Ephesians 2:1-11

Eph 2:1

And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins:

Dead - “nekrous” - lifeless, useless, dead

trespasses - offenses - same word used in Eph 1:7 (sins)

Before a person is saved they are spiritually dead. This means they are dead to the things of God and dead people are totally incapable of resurrecting themselves to any type of spiritual life. Those who advocate free will never start at the point of a person being spiritually dead. This is the starting point for every person who has ever become saved. There is no such thing taught in Scripture that a person has the ability or even enough light to understand the Gospel.

Let us look at 4 resurrections in Scripture and see who was the author and who was the receiver. These 4 resurrections carry individual spiritual lessons but the overall meaning of these resurrections is the spiritual resurrection of the believer, which is the first resurrection and the second resurrection of the believer which is the final one into the eternal home.

2 Kings 13:20-21 - The bones of Elisha touched him and he lived. (spiritual lesson) When we are dead to the things of the world and totally alive unto God we can bring forth fruit because God uses “ded”icated people in His work.

Luke 7:11-15 - The widow of Nain (spiritual lesson) - When we are made alive we become verbal witnesses for the Lord Jesus.

Luke 8:41-42, 49-56 - The daughter of Jairus - They laughed at Jesus and He had to put them out. (spiritual lesson) When we are made alive we are witnesses which confront the disbelief of others.

John 11:43-44 - Lazarus - This is the most famous picture of the spiritual resurrection of the believer. (spiritual lesson) When we are made alive we become visible witnesses for the glory of God. Whatever bound us in our old life is loosed in our new life so we may be free to serve God. That could be attitudes, physical addictions, religion, etc. The old life was death and therefore we need to shed our grave clothes. as we now have the robe of Christ’s righteousness. I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. (Isaiah 61:10)

Now let us look at the resurrection of the believer. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. (Revelation 20:6) Notice it speaks about the first resurrection and as we continue on in the verse we read that the second death has no effect upon those who have been resurrected. The second death is the penalty of hell. Those who have become saved will never be affected by hell, in other words, once a person is saved in Christ, they never have to worry about going to hell to pay for their sins because Christ paid the price for all of them.

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. (Romans 6:4) Notice in Romans 6:4 we are like Christ who was raised from the dead and because we were raised we walk in newness of life.

Eph 2:2

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:

Time past - This is biblical language which means sin was your past life but not your present or future.

Walked - lived or conducted oneself

According - in concert with the evil of the world - we agreed with the world and Satan

Course - age, era or period of time

Building upon verse one that before we were saved we were spiritually dead and that meant as part of our old life we would walk in sin, that is, our entire lives would be ordered according to Satan’s kingdom. The word “according” is a preposition which means that our lives were lived in total agreement with the ways of the world. Paul makes sure that he mentions the fact that it was in time past when we lived that way but since we became saved, we no longer walk according to the systems and principles of the world. We lived like this because we were spiritually dead and instead of God guiding our lives through the indwelling Holy Spirit, we guided ourselves and ordered our lives with the worldly knowledge we had. The spirit of evil now works in the children of disobedience which are sinners.

Eph 2:3

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.

Conversation - conduct or lifestyle

Time past - This is biblical language which means sin was your past life but not your present or future.

Wrath - He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. (John 3:36)

For the Christian we walked in sin in time past or before we were saved but the unbeliever continues to walk in sin. This why Paul uses the term “conversation” which means we conducted our lives according to the ways of the world without any conscience. When we were in an unsaved condition, we were no better than those of the world who were not the elect of God because we did the same things they did. We didn’t know it at the time that were predestined for salvation so we walked the ways of the world seeking our own interests.

Can the Christian walk and the world’s walk be the same? After the Christian has become saved, the relationship with God is mended and no longer are we under the wrath of God nor are we his enemy because he made us a child of God. Unfortunately, there are many preachers who claim that Christians are still sinners but the above verse divides the two walks as being totally opposite each other. Sin leads to death and is the believer heading for the second death? No! Then why do we believe that we are? There are no Scriptures in the Bible which continue to call Christians sinners. The Bible makes a clear distinction between the camp of Satan and the Camp of the Lord.

At this point it behooves us to look at some Scriptures which will clear up the distinction. Since there are so many please refer to my article entitled “How Does God View the Believer?” at: http://www.scionofzion.com/godviews.htm

Eph 2:4

But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,

Rich - Wealthy

Mercy - Compassion or Pity

Wherewith - when (at a time or during some time)

In the previous 3 verses we saw the condition of unsaved people in that we were dead in sins. This verse gives great comfort to all the true believers that God is rich in mercy toward his children. The riches of God in the area of mercy will never be exhausted as he continues to shower mercy upon all his elect. Notice the phrase “he loved us.” This is a phrase of qualification in that God loves only His elect. If you notice Paul uses the pronoun “us” which means he is speaking only to the redeemed elect of God.

The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity. (Psalm 5:5)

I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me. (Psalm 101:3)

“Wicked Thing” actually means work or thing of Belial

Ephesians 2:4 shows a contrast of hope the believer possesses Vs. no hope of the unbeliever. When a wicked man dieth, his expectation shall perish: and the hope of unjust men perisheth. (Proverbs 11:7)

Eph 2:5

Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)

Dead - nekrous - This word carries with it the meaning of “dead, lifeless, and useless.” If a person is in this spiritual state, how could they possibly be able to “accept the Lord” when they are dead? Whenever you go to a funeral, does the guest of honor ever move or do they direct the funeral service? The answer is a resounding no, why? Because they are dead, lifeless!

Quickened us together with = “made us alive” - Here we see that for those who are the Elect of God are “made” alive. It is not possible for any human being to make themselves alive, it must be done from an outside source.

God loved us when we were dead in sins because we were predestined to be saved from eternity past. The difference between the life of the unbeliever and believer is literally “life and death.” Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. (Romans 6:13) Always keep in mind the pronouns “we” and “us.” Paul tells us that by grace we are saved and there is absolutely nothing a person can add to their salvation or to attain their salvation. The Christian is passive in salvation because all they do is receive it.

Eph 2:6

And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

Raised us up - When Christ was raised from the dead, we became partakers of that resurrection. We saw that Revelation 20:6 spoke about the first resurrection and here we are told that we are raised up together with Christ and that means we are joint-heirs with Christ. And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. (Romans 8:17)

Made us sit - When Christ ascended to heaven we partook of that ascension in that even though we are still on earth for a while, God sees us as seated and reigning with Christ already. God sees the beginning from the end and already sees us reigning in Heaven with Christ as joint-heir. Until that time we continue to share that reign at present but because we live in a world which is still under evil, our reign is akin to the Lord telling Pilate that his kingdom is not of this world and our authority carries no weight at this time but it will.

If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us: (2 Timothy 2:12)

And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth. (Revelation 5:10)