“Ephesians 2”

Monday, May 08, 2017

Man was lost and unable to save himself. God loved us and didn’t want us to go to hell for eternity. So, in His love and because of His mercy, He sent Jesus Christ to pay the penalty for our sins so we could not have to pay our own price (“the wages of sin is death”). We were dead and God made us alive in Christ. This is the key point of Ephesians 2:1-10.

“For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:3-7).

When Paul refers to salvation by grace through faith, he lets us know that we cannot and do not earn a home in heaven for ourselves by our good works. This does not negate the reality of God separating the righteous from the unrighteous by setting conditions of obedience for mankind.

It is not by mere mental assent to a set of facts that we are forgiven, for James makes it clear that faith without works is dead (James 2:14-26).

But it is also important for us to understand that our obedience to God does not mean that He owes us an eternal reward. It is a gift of His grace (Romans 6:23).

The following verses (Ephesians 2:11-22) discuss another aspect of God’s scheme of redemption, the inclusion of the Gentiles into God’s plan. His plan brings everyone into an equal basis before God.

“For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heir according to the promise” (Galatians 3:26-29).

Christianity is a universal religion. There is no partiality with God. People from every race, language, country and cultural background are all equal in the Lord’s kingdom.

--Roger Hillis

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