Eph

Eph. 2:1-10

12/16/2007

“We Are His Workmanship”

Few things are more important in Christian life than the Word of God. It is the one and only absolute standard for our faith and living. It makes us wise unto salvation and equips us for every good work (2 Tim. 3:15-16). It is through the Word that we come to know God and what duty He requires of us (WSC Q3). It testifies concerning Christ and we come to know Him and commune with Him through His Word. Yet many of us have a hard time benefiting from the Bible. There are many reasons for this. (I deal with some of them and they are included in the sermon manuscript to be posted on our website.) One mistake I do want to address is this: we forget that the Bible, while it is God’s divine revelation, is still a literature. God employed literary conventions to communicate His message and He expects us to apply our understanding of the literary conventions when we read it, such as genre, grammar, structure and context (literary, historical and, in the case of the Bible, redemptive historical). With that in mind, let us take a look at our passage and see how these literary conventions help us to understand it.

Grammatical-Literary Context

Our passage follows directly from the previous chapter, particularly from the last petition of Paul’s prayer in the latter part of Ch. 1. He prayed that the Ephesians might know “what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places…” (vv. 19-20). Paul desires us to know the immeasurable greatness of God’s power. This power was demonstrated in the resurrection of Jesus Christ and His session (that is, being seated) at the right hand of God in the heavenly places. Paul wants us to know this power of God because this immeasurable greatness of God’s power is toward us who believe. So we can see why Paul wanted us to know this great power of God, which raised Jesus from the dead and seated Him at God’s right hand: we were dead in trespasses and sins and we needed the resurrection power of God. In our passage Paul shows how this resurrection power of God has worked for our salvation.

Grammatical-Literary Analysis

This passage is a well-defined and well-structured unit. It is framed by the word “walk”, which is found at the beginning (v. 2) and at the end (v. 10): this section begins with walking and ends with walking. But this verb is not merely repeated. When it is used the second time, it is used in such a way that signals a radical change that has taken place. Although we are engaged in the same action of “walking” at the end of this section, we do so in a different condition and direction.

In fact, this passage is neatly divided into two sections that pertain to this radical shift. The first section (vv. 1-3) is about our former condition. So twice Paul uses the word “once” (or, “formerly” according to NASB): “in which you once walked” (v. 2); “among whom we all once lived” (v. 3). The second section (vv. 4-10) is about our present condition as contrasted with the former. We were once dead in our trespasses and sins. But now we are made alive together with Christ. We used to walk, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air. But now we walk in the good works that God prepared beforehand for us. We used to be under the dominion of the spirit that is working in the sons of disobedience. But now we are united with Christ Jesus. We used to live in the lusts of the flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind. But now we are seated with Christ in the heavenly places. We used to be children of wrath by nature. But now we have received the immeasurable riches of God’s grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

The transition from the first to the second section, from our former to our present condition, is anything but smooth and gradual; it is of a most dramatic kind. The second section begins, “But God….” The conjunction “but” is used here to signal a most monumental, radical change. Notice the sudden change of the main actor(s) following it: “But God….” In the first section, the dominant actors were “you” (the Ephesians in their former condition) and “we” (all Christians in their former condition). This is true exclusively, the main subject of all the main verbs being “you” and “we”: you were dead in trespasses and sins; you walked according to the course of this world…; we lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind; we were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

In the second section, however, the main actor/subject is dramatically and conspicuously changed to “God” from “you” and “we”. It is God who is rich in mercy, who loved us with His great love; God made us alive together with Christ; God raised us up with Him; God seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus, in order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus! In the first section, we were the active ones. In the second, God is the active One. When we acted in the first section, we indulged in sin and followed the path of destruction. When God acts in the second section, He saves us.

What accounts for this kind of radical change? God’s grace (vv. 8-9). It had to be grace because we were completely unworthy of God’s great love, because we were by nature children of wrath, in fact. Our salvation could not be of our own doing because we were dead in our trespasses and sins: dead people cannot make themselves live again. And the grace we needed for our salvation could not be anything less than God’s grace; no grace of man or angel or any other being would do. Why? Because our need was so great that no one but God could fill that need. After all, who can make alive those who were dead in trespasses and sins?

Some view salvation as nothing more than a sick person getting better, or a drowning person getting rescued, as if we knew we were sick and wanted to get better, as if we knew we were drowning and wanted to be rescued. But that is not how it is with spiritual death. You see, our spiritual death is worse than physical death. Physical death is characterized by total passivity and inactivity in the most absolute sense: the corpse does not think, feel or act. Spiritual death, on the other hand, is characterized not by passivity and inactivity but by active opposition to the principle of life. Notice how Paul does not say that we were dead because of our sins and trespasses. That is theologically true, of course. But Paul says here instead that we were dead in our trespasses and sins. That is, the very condition of our being spiritually dead consists in continuing and actively engaging in our trespasses and sins. So Paul goes on to describe the active condition of our spiritual death: those who are dead in trespasses and sins walk after the course of this world, following Satan, living in the passions of their flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind. We could not save ourselves, of course, because we were dead in our trespasses and sins. That means that we did not even want to be saved, being totally obsessed with our carnal lusts and actually carrying them out whenever possible, and thereby rebelling against God! So God had to intervene, radically and powerfully--“But God…!” That is grace. Thus comes our salvation from God to us by His grace.

So in vv. 8-9, Paul takes pains to emphasize the monergistic nature of our salvation. “Monergistic” means literally “done (or, energized) by one”. When we say that our salvation is monergistic in nature, it means that it is solely the work of God, not of any partnership between God and us in any way. This had to be made clear because salvation is “by grace through faith” (v. 8). You can easily see how some people might take this to mean that salvation is accomplished by what God does (grace) plus what we do (faith). As though anticipating this, Paul goes on at length to stress the monergistic nature of our salvation. Our salvation is not our own doing; it is a gift of God--even our faith is His gift (v. 8). No one can boast of his salvation because our salvation is not a result of our own works (v. 9)--implied here is that it is the work of God. So God alone can boast of our salvation. That is in fact the very purpose of God’s salvation: “so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (v. 7), “to the praise of the glory of His grace” (1:6, 12, 14).

This monergistic nature of our salvation is made even more crystal clear when Paul speaks of our salvation as new creation. “We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus…,” says Paul. The Greek word for “workmanship” (poi,hma) is used “only of the works of divine creation” (BDAG). So, as we are God’s workmanship, we are “created”. The idea of new creation shows how our salvation is totally and completely the work of God--that is, by grace. Things can be invented, recycled and chemically altered. But these changes, however radical, all fall short of the divine act of creation. To create something in this ultimate, divine sense is to make something out of nothing. That which is created contributes nothing to its existence. How can it, when it did not even exist in the first place? But our redemptive new creation required a greater demonstration of divine power. As Jonathan Edwards pointed out, “It is a more glorious effect of power to make that holy that was so depraved, and under the dominion of sin, than to confer holiness on that which before had nothing of the contrary. It is a more glorious work of power to rescue a soul out of the hands of the devil, and from the powers of darkness, and to bring it into a state of salvation, than to confer holiness where there was no prepossession or opposition” (“God Glorified in Man’s Dependence”). So our new creation required “the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe… in accordance with the working of the strength of His might” (1:19, NASB).

Paul goes on to say that our new creation is “in Christ Jesus”. That is, we were not created anew directly by God individually; we were created anew in and through Jesus Christ. To be created in Jesus Christ means more than to be created by Jesus Christ. Paul says that we are created in Christ Jesus. We have a glimpse of what this means: in vv. 5-6, we are told that we were made alive together with Christ (v. 5), raised up with Christ and seated with Christ in the heaven places in Christ Jesus (v. 6). We see why Paul describes our resurrection and session as “in Christ” or “with Christ”. For in the preceding chapter we were told of Christ’s resurrection and session at the right hand of God in the heavenly places. And we also note that our resurrection and session are said to be not only with Christ and in Christ but also in the past: we were made alive, raised and seated in the heavenly places with Christ and in Christ. This shows that there is a definite sense in which Christ’s resurrection was more than His individual resurrection: through His incarnation He united Himself with us to suffer the misery and punishment of our sin and to die our death in our place, bearing away our sin and guilt and punishment. So when He was raised from the dead, we too were raised with Him in some definite sense. So Paul can speak of our resurrection and session in the past, particularly at the time of Christ’s resurrection and session. So far-reaching is our union with Christ. What exactly is the nature of our union with Christ? To see it, we have to consider the context again, this time, from the redemptive historical point of view.

The Redemptive Historical Context

Simply put, our union with Chris is like our former union with Adam as our covenant head. For we notice that the description of Christ’s resurrection and session is reminiscent of the circumstances of Adam’s creation. When God created Adam, He blessed him, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Gen. 1:28). Here we have the language of filling (“be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth”) and dominion (“subdue it and have dominion” over other creatures). And that is exactly the language used at the end of Eph. 1: Christ is seated at the right hand of God, far above all powers and names, all things in subjection under His feet (1:21-22); the church is the fullness of Christ, who fills all in all (1:23). Of course, the difference between Adam and Christ the last Adam is obvious: dominion and filling were given to Adam as a mandate, which he failed to fulfill; Christ fulfilled both once for all, not just in the earthly realm, but also in the heavenly realm, over all things, over all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. In this we cannot ignore the royal-military imagery. For Christ was seated at the right hand of God as the victorious King, who triumphed over all His enemies: all things were put in subjection under His feet (1:22).

And this Jesus Christ, the last Adam and the victorious, eternal King, is our new covenant Head. In our union with Him we receive all the benefits of His merit, of His life, death and resurrection. So God can be rich in mercy toward us, God can love us with His great love, because of Jesus Christ: the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us is in Christ Jesus (v. 7). As God’s rich mercy and great love and immeasurable riches of grace are founded and anchored in the merit of Christ sacrifice and perfect obedience, they cannot be taken away from those who are united with Christ. That is grace: “God’s riches at Christ’s expense.”

Paul’s prayer was that we know the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe, the power, which He demonstrated in the raising of Jesus Christ from the dead and seating Him at His right hand far above all powers and names. What is more urgent and important to know than this? What knowledge is more precious than this--the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us? How far-reaching and radical will be its impact if we know this truly as Paul did? That is why Paul in our passage (2:1-10) shows how that power is operating in us--in making us, who were once dead in trespasses, alive and seating us in the heavenly places and enabling us to walk in good works. This redemptive reversal culminates and climaxes in the last verse: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (v. 10).

We should not be surprised by this, the close association between our new creation and good works. Adam was created to do good works: to cultivate and guard the Garden of Eden, the garden-sanctuary; to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over other creatures. As Adam was created to do good works, so was Eve to help him do the good works. And we are to Christ what Eve was to be to Adam--His bride and His helpmate.

But have we not been saved by grace and not by our works? Most certainly! We have affirmed that Christ the last Adam fulfilled what the first Adam failed to do and fulfilled it perfectly. And there is nothing we can do to add to Christ’s perfect work of salvation. It is purely by grace. Then what about the good works that we are to walk in? You see, the good works God prepared for us to do are not unto our salvation. These good works do not add or contribute anything to our salvation. These good works are the consequences of our salvation. They are designed to show the immeasurable greatness of God’s power toward us who believe. This power is demonstrated by making alive those who were once dead in trespasses and sins. But that is not all. This power of God is further demonstrated by making those, who once walked following the world and Satan, walk in the good works He prepared for them. Only then is the reversal complete. Only then is our salvation complete.

That is why we are to walk in a manner worthy of our calling (4:1). That is why we should no longer walk as the Gentiles, in the futility of their mind, becoming callous, giving ourselves to sensuality and being greedy to practice every kind of impurity (4:17, 19). That is why we should walk in love, just as Christ also loved us, and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma (5:2). That is why we should walk as children of light (5:8) and to walk not as unwise men but as wise (5:15). This means being filled with the Holy Spirit, living a life of communion with God in thanksgiving and praise and with other fellow saints--with our spouses and parents and children and slaves and masters.

This walking in newness extends even to taking up the full armor of God to wrestle against the rulers, authorities, cosmic powers over this present darkness and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places (6:10ff). Thus the redemptive reversal of our passage is completed in another sense: we, who once followed the prince of the power of the air, now stand and fight against him in the full armor of God! You see, God’s grace does not stop at offering pardon for our sins, nor making us alive. God’s grace extends all the way to making us useful for the kingdom of God, transforming rebels into soldiers in the army of Christ.

Here we are reminded of Ezekiel’s famous vision in Ezek. 37. There we find a valley full of dry bones. At the behest of God, Ezekiel commands these dry bones to come alive. At his command the bones come together and sinews and flesh grow on them. Ezekiel commands again and they come alive as the breath (the same Hebrew word as the Spirit), coming from the four winds, blows on them. And they become an exceedingly great army. Here we see the dry bones being made alive, the Spirit blowing over them and a great army being formed. Isn’t this what we find in Ephesians as well--being made alive, being filled with the Holy Spirit and taking up the full armor of God? And you are the dry bones raised to life and formed into a great army of Christ! If God is able to do this, what can be too difficult? Can we doubt our victory? The armor of God imagery brings us back to Paul’s prayer in Ch. 1, particularly to Paul’s exaltation of Christ as the victorious King over all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come (1:21). Christ has triumphed over His enemies and our victory has been already won by our conquering King!

That is our new life in Christ! We are not just forgiven. To us has been given the full armor of God to fight in the army of Christ, to walk and to march under the triumphant banner of Jesus Christ. We have been made alive together with Christ and, as God’s masterful workmanship, we are to walk in the good works God prepared beforehand. We once lived in the passions of the flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind. Here we see people obsessed by their carnal desires, doing everything necessary to carry them out. The same should be true of our new walk in Christ. In fact, it should be even more vigorous than the dead men walking, shouldn’t it? And isn’t it a great irony that the spiritual death is so active? Think about the vigor with which the people of the world pursue their carnal desires--all that obsession, all the thinking and planning and strategizing and expending of their energy to satisfy their worldly appetites! And that is how we were! But now we have been made alive with the resurrection life of Jesus Christ! How then should we live? We should not just think about what we should do as God’s redeemed people! Shouldn’t we live with more thinking and planning and strategizing and expending of all our efforts and energies in stirring up the graces of God in us? The surpassing greatness of His power according to the working of the strength of His power is for us and in us! Let us walk, indulging our new, godly desires, pursuing them and carrying them out with full force! Let us not allow to wither away the blessings and heavenly desires that God planted in our hearts through the Word. Do not put it off! Do not procrastinate! Carry them out right away, all the way and the happy way! Replace your old self with its evil practices and replace them with the new self with its heavenly ways day after day! Let us walk and march as soldiers of Jesus Christ, triumphing over our sins and past in the name of Jesus Christ! There will come a day when the Fall will be totally and completely reversed in our perfect salvation that glorious heaven! Satan will be cast into the eternal lake of fire and we shall be glorified and perfected, fully enjoying every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. There we shall sing of God’s amazing grace through all eternity in greater wonder and amazement than we do now, as the resurrection life of Christ pulsates throughout our glorified body! Amen.