Ephesians 2:1. And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
Then you owe your very life to him. You were dead, you were like a corrupt carcass, but his life has been breathed into you. «You hath he quickened.» Then you are no longer dead, you are a living soul before the living God, and as you owe this to him, praise him with all the life you have. You «were dead in trespasses and sins;»
Ephesians 2:2-3. 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: among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
It does us good to remember what we used to be. There was no reason in us, by nature, why we should be made the children of God. There were in us no distinguishing traits of character by which we were separated from our fellowsinners. We ran in the same course; we were possessed by the same spirit, we wrought the same works; we had the same nature, we were under the same condemnation: «children of wrath, even as others.»
Ephesians 2:4-5. But 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, (by grace ye are saved;)
«By grace ye are saved.» I know that you feel that it is so. Our quickening out of our death in sin must have been by grace; and as God has done it, unto him must be ascribed all the glory of it. There can be no merit in those who are dead in sin that they should be quickened out of their sin; this must be the work of the Lord alone, and unto him be all the praise. He «hath quickened us together with Christ,» so that our life is mystically linked with the life of Christ, as he said to his disciples, «Because I live, ye shall live also.» Until he can die, those who are one with him cannot die.
Ephesians 2:6. And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly place, in Christ Jesus:
It is all in him, and it has a sevenfold sweetness about it because it is in him. To live unto God is a wondrous mercy, but to live together with Christ is an unspeakable honour. To be raised up into the heavenly places would be a surpassing blessing, but to be raised up there together with Christ, and to be made to sit there with him, is a boon that is above the superlative; I know not how else to speak of it.
Ephesians 2:7-8. That in the age to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith;
It must be all of grace because of the greatness of the favor bestowed. A man dead in trespasses and sins cannot deserve to be made alive; and when he is made alive, he cannot deserve to be raised up to sit with Christ in the heavenly places. That is too great a boon to come to us by the way of the law; it must come to us emphatically as the gift of the grace of God in Christ Jesus: «For by grace are ye saved through faith;»
Ephesians 2:8. And that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
«Not of yourselves.» What do those people mean who keep on crying up the power of the human will, the wonderful dignity of human nature, and all that kind of foolish talk? Salvation is not in ourselves; «it is the gift of God,» not a reward which we have earned, but a free gift which God bestows according to the riches of his grace.
Ephesians 2:9. Not of works, lest any man should boast.
God will not have a boaster in heaven. He will not have the creature exalting himself in his presence. The command, «Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth;» is backed up by this reason, «for I am God, and there is none else.» Therefore unto God himself must be the praise and glory for all who are saved.
Ephesians 2:10. For we are his workmanship,
Salvation cannot be of works, for if we have any good works, it is because we are God's workmanship.
Ephesians 2:10-12. Created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made hands; that at that time ye were without Christ,
Certainly we were poor sinners of the Gentiles, having no participation whatever in the old Mosaic dispensation.
Ephesians 2:12. Being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel,--
For us there was no paschal lamb, for us there was no high priest at Jerusalem, no altar smoked with a sacrifice for us, we were «aliens from the commonwealth of Israel,»
Ephesians 2:12. And strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:
That is where the whole Gentile world stood, and this is experimentally where you and I stood till sovereign grace interposed for our salvation. What knew we about the covenants of promise? We knew nothing, and we did not care to know anything. What did we know about a hope? We should have died without a hope if God's mercy had not come to us. What knew we, or what cared we about a God in the world? We may have thought that there was a God in heaven; but as actually operating upon the daily life of man, we knew no such God. We were «without God in the world:»
Ephesians 2:13. But now
Oh, what a blessed «but»! How much hangs upon it! Think of what God has done for you by his grace: «But now»
Ephesians 2:13. In Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
What a power there must be about that blood, that God not only hears it speaking in heaven, that it makes a way of access for all the saints, that it cleanses from all sin, but that it brings the far-off ones nigh! We will never cease to speak of the precious blood of Jesus. There are certain people who cannot bear to hear it mentioned; but a bloodless theology is a lifeless theology, and a ministry that can do without mentioning the blood of Christ has no power to bless the sons and daughters of men.
Ephesians 2:14. For he is our peace,
Peace with God, peace with our own conscience, peace with all mankind we find in Christ.
Ephesians 2:14. Who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
So making Jews and Gentiles one;
Ephesians 2:15. Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;
Our Lord Jesus Christ was a Jew, yet I venture to say that there was nothing Jewish about him. He was the model of what man ought to have been, and his words and his actions made him worthy to be called cosmopolitan. He belongs to all mankind. He is the man in whom all races are summed up, and when we come to Christ, there is a link between us and the ancient people of God. I do not care about Anglo-Israelism, what I care for is Christo-Israelism, to belong to the Israel of God in Christ Jesus.
Ephesians 2:16-17. And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: and came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.
Christ is the Preacher of peace as well as the Maker of peace, and no man ever knows the peace of God unless Christ preaches it to him.
Ephesians 2:18-19. For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now therefore
Here is another sweet «now.»
Ephesians 2:19. Ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
A part of the family of the great Householder, even God. Citizenship is well enough in its place, but citizens do not always know one another. But we are of the household of God, we are brought into an intimate relationship with one another through our Elder Brother who makes us to be the children of the great Father in heaven.
Ephesians 2:20-21. And are built upon the foundations of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:
We are put so close together, if we are really in Christ, that we are like the stones of the temple, so united as to become one. In Christ Jesus, our union is not only that of relationship, but we enter into a perfect unity with one another and with the Lord.
Ephesians 2:22. In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
That is the most wonderful truth of all, that God himself should come and dwell among his people and in his people, and that, being sanctified by grace, we become the dwelling place of the Most High. God grant that it may be so! Amen.