The Book of Ephesians: 'Ephesians 2:1-13 What we once where and what God did (UPDATED OCTOBER 2009 STUDY #2)' at Christian Classics Ethereal Library

comment '2:1-7 Once dead--now alive, raised to Heaven, Seated with Christ' by DanFugett

2:1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you
formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the
prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the
sons of disobedience. 3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the
lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. 4 But God,
being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5
even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together
with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with Him,
and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that
in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in
kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. New American Standard Bible : 1995 update. 1995 (Eph 2:1-7). LaHabra,
CA: The Lockman Foundation.


Apart from Christ we are

...A. Dead in sin (2:1)
...B. Influenced by Satan (2:2)
...C. Controlled by lust (2:3a)
...D. Under God’s wrath (2:3b)


3 For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived,
enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and
envy, hateful, hating one another. 4 But when the *kindness* of God our
Savior and His *love* for mankind appeared, 5 *He saved us*, not on the
basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His
mercy,*by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, 6
whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so
that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to
the hope of eternal life.* New American Standard Bible : 1995 update. 1995 (Tit 3:3-7). LaHabra,
CA: The Lockman Foundation.


God made us right with Him by His grace. That is, God credited
righteousness to our account and declared us to be just, as the One Who
spoke the earth into existence, on the basis of His own mercy and grace.
God actually washes our sin away, and makes us new inside when He
declares us to be free of all condemnation.

From that moment we are His children, redeemed and forgiven. In his
commentary on Ephesians, Spurgeon said, "And if any of us shall come to
spiritual life, it must be by the quickening of God's Spirit, vouchsafed
to us sovereignly through the good will of God the Father, not for any
merits of our own, but entirely of his own abounding and infinite
grace."

Jesus came to call to Him the sick sinner not the well righteous
person. When our human frailty causes us to despair whether God has
saved us, may we remember "Christ died for the ungodly." *It is not
hard for a layperson to feel the preciousness of being counted righteous
in Christ by faith alone. There are few sweeter words for a guilty
sinner to hear.* But the layperson may wonder if this apparent obscuring
of the distinction between justification and sanctification really
matters. It does. Our only hope of progress in gradual sanctification
(growing in likeness to Jesus) is that we already have a right standing
with God by faith alone. By this justification we are accepted into
God’s favor and enjoy a reconciled position. This right standing
establishes the very relationship in which we find the help and power to
make progress in love.


This is the very structure of salvation in the book of Romans.
Precisely because “those who receive the abundance of grace and the
free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus
Christ” (Romans 5:17, esv), it seems plausible to say, “Let us sin
that grace may abound” (Romans 6:1). But Paul says, “No.” Then
follows his great teaching on sanctification in Romans 6 and 7. [Romans
3-5 teach about justification and 6-7 teach about sanctification]. And
the foundation of it is that *when we were united to Christ by faith
(Romans 6:5), Christ’s death and righteousness became ours. We died
with him, and righteousness was reckoned to us in this union. Now, and
only now, can we successfully break free from our actual slavery to
sinning. “We know that our old self was crucified with him in order
that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no
longer be enslaved to sin” (Romans 6:6, esv). A decisive death with
Christ and bestowal of the “gift of righteousness” (5:17, esv) has
happened in union with Christ. Now we can joyfully and confidently fight
to become what we are in Christ—free and righteous. “You also must
consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus”
(Romans 6:11, esv).*


If the battle of sanctification is made part of our justification, as
the newer challenge tends to make it, a great part of the foundation for
triumphant warfare against sin is removed, and we are made to fight a
battle that has already been fought for us and that we cannot win. Oh,
there is a battle to be fought. And it is deadly. “If you live
according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to
death the deeds of the body, you will live” (Romans 8:13, esv). “Be
killing sin or [sin] will be killing you,” as John Owen says.
But *what is distinctive about the Christian warfare is that we can only
kill the sin that has already been killed when we were killed in Christ.
Or, to put it positively, we can only achieve practical righteousness as
a working out of imputed righteousness. The battle is to become what we
are in Christ: righteous with the imputed righteousness of Christ.* Yes, it matters whether the declaration of justification and the
liberation of sanctification are distinguished. The battle will be
engaged differently without this faith, and the fallout cannot be a
happy one over the long haul. Piper, J. (2002). Counted righteous in
Christ : Should we abandon the imputation of Christ's righteousness?
(49). Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books.