There is a lot of bad news contained in the first three verses of Ephesians 2: We were spiritually dead, children of wrath, even followers of Satan. Paul lays it out pretty clearly that we were without hope, shaped by the same rebellious nature as Satan, and destined for an eternal punishment in hell.
That’s not a verdict you’re going to hear on Dr. Phil or Oprah. But it’s the root of our problem, and until we accept the problem, we’ll never learn to see the solution.
We were dead. And we could have remained dead. God would have been fully righteous in leaving us to reap the fatal reward of our rebellion.
But then, in Ephesians 2:4, we find what John Stott calls the greatest two syllables ever spoken in the English language:
But God.
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved” (Ephesians 2:4-5).
Let the force of that hit you for a minute. We were helpless, but God …
We were spiritually dead in our sin, but God …
We obeyed the desire of our flesh, but God …
We deserved the full wrath of an upright Judge, but God …
We were helpless but not hopeless, because hope came from another place.
Many theologians and Christians talk about salvation so coldly and mechanically, like it’s a formula. But salvation’s plan wasn’t calculated dispassionately; it was drawn up in love.
It reminds me of the story of an 8-year-old girl who contracted a fatal blood disorder that was progressing quickly. Unchecked, she had no hope. But the doctors discovered that her 10-year-old brother had contracted something similar (and recovered), and had antibodies that could save his sister. A simple blood transfusion would save her life. When the doctors asked if he was willing to give his blood, he paused, smiled weakly, and said, “Yes.”
The boy went into the hospital where his sister lay barely conscious, kissed her on the forehead and gave her a thumbs-up. Then he laid down on the gurney. When the boy saw the blood come out of the needle in his arm, his face immediately paled, and he began to tremble as he said, “Doctor, how long before I die?”
The doctor explained that the boy wouldn’t die; he was just giving enough blood to help his sister. But the boy had gone in willingly, thinking that he was giving his life to save his sister.
That kind of love is rare. But God didn’t show it for his siblings. He showed it for his enemies. He showed it for us, we who were dead in our trespasses. It wasn’t just love, either; it was mercy—a mercy we would never have shown. Martin Luther said, “If I was God, and the world treated me as it has him, I would have kicked the vile wretched thing to pieces.”
Until the gospel seems too good to be true, you haven’t really understood it.
Notice verses 4 and 5 are both in the past tense, because Paul is referring to what Jesus already did on the cross. He’s not talking about some gradual religious process where you slowly become a good, God-fearing person. He’s talking about something that Jesus did for you all at once, in the past.
You can summarize the gospel in four words: Jesus in my place. He lived the life we were supposed to live, and then he died the death we were condemned to die. Jesus did not merely die for us; he died instead of us.
Paul goes on to say that God “raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (verse 6). That’s in the past tense, too, just like Jesus’ death and resurrection. It’s not that God “will seat us” but that he “has seated us with him in the heavenly places.”
Right now, in God’s eyes, I am already seated with Christ at the place of honor around God’s throne. I couldn’t be in a higher place in heaven if I gave a billion dollars or prayed four hours every day or managed to go a whole decade and never sin. He’s literally put me in Jesus’ seat, as close as I can get to God.
Do you know what kind of confidence that should give us in life?
When I say I’m sure of heaven, sometimes people hear that as arrogance: “Wow, who do you think you are? You think you are that righteous?”
No, I believe Jesus was that righteous, and he paid my sin debt in its entirety.
I was destined for eternity in hell, but God sent his Son to trade places with me, and I’m going to heaven on his account, not mine.
For more, be sure to listen to the entire message here.
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