;
§
they see hell as
the place prepared for the devil
and his angels.
o
He sees the world in its true character. How different the view of the
same city from two opposite standpoints! Not
more different is the view
of the world from the standpoint of eternity,
for the saint sees it as a
doomed world
at enmity with God, and is thus led to place his
citizenship
on high, “setting his
affections on things above,
not on
things on the earth” (Colossians 3:2).
·
RAISED
TOGETHER WITH CHRIST. For as Christ was raised from
the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also should walk
in newness of
life. The connection between the believer’s life and the
Redeemer’s
resurrection is one not merely of certainty and similarity,
but of
participation, and thus we come to know the power of His resurrection
(Philippians 3:10). There was a change in Christ’s own
relation to God
established by His resurrection; “for in that He
died, He died unto sin once:
but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God” (Romans
6:10) - in an entirely
new relation to God, WHICH
SHALL ENDURE FOR EVER, for when
He shall appear the second
time, it will be without sin unto salvation.
(Hebrews 9:28) Formerly He
was condemned, now is He
justified in the
Spirit; He liveth now to God with:
Ø no curse to bear,
Ø no sacrifice to offer,
Ø no suffering to endure,
Ø no service to achieve; and
therefore
the God of peace, in token of the acceptance of the Surety,
brings
again from the dead that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the
blood of
the everlasting covenant. (ibid. ch. 9:28)
So likewise we are to
count ourselves “alive unto God through Jesus
Christ” (Romans 6:11) in that
same relation of irreversible acceptance into which Jesus
has entered. The
apostle here not only represents believers as ideally raised
in Christ, but as
actually raised just as Christ actually came
forth
from His sepulcher, leaving
His grave-clothes behind Him. Similarly we are not to be as “the living among
the dead” (Luke 24:5) we are to cast from us our
grave-clothes, which only
impede the free movements of our spiritual life.
·
THE SESSION
WITH CHRIST IN THE HEAVENLY PLACES.
We are enthroned with Christ. Christ is already represented
as “set at
God’s own right hand in the
heavenly places” (ch. 1:20). We sit
there representatively, because our Head is there, and
therefore we are,
though still on earth as to our practical calling and life,
citizens of heaven
(Philippians 3:20). We are guided by the laws of heaven; our hearts are
cheered
by the hope which, as an anchor, is fastened within the veil, and
we now by
faith enter the holiest of all by the blood of Jesus. (Hebrews
6:18-19) We are even
now “kings and priests”(Revelation
1:6). We are
justified
in regarding our future glorification as only a
continuation of
our present spiritual life. The guarantee of both is alike in Christ.
Meanwhile,
though representatively in heaven, we are personally and
actually here. SIN IS HERE; we are to
watch and fight against it; but
“our life is hid with Christ
in God” (Colossians 3:3), only
hereafter to
be MANIFESTED IN FULL GLORY!
6 “And hath raised us up together” (compare
Philippians 3:10); so that we no longer
walk “according to the course of this world,” but
according to the life of Christ; we
walk “in newness of life.” – And made us sit together in heavenly places in
Christ Jesus. As God placed Jesus at His right hand in heaven,
so He has placed His
people with
Him (Christ) in
heavenly places; i.e. places where the privileges of heaven
are dispensed,
where the air of heaven is breathed, where the fellowship and the
enjoyment
of heaven are known, where an elevation of spirit is experienced as if
heaven were
begun. Such was the case of the three disciples on the Mount of
Transfiguration;
of the two on the way to Emmaus, when their heart burned within
them; of
the beloved disciple when he was “in the Spirit on the Lord’s
day;”
(Revelation
1:10) - of many at the Holy Supper, or in fervent communion
with
brother and sister believers, when they seem at the very gate of
heaven. This is
sometimes
the experience at conversion, but the vividness of the feeling does not always
abide. (We are to place our trust on what the Word
says and not what we feel anyway!
CY – 2019)
The repetition of “in Christ Jesus” in this
connection emphasizes the fact
that this
gracious proceeding of God towards us is in immediate connection with
the work and person of Christ. It is as
being one with Christ Jesus that all this
raising up
comes to us.
7 “That in the ages to come He might shew the exceeding riches of His grace in
His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.” That in the ages to come He might
shew the exceeding riches of
His grace. A
special purpose served by God’s free grace
bestowed
on such persons as the Ephesians. It was
intended as a lesson for future ages.
“The ages to
come” denotes eras to begin from that time, running on now, and
to
continue
hereafter. It would be a profitable lesson for the people of these ages
to think
of the Ephesians,
far as they were by nature from God, receiving His blessing so
abundantly. From this they would learn how great are the riches of God’s grace.
In His kindness towards
us through Christ Jesus. The particular channel
in
which the riches of His grace flows is kindness shown to us in Christ Jesus.
Kindness
in the matter of the blessing, forgiving us freely, and
accepting and
adopting
us in Him; kindness in the manner of the blessing,
dealing with us as
Jesus
dealt with”
Ø the
woman that was a sinner, or
Ø with
the thief on the cross, or
Ø with
Peter after he had fallen, or
Ø with
Saul of
kindness
in the extent of the blessing, providing amply
for every want;
kindness
in the duration of the blessing — for evermore. But
again,
the Medium or Mediator of blessing is specified — “in Christ Jesus.”
It is
not the kindness of providence, not the natural bountifulness of God,
but that
kindness and bountifulness which are specially connected with
THE ATONING WORK OF CHRIST!
“God was in
Christ,
reconciling the world unto Himself.” (II Corinthians 5:19)
The Resurrection and
Ascension of the Soul (vs. 1-7)
Paul’s
prayer for the Ephesians was, as we have seen, that they might appreciate
the mighty
power of God to usward who believe. This power was
first manifested:
ü in the
person and experience of Christ in raising Him from the dead,
ü in exalting
Him to the Father’s right hand,
ü in putting
all things under his feet, and
ü in
constituting Him Head of His Church.
We are now
to notice a parallel experience of power in the case of the believer.
·
CONSIDER THE
RESURRECTION OF THE SOUL. (vs. 1-5.) In
these verses the apostle represents our souls as by nature
dead like Christ’s
body in the tomb. They are not sick through sin, but dead. And the death
of the soul is manifested in the corruption of the nature,
so that we live as
the world lives, according to the devil’s desires,
fulfilling the desires of the
flesh and of the mind, and becoming most deservedly the “children of
wrath” (v. 3)
like others. All this corruption of the nature is the manifestation
of the death in sin. But the Spirit, who raised up Christ’s body from the
tomb,
comes to quicken our dead souls. We are
quickened together with
Christ. The Father in
His wondrous love works this miracle within us, so
that we are raised out of death into a new life. Now, just
as Jesus entered by
resurrection into a new immortal
life, so we by resurrection enter
into a new and immortal existence. We feel assured
that we cannot die,
since we have been raised into the new life with Christ.
This idea of the
death of the soul is found in the ancient and in the modern
classics. In such
authors as Plutarch, Cicero, Heraclitus, and Persius, as well
as in such a
modern as the poet Gautier, it may be found; but in them IT IS AN
UTTERANCE
OF DESPAIR. It is only
Paul who can take it and show
how the death can be terminated in the victory of
resurrection.
·
CONSIDER THE
ASCENSION OF THE SOUL. (v. 6.)
Not only is
the soul raised together with Christ, but it is “made to sit together in
heavenly places in Christ
Jesus.” In other words, we are made to have an
ascension experience as well as a resurrection experience. Now, when
Christ ascended far above all principality and power, He
must have entered
a joyful experience such as this world could never afford. He would
never
have enjoyed such a delight had He lingered in a limited world like this. In
the same way the risen soul is enabled to ascend into a
seraphic experience,
a joy in the Lord such as was never dreamed of. (“Eye hath not seen, nor
ear heard, neither have
entered into the heart of man, the things that
God hath prepared for them
that love Him.” I
Corinthians 2:9) It is to be
feared that many have experienced the spiritual resurrection
who have not
gone on to the experience of the ascension; in other words,
they are living
lives comparatively joyless. They do
not live as if they were already within
the golden gates and rejoicing always in the Lord. But the thing
is not only
possible, it is pre-eminently desirable. The world would be vastly the better
of souls
that had realized the ascension.
·
CONSIDER
THE BELIEVER’S CONSEQUENT REIGN. (v. 6.)
For Jesus ascended that He might occupy a throne. And we ascend
in spirit
that we may be kings of men. It is Christ’s purpose that we
should be kings
and priests unto God and His Father (Revelation 1:5-6). Now,
joyful
Christians cannot but
influence others for good. They come to their
kingdom, and others are glad to submit to their sway. They
hold men by
the heart and assert a proper sovereignty over others. The
reign of Christ is
carried out in some measure when we have learned lovingly to
reign.
·
THE
PURPOSE OF SUCH SPIRITUAL GIFTS IS THAT THE
EXCEEDING
RICHES OF GOD’S GRACE MIGHT BE REVEALED.
(v. 7.) For if we had never died in sin, God’s mighty power
in raising us
would never have been appreciated. If the creatures had
never fallen, who
would have
known the wealth of God’s love and power in lifting them up
again? The
physical universe can only illustrate a small part of the power
and
love of God. It
requires the moral universe as a background to set off
the
brightness of His redeeming mercy. It is out of a sinful world the
greatest examples of Divine power shall be forthcoming. GOD IS RICH IN
MERCY, how
rich only sinners can illustrate and with some fullness
appreciate. Every
risen, ascended, and reigning soul is intended to be a
fresh example of THE EXCEEDING RICHES OF GOD’S GRACE!
From Death to Life (vs. 1-7)
The process. This is a history of spiritual life. It reverses
the order of
natural
history. Instead of “funeral
marches to the grave,” we have a
resurrection gladness, as the soul grows upward from death to
life eternal.
not a future penalty, but the past condition of many men and
the present
state of all others.
ü There is a spiritual
death in the midst of natural life. The body is
flushed
with the glow of health; the intellect is keen in worldly
affairs; but the
spirit is dead. The busy life of the lower nature may hide
the scene of
death, but it cannot destroy it, and to right-minded
observers this noisy
energy is painful and revolting like the revelry of a wake. Spiritual
death bears all the
hideous marks of real
death:
Ø
a failing of spiritual strength;
Ø
a loss of faculties of spiritual discernment —
Divine truth fades from
the darkened vision, the ear of conscience grows
deaf to the voices of
heaven;
Ø
an unconsciousness of its own mournful condition
— the spiritually
dead give no more evidence of realizing their
condition than we can
see in the mute, immobile countenance of a
corpse;
Ø
the commencement of corruption — the dead soul rots and
spreads a miasma of sin.
ü Spiritual death is caused by sin. There are positive “trespasses,” in
which men go beyond the bounds of the lawful and commit what
is
forbidden; and negative “sins,” in which
people miss the mark, fail
of their duty, and omit what they ought to do. Both have
fatal
consequences — the one killing with the poison of bad
thoughts,
imaginations, and affections; and the other with an atrophy
of
spiritual organs that waste away for want of exercise.
ü Innumerable influences provoke to sin:
Ø
from without, in the general customs of the times, “the course of this
world,” and. indirect temptations, “the prince
of the power of the air;”
Ø
from within, in bodily appetites, “lusts of the flesh,” and in mental
propensities, “desires
of the mind.” The resulting condition of death
becomes a second nature, normal and chronic; yet
it is not the less
odious in the sight of God, but rather the more
so, treasuring up
wrath against the day of wrath.
stages.
ü A past quickening. “He quickened us.” This is
accomplished in the
Christian. It is what Christ calls being “born from above” (John 3:3),
and Paul, a “new creation” (II
Corinthians 5:17).
Ø
It is not an external change, such as the
removal of penalties, the gift
of
blessings, and the entrance to a place called heaven, but an internal
change in the soul of the redeemed.
Ø
It is not the soothing of a troubled conscience
nor the endowment of
mere comfort and happiness, but life — energy, Fewer, activity —
life that begins with painful cries and the
awakening of sad repentance
rather than with peace and comfort. The other
blessings may be added,
but this is first and most essential. It is useless to load the
grave with
treasures. The dead soul must come out of the tomb before
it can be
loosed from its cerements and enjoy its
inheritance.
ü A present exaltation. “Raised us up;” “Made us sit with
Him in heavenly
places.” Lazarus
comes forth from the tomb. The Christian does not linger
long among the scenes of his miserable past. He is not
forever sitting on
the stool of the penitents. In his new life he walks in
God’s sunlight, he
breathes the free air of heaven, he is called to a high
vocation and endued
with glorious privileges.
ü A future blessedness. The Divine life is but in the germ on earth.
Its
fairest flowers will bloom on a happier shore and its
sweetest fruits ripen
in a sunnier climate. There are “exceeding
riches” of grace to be
revealed in “the ages to come.” The life for which they are preparing
IS ETERNAL!
Ø No disease
will blight it,
Ø no age
bring it decrepitude,
Ø no death
lay it low.
As it develops eternality, so will the riches
of Divine love fill it in an
ever increasing abundance.
From
Death to Life (vs. 1-7)
The secret. What is the secret of the wonderful reversal of
the order of nature that is
seen in the
spiritual transformation from death to life? The
power is put forth by
the grace of God, and the method of its influence is
through union with Christ.
THE GRACE
OF GOD.
ü The power is Divine.
Ø
Men cannot
quicken themselves. The dead can never rise from their
graves. Silent, stiff, and cold, dead souls will
never shake off their
lethargy and begin a new spiritual life.
Ø
Men cannot
quicken one another. Before life is extinct, by chafing the
chill limbs, by giving cordials and other
remedies, the fast-ebbing
vitality may be restored to the dying man. But when the last breath
is breathed, and the heart has ceased to beat,
and the patient is
really
dead, science and love are both baffled. We can galvanize
the corpse into a shocking mockery of life, but that
is worse than
useless. Now, nothing short of death has come
upon those who are
under the power of sin. They are too far gone for human restoratives
such as:
o
education,
o
social influence,
o
reward and punishment,
o
exhortation and rebuke.
Ø
GOD ALONE CAN AND DOES effect the great transformation,
because
He is the Source of all life, and because this return from
death to life is a pure miracle.
ü The power is put forth by the grace of God. He might leave the dead to
bury their dead, and concern Himself only with fresh new
lives. But He
has infinite pity even for the dead. Nothing but grace could
inspire such
pity. For we have no
claim upon God after we have become “by nature
children of wrath.” We must
look for the motive in the love of God
alone. But that love is so
great that it is a very treasure-house
of
mercy. God is “rich in mercy.” Then our
very helplessness appeals
to His compassion. The more dead we are
the more will God desire
to quicken us.
TRANSFORMS
FROM’ DEATH TO LIFE IS
ü All through
the history of the wonderful process, Paul traces, step by
step, the progress of the Christian, in
the very experience through which
Christ went.
Ø
We begin in death as Christ stooped to die for
us.
Ø
We are “quickened
together with Christ,” and have fellowship with the
resurrection of Christ.
Ø
We are exalted in the likeness of Christ’s
ascension (v. 5).
Ø
And we look
forward to sharing in His future glory. Thus we are not
merely to receive the benefits of the death and
resurrection of our Lord;
we have to enter into His very experience and
pass through it ourselves
spiritually. Then His life and His victory become
ours.
ü This
experience is realized by our union, with
Christ in faith. It is vain
and hopeless to attempt to
follow Christ by painfully attempting an
exact imitation while we
are going alone and in our own strength. The
way is too dark, too steep,
too rough. And this is not
what is expected
of us. But if we trust Christ our faith unites us to Him,
and by the
influence He puts forth over
us He carries us along with Him; so that
THROUGH HIM we receive the gift of life from the grace of God.
The Design of the Dispensation of Mercy (v. 7)
The salvation
of these Ephesians was to stand out as a remarkable
monument of “the exceeding riches of God’s grace” to all
succeeding
generations.
It was in this sense that the apostle regarded himself “as a
pattern to them which should hereafter believe on Him to life
everlasting”
(I Timothy
1:16).
·
IT WAS TO
ENCOURAGE THE
GREATEST SINNERS TO HOPE
IN GOD’S
MERCY THROUGH CHRIST. Sinners often, when pressed
with the urgent calls of the gospel plead that they are too
wicked to be
reached by it. Note the examples of salvation in the
Scriptures, those of:
Ø the
Ephesians,
Ø the dying
thief,
Ø
Ø the Philippian jailor,
Ø the Apostle
Paul himself,
are all designed to meet the difficulties that men interpose
in the
way of their receiving Christ, as if any worthiness could
attach to the
persons thus described. It is a great comfort THAT WHAT
GOD DID
THEN HE DOES NOW AND WILL DO TILL THE END OF THE
WORLD!
His mercy and
grace are not exhausted.
·
IT IS
IMPLIED THAT SALVATION IS NOT OF
WORKS, BUT BY
GRACE. This fact
cuts up by the roots all theological systems which imply
that man has any power to save himself.
·
IT IS
IMPLIED THAT THERE WILL BE A CHURCH ON EARTH
THROUGH “ALL THE AGES TO COME,” in spite of all:
Ø the malignity,
Ø the ungodliness, and
Ø the unbelief of men.
·
IT IS
IMPLIED THAT THE SCRIPTURES ARE TO CONVEY
THE
RECORDS OF GOD’S GRACE DOWN TO
THE LATEST
GENERATIONS. (Think
of the great error of modern thought that
the Bible,
God’s Word, is outdated? CY – 2019)
We could not know
of God’s gracious work at
ought to prize such records!
·
THE HISTORY
OF THE CHURCH SINCE THE DAYS OF THE
APOSTLES proves how God has fulfilled the design involved in the
dispensation of mercy. The stream of grace has flowed more or less freely
and fully IN EVERY AGE!
·
MARK THE
TRUE SUBJECT OF PREACHING. Not mere moral
counsels, not mere philosophizing, but “the exceeding riches of His grace
in his kindness to us in
Jesus Christ.” A noble text for THE PULPIT
OF ALL AGES!
·
THE ULTIMATE
DESIGN OF GOD IS TO MANIFEST HIS
OWN
GLORY. Not the mere glory of His power and
wisdom, but of
His abounding grace and
mercy.
·
IT IS
IMPLIED IN THE TEXT THAT THE APOSTLE DID NOT
EXPECT, AS SOME
AFFIRM, THAT THE END OF THE WORLD
WAS AT
HAND. There were ages to come in which the exceeding riches
of His grace could be shown forth in the salvation of
sinners. (Now that
the world seems to be gravitating towards a one world,
global system,
with no intention of God being a part of it, but a
government built
on anti-christian principles and
worship of THE ANTI-CHRIST,
I think the position of God can be explained by a planned
removal of
all things antagonistic to Him along the lines of the parable
found in
Luke 13:6-10, “Then said he unto the dresser of the
vineyard, Behold,
these three years I come
seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none:
cut it down, why cumbereth it the ground?” - CY –
2019)
8 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the
gift
of God:” For by
grace are ye saved through faith. Paul
repeats what he had said
parenthetically
(v. 5), in order to open the subject up more fully.
·
On the part of God, salvation is
by grace;
·
on the part of man, it is through faith.
It
does not come to us by an involuntary act, as light falls on our eyes, sounds
on our
ears,
or air enters our lungs. When we are so far
enlightened as to understand about it,
there must be a personal reception of salvation by us, and that is by faith. Faith at
once
believes the good news of a free salvation through Christ, and accepts Christ as the
Savior. We commit ourselves to Him, trust ourselves to
Him for that salvation of which
He is the Author. In the act of thus entrusting ourselves to Him
for His salvation, we
receive the
benefit, and are saved. It is not
that faith is accepted by God in place of
works, but
because faith indicates that attitude of men towards Christ in which it
pleases God
to save them, transferring to Him all
their guilt, imputing to them all
His merit. And that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God. Which of the two
things is
meant — salvation or faith? The grammatical structure and the analogy
of the
passage favor the former view, “Your
salvation is not of yourselves,”
though many
able men have taken the latter. The apostle is so anxious to bring out
the great
distinguishing doctrine of grace that he puts it in all lights, affirms it
positively, contrasts
it with its opposite, and emphasizes it by repetition. It is a gift,
not a purchase; a free gift, without money
and without price (Isaiah 55:1);
what
would never have been yours, but for the generosity of God. It is very
usual in the
New Testament
thus to represent salvation; compare:
· our Lord’s
words to Nicodemus (John 3:16); to the woman of
(John 4:14);
· Paul’s “Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift” (II Corinthians 9:15);
“The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans
6:23);
and I John 5:11, “God gave unto us
eternal life, and the life is in His Son.”
This usage
confirms the view that it is not merely faith, but the whole work
and
person of Christ which faith receives, that is meant here as the “gift of God.”
Grace
and Faith (v. 8)
These two,
grace and faith, are the sheet anchors of the Pauline gospel.
The former
was preserved in the Augustinian theology, and the latter
restored to
the Church by the Reformation. In his earlier Epistles, Paul
establishes
their claims by argument. Now, he considers those claims to be
settled,
and appeals to the doctrines of faith and grace as axioms, quoting
the phrase,
“By grace have ye been saved,” as a sort of proverb. It is
plain
that the apostle
regarded the truths as practically self-evident, though it
was not
long since they were the mysteries of a new revelation and the
conclusions
of an original argument. There is no paradox in its changed
position,
for it is the function of revelation so to open our
eyes that we may
see for ourselves what was before hidden. Then,
having once thus beheld
the truth,
we may retain it on its own account. So that revelation is most
successful
when it teaches us how to dispense with itself. But this is only
possible on
the condition that there is an inherent fitness and
reasonableness
in the truths it declares. If, therefore, we are to see the
axiomatic
truth of the doctrines of grace and faith, they must not be an
arbitrary
association of ideas; they must be truths of inherent
reasonableness.
In other words, the relation of salvation to grace and faith
must not be
treated as accidental, and fixed only by the sovereign will of
God, but as
natural and necessary.
reasonableness of this axiom, we must first understand in
what salvation
consists. In the Bible the word “salvation” is not a
technical theological
term. It means deliverance
generally. Any special import in a particular
passage must depend on the context. In the present instance
the context
clearly shows what kind of salvation Paul is thinking of.
This is not
rescue from earthly poverty and pain — the lower old Jewish
salvation,
nor escape from future torment — the lower Christian
salvation. It is
deliverance
from a present spiritual death (vs. 4-5).
The soul is saved
from itself. Such a salvation must be by grace, because we
cannot escape
from ourselves; because the evil of spiritual death involves the loss of
power in spiritual things; because God only can create life; and because
the
death results from sin, and therefore implies an ill desert
that can only
appeal to the mercy of God. The facts of the work of Christ
and the
recovery of dead souls to life by the gospel prove that this salvation exists
and is accomplished by
grace.
must be also natural and reasonable. We must not think of
faith as a mere
assent to the doctrine of grace. Faith is
the soul opening out to God. As the
flower cannot be quickened into fertility while the bud is
closed, the soul’
that is self-contained can by no means receive the grace of
God. The door
is barred, and. Christ will not force an entrance. Faith is
a capitulation of
the proud soul. It means flinging wide the gates in submissive
receptivity,
and yielding to the voice of Divine love in
obedient activity. When the soul
has faith in God, the grace of God streams in with life and
healing. As
distrust severs souls, faith unites them. Thus faith is like
the wire joining
earth to heaven, while grace is like the electric current
which waits, but
only waits, such a connection to hasten to us with light and
fire and life.
God.” Faith is a
spiritual act and habit, and therefore it would be
impossible in a soul quite dead spiritually. But He who provides the
salvation
provides the means wherewith to enjoy it. (“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.” John
1:12) If faith be ever so feeble
we may cry, “Lord, I believe; help thou
mine unbelief.” (Mark
9:24)
with the assurance that there
is no prayer more certain of an answer!
9 “Not of works, lest any man should boast.” Exegetical of the last clause, “Not of
yourselves; certainly not of your works.” The suppression of boasting was a
purpose
of God in
His scheme of salvation; not the chief or final purpose, any more than the
manifestation
of His grace in coming ages was His chief or final purpose in showing
mercy to
the Ephesians, but inseparable from the nature of His plan. The spirit of
glorying is essentially unsuited to the relations between the
creature and the Creator,
between the Redeemer and the redeemed. It is the very opposite of the spirit, “Not
unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy
name give glory, for thy mercy, and thy
truth’s sake” – (Psalm 115:1), the spirit that
casts its crown before the throne, and
that
breathes in the songs of heaven, “Unto Him that loved us,
and washed us from
our sins in His own blood, And hath made us kings and priests unto God and
His Father, to Him be glory and dominion
forever and ever” (Revelation 1:5-6).
10 “For we are His workmanship, created in
Christ Jesus unto good works,
which
God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” For we are His
workmanship. Another illustration and evidence of grace. We have to be fashioned
anew by God before we can do anything aright (see II
Corinthians 5:17). Anything
right in us is not the cause of grace, but its fruit. There seems to be
no special reason
for the change from the second to the first person – “created
in
Christ Jesus unto good works,” - So little inward capacity had we for such works,
that we required to be created in Christ Jesus in order
that we might do them. The
inward new birth of the soul is indicated. When good
works were required, this
gracious
change had to be wrought to secure them. The purpose of the new creation
is to produce them. Christ “gave Himself for us, to redeem us from all
iniquity,
and purify unto Himself a
people of His own, zealous of good works.” It is not
good works
first, and grace after; but grace first, and good
works after (see
Titus
2:14). Which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them.
A further
proof of the true origin of good works. They are the subjects of
A DIVINE DECREE! Before the foundation of the world it was ordained that
whoever should be saved by grace should walk in good works. The term “walk,”
here
denotes the habitual tenor of the life; it is to be
spent in an atmosphere of
good works. Here we have one of the Divine safeguards against the abuse
of
the doctrine of salvation by grace. When men hear
of salvation irrespective of
works, they
are apt to fancy that works are of little use, and do not need to be
carefully
attended to. On the contrary, they are
part of the Divine decree, and
if we are not
living a life of good works, we have no reason to believe
that
we have been saved by grace.
Association
with Christ (vs. 1-10)
The
concluding thought of the first chapter was the resurrection and
exaltation of Christ. In order now to bring out how they were
benefited
thereby, he
calls up to them their original condition. He shows
them the pit
out of
which they have been dug, the rock out of which they have been hewn.
(Isaiah
51:1-3) In the first and second verses he has special reference to Gentile
Christians,
in the third verse he includes Jewish Christians in his
description.
·
GENTILE
CHRISTIANS.
ü
They were dead. “And you did He quicken, when
ye were dead.” It is a
comprehensive word for the evil of their
condition. There is a natural
condition for plants, which they lose in their decay.
There is a natural
condition for animals, which they lose in their
death. So there is a natural
condition for rational beings, which they lose
in what we call spiritual
death. And, as there is
nothing higher in kind than spiritual life, so there is
nothing more
dreadful than spiritual death. It is not extinction, but it is a
condition
against nature, on the ground of an immortal existence. It is not
loving God
with our whole soul and strength and mind, but living at enmity
with Him; and how wearing out to contend with our Maker! It is not loving
our neighbor as ourselves, but seeking our own
selfish ends; and how
narrowing is this to our souls!
ü
Their deadness was caused by themselves. “Through your trespasses
and sins.” If there is any difference between these two words, it is that the
former refers more to overt transgressions, while the latter is inclusive of
evil
thoughts that have only been entertained in the heart. When Adam and
Eve overtly transgressed in eating of the
fruit, death at once passed upon
them in the loss of confidence in God, of
unconsciousness, of
ingenuousness, of devotedness to each other.
And the act was not long in
bearing bitter fruit in the hate, which led
Cain to take a brother’s life. Overt
transgression makes matters worse, in the evil
that is wrought on others in
the entanglements to which it leads. At the same
time, it is true that evil
imaginations that never find expression in words
or acts have a deadening
effect on the soul. They may indicate daring rebellion
against God; and,
even though they are only vain thoughts that
lodge in the mind, they are
not there without the spreading of a baneful
influence over the life.
ü
They were only causes of deadness. “Wherein aforetime ye
walked.” In
trespasses and sins THEY
WALKED! Their life was one continual trespassing
and sinning. Their fountain was constantly
sending forth bitter water. Their
tree only brought forth evil fruit. And how could it be otherwise, seeing
that they
were corrupted at the very center of their being? There were
some of their acts that were better than others,
but none that were
thoroughly right in principle or motive. All their acts had a fatal defect, and
many of them, as the first chapter of Romans
shows – vs. 20-32, had
a positive
vileness.
ü
They stood related to this world. “According to the course of
this
world.” This world is opposed to the world as it should be, or the kingdom
of God among men. It is the
world content
with itself, and seeking
to be
independent of God. And as the
holy development, so this world, it is implied
here, has an age for its unholy
development. For the word translated “course” is properly “age.” In the
mysterious providence of God evil has scope for
its development. “The
mystery of
iniquity doth already work.” (II Thessalonians
2:7) And when
it is said
here that they once walked according to the course of this world,
the meaning is that their characters had not the
normal form of the kingdom,
but had one or other of those abnormal forms which belong to the world.
ü
They stood related to the head of evil. “According to the prince of the
power of the
air, of the spirit that now worketh in the sons of
disobedience.” He is here called the prince of the power of the air. He is a
prince with other evil spirits under him. (See
Revelation 9) Evil is divisive;
his then must be a mighty, prince-like influence
that he keeps them united
under him for evil ends. He is dependent on God,
a mere instrument in His
hand, at His absolute disposal, as it is with
every creature; but he is allowed,
through his emissaries, to have great power upon
earth. The singular epithet
is applied to him here in allusion to his surrounding us with temptation as the
atmosphere
surrounds the earth. As the air borders on the earth, so there is
a sphere bordering on our spirits, subtle,
invisible like air, through which
evil suggestions can readily be conveyed to us.
Or it may be that the evil
spirits have an affinity to air, which they do
not have to grosser matter, so
that it is their haunt within this region. There is here what we cannot
understand; but we can understand this —
temptation being skillfully
presented to our minds, against which we must
invoke the skill of another,
else we are taken in the tempter’s meshes. (The
Bible calls it “taken
captive by
his will.” II Timothy 2:26 – CY – 2019) He
is further called
the prince of the spirit that now worketh in
the sons of disobedience.
(v. 2) It
is not usual to connect a spirit, or principle, with its prince.
But he
is undoubtedly the principal
representative of the spirit of disobedience.
In him disobedience takes its most
virulent form. The object on which he
is bent is to spite God, to thwart His holy ends. This is
the spirit which
he as its
original source breathes
into his subordinates, and
which they
in turn under
his direction seek to
breathe into men. And those in whom
it finds a sphere of operation are called the children of disobedience.
They stand related to the evil principle as its unclean progeny. It was from
heathendom that the description here was taken. It was very much MAN
LEFT TO
HIMSELF! (This is what is meant when God said before
the Flood “My
Spirit will not always strive with man” – Genesis 6:3
and the depiction in II Thessalonians 2:7
concerning the mystery of iniquity
when the Holy Spirit is taken out of the
way of evil! CY – 2019) It was
the truest representation of what “this world” is. It was
Satan having his
own way. It was rampant disobedience. For though
the heathen world was
under the Divine providence, yet it was without special helps, without
special checks. Depraved
human nature was allowed to bring out:
Ø
its own ignorance of God,
Ø
its own profanity,
Ø
its own licentiousness.
It was from that heathen world that these
Gentile Christians had been taken.
(“...and such
were some of you” - I Corinthians 6:11) There they
could see what they once had been. But, lest the
Jewish Christians might
think that it had been better with them, he
proceeds to bring them under
the same description in respect of their
original condition.
·
JEWISH
CHRISTIANS ALSO. (v. 3.) “Among whom we
also all
once lived in the lusts of
our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the
mind, and were by nature
children of wrath, even as the rest.” Especially
are they classed with Gentile Christians, as having
originally been children
of disobedience. Among
whom we also all once lived. Their disobedience
appeared in their living in the lusts of the flesh. Those lusts that had their
root in the flesh, or unrenewed
nature, they ought to have brought into
subjection to reason or the will of God; but, instead of
that, they
lived in
them.
This
is further described as “doing the desires of the
flesh and of the
mind.” Evil
wishes spring from the flesh; but in order to be gratified they
require the consent of the
mind, and so they become desires, not only of
the flesh, but of the mind. And were by nature the children of wrath,
even
as
the rest. “By nature” is a qualifying clause. The
Jews could not be
spoken of in the same terms as the Gentiles without
qualification. For they
were different in having a covenant position, in having Divine helps
vouchsafed
to them, in being placed under special training. And though
they did testify to depravity in their frequent rebellions,
yet was there
alongside a work of grace, which showed itself conspicuously
in some. It
could only be said, then, that by nature, that is, apart from covenant grace,
they were the children of wrath, even as the rest. What a
testimony is there
here to UNIIVERSAL DEPRAVITY! All have
the Divine displeasure
imprinted on their nature. In the condemning voice of conscience there
is an echo, often very
faint, of the
condemnation of God. Our evil tendencies,
which we so soon exhibit, are tokens that God is angry with
us. His righteous
sentence has gone forth upon us, even in our present
condition. This is
unpalatable truth, but it agrees with the facts. It is well
that we should keep
it in mind, in order that we may be humbled by it, and in
order that we may
realize the forces against which we have to struggle. (AND
THEY ARE
SPIRITUAL
WICKEDNESS IN HIGH PLACES!” – ch. 6:12
– CY –
2019)
·
OUR
SALVATION.
ü Its explanation. “But God, being rich in
mercy, for His great love
wherewith He
loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses.”
The MERCY is mentioned first, as standing in closest
connection with the
miserable
state which has been described. And as their former
state was
described in strong terms, so now is there set
over against it the superlative
quality of the mercy. He is not content with the
expression, “God in his
mercy.” That language is too bare in view of what they once were. So he
applies his common epithet, “rich.” “God, being rich in mercy.” The mercy
is a particular outgoing of the Divine love,
viz. toward sinners. So he traces
it up to the more general feeling, which leads Him to seek the good,
and
nothing but the good, of all His creatures whatsoever. And to this in turn he
applies another common epithet,”great.” “The great love wherewith He
loved us.” And the greatness of the Divine love is here presented under a
special aspect. In Romans 5:8 it is said, “God commendeth His
love
towards us,
in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
The thought is very similar here. “Even when
we were dead through our
trespasses
He quickened us.” Stress is laid upon the moment of the Divine
movement. When we were dead
and could do nothing for ourselves, that
was the time for the going forth of the great love of God in rich mercy
toward us. And it is in this connection that we are to
bring in the words
within brackets, “By
grace have ye been saved.” For, though he has it in his
mind to magnify the Divine grace further on, yet
now, having the
opportunity to make a point, he cannot let it
pass. And the incidental way
in which he brings it in shows the great importance which
he attached to
that doctrine.
ü
Its nature. “Quickened us
together with Christ (by grace
have ye been
saved), and raised us up with Him, and made us to sit
with Him in the
heavenly
places, in Christ Jesus.” It is set forth in relation
to our previous
deadness. And it will be observed that the description
here is connected
with a certain historical point. The idea is
that we were dead up to the time
when Christ was quickened. We were dead, even as
Christ was dead in the
tomb. Nay, more, we were dead with Christ in the tomb. For it was as our
Representative that He was lying there. And when He was quickened, it was
as our Representative too. He was quickened,
not for Himself, but for us
whom He represented. And therefore it can be
said that, when the lifegiving
power went forth upon Him in the grave, we were quickened with
Him. And it did not stop there; but when
He was raised up we were raised
up with
Him, in the whole breadth that language can bear.
And not only so,
but the consummation applies to us too. It is
not indeed said that we were
made to sit at the right hand of God, as is said
of Christ in ch. 1:20. But it is
said that we were made to sit
with Christ in the
heavenly places. Even here
on earth we are sitting with Christ in the
heavenly places. We are sitting
there in Him as our Head. That is no fancy, but
the actual language which
is applied to us by an inspired apostle. Oh, what a glorious privilege is
conferred
on us! How does it become us to be thankful, and to be
humbled!
Let us, in our life, rise to the height of our
position. Let us not be as creeping
on the earth, but as sitters
with Christ in the heavenly places.
ü
A purpose served by our salvation. “That in the ages to come He
might
show the
exceeding riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ
Jesus.” The language is applicable to after ages on earth. There is
encouragement to us, even now, in the fact that
such kindness was shown
to Ephesians who had been dead through
trespasses and sins. But the
language is also applicable to the eons of which the Scripture
speaks
beyond this life. For if there is not room
there for sinners being
encouraged, there certainly is room for the
demonstration, the more
complete realization, of THE DIVINE GRACE! It will be one of
the
lessons of those ages to learn how much in our history on earth we
were
INDIVIDUALLY
INDEBTED TO GRACE! Here again, in the fullness
of emotion, he gives an ample characterization
of the grace, the
exceeding
riches of
his grace, in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. The latter
expression has reference to benefits conferred, viz. our quickening.
Ø
The exceeding riches of His grace appears in
the complete exclusion
of
human merit. “For by
grace have ye been saved through faith;
and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of
works, that
no man should glory.” Our salvation is
given to the subjective
disposition
of faith. It is when we believe, that the union between
our souls and Christ takes place, and the first, not the completed,
quickening goes forth upon us. But this believing does not make us
the authors, or give us the merit, of our salvation. It, that
is to say,
our salvation, IS
THE GIFT OF GOD! And
believing
is just taking
it as a
Divine gift, taking it as that
for which we have given nothing.
CHRIST HAS PAID THE FULL PRICE FOR IT; He has paid
the uttermost farthing, and so
we can receive it as a free gift. But
works are out of the question; for it is just as
impossible for a dead
man to rise and do the works which he was
wont to do, as it is for
the
dead through
trespasses and sins to
work out their salvation. Divine
help is the
plainest necessity, and to such an extent that there is no
room for boasting.
Ø
The exceeding riches of His grace appears in
good works following
on
the Divine workmanship. “For we are His workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared
that we
should walk
in
them.”
An honest man’s the noblest work of God.
(Alexander Pope)
A Christian is certainly the
noblest work of God. “For we are His
workmanship,
created in Christ
Jesus.” We are the result of all
the means that God has used. It may be seen in us, as saved persons,
what Christ has done by His blood. And we are not His
workmanship
because of works which we were afterwards to do; but we were created
“for good works, which God
afore prepared that we should walk in
them.” It may be said of a tree that it is afore prepared for the fruit
which it is to bear. It may be said of a vessel that it is afore prepared
for the uses which it is to serve. But as the
fruit is not the cause of the
tree, nor the uses served by a vessel the cause
of the vessel, so neither
can it be said
that the works we perform are the cause of the Divine
workmanship that has gone before. Our salvation, then,
IS WHOLLY
OF GRACE!
Gospel Reformation Great and Gracious (vs. 1-10)
“And you hath He quickened,” etc. This passage, though its
language is
somewhat
obscure, sets forth most manifestly the
greatness and
graciousness of gospel reformation. The gospel is a reformative system; it
is
revolutionary in its spirit and its aim.
·
It uproots the noxious in
life, and
plants the wholesome.
·
It pulls down the corrupt and builds up the holy.
·
It burns up man’s old moral
heavens and creates new ones,
“wherein dwelleth righteousness.” (II Peter 3:13)
·
It reforms society by reforming the individual man;
·
It reforms the individual by
regenerating his spirit, and making him
a new creature in Christ Jesus.
·
It works from the center to
the circumference.
Observe:
the change it effects in mankind will be seen if we consider
two things
which are so prominently set forth in this passage.
ü The state of man preceding its work. There are several striking
expressions in this passage indicating the original depraved
condition
of sinners, their condition before the gospel touches them.
Ø
They are morally dead. “Dead in [through] trespasses
and sins.”
(v.
1) What is moral death? Not
insensibility, for sinners feel; not
inactivity, for sinners act. What, then?
Destitution of the true principle
of moral life. What is that? Supreme love to God. He is the true Life
of the soul.
Humanity has lost it, and it is dead. Corporeal death is
a separation of the soul from the body, moral
death is the separation
of the soul from godly love.
Ø
They are practically worldly. “They walked
according to the course of
this world.”
What is the “course of this world”? Carnal, selfish, devilish.
The spirit of the world is their inspiration,
the maxims of the world their
law.
Ø They are Satanically ruled. “The prince of the power of the air”
works in them. He rules and fashions them to his purpose.
Ø
They are wickedly associated. “Among whom
also we all had our
conversation
in times past.” Their social
natures are so perverted
that they are linked with the
corrupt; all their social alliances
are false and impure.
Ø
They are carnally debased. “In the
lusts of the flesh, fulfilling the
desires of
the flesh.” The body with
its gross impulses dominates
over
the soul; they are “carnally sold under sin.” (Romans 7:14) Their
souls are animalized. (II Peter
2:12
Ø
They are perilously situated. “Children of
wrath.” Where is the wrath?
It is of their own creation. “They treasure up wrath.” (Romans 2:5)
From the eternal law of retribution their sins must
bring on their ruin.
ü The state of man succeeding its work. The passage teaches that they are
brought by the gospel into the most vital connection with
Him who is the
embodiment, the standard, and the medium of all human excellence, “the
Lord Jesus Christ.”
Ø His life is theirs. “Quickened us together with
Christ.” That
love which is the life of the soul has been imparted. This life is His
life.
“Together with Him.” They are quickened by His ideas, with
His
Spirit, with His aim.
Ø
His resurrection is theirs. They are “raised
“ — raised from the grave
of carnality, worldliness, and moral corruption,
and their resurrection is
with Him. “Raised
us up together.” Christ’s resurrection is not merely
the instrumental cause of their spiritual resurrection, but its inspiration
and its type.
Ø
His exaltation is theirs. They are made to “sit
together in heavenly
places in
Christ Jesus.” They are morally exalted — exalted in their
power over themselves and over circumstances; exalted in their
sympathies, ideas, and aims; exalted in their
fellowship. They are in
“heavenly
places” now, their “citizenship
is in heaven.” All this
exaltation is enjoyed together with Christ.
Ø
His character is theirs. “They are
created in Christ Jesus unto good
works.” God has recast their character; He has molded it after the
ideal
embodied in Jesus Christ. The general meaning of all these
expressions is
thorough Christianization. Man, after the gospel
reformation has been
effected, is like Christ in spirit and character.
“He is
conformed to the image of Christ.” How great the change!
how thorough! how sublime! How infinitely transcending all the
reformations of men! This is the reformation that
is wanted; this is
the reformation that every true philanthropist
should strenuously
advocate and zealously promote.
great, originating, efficient cause of this
glorious moral reformation? The
text answers the question. “God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love
wherewith He loved us, even
when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us
together with Christ.”
Instrumental causes, such as the Word of God,
gospel ministry, Christian example and influence, are many,
but eternal
grace is the cause which
originates all and blesses all. The passage indicates
four things concerning this Divine
grace.
ü It is great. It is ascribed to the richness of mercy and the
greatness of
love. “God, who is rich in mercy,
for His great love,” etc. God’s love
is the spring
of all His activities; it is as deep as His own heart; it is
as
infinite as Himself. “It passeth
knowledge.”
“O Love! the one sun! O Love! the one
sea!
What life has begun that breathes not in
thee?
Thy rays have no limit, thy waves have
no shore;
Thou giv’st
without merit to worlds evermore.”
ü It is mighty. It quickens, raises, exalts, recreates human
souls. It is as
mighty as the power that raised Christ from the dead. How mighty is
that power
that thoroughly Christianizes even one soul! No power
but the power of God can do that. “Not by might, nor by power, but
by my Spirit saith the Lord of hosts.”
(Zechariah 4:6)
ü It is manifestable. “In the ages to come He might
show the exceeding
riches of His grace in His
kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.”
The conversion of every one is designed
to
manifest it. The conversion
of the sinner, though a good in itself, is not an ultimate
end; the event
has remote issues, ulterior points, bearings and relations
interminable.
“Ages to come;” intelligences
that will rise thousands of years in the
future will study and adore the infinite grace of God in the spiritual
reformation of mankind. “Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy,
that in me
first Jesus Christ might show forth all long-suffering, for
a pattern to
them which should hereafter believe on Him to life
everlasting” (I Timothy
1:16).
ü It is unmeritorious. “For by grace are ye saved
through faith; and that
not of yourselves: it is the
gift of God: not of works.” The expression,
“not
of works,” does not mean, of course, that men are to do nothing.
This would be contrary to the general teaching of Scripture,
contrary
also to the constitution of the soul and the nature of the
work. Man is
so constituted that no moral change can be effected in him irrespective
of his own efforts. He must work. All that the expression
means is that
man’s works are not the cause. “By grace are ye saved through faith.”
But if faith is required, and it is an undoubted necessity,
where is the
freeness of the grace?
Elsewhere Paul says that “it is of faith, that it
may be of grace.” (Romans
4:16) Two remarks will explain this.
Ø
Faith is essentially an unmeritorious act. Because it is the simplest act
of the mind, and an act for which man has a
strong propensity; he has
never taken credit for it; he never can. There is
no virtue in believing.
Ø
This essentially unmeritorious act IS ITSELF THE GIFT OF GOD!
Not a gift in the sense in which existence is a gift, but in the sense
in
which
knowledge is a gift. It is a gift, because God;
o
gives the mental capacity for it,
o
reveals the true objects for it, and
o
furnishes the opportunities for studying the
evidence
essential
to produce it.
Salvation in Its Completeness: the
Place of Faith and Works
(vs. 8-10)
One thought
runs through these two verses like a thread of gold. We are
not saved by works, but unto works.
·
THE
PRIVILEGE OF BELIEVERS. “Ye are saved.”
Ø
It is implied that the salvation is a present reality. It is not, “Ye shall be
saved.” They were already in an actual state of
salvation; they had
passed
from death unto life;
and the life was EVERLASTING!
Ø
The
salvation was more than a deliverance from the guilt of sin, so as to
exempt
sinners from future punishment. This is, indeed,
the first step in
salvation. There must be likewise a deliverance
from the power of sin. To
be saved from sin is the climax, the consummation,
the essence of
salvation. Holiness is the most essential thing
in salvation. Therefore, while
believers may rejoice that they have received
pardon through the blood of
Christ, let them still more rejoice that Jesus “saves them from their sins”
by a continuous supply of His living grace.
·
POWER FOR
GOOD WORKS IS INCLUDED IN SALVATION.
(“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.” John 1:12)
“We are God’s workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus unto good works.”
We are saved because we are thus created. This was the
Divine purpose in
the mission of the Son; God sent Christ to bless us “by turning every one of
us away from our iniquities” (Acts
3:26). We have learned to believe that
our works have nothing to do with our pardon:
Ø our evil works have not hindered it,
Ø our good works have not helped it;
Ø our pardon IS OF PURE GRACE!
But the apostle teaches, in the tenth verse, that what is
true of
pardon through the death of Christ is equally true of power
by His life —
that if we are delivered from the punishment of sin by the
atoning death of
Christ, we are also delivered from the power of sin by the
loving grace that
streams from the fountain of the cross. Salvation, if it be
salvation at all, is
“unto good works;” good works not being the
root on which salvation
grows, but the fruit which grows upon the tree of life.
·
HOW IS THIS
FULL SALVATION TO BE OBTAINED? “By grace
are ye saved, through faith.” You are “God’s workmanship, created in
Christ Jesus unto good
works.”
Ø
Grace is the fountain at once of pardon and of holiness. The purpose of
God is of grace, for “He
hath saved us according to His own purpose and
grace” (II Timothy 1:9); the atonement is of grace, for “ye know the
grace of ...
Christ, that, though He was rich, for your sakes He became
poor” (II Corinthians 8:9); the application of it is of grace, for it is
“grace that bringeth salvation” (Titus 2:11); and
it is according to this
grace “we
are called with an holy calling” (II Timothy 1:9).
Now, we
have learned to say of pardon that it is “not of works;” equally true is it of
our purification that it is not of works — that is, not of our working — for
we are “his workmanship, created… unto good works.” The old man
cannot work. The new man receives the power in
the very structure of his
spiritual being; for, having died with Christ, he is risen with Him that he
should walk in NEWNESS OF
LIFE!
Ø
Faith is the instrumental cause of our salvation. “By grace are ye saved,
through
faith;” and thus the gospel becomes “the power of God unto
salvation to
every one that believeth.” (Romans 1:16) Power as well as
pardon flows forth from Christ to every one that believeth. We are not to
suppose, however, that salvation is given as a
kind of reward of faith, for,
in a true sense, faith is part of the salvation
itself. But the apostle uniformly
represents faith as that which apprehends the salvation. It is in no sense
the ground of salvation; “the righteousness of God
which is by faith of
Christ
Jesus” is the only ground of it, (ibid. 3:22) and it is therefore
called “the
gift of righteousness” (ibid. 5:17); but faith is the hand by
which it is received. There is thus no merit in faith any more
than there is
in the hand
of the beggar who receives an alms.
Ø
Good works are the predestined way along which the saved walk.
“Which God hath
before prepared that we should walk in them.” This
might be true in a double sense: either that, by
the revelation of the moral
law, He has fixed the firm and unalterable
pathway of the believer’s
obedience — prepared, as it were, the sphere of
our moral action; or that,
by creating us in Christ Jesus, He has preordained our disposition and
aptitude for this obedience. It is evident
from the apostle’s doctrine that:
o
good works are not necessary to qualify us for
believing in Christ, nor
o
are the ground of our expecting a future
inheritance in glory.
But they are necessary, notwithstanding, on the
following grounds:
o
We are elected unto holiness (ch. 1:4); and we are “called
unto
holiness” (I Thessalonians 4:7).
o
They are necessary as acts of obedience to the
Lord’s commands
(John 14:15);
o
as acts of gratitude for all His goodness to us;
o
as evidences of the sincerity of our faith in
Christ;
o
as tending to adorn the doctrine of God our
Savior, and to glorify his
Name;
(Titus 2:10)
o as contributory to our inward peace and comfort.
Salvation, Its Root and
Its Fruit (vs. 8-10)
Paul now
proceeds to put the gospel in a nutshell when he tells us that:
· we are saved by grace,
· through faith, and
· unto good works.
We have in
these three terms the whole plan brought out. Let us look at them in
their
order.
·
GRACE IS
THE ROOT OR CAUSE OF SALVATION. (v. 8.) By
“grace” is meant the free, undeserved favor of God. It is
etymologically the
same as “gratis” and “gratuitous;” it occurs in the business phrase, “three
days of grace” given in connection with the payment of a
bill; it signifies
therefore a Divine
manifestation to which man has no title. In other
words,
we do not deserve
salvation. We can never deserve it. No works of
ours
could entitle us to it. Yet we are saved by grace, by the free and sovereign
favor of
the Lord. It is most important that we should have clear views of
the cause of salvation. Its cause is the gracious love of
God. Its cause is
outside of us, and. we have no part or lot in causing
salvation. IT IS
ENTIRELY
OF GRACE!
·
FAITH IS
THE HAND OF THE HEART WHICH RECEIVES
SALVATION. (v. 8.)
God might conceivably save men without asking
us to trust Him. But would it be worth our while to get emancipated
from
deserved punishment to live on in perpetual suspicion? The
fact is that to
have any comfort in our relations with GOD, WE MUST TRUST HIM!
But there is no merit in trusting Him. If we refuse
Him our trust we do
Him grievous wrong. This shows
that trusting God is only giving Him
His due. Besides, the more we
know ourselves the more we realize that
faith just as well a