The privilege which came to our notice at the conclusion of our previous study on Ephesians, and the awesome responsibility which accompanies it, both derive from the great truth that the disciples of our Lord form a part of his body. As his representatives, and agents, in their day and generation, they contribute to the full outworking of God’s purpose in His beloved Son. This key thought must ever be in mind as we endeavour to follow the Apostle’s teaching in the early part of chapter 2.
Dead in trespasses and sins
As we look at the RV of verse 1, we notice that “did he quicken” is in italics, indicating it is not a part of the Greek text. The NIV more faithfully renders the verse: “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins.” Then, in verse 2, Paul enlarges on this concept, and the quickening process is not effectively expressed until verse 5, to which we shall come in due course. To bring out the greatness of God’s love and grace, Paul dwells first upon our unregenerate state. Before a disciple embraces the hope of life in the Lord Jesus, he or she is dead… dead in “trespasses and sins”. It was a manner of life, brought out by the Biblical metaphor of ‘walking’. This goes back a long way: Enoch walked with God, as did Noah (Gen. 5:24; 6:9). Moses asked Yahweh to reveal His ways to him (Exod. 33:13), in response to which Moses was granted the great theophany of Exodus 34. Rather than walking with God, we were literally the walking dead!
A life may be attended by all manner of exciting features, but, whatever its nature, if it is not lived in the Lord Jesus, there can be only one outcome: permanent death. As Isaiah states so comprehensively with regard to those who had exercised lordship over God’s people: “The dead do not live; shades do not rise — because you have punished and destroyed them, and wiped out all memory of them” (26:14, NRSV). The psalmist similarly states: “Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish” (Psa. 49:20). On one occasion the Lord said to a man who was seeking a pretext for not following him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead; but go thou and publish abroad the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:60). This is what the Apostle is saying to the readers of his letter, for such had been their former condition: they had been effectively dead, since trespasses and sins had been their normal way of life (v. 2).
“The prince of the power of the air”
This was “according to the prince of the power of the air”, an expression which sounds strange in our ears but one which was evidently current at the time. Thus Robinson comments: “Here again the Apostle adopts the language of his contemporaries. It was the general belief that through the Fall the whole world had been subject to evil spirits, who were dwelling in the air, and were under the control of Satan as their prince”.1 Is this then an accommodation to contemporary thought? There is certainly no other evidence that Paul looked favourably on such an idea. We remember the Lord himself referred to Beelzebub, without surely endorsing any idea that such a being existed (see Matt. 10:25; 12:24,27). Paul proceeds to give his own definition when he adds, “the spirit that now worketh in the sons of disobedience”. The term he employs for “worketh” is the same that we have already encountered in 1:20, which gives us an idea of the power of sin, with its diversity of evil works. Regarding the expression “the prince of the power of the air”, Paul, if he were writing today, might well have put the expression in inverted commas, to demonstrate he is quoting a current superstition.
The Lord himself stated to the Eleven that the prince of this world would assail him, but to no purpose (John 14:30; cf. 16:11). When we consider the circumstances of the trial and crucifixion of our Lord, we can see the force and relevance of the disciples’ reaction in Acts 4:23-31, when Peter and John were released by the Sanhedrin. We note especially verse 26: “The kings of the earth set themselves in array, and the rulers were gathered against the Lord, and against his anointed.” These were the evil spirits vanquished by our Lord; they ruled in society and resisted any opposition to their authority (see John 11:49-53). If the Lord threatened their authority, then he must go.
Furthermore, Paul himself comments on the spirit activating the sons of disobedience in 2:3: “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.” The divine wrath is no intemperate display of anger but God’s displeasure with human sin and disobedience. The term “orge” is prominent in Romans; the first occurrence there gives a clue to its meaning: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold down the truth in unrighteousness” (1:18). However, prevailing over His wrath is God’s infinite mercy, as the Apostle shows in Ephesians 2:4,5: “But God, being rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, quickened us together with Christ (by grace have ye been saved).” Thus, against the sombre background of the unredeemed sinner’s desperate plight is the operation of God’s prevailing mercy. Romans 5 speaks of the “abundance” of divine grace; here Paul uses the term “rich”.
The riches of God’s grace
Starting with verse 5, Paul, by a deliberate use of language, demonstrates how the richness of God’s grace and mercy operates in those who have faith. We should not miss the fact he now uses “we”, for he is ever aware of the grace extended to him personally (once more we recall 1 Tim. 1:12-14). Those who have faith are brought to life “together with Christ”. Here we encounter the first of three verbs in which the Greek word “sun” (i.e., “together with”) occurs, and this striking feature of Paul’s vocabulary deserves our careful notice. It must be evident Paul is using these words to underline the total identity of the followers of the Lord Jesus with the Lord himself. Paul has already declared the church to be the body of the Lord: what happens to the one must also be experienced by the other. The same kind of vocabulary is observable in Romans 6. The word “sun” appears in Romans 6:8 singly, without being compounded with any other word: “But if we died with (sun) Christ…” In the case of the words in which we are now interested, we may render the sense by a simple device: we have been ‘with-quickened’, i.e., brought to life with him. Thus, when the Lord revived after his death, so (prospectively) did his followers, his body, revive along with him.
Then Paul makes a typical comment: “By grace have ye been saved.” There are two key words in the Apostle’s language of redemption: “grace” and “faith”. The first cannot operate without the other: grace comes from God. We note especially in this connection the salutation in 2 Corinthians 1:1,2: “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort.” This salutation in its fullness is conspicuous among the opening greetings of the Apostle (the other greetings have already been considered in an earlier article).
“With” Christ!
What is even more extraordinary is that the believer is associated not merely with the Lord’s resurrection, but also with his elevation to heaven! Not merely “with-raised” (i.e., with Christ) but also “with-seated” in the heavens, in Christ Jesus (v. 6). If the thought is challenging, it is totally in keeping with Colossians 3:1-3; the words are familiar, they confirm what Paul says in Ephesians: the present life of the disciple “is hid with Christ in God” (v. 3).
This is no more than what was told Saul of Tarsus on the Damascus Road: “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest” (Acts 9:5). The full force of this extraordinary statement may escape us because of its very simplicity. When the Lord completely identifies himself with his persecuted followers, he is no longer the carpenter from Nazareth, persecuted and finally crucified. No, he is the glorified Lord Jesus, to whom all power in heaven and on earth has been given. It is this one who so graciously identifies himself with his followers. The reflection is truly staggering but it lies at the heart of what Paul is endeavouring to bring home to his readers, readers of all ages, and to ourselves if we aspire to be true followers of our Lord.
We now look briefly at Romans 6: in verse 4, we are “with-buried” with the Lord, by virtue of our baptism into his death. Then in verse 5 we are “with-united” in a resurrection like his. Finally, in verse 6, “our old man”, that is, our former self, is “with-crucified” with our Lord. Briefly, our baptism as the seal of our faith and willing submission to God’s will makes us one with our Lord. However, for us the process is not complete; indeed, it is ongoing, and we need to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (2 Pet. 3:18).
As we survey our contemporary world, we can fully appreciate that God’s work in Christ is by no means complete. As Paul dictated his letter, he looked forward to the ages yet to come, when God would reveal the riches of His grace towards the disciples — Paul includes himself in this. As always this was to be in Christ Jesus (v. 7). We note once more the concept of “riches”, the true and enduring riches. The theme of the call of the Gentiles comes up later in this chapter.
“By grace, through faith”
Then Paul picks up this term “grace” and makes one of his greatest and best known statements: “For by grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves” (v. 8). Indeed, how true this is: what can we do either to save ourselves or the world in which we live? We freely acknowledge we are saved by God’s grace. This declaration is important, since the mention of divine grace means the initiative is God’s. Our response is faith, not merely an attitude of trust in our Father but the recognition we are called to a new life. Grace is not an ointment to be applied externally to the skin, but a power which should be active in us. The process of salvation is initiated by God and is experienced here and now. At the same time, it is also an ongoing process which calls for growth. In our unredeemed state, what can we do to save the world and ourselves? But, when we have become grateful and loving recipients of God’s grace, we can, as we have already discovered, contribute to God’s “fullness”, the outworking of His purpose in each succeeding generation.
Verse 9 underlines the truth of the previous verse: we are totally dependent upon God’s love and mercy. Paul often looked back on his earlier life as a very earnest and committed Pharisee, when he had sought righteousness by strict observance of the Law. One day, however, he had discovered that, in the process, he had become a blasphemer, with blood on his hands. The term “works” speaks of human effort and achievement but the history of mankind, past and present, has shown how fallible men are.
God’s workmanship: a new creation
In verse 10 we see that God’s workmanship is in direct contrast to the works of men. In the Greek, the term for workmanship is “poieema”. In Romans 1:20, it is used to describe God’s handiwork in the creation. But as the physical universe can be ascribed only to God, so this is true of the new creation and this word “poieema”: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus.” This is obviously the new creation, a recurring theme in Paul’s letters. There are notable passages in this connection:
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God…” (2 Cor. 5:17,18, NIV).
With this can be compared another passage:
“Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation” (Gal. 6:15, NIV).
The new creation is as much the work of God as the old; mankind marred the image and it was not restored until the Lord Jesus came (see John 1:18; 14:9; 2 Cor. 4:4). This authentic image of the Father was perpetuated in the Son through his being raised from the dead and his becoming, in the eternal sense, the beginning of a new creation (cf. Rev. 1:5,18). This concept is clearly illustrated in Psalm 100:3:
“Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his” (NIV).
The time will come when there will be a new heavens and a new earth, the habitation of righteousness (Isa. 65:17; 2 Pet. 3:13). In the meantime, those who belong to the Lord Jesus have been created in Christ Jesus “for good works”, and this was God’s purpose from the beginning. His children must “walk” in them, reviving the figure in verse 2. In the Lord Jesus there is a new way of life, and this can be achieved only by a conscious following of the Lord’s own example.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One