In Verses 1-3
we see our past condition by nature. “And you hath He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins:” (verse 1). The Holy Spirit is here addressing all who have been quickened or made alive “with Christ” on a basis of unconditioned grace (verse 5).
Before we were quickened, we were “dead in trespasses and sins” (verse 1); we “walked according to the course of this world” (verse 2); we were busy fulfilling “the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others” (verse 3). This was our condition by nature. The marvel of all marvels is that the God of glory, who knew all about us from the beginning, could have love and grace enough to choose us in Christ, to predestinate us to the adoption of children by Christ, to make us accepted in the Beloved, to redeem us through the blood of His Son, to instruct us in the mystery of His will, to seal us with the Holy Spirit of promise, and to enrich us with a specified inheritance according to Ephesians 1:4-11.
Even though we were dead in trespasses and sins, we could walk. However, our walk was according to the course of this world, and according to Satan, the prince of the power of the air. As dead sinners, we could move about in the world and enjoy the lusts of the flesh, but we were absolutely powerless to make one moral move toward God. We were not disobedient children, but “children of disobedience” in whom Satan works (verses 2 and 3) and upon whom the wrath of God comes (Ephesians 5:6). We were not merely sons of Adam, but sons of fallen Adam. Our nature was not merely human nature, such as Adam had before he fell into sin; but fallen human nature such as Adam had after sin entered.
Satan, “the prince of the power of the air” (verse 2) injected the poison of sin into the blood stream of the human race through the first man Adam. The unborn race was in his loins when he sinned. Through this one man, Adam, “sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for all have sinned” (Romans 5:12). This is why we were dead in sin before we were quickened in Christ. Adam yielded himself to Satan and his fallen nature cried out for the things of the world. We, the sons of Adam, inherited his fallen nature; therefore, we came into the world with an inborn desire for the things of the world which satisfy the lusts of the flesh. There is nothing in our fallen human nature to help us resist the evil one; therefore, before we received our new nature in Christ we walked according to the course of the world, according to the prince of the power of the air, and had our conversation in the lust of our flesh.
God does not see the children of Adam as graded sinners; some not so bad, others worse, and still others vile and terrible. He declares, “There is no difference: for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:22-23). In God’s sight natural men are all alike, dead in sin, corrupt by nature, sons of disobedience, led by the spirit of Satan and under the wrath of God. These are cold facts from God’s infallible Word, but they are facts that the proud heart of man both dislikes and denies.
In Verses 4-10
the divine picture changes from our past condition by nature to our present condition by grace. The expression “but God” (verse 4) brings to our attention the one and only possibility for so great a change. Here is where God undertook for us and did for us what we could not begin to do for ourselves.
We stand in amazement at the grace of God to usward. Read again the record of what we were by nature (verses 1-3), and then read of the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus, as pictured so clearly in verses 4-10. Such miserable beings as we were, yet He showed mercy toward us, loved us, quickened us, and even raised us up and made us sit together with His Son in the heavenlies. In all this, God was the sole worker. Our hands were tied by sin.
Before we could take our present position in the heavenlies as companions of God’s dear Son and one with Him in all of His glory, we had to be cleansed. This, God did through the application of the precious blood of Christ to our sinful souls. “The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin” (I John 1:7). Through the power of the Holy Spirit, God buried us with His Son “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 6:3-4). This burial and resurrection has been experienced by every child of God, and it was accomplished “through the faith of the operation of God,” who hath raised His Son, the Lord Jesus, from the dead. Such a baptism cannot be performed by the hands of man.
Our salvation is by grace through faith; and that faith is not of ourselves; “it is the gift of God” (verse 8). The gift of faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17). God has a definite plan and He is working out that plan for His own glory. This is why He has undertaken for us according to verses 4-10. We were included among His “vessels of mercy, which He had afore prepared unto glory,” and it is necessary that He cleanse us and prepare us for our place in His plan and program.
We who are saved are of the same “lump” as those who are lost. It is only by His grace and mercy that we are “vessels unto honour” instead of “vessels unto dishonour.” Such sovereign grace is beyond our human understanding, but it is clearly taught in the Word. For instance: “Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? What if God, willing to shew His wrath, and to make His power known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: And that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had afore prepared unto glory, even us, whom He hath called, not of the Jews only, but also the Gentiles?” (Romans 9:21-24). Throughout “the ages to come” God will be showing “the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness to us through Christ Jesus” to the principalities and powers of the heavenlies (verse 7).
God is “not willing that any should perish” (II Peter 3:9). He has not predestined anyone to hell. The “whosoever” of John 3:16 are “the chosen” of Ephesians 1:4. Of the same “lump” some believe and are saved, others believe not and are damned. The glory which comes to God through the salvation of lost souls is not measured by the number of sinners that believe and are saved, but by the “exceeding riches” of God’s grace in the offering up of His Son for the salvation of sinners. It will not be the number of saved people in heaven that will bring glory to God, but the display of the “exceeding riches of His grace” that made it possible for even one person to be there.
Man was created in the image and after the likeness of God. God permitted sin to corrupt him and kill him, and render him utterly helpless. All the while God’s plan of redemption was completely worked out in His own mind whereby He was to lift the fallen man through His Son, Christ Jesus, into an infinitely higher position with God than that which Adam had before he fell. Adam was only innocent, we are righteous. God allowed sin to do its complete work in order that He might glorify Himself through the complete eradication of sin before the eyes of Satan and all of his forces. This, He did when Christ came forth from the grave “having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it” (Colossians 2:15).
God’s plan for the walk of the believer is just as perfect as His plan for the salvation of the sinner. As believers, “we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (verse 10). We must be God’s workmanship before we can be God’s workmen. It is equally true that God’s workmen must work according to the blue print laid down in His Word. His entire plan is revealed through His Word. The Holy Spirit leads the believer, but He never leads contrary to the Word.
As “workers together with God” in the building of His church (not ours), we should study His plan, revealed in His Word, just as carefully as the builder of a house would study the blueprint of an architect. The one reason for all the different churches of organized Christendom is the fact that men have built contrary to God’s revealed plan. They have built and are still building for themselves and for their religious corporation instead of for God and His glory. “God is not the author of confusion, but of peace” (I Corinthians 14:33); therefore, He could not be the originator of all the different denominational churches. If the organized church did not come from God, from what source did it come? See Colossians 2:8 and 20-23.
In these closing days of the church age we need to emphasize the fact that we are saved by grace through faith (verse 8), and having been saved, we are complete in Christ (Colossians 2:10).
In Verses 11-12
the Holy Spirit is addressing saved people, who have “in time past” been “Gentiles in the flesh” (verse 11). He tells them of their past condition by birth.
The past condition of these who have been redeemed from among the Gentiles is indeed a dark picture. “At that time,” that is, “in time past,” they were “without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world” (verse 12).
God has a good reason for excluding the Gentiles, of “time past,” from the commonwealth of Israel and from the covenants of promise. The wrath of God was revealed from heaven against them “because that, when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image like to corruptible man, and birds, fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore, God gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up into vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: and likewise also the men: leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lusts one to another; men with men, working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient; being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them” (Romans 1:21-32).
Three things stand out in the above quotation, namely,
- “God gave them up to uncleanness” (Romans 1:24).
- “God gave them up to vile affections” (Romans 1:26).
- “God gave them over to a reprobate mind” (Romans 1:28).
All of this God did because “they did not like to retain God in their knowledge” (Romans 1:28). This explains why God had to call Abram out from among his Gentile kindred in order to establish with him the covenant of promise. “Now the Lord had said to Abram, get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; And thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 12:1-3).
Later God gave to Abraham and his seed circumcision in the flesh as a sign of this covenant. “And God said unto Abraham, thou shall keep My covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations. This is My covenant, which ye shall keep, between Me and you and thy seed after thee; every man child among you shall be circumcised. And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of a covenant betwixt Me and you. And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in thy house, or bought with money of any stranger which is not of thy seed. He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken My covenant” (Genesis 17:9-14).
These truths clearly bring to our attention the good reason for those of the “circumcision in the flesh made by hands” calling the Gentiles the “uncircumcision” according to Ephesians 2:11. This “time past” condition of the Gentile could be changed in only one way and that one way was Jesus Christ (John 14:6).
We are told by the Lord that circumcision was included in the Mosaic covenant also. In John 7:22we find this statement, “Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision; (not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers;).” This sign in the flesh was to remind God’s called out people of what He expected them to be at heart. This is made clear in Deuteronomy 10:16 where God said to Israel, “Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiff-necked.” The Lord wanted His people to be separate and apart and distinctly different from the corrupted Gentiles.
Beginning with verse 13, we no longer see the Gentile as he was “in time past.” The Holy Spirit says: “But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.” The time element in these verses means everything to us believers who came from the corrupted Gentiles pictured in the first chapter of Romans. “In time past” we were given up to uncleanness, to vile affections and given over to a reprobate mind; we were without Christ, having no hope and without God in the world; but now in Christ Jesus we are made nigh by His precious blood.
The One who has brought us nigh by the blood of His cross is also the Saviour for as many of the “circumcision” as will believe. They too need the cleansing blood applied to their hearts. Just as the Gentile failed God before the Mosaic Covenant was given, so the Jew failed God under the Mosaic Covenant. Therefore, the Scripture concludes that “we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God” (Romans 3:9-11).
Christ has not only become our Saviour, but “He is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; 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; 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. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father” (verses 14-18).
The enmity which stood between the Jew and the Gentile “in time past,” that is, during the Mosaic dispensation, was “the law of commandments contained in ordinances” (verse 15). These ordinances were blotted out and taken out of the way through the sacrificial work of Christ on the cross. “The handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us,” He took out of the way, “nailing it to His cross” (Colossians 2:14). This explains why the Holy Spirit tells us as members of the body of Christ that we are complete in our Saviour without the observance of ordinances. He says, “Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, (Touch not taste not; handle not; which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men?” (Colossians 2:20-22).
The fellowship which we have in “the church, which is His body,” is not based upon carnal things, but spiritual. We are a company of heavenly citizens, waiting for the soon coming of the Lord Jesus, the Head of the church (Philippians 3:20-21). Having been raised and seated with Him in the heavenlies (Ephesians 2:6), we are admonished to forget “those things which are behind,” and “reaching forth unto those things which are before,” we should “press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling (or calling on high) of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14). Since we are “risen with Christ,” we should “seek those things which are above,” and set our affections on “things above, not on things on the earth” (Colossians 3:1-2). The religious ordinances belong to Israel and the earthly kingdom and not to the body of Christ and the heavenlies.
The body of Christ is built upon “the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone” (verses 19-20). Indeed, the foundation work of all the building that God has ever done is the same. It is all resting upon that foundation which Paul speaks of in I Corinthians 3:11, “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”
The body, the church, is the dwelling place of “God through the Spirit” in this dispensation. He lives in the heart of each and every individual member (I Corinthians 3:16). This truth is borne out in verses 21 to 22 where we are told that we are a building “fitly framed together,” and that this building “groweth into an holy temple in the Lord”
We quote the closing paragraph of Williams’ Commentary on the 2nd chapter of Ephesians. “So the chapter opens with men as an habitation of Satan (vs. 2) and closes with these same now become an habitation of God (vs. 22), and verses 4 and 10 in the middle of the chapter reveal how this amazing miracle was effected.”
