EPHESIANS 2:1-10

I went to the internet not long ago to look for the highest rated commentary on Ephesians so I could buy it. There was actually a quite good consensus on the subject. It seemed like an easy decision since the top listed book had glowing reviews and was by a very well respected Bible scholar, but I read a little further and found out that some of those who had earlier recommended this commentary had now withdrawn their endorsements on the basis of admitted plagiarisms in it.

The second choice was also highly recommended, but the author is a professor at an evangelical seminary that happens to hold to some theological views I generally disagree with. And the third book wasn't quite as highly recommended and wasn't as up to date as the other two, but it was part of an excellent evangelical commentary series. So which book would you have bought if you were me?

I actually went with the second book because I am not afraid to read scholars who might have new insights that I had not earlier heard. I passed over the first book for moral issues since Ephesians, as most of Paul's letters, starts out with some heavy theology but then beginning with Chapter 4 the letter shifts more to issues of morality. Quoting from some of these:

“...lead a life worth of the calling to which you have been called.” 4:1

“We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro... by people's trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming.” 4:14

“But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.” 4:15

“So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another.” 4:25

“Thieves must give up stealing...and work honestly with their own hands.” 4:28

“Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.” 5:10-11

All of these teachings seemed to apply to the issue of plagiarism. This last quote brings up an interesting point. When the publisher of the first book, Eerdmans, investigated the possible cases of plagiarism, they found that they were so extensive that they not only withdrew the book from publication, but they removed all of the author's other books from their inventory. And Christian Book Distributors did the same thing, though of course you can still buy these books from Amazon. I applaud Eerdmans and CBD for wanting to distance themselves from even the appearance of evil even though I am sure this move had some negative financial consequences for them.

The main point of this two-part arrangement we find in most of Paul's letters (theology then morality) goes in two directions: (1) our behavior as Christians should be a direct outgrowth of our theology, and (2) just knowing the truth is not enough; you need to actually incorporate it into your daily life.

As a somewhat appropriate aside, I once attended a church known for its strong theological preaching. One week during a lesson I was teaching in our adult Sunday school class, I passed around an antique coin for the class to look at. It never came back to me at the end of the lesson.

Now for a more detailed breakdown as to how Ephesians is organized, I'll subject you, as usual, to my own literary analysis.

Figure 1: The Structure of Ephesians

I. Introduction (1:1-2)

II. Position with God through Christ (1:3-14)

III. Power in Christ (1:15-23)

IV. Gentiles’ Past and Present Position Contrasted (2:1-22)

V. The Mystery of Christ (3:1-21)

IV'. Gentiles’ Past and Present Behavior Contrasted (4:1-5:20)

II'. Position with Others through Christ (5:21-6:9)

III'. Power in Christ (6:10-20)

I'. Conclusion (6:21-24)

This scheme is useful in identifying the main thrust of this letter. It is the revelation of the gospel message, “the mystery hidden for ages,” of God bringing together one new people for himself.

You can also see from this outline that our passage for today in Ephesians 2 is actually most closely related to verses in Ephesians 4 and 5. In Chapter 2 we have a theological presentation by Paul describing the changed status a believer has in God's eyes. But when we get to Chapter 4 we will see how that same theological change in our lives should play out in a changed behavior.

Chapter 2 as a whole can be pictured as two cycles that are quite similar in theme and in wording:

Ephesians 2:1-22

A. Their previous life (2:1-3): beginning “you...were” “alive, dead” (2:1)

B. God’s Grace (2:4-10): beginning “but God” and ending in “Christ Jesus” “dead,                                 alive” (2:5)

A'. Their previous life (2:11-12) beginning “you were” “separated” (2:12)

            B'. God's Grace (2:13-22): beginning “but in Christ Jesus” and ending in “Christ Jesus”                         “joined together” (2:21)

Warren Wiersbe entitles the verses in today's lesson “Get Out of the Graveyard.” “We are taken out of the great graveyard of sin (in 1-10) and placed into the throne room of glory (11-22).” I will hopefully take you out of the graveyard in this lesson but you'll have to read the rest of the chapter to fully enter the throne room.

Ephesians istelf starts out with a sentence that is twelve verses long. Well today's lesson, according to some Greek scholars, also constitutes only just one sentence, somewhere between 7 and 10 verses long in this case and equally complicated. As a kid back in middle school, I actually loved to diagram sentences in English class, but I wouldn't touch this one with a ten-foot pole. The subject of the sentence, God, doesn't even appear until verse 4, and the main verbs don't show up until verses 5-6. Paul starts a thought and then interrupts himself for several verses before continuing, and there are dependent and parenthetical clauses, three prepositional phrases in a row, and multiple verbs. So we are going to have to take it in bite-size chunks.

Verse 1. This sentence begins with kai, usually translated “and”; In the Holman Standard Version it is translated “as for you.” The thought here isn't completed until v. 5 where we will see that “you” is going to become “we” and “us.”

Warren Wiersbe notes, “The unbeliever is not sick; he is dead! He doesn't need resuscitation; he needs resurrection.”

“In your transgressions and sins” could also be translated as “because of” or “by your.”

What is the difference between transgressions and sins? Whatever your answer is, there is probably a biblical expert somewhere out there who will agree with you.

            Transgressions                             Sins

            an evil disposition                      concrete deeds          (St. Augustine)

sins of omission                         sins of commission   (E. K. Simpson)

willful crossing of a boundary  missing the mark       (Explore the Bible)

            synonyms for conscious and deliberate actions           (Harold Hoehner)

But if they mean the same thing, why bother listing them both? That is why I like Markus Barth's

 position: He calls it a hendiadys meaning “sinful transgressions.” A hendiadys is a Greek term meaning

 “one by way of two.” An English example would be the expression “good and mad,” meaning “very 

mad.”

Verse 2. Now things begin to get a bit complicated, and there are a number of words here which need further definition.

“Ways” (aion = age) – there was a Greek god named Aion so some feel the word should be written in capital letters to represent a false god.

“Age” has also been translated as lifestyle, practice, principle, or just “era” – the time we live in.

“World” (kosmos) is a reference to the world system which opposes God. In other words, the unregenerate fit in quite well with the current world standards, being only concerned with day-to-day affairs.

“Spirit at work” may be (a) the same as the world-age, (b) another name for Satan, or (c) the poisonous spiritual atmosphere breathed in by mankind. (M. Barth) The wording here reminds me of I John 4:1-3, which talks about the spirit of the antichrist now at work in the world, and John defines that spirit as the denial that Jesus came from God. And that spirit certainly is alive and well today.

Then we get to that difficult combination of three prepositional phrases. The standards of the unredeemed are also in accord with, or under the control of, “the ruler of the kingdom of the air,” referring of course to Satan. “Kingdom” is more commonly translated as “power(s)” or “realm.” The major question is: what about the “air”?

Some take the word “air” literally to refer to the atmosphere, which was popularly felt to be the region between the earth and the moon. The idea was common to the Greeks of Paul's day that the air was the special realm of demonic activity. It was also part of Jewish teachings found outside the Bible (Philo, The Similitudes of Enoch 31 and The Ascension of Isaiah 11:23), but that idea doesn't appear elsewhere in the Bible. This literal interpretation has given rise to all sorts of speculation.

Billy Graham wrote in his book Angels that one of the functions of angels is to escort our souls up to heaven when we die in order to protect us while we are passing through earth's dangerous atmosphere where Satan and the demons live. He came up with this idea by coupling together a comment in Jesus' parable about Lazarus and the Rich Man with this verse in Ephesians.

A variation on this belief has been around at least since the Middle Ages. Do you know where the idea originated of saying “God bless you” when a person sneezes? One version of the story is that it came from the idea that your soul momentarily leaves your body when you sneeze. If someone says “God bless you,” that prevents the demons in the air from snatching your soul away before it has a chance to get back in. Several atheist sites on the internet have had a field day with that belief.

I found an equally far-out application on the internet in which the anonymous author warns us that we can't trust any news reports transmitted by the airwaves since they are under Satan's control. That statement is a little ironic since the author is also using the airwaves to spread his own message.

Now, John mentions four times in his writings and Paul once (II Corinthians 4:4) that Satan is the ruler of the world (kosmos). As I said earlier, this word doesn't refer to the physical earth but indicates worldly systems, but in I Peter 5:8 Satan is pictured as roaming around the earth like a lion doing damage, and in Revelation 12 Satan is said to have been confined to the physical earth and sea, where he carries out his wrath. There is no mention of the atmosphere at all. So here in Ephesians, we are probably talking about a spiritual realm, not a physical one. That is certainly true if we consider, as many scholars do, that the “air” in this verse is equivalent to a phrase found only in Ephesians (1:3; 2:6; 3:10: 6:12), “in the heavenly places.” Some of these references indicate that this is where Christ dwells with his saints, and in other passages it is where the evil powers dwell. So it is hard to picture it as one particular physical location. Therefore it is probably referring to the spiritual realm instead.

In addition, “air” can be alternatively translated as mist or vapor, indicating something impermanent or untrustworthy. That would fit the description of Satan as the Father of Lies. Or “air” may defined as “a prevailing influence or surroundings” (E. K. Simpson) or “the current climate of opinion.” (F. F. Bruce)

Verse 3. Up to now, Paul has been addressing his audience as “you.” Now he talks about “we” and “us.” There have been two explanations for what this change means. He may be saying “we Jews” along with “you Gentiles.” Or more likely, Paul is personally identifying with his audience by saying “I Paul” as well as “you Ephesians.” In either case, he is clearly indicating that none of us is free from sin.

“Flesh” in this verse has a definitely negative connotation. It can be defined as our fallen nature, the natural inclinations of unredeemed mankind to oppose to God's will. It has two components: (1) desires: The Book of James says that outward sins arise from our wishes/desires. (2) second is the heart, translated here as “thoughts” since in Jewish thinking, the heart was the seat of one's will and reasoning, the inner person. That doesn't mean that the lost sinner is incapable of doing any good. Wiersbe explains that Paul is “simply saying that he is incapable of doing anything to merit salvation.”

It is not quite clear what the phrase “by nature” means. Marcus Barth gives four options: (a) in the natural order of things, (b) in reality, (c) voluntarily, or (d) determined by fate or some other force. He opts for the last meaning. By contrast, Hoehner (Ephesians) suggests three somewhat different interpretations: (a) source or origin, (b) a natural quality, or (c) the created world of nature, opting for the first meaning. But at least both authors agree that the phrase refers to some condition that we have no control over without outside help.

Verses 2b-3. This diagram summarizes these last two verses:

Sons of disobedience

    among whom also we

            walked in

                the lusts of the flesh

            doing the wishes of

                the flesh and thoughts

and were children of wrath

    as also the rest

Disobedience was Satan's downfall and unfortunately his spirit of rebellion is still active among mankind. Those who begin as sons of disobedience end up being children of wrath, which means that we are all “deserving of God's judicial condemnation.” Of course, that shouldn't be confused with man's wrath, which is more based on emotional anger.

Verses 1-3. The world, the flesh, and the devil are all found in these first three verses. This evil trio is in opposition to the Holy Trinity and also shows up in Christ's three temptations in the wilderness and in his parable of the sower and the seed.

Trespasses and sins = personal evil; course of the world = systematic evil; power of the air = cosmological evil. (Dictionary of Biblical Imagery, p. 163)

“First, we did what everybody else did...”

“Second, we did what the devil wanted.”

“Third, we enjoyed it.” (Harold Hoehner)

Verse 1 started out: “And you,” but from this point on in the passage, the emphasis will be on God's actions, not those of sinful man. The Holman Standard translation of verse 4 is not the best because it doesn't reflect the word order in the original Greek, which starts out “But God.” “What a difference those two words make!” (Wiersbe) And Ralph Martin (New Bible Commentary: Revised) points out that the dark hopelessness of verses 1-3 “serves only as a backcloth to make the love and grace of God shine more brightly.” So let's leave the bad news and hear the good news.

Verse 4. That last important phrase will pop up again in a few more verses. But look at the underlined word “rich.” The word “riches” is prominent in Paul's writings only in Ephesians, thus the title of Wiersbe's commentary, Be Rich. Paul also writes in this letter of the riches of God's grace (1:7; 2:7), of God's glory (1:18; 3:16), and of Christ himself (3:8).

Verses 5-6. There are three rare verbs in these verses describing what God has done for us. “Made alive with” isn't found in secular Greek writings, and in the NT is found only in here and Colossians 2:13. Since it is in the past tense it refers, not to future resurrection, but the present spiritual life of the believer. Hoehner calls it “positional resurrection.” And secondly, as in baptism where we are buried with Christ and then made alive again, we are also raised with him to newness of life.

And lastly, we are actually right now seated with Christ where he is at the right hand of God, according to Ephesians 1:20. That verb is found only one other place in the NT (Luke 22:55). As Markus Barth says, “God is as present among his chosen...as he is in heaven...; it is the sphere formed by him who fills and determines it.” The thrones where we are seated with him “are to be understood as a metaphor denoting the privileges, honor, authority, and function given to the saints.” Why?

Verse 7. Only in “the coming ages” will God reveal the whole extent of his plan for the church. Barth says that the verb “show” is a metaphor, a judicial term meaning “to prove” or give evidence. “It is the nature of the church to exist not only for its own sake, but to reflect God's glory...This implies that everyone in the church who knows about God's kingship and goodness is a witness. Thus he cannot be silent without also being a liar.” (Barth) That is a rather deep thought, and it fits in well with this week's emphasis on evangelism.

The next verses expand on the previous mention in verse 5 of God's grace.

Verse 8. By placing grace before the verb, it is given an extra emphasis in the Greek. Most translations treat the verb tense as in the past (“have been saved”) but KJV, J.B. Phillips, AB and NEB say “you are saved.” Really, the whole past, present and future aspects of salvation are in mind.

Well, which are we saved by, grace or faith? It somewhat harkens back to the perennial question involving predestination and free will. This was basically the question posed by an associate pastor at a previous church I attended. He was giving a series of evening lectures on basic theology. We were in a large room filled with folding chairs, and it had one aisle running down the middle. There were about 100 people in attendance, including several members of our church who were full-time missionaries and some visitors from Campus Crusade who were friends of the associate pastor.

He asked us, “If you had to chose between the following two statements, which would you go with?: (a) My salvation is all up to God, or (b) My salvation is all up to me. He told us to all stand up and move to one side of the room if our answer was (a) and the other side if it was (b). Well, I started to pick up my folding chair and place it in the aisle, but he wouldn't allow that. What happened was rather interesting. 90% of the audience said it was ultimately up to God. And there is good biblical justification for that. In Isaiah 43:11, God says, “apart from me there is no savior.” What about the 10% who said it was our personal decision that was all important? Everyone of them was a full-time missionary. A strictly Calvinistic theology can be seen as a barrier to evangelistic efforts in some people's minds, but it doesn't necessarily have to be.

Harold Hoehner tries to resolve the issue by putting it this way: grace is the objective basis of salvation while faith is the subjective means. And keep in mind that in the Bible, faith itself is never considered to be a work and, by the way, neither is baptism, which is also said to save us.

“This (that) is not from yourself” What does the pronoun “this” refer back to? If Paul were writing in 

English, it would have to refer to the last noun mentioned – faith. That fits well with the Calvinistic idea

 that God chooses those He gives faith to and those He withholds it from. But the Greek language, like 

German, actually has three genders for nouns and pronouns – masculine, feminine and neuter – and the 

noun and its pronoun have to agree with one another in gender. The problem is, as almost all 

commentators will point out, the pronoun “this” is neuter in gender while faith and grace are feminine. 

So the pronoun must refer instead to the whole scheme, concept, process and experience of salvation. 

But to complicate matters further, Markus Barth notes that “faith” in this verse may actually refer to 

God's or Christ's faithfulness, rather than the faith of the believer.

Verse 10. We usually think that “works” is a dirty word for Paul, but here in verses 9 and 10 we 

actually have three types of works described. In verse 9 it was human effort that is useless or even 

damaging for salvation. But in verse 10 we encounter two positive types of works.

“Workmanship” = poiema, from which we get the word “poem.” We are God's poem.

Unfortunately, some of us don't rhyme as well as others.

“Adam was made in God's image by His physical workmanship, but this time it refers to the spiritual re-creation of God in the individual believer's life which makes him a New Creation.” ( Hoehner)

Verse 10b. Even Calvin stated, “It is faith alone that justifies, but faith that justifies can never be alone.” Matthew 5:16 says, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” So we are to do good works not to earn our salvation or to glorify ourselves, but to demonstrate the salvation we already have and glorify God.

Verse 10c. The Holman translation is particularly misleading in this verse. It doesn't say in the Greek that we are to do good works, but instead we are to walk in the good works which God will perform. We merely have to walk by faith as He carries them out.

Then there is the final phrase, which has been misunderstood by many Christians to mean that God has mapped out a specific plan for each of us before we are even born. But this verse more likely describes not specific individual works that he wants us to do but instead a general pattern of life for everyone who has been saved by God's grace.

Now perhaps because this long sentence we have been studying is so complicated grammatically, Paul repeats several key words and phrases so that you can't possibly miss the main point. The three things we sinners mistakenly “followed” in the past are balanced by the three-fold mention of the One we now follow, “Christ Jesus.” Similarly, our past situation is reflected in the repeated phrases “in which you/we once lived” (2x) and “you/we were dead in trespasses” (2x). But this past condition is totally reversed by the two-fold proclamation “by grace you have been saved.”

Let's conclude by going back to how this passage began. I was reminded of one of the admittedly rare occasions when I specifically witnessed to one of my fellow chemists at work. He was probably the most morally upright unbeliever I have ever met. And he got somewhat offended when I explained that all sinners are in need of salvation. He objected very sincerely, “But I'm not a sinner!” By that, I am sure he meant, “I'm not a criminal! I have never broken the law.”

I was recently re-reading an old short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne. In this tale, a man is dozing in front of his fireplace when a traveling performer appears to him in a vision and begins to subject him to a magic lantern slide show in which the man is pictured as committing all sorts of horrible deeds. The man objects, as my friend did, that he never did any of those things in the pictures. But then his Conscience appears and gets him to admit that many times he did think of carrying out those very acts. Hawthorne concludes the story by saying something we should all keep in mind. I'll read it in closing.

“Man must not disclaim his brotherhood, even with the guiltiest, though his hand be clean, his heart has surely been polluted by the flitting phantoms of iniquity. He must feel, that, when he shall knock at the gate of Heaven, no semblance of an unspotted life can entitle him to entrance there. Penitence must kneel, and Mercy come from the footstool of the throne, or that golden gate will never open."