Eph 2:5-6 | KingComments | STEP | . In you have seen what the human nature is – dead, without any connection to God – and how he acts by his nature. This all is subjected to the wrath of God and is therefore the only prospect for man. We cannot imagine a view that is more hopeless than this. And then come those hopeful and shining words “but God”. These words bring a mind-blowing transformation in the desperate situation of a person and open a source of blessing which is beyond our thinking. You’re going to see what the nature of God is and how He acts by His nature. In Romans 5 and Titus 3 you also read these words “but God” ( ; ). There also these words are an introduction on what God has done and contrast sharply with what man is and has done. In our verse God has not acted or God doesn’t act because we are so desperate. The first thing is not our misery or need. No, God is operating from Who He is and therefore His whole glory is being revealed. In what God is doing here, He alone is in action. Nothing is demanded from man; there is even no appeal for conversion. After all, how could a dead person hear anything, not to mention that he would be able to accede to any appeal? Surely, man is called to repent and is held responsible to heed that call. That side of the truth you find in the letter to the Romans. In the letter to the Ephesians everything comes from God. God is love, and mercy comes from His love. God is rich in mercy. How rich He is in mercy you can see if you think of the desperate and miserable situation as it is pictured in . In His great mercy God has bent down to you and raised you from that situation. In Ezekiel 16 we see a good illustration of that ( ). As already said, this action of God is based on “His great love”. Love goes a lot further than mercy. Mercy has to do with the misery in which a person is found. Love is above everything and apart from everything. God is love. That He was also when sin was not there yet and therefore there was no reason to show mercy. Then He had this thought to bless people with such wonderful, eternal and heavenly blessings that are only to be found in the mind of an almighty God. When He wants to bless them, He finds them in a situation of the . (It is important always to bear in mind that this is the background of God’s action.) Is God embarrassed by this situation? That is impossible. God would not be God if He would not use the situation, exactly to let shine “His great love with which He loved us”. The expression ‘with which He loved us’ appears also in John 17 ( ). Doesn’t it impress you that the expression there refers to the love of the Father for the Son? You see there that God loves us with the same love with which He loves the Son. This makes it clear once again that it is about an eternal love. These are all actions out of God’s great love. You see how everything that God did to us, is associated with what He did to Christ. God’s great love we see exactly in the fact that He not only had compassion for dead sinners to whom He has shown His mercy, but that He also wanted us to be partakers in everything that belongs to the inheritance of His beloved Son! This is quite a lot more than that only our sins would have been forgiven, isn’t it? Surely that would have been great on its own. And it would have been totally wonderful if He would have brought us back to paradise. But in connection with Christ God goes beyond all limits. To recognize this is the greatest revelation we could have after our conversion. . Think about it. The first step in the unfolding of His great love is that He made us “when we were dead in our transgressions … alive together with Christ”. This was the first thing that was necessary for us. It is clear that this step was needed to be taken by God. The same applies for the steps that follow after the first one, that these were made by God in order to bring us where He wanted us, according to His counsel. Receiving a new life, a new nature, stands in contrast to the depraved nature that characterized us in the past. It is also not only said that we are made alive; that also can be said of the believers in the Old Testament. Not a single man will ever enter God’s kingdom without having been made alive, which means without having life from God. However, only of the believers that belong to the church, can it be said that they are made alive “together with Christ”. Through our connection with Christ God gave us life that went through death. The life we received is resurrection life. The life that every child of God received who lives after the death on the cross, the resurrection and the ascension of the Lord Jesus, is the life of the risen and ascended Christ. Before Paul continues to describe God’s actions, we read the words “by grace you have been saved”. This emphasizes how lovingly God dealt toward us, who had entirely no right or capacity to deserve God’s favor in any way. . Also the second step to God’s purpose is taken by Him: He “raised us up with Him”. This step is closely related to the previous one; they are also very similar, yet there is a difference. The words ‘made alive’ are about a change in our condition . We were dead and have received new life. The words ‘raised up’ are about a change in our position , the area in which we are. We were in the world, the area of death. When Christ was raised up from the dead, He also came into another area and He had nothing to do anymore with the world before His death and resurrection. The problem of sin was solved. What God did to Him, He also did to us. Because we are raised up together with Christ, we also are no longer in the world the same way we were in the time before we were made alive. We now breathe in the atmosphere of life. And still that is not the end of God’s dealings with us. The third step is that He has “seated us with Him in the heavenly [places] in Christ Jesus”. You don’t read here that we are seated with Christ in heavenly places, but that we are there in Him. It is said this way because we are not actually there yet. He is there actually, and because the church is one with Him, we are also there. Although you are still on earth with your body, through faith you can accept that you are already in heaven in Christ. The three steps we paid attention to and in which God showed us His great love, He has taken with a purpose. That purpose is described in the following verse. Now read Ephesians 2:4-6 again. Reflection: How did God show His great love in these verses? Do you know more proofs of that great love?

‏ Ephesians 2:5-6

God, Rich in Mercy

Eph 2:4. In Eph 2:1-3 you have seen what the human nature is – dead, without any connection to God – and how he acts by his nature. This all is subjected to the wrath of God and is therefore the only prospect for man. We cannot imagine a view that is more hopeless than this. And then come those hopeful and shining words “but God”. These words bring a mind-blowing transformation in the desperate situation of a person and open a source of blessing which is beyond our thinking.

You’re going to see what the nature of God is and how He acts by His nature. In Romans 5 and Titus 3 you also read these words “but God” (Rom 5:8; Tit 3:4). There also these words are an introduction on what God has done and contrast sharply with what man is and has done.

In our verse God has not acted or God doesn’t act because we are so desperate. The first thing is not our misery or need. No, God is operating from Who He is and therefore His whole glory is being revealed. In what God is doing here, He alone is in action. Nothing is demanded from man; there is even no appeal for conversion. After all, how could a dead person hear anything, not to mention that he would be able to accede to any appeal?

Surely, man is called to repent and is held responsible to heed that call. That side of the truth you find in the letter to the Romans. In the letter to the Ephesians everything comes from God. God is love, and mercy comes from His love. God is rich in mercy. How rich He is in mercy you can see if you think of the desperate and miserable situation as it is pictured in Eph 2:1-3. In His great mercy God has bent down to you and raised you from that situation. In Ezekiel 16 we see a good illustration of that (Eze 16:1-14).

As already said, this action of God is based on “His great love”. Love goes a lot further than mercy. Mercy has to do with the misery in which a person is found. Love is above everything and apart from everything. God is love. That He was also when sin was not there yet and therefore there was no reason to show mercy. Then He had this thought to bless people with such wonderful, eternal and heavenly blessings that are only to be found in the mind of an almighty God.

When He wants to bless them, He finds them in a situation of the Eph 2:1-3. (It is important always to bear in mind that this is the background of God’s action.) Is God embarrassed by this situation? That is impossible. God would not be God if He would not use the situation, exactly to let shine “His great love with which He loved us”.

The expression ‘with which He loved us’ appears also in John 17 (Jn 17:26). Doesn’t it impress you that the expression there refers to the love of the Father for the Son? You see there that God loves us with the same love with which He loves the Son. This makes it clear once again that it is about an eternal love.

These are all actions out of God’s great love. You see how everything that God did to us, is associated with what He did to Christ. God’s great love we see exactly in the fact that He not only had compassion for dead sinners to whom He has shown His mercy, but that He also wanted us to be partakers in everything that belongs to the inheritance of His beloved Son!

This is quite a lot more than that only our sins would have been forgiven, isn’t it? Surely that would have been great on its own. And it would have been totally wonderful if He would have brought us back to paradise. But in connection with Christ God goes beyond all limits. To recognize this is the greatest revelation we could have after our conversion.

Eph 2:5. Think about it. The first step in the unfolding of His great love is that He made us “when we were dead in our transgressions … alive together with Christ”. This was the first thing that was necessary for us. It is clear that this step was needed to be taken by God. The same applies for the steps that follow after the first one, that these were made by God in order to bring us where He wanted us, according to His counsel. Receiving a new life, a new nature, stands in contrast to the depraved nature that characterized us in the past.

It is also not only said that we are made alive; that also can be said of the believers in the Old Testament. Not a single man will ever enter God’s kingdom without having been made alive, which means without having life from God. However, only of the believers that belong to the church, can it be said that they are made alive “together with Christ”.

Through our connection with Christ God gave us life that went through death. The life we received is resurrection life. The life that every child of God received who lives after the death on the cross, the resurrection and the ascension of the Lord Jesus, is the life of the risen and ascended Christ.

Before Paul continues to describe God’s actions, we read the words “by grace you have been saved”. This emphasizes how lovingly God dealt toward us, who had entirely no right or capacity to deserve God’s favor in any way.

Eph 2:6. Also the second step to God’s purpose is taken by Him: He “raised us up with Him”. This step is closely related to the previous one; they are also very similar, yet there is a difference. The words ‘made alive’ are about a change in our condition. We were dead and have received new life. The words ‘raised up’ are about a change in our position, the area in which we are. We were in the world, the area of death. When Christ was raised up from the dead, He also came into another area and He had nothing to do anymore with the world before His death and resurrection. The problem of sin was solved.

What God did to Him, He also did to us. Because we are raised up together with Christ, we also are no longer in the world the same way we were in the time before we were made alive. We now breathe in the atmosphere of life. And still that is not the end of God’s dealings with us.

The third step is that He has “seated us with Him in the heavenly [places] in Christ Jesus”. You don’t read here that we are seated with Christ in heavenly places, but that we are there in Him. It is said this way because we are not actually there yet. He is there actually, and because the church is one with Him, we are also there. Although you are still on earth with your body, through faith you can accept that you are already in heaven in Christ.

The three steps we paid attention to and in which God showed us His great love, He has taken with a purpose. That purpose is described in the following verse.

Now read Ephesians 2:4-6 again.

Reflection: How did God show His great love in these verses? Do you know more proofs of that great love?