Saved by Grace and united in One body: (chap.2):
What we once were: (2:1-3; 11-12);
- Dead to sin: (2:1): The man is spiritually dead, he is unable to understand and appreciate spiritual things. He possesses no spiritual life and he can do nothing of himself to please God. Just as a person physically dead does not respond to physical stimuli, so a person spiritually dead is unable to respond to spiritual things. A corpse does not hear the conversation going on in the funeral meet. He has no appetite for food or drink and feels no pain since he is dead.
It is just so, with the unsaved person. His spiritual faculties are not functioning, and they cannot function until God gives him life. The cause of this spiritual death is “trespasses and sins”. “The wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). In the Bible, death basically means “separation,” not only physically, as the spirit separated from the body (Jam.2:26), but also spiritually. It does not need resuscitation but needs resurrection. All lost sinners are dead and the only difference between one sinner and another is the state of decay. This means that our world is one vast graveyard, filled with people who are dead while they live (1 Tim. 5:6). - Influenced by Satan: (2:2): The devil works in the children of disobedience. Since Satan is a created being, he has limited scope and space unlike God who is omnipresent. But he has his own demonic associates which influence worldly system (Jn.12:31). He wants to make people “children of disobedience” (Eph. 2:2; 5:6) because he himself was disobedient to God, so he wants others to disobey Him too. One of Satan’s chief tools for getting people to disobey God is lies. He is a liar (Jn. 8:44), and it was his lie at the beginning of human history, “You shall not surely die,” that plunged the human race into sin. The unsaved multitudes in today’s world system disobey God because they believe the lies of Satan. When a person believes and practices a lie, he becomes a child of disobedience.
- Controlled by lust: (2:3a): All people commit sin without exception. We are lost in sin and cannot save ourselves (2:2-3). The unsaved follow the ruler of the kingdom of the air, that is, Satan. “The whole world is under the control of the evil one” (1 Jn. 5:19), also called “the god of this Age” (2 Cor. 4:4).
- Under God’s wrath: (2:3b): We are the children of wrath. That is, those who are under wrath, whose destination is wrath and upon whom the wrath of God abides.
- Pagans without God: (2:11): Most of Paul’s original readers were Gentiles. The apostle here reminds them of their position before they heard the Gospel. In the sight of Jews all were still Gentiles, but not in the sight of God. God looks upon all men as either Jews, Gentiles, or the Church (1 Cor. 10:32). When one accepts the Lord Jesus Christ, whether he be Jew or Gentile, God looks at him as a member of the body of Christ.
- Separated from Christ without hope in this present world: (2:12): In the Old Testament, God had made a covenant with the nation of Israel and governed that state directly. Those who were not Jews were foreigners or aliens and have no hope and no God. But they could know the covenant of God only through Israel.
What God did for us: (2:4-6):
- He loved us: (2:4): He loved human beings with unconditional love called “Agape” love. In (Jn. 3:16) God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son.. His love for human beings is unparallel.
- He liberated us: (2:5):He manifested His greatest love on the Calvary by shedding His precious blood as a propitiation for our sins while we were still sinners. He took the first step and made a way while we were still dead in transgressions. We have not caused or did anything to make the Lord Jesus Christ to walk up to the Calvary. It is purely out of His grace. We do not deserve anything, but still He did. It is out of His Love. What we do not deserve, He did for us. He liberated us from our sins once and for all for the whole humanity. Only His grace made a way for us reach Him and be saved through faith.
- He lifted us: (2:6): He lifted us from miry pit and from the clutches of sin. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ (Rom. 6:23). Because of Christ’s resurrection, our bodies will also be raised from the dead (1 cor. 15:2ff). Because we are united in His powerful victory, our resurrection and living with Him is certain.