-God has rich mercy and grace for us (v.4). These are so great that no one can imagine it!
-We are dead in our trespass (v.5).
We once were dead and in disobedience.
-Saints have a future in things to come which are rich in mercy and in grace.
-What Christ did has an enormous impact on the present and the future.
- The union with Christ is very deep.
The main verb comes in verse 5b, “he made (us) alive together,” followed by two more verbs (verse 6), “and he raised (us) up together and seated (us) together” (all three compound verbs in Greek with the preposition “with,” that is, with Christ). Verse 7 gives the purpose of God’s action. The sentence ends at the end of verse 7; in verses 8–10 (two sentences) the writer stresses the fact that all of this is the result of God’s grace, not of human achievement It may be useful to introduce this as a simile for example, “it is just as though God brought us back to life together with Christ.” It is important that the translation not have an expression which means “he (God) made us live with Christ.”(Bratcher & Nida, 1993).
- Salvation can only come from God alone-His love/grace, there is nothing man can do to save himself (v.8).
-In salvation, we are created by God to have union with Christ (v.6)! We belong to Christ. God’s grace was manifested or shown to us by the way in which Christ Jesus loved us.
-Now, since we do have new life in Christ and since we are joined together with Christ, we are now called to a life of good deeds.
We “have been created, to create.” Because of our union in Christ we are the instrument and the means of a life of good deeds. Better yet, He had already prepared for us to do these deeds! (Bratcher & Nida, 1993).
-He made us for good deeds, it is a consequence of our salvation, our union with Christ.
-The blood of Christ brings people near Him and to salvation!
Verses 8 and 9:
It is not easy to distinguish between the cause of salvation, that is, by God’s grace, and the means, namely, through faith. It is God’s grace which produces the salvation, but it is the faith of people which makes this possible. Faith therefore may be described technically as “contributing circumstances,” for without faith on man’s part God will not impose his grace and salvation. The statement it is by God’s grace that you have been saved may be expressed as “because God is so kind, you have been saved” or “because God is so kind, he has saved you.” The final phrase through faith may be expressed as “this was possible because you trusted.” In this way one can state the necessary circumstances which involve faith, but one can avoid making faith the ultimate means for salvation. If it is necessary to supply an object for the verb “trusted” or “had faith,” here it probably is better to have God as the object: “you trusted him” or “you had faith in him” (Bratcher & Nida, 1993).
Verses. 11,12:
We did not belong to God’s chosen people, we are foreigners. Even, strangers to the covenants of promise which were based on God’s promises to his people (Israel).
We had no part in the covenants (or, agreements) which God made with his people and which were based on his promises to them. We lived without being able to imagine that any good would come to us because we are not His chosen people. We were far away, but now we are in close union with Christ Jesus, we have been brought near, because Christ shed his blood for us! Amen!
Reference:
Bratcher, R. G., & Nida, E. A. (1993). A handbook on Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. UBS Handbook Series (pp. 44–54). New York: United Bible Societies.
