EPHESIANS 2:4-7 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
Rich In Mercy; God is wealthy with an outward manifestation of pity. It assumes a need on the part of the person that receives it. God's resources in this case are abundant to meet the need. Ironically it is not shocking that one of the mainstays in our thought process is to reject pity with things like "don't pity me" or "I don't want your pity". Not that human pity is the same as God's, I just find it weird that we are indoctrinated to reject mercy. Mercy in the Greek here is ἔλεος eleos, God has provided salvation for all men. We either reject it or we don't.
His Great Love; This is pertaining to God's perfect love among men in the Lord Jesus Christ. Christian love is the fruit of His Spirit in the Christian. The Greek word used is ἀγαπάω agapao Vines - "Love had its perfect expression among men in the Lord Jesus Christ".
(John 3:16) For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Verse 5 :
Dead In Trespasses; Nelson Study Bible - Because of Adam's sin, the entire human race is spiritually dead. Only God Himself can grant new life. Out of His mercy, God gave us His son while we were yet His enemies. He loved us long before we loved Him.
Alive; See the first few paragraphs of this study.
8, But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
(Romans 6:4-5) Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection,
Verse 6 :
Raised Up Together; Saved is used of believers' spiritual resurrection with Christ. Saved has the idea of "not going to hell", ie from "eternal damnation".
A better translation may be Quicken together with - to reanimate continually with. (Figuratively) Quicken together with, this is the same idea used in verse 2:1. The Greek word is συζωοποιέω sunzoopoieo, it is used of the spiritual life with Christ, imparted to believers at their conversion.
Sit together in the heavenly places; or with Jesus Christ Himself.
Finishing this study up in Verse 7 :
Ages To Come; The force attached to the word is not so much as that it is an actual length of a period, but of a period marked by spiritual or moral characteristics. The Greek word for Age is αἰών aion. Nelson Study Bible - God desires to demonstrate His kindness throughout eternity through Jesus Christ His Son. This has nothing to do with our own merit. It is only because He is merciful and kind that He reaches out to save us.
Might; This word seems to indicate "and He will", as opposed to "maybe, maybe not". - My thoughts. Stong's lists the word but doesn't define it. Given the text I think my conclusion is sound, this is after Paul states in Verse 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
His Kindness; God desires to demonstrate this. The Greek word for xrēstótēs chréstotés (noun) Used of goodness of heart. The kindness of God our Father.
In Jesus Christ; For in Christ see this study. (Titus 3:4) But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, (Just as a side note, this is probably the second strongest claim that Jesus Christ is God. The strongest came from Jesus Christ Himself in John 8:58. Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” Saying I AM meant Jesus was saying He is God. The Jews of the day started throwing stones at Him right after He said that.)
Takeaways -
1. God is rich in mercy and we are completely dependent on it.
2. When we come to faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior it is Him who raises us up.
3. Riches of Grace are not the same as monetary wealth, it's actually way more valuable than that to the point that monetary wealth and God's grace are not even comparable.
Comments