Created in Christ Jesus
You were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else. But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved – and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God – not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.
—Ephesians 2:1-10
As we begin to dig into this incredibly rich passage, consider the ways it describes God. God is rich in mercy, loving, gracious and kind. He is the creator who creates us and then creates us again in Christ Jesus, and He goes further to design a purpose for us in His holy creation. How awesome is God? He is worthy of our trust, our praise, our worship and our love.
The passage also mentions wrath, describing people who have not yet come to follow Christ Jesus as “children of wrath.” We do not like to consider God’s wrath, but looking at verse 3, there it is. He is merciful and kind. He is love. He is also the administrator of wrath. God does not change; however, we do and our encounter with God changes as we come to know Christ Jesus.
We are each born into this world engulfed in sin, separated from the source of life, yet perceiving evidence of His holy presence through the love we experience, the beauty and order of His creation, and the joyful laughter we hear. We exist in the condition of sin as slaves to that condition. We are each created in His holy image, and we long for Him. We long for more, for the satisfaction and peace and comfort that only He is capable of providing. Whether we realize it or not, we long for Him, and amazingly God offers a path for us to be reconciled with Him. Jesus relinquished His heavenly glory, came to earth, entered time and surrendered Himself to die on the cross, building the bridge spanning the chasm separated humans from God so that we might gain that for which we long.
Through Christ Jesus, we gain connection with God. Through Christ Jesus we gain relationship with Him. Through Christ Jesus we gain the indwelling Holy Spirit.
Jesus discussed the life that He offers in terms of life and death, describing people as dead until they receive His gift of new life, at which point they pass from death to life.[1] Inspired by the Holy Spirit, Paul describes the same thing. Paul describes people before knowing Christ Jesus as dead, followers of Satan, disobedient, followers of fleshly passions and children of wrath. He then describes people who know Christ, and he separates the two with the words “but God.” We were dead, but God… We were followers of fleshly passions, but God… We were … but God initiated activity within us creating the possibility of transformation.
Each human is dead, but God, who is merciful beyond our ability to understand and who is love and who loves each of us, “made us alive together with Christ.” We were dead. As dead people, we were incapable of moving towards life; yet God, through His mercy, grace and love, stirred within us seeds of life causing us to wonder, to think, to ponder our condition, to long for truth and satisfaction and joy and wholeness.
As He continues stirring our spirits and souls, we begin searching and listening and looking with increasing awareness, His seeds grow and ideally we receive His gift of new life and allow His spiritual transformation to take place. Scripture describes this in many ways – we are born again (John 3:3), we are granted new life (Ephesians 2:5), we are saved (Ephesians 2:5), we are created in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:10), and we are new creations in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:17), among others.
God’s holy word says,
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God – not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life. Ephesians 2:8-10
We were dead and through His mercy, grace and love, God offered us the gift of life, not because of anything we did to deserve it, but simply because He loves us. He loves you. God, the holy creator of the universe, loves you.
As I think about God’s love I am reminded of a passage in Deuteronomy. Once again, God’s people camp on the Jordan River preparing to cross into the Promised Land. Moses knows he will not cross the Jordan, so he gives his farewell address. He reminds God’s people who God is and of how God has blessed them and loves them, and he reminds them that they did nothing to deserve God’s love. God did not love them because they were the largest nation – in fact, they were tiny. God did not love them because they were mighty, successful, wealthy, well educated, or for any merit whatsoever. God loved them because He loved them. Period. (See Deuteronomy 7:7-11).
I am not suggesting that we should read that passage by inserting ourselves into the place of Israel; however, it describes God’s character. It tells us a great deal about God and how He loves and why He loves, and we know from other places in Scripture that God loves us and it seems appropriate and true to draw certain parallels. God loves us because He loves us. God loves you because He loves you. Period. And if you ever doubt His love, His holy word tells us, “God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
I cannot help but ask why? Why did God design it this way? Through this system we see God’s sovereignty and human free will meet. God is in control but we are not robots. Without evil and the freedom to choose evil, humans would not truly be free, so God allows us to be submerged in this dark world, pursuing our selfish passions and desires as long as we want. We may see hints of His presence, His love, His mercy, His grace, His light along the path as they too are in the world. God loves us and desires relationship with us. He calls us to love Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and to love our neighbors as ourselves, and He graciously, lovingly stirs our hearts, but He will not force Himself upon us. Love requires free will – love coerced is not really love.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God – not the result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). Grace is of God. Faith also begins with God, and through our resulting spiritual transformation we gain faith. Its like a snowball rolling down a hill. It begins with God and we gain aspects of His faith, which enhances our relationship with Him and our faith grows and ideally the cycle continues. In his letter to Romans, Paul writes, “For in [the gospel] the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, ‘The one who is righteous will live by faith’” (Romans 1:17). God reveals Himself “through faith for faith.” Grace and faith begin with God and if we allow Him, they lead to our spiritual transformation and righteousness.
He does all this with a purpose in mind. God’s holy word says, “For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life” (Ephesians 2:10). God created us anew in Christ Jesus for good works. We have a purpose in God’s, the creator of the universe’s, grand plan. He created us for a purpose; He created you for a purpose in Christ Jesus.
Isn’t God awesome? He has all power and authority in heaven and on earth. He created the universe by speaking, yet He knows you with unimaginable intimacy. He knows your desires and needs and hopes and dreams and passions, and He designed a purpose for you in Christ Jesus. What is He calling you to do today? What opportunities is He placing in your path? May you seize the opportunities before you to serve Him. Glory be to God! Amen.