Last week, constant reader, I delivered three observations on the human plight: 1) The dead condition we live in is universal. 2) All of humanity is complicit in this deadness; that is, it does not fight against the deadness of it all, but rather humanity has gotten used to it, perhaps even likes it. 3) This death is total. It is idiotic to ask how fatal this death is; there are no degrees of fatality.
All this being true, I touched only briefly last week on God’s solution to humanity’s problem. This week I would like to give a fuller treatment.
Ephesians 2:1-3 describes the macabre plight of humanity: “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the age of this world and according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among them we all also once lived in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and we were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.”
But then Paul takes a sharp turn in verses 4-7: “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and He raised us up and seated us together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”
Paul begins verse 4 with a deep contrast between the state of humanity (its inability to change, its selfish desires, and its expectation of God’s wrath) and God’s righteous character (His desire for humanity to live and His generous mercy). In these verses we see that God is active in giving life, but humanity is lazy, weak, and passive in death.
Humankind, having chosen to live according to Satan’s will and the unction of the flesh, are left in a shameful state, deserving only judgment and wrath. A false parable says, “God is voting for you, Satan is voting against you, wherever you cast your vote decides if you’re elected.” This is patently false. It should be changed to this: “Satan is voting against you, you have voted against you, but it is only God’s vote that creates an option for life.” Only the divine initiative could change the trajectory of the human plight.
God is obligated only to pay out the judgment due humanity for the transgressions and sins that they have committed against him. He will reward each one according to his works. The depth of God’s love offers another chance. The amazing aspect of the plight of humanity is that it does not end in the total annihilation of the human race. Rather, God has broken into this dead human condition and opened a way of mercy in Christ, which He was not obligated to do.
God has made Christ the focal point of his mercy and grace. Humanity has earned death, but God offers life through Christ. His kindness is expressed in Christ (Ephesians 2:7). God’s grace is bestowed regardless of the utter lack of human merit. This mercy comes from the riches of his grace.
The “formerly-now” comparisons run throughout Ephesians (2:2, 11, 13, 19; 5:8). They describe a change in identity as a result of God’s gracious salvation. This is one reason why Christians should not engage in identity politics. “Formerly” we were many things, but now we are Christians, which is to say that the defining thing about us is Jesus has reconciled us to God.
God has made three significant status changes to those who are “in Christ.” God has given believers life with Christ, raised them up with Christ, and seated them with Christ in the heavenly realms. Hence, the believer’s identity is directly linked to Christ’s identity. By the mercy of God, the fate of Christ has become the fate of the believer.
Being alive “in Christ” is the indication that the divine life of Christ is now in operation in the believer. God has reversed the state of being dead in transgressions and sins. He has done this through the merit of Christ. This is a transference from death to life, from bondage to freedom, from the power and dominion of the “ruler of the world” to the kingdom of God.
In every way this is a change in status from shame to honor. Paul establishes the honor of Christ in Ephesians 1:15-23 and contrasts it with the believer’s pre-conversion shame. According to Paul’s letter to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 6:9-10), believers may have been drunkards, they may have performed homosexual acts or submitted to homosexual acts, or they may have been adulterers or thieves, but now they take part in the same honor as Jesus, having participated with Christ in his death, resurrection, and ascension.
Paul prayed that the believers would know the hope, the riches, and the incomparably great power for believers (1:18-19). “This power he exercised in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms” (1:20). The new status of being raised with Christ and seated with him puts believers above the dominion of the evil one and energizes them with a new power to live in Christ. Moreover, God exercised this tremendous power to illustrate his own grace in Christ; it is for purposes of God’s own glory, internal to his own honor that He has worked this tremendous strength in resurrecting dead humanity, and giving them a victorious place with Christ.
This realized eschatology wherein believers are “already” seated with Christ and raised with him is contrasted by the reality that Satan can still very much harass the body of believers (hence, the need for the armor of God in chapter 6). The believers live with a new kind of “resurrection” power in their daily lives (2:10) which Paul further detailed in Romans 6.
God has given us everything we need to now follow him. Whether or not we still struggle with sin, we have a new identity. God has given us a new ability through His grace in Christ.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, so that no one should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, so that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:8-10).
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