I had claimed to be Christian many years prior to that, I even directed children's choir in my home town church for 5 years. I went to church every Sunday, I was involved with the youth group but for me, at the time, church was just an extracurricular activity like cheer-leading and golf. I was "doing" Christianity but not "living" Christianity. I do want to talk about what being a Christian truly is but I'm going to save that for a later date. With this post I want to discuss the verse that had a great impact on my life as a new Christian.
And I'll just lay it out there:
Ephesians 2:1-10
Made Alive in Christ
1As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. 4But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
I don't remember how I came across this verse when I started digging into scripture, but when I did I couldn't get enough of it. After reading it over and over and writing it in different journals and on note cards I eventually had it memorized. Scripture is not always straight forward, sometimes it's very difficult to figure out what God is really trying to tell us. This is one verse I find to be very straight forward. My husband uses a 3 question method when discerning what scripture says: "What does this verse say about us?" "What does this verse say about God?" and "How should I respond?"
What Does Ephesians 2 say about us?
Take a closer look at verses 1-3
1As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.We are dead in sin. We follow the ways of this Earthly world. We are like those who are disobedient. We are objects of wrath. The first time I understood these verses I was relieved. When I had accepted Christ and sought after his forgiveness I was struck with guilt because I thought to be a true follower of Christ he expected my personal slate to be completely clean: no lying, no cheating, no sexual activity. But Ephesians helps us to understand that we all fall short, "we all lived among them at one time". When we live in this world and of this world we are under the control of "the ruler of the kingdom of the air" or we know him better as Satan.
What does Ephesians 2 say about God?
4But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.God is love. God is mercy. God is grace. God is what we need to overcome the "ruler of the kingdom of the air." "Even when we were dead in transgressions" God loved us, he showed grace and mercy on us. We are worthy of wrath but because of his love God sent his Son to live the sinless life and then to sacrifice it all not to simply wipe my "slate clean" but to replace my slate with Christ's spotless slate. God is kind and gentle when all we humans deserve is hell.
Finally, what does Ephesians say about how we are to respond, or what are we to do with this information?
Verses 8-10 will help finish this discussion.
8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.We are saved by grace. By God's love, mercy and grace we are saved. We must have faith which is also one of the many gifts we receive from God. We cannot earn his favor, there is nothing we can do that will impress the mighty God who created the entire universe.
I was dead in transgressions, I lived the ways of this world. I gave into the constant temptation that is dangled by the spirit of the disobedient. But I was awakened by God who revealed his love and grace; he had mercy on my life. I was saved by grace and given faith in order to boast in that faith, not by own doing but to boast in the One who gave me life. This does not make me perfect, my life is still challenged by the ways of our world but God has given me the defense to overcome the temptations provoked by Satan. Thanks be to God our Father who has revealed himself to me and has given me grace and love when I deserved wrath.
