1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Ephesians 2:1-9 (KJV)
“who were” (Verse 1)
The first two words describe our true condition apart from God’s grace. They describe not only what we used to be, they also describe the current condition of everyone in the world who is not saved: truly hopeless.
“But God” (Verse 4)
The second two words tell us how grace works. This phrase announces the world’s greatest rescue mission when the Creator took on human flesh in the Person of Jesus Christ to perform the work of salvation.
“through faith” (Verse 8)
It is through faith and only through faith. It is not faith plus works or faith plus anything else. It is faith alone that brings the blessings of grace to us.
The whole gospel is in those six words: “who were, but God through faith.”
The grace of God
Grace is absolutely necessary. It teaches us that God does for others what we would never do for them. Grace is a gift that costs everything to the giver and nothing to the receiver. It is given to those who don’t deserve it, barely recognize it, and hardly appreciate it. Apart from God’s grace, there is no righteousness to be found anywhere.
Grace Needed
Why do we need God’s grace?
Because all men and all women are, by nature, spiritually dead and separated from God. We must begin at this basic starting point for biblical theology. Above every corpse is a three-word epitaph: dead through sin. In what sense are human beings dead even though they are alive? Because of sin, we are separated from God. We are unable to know God personally and we can’t do anything about our condition. To make matters worse, we are dead, and we don’t know it.
Unbelievers appear to be alive. They laugh, they talk, they plan, they fight, they marry, they dream of the future, and one day they die. But they are dead even while they are alive. Apart from grace, we are all born dead.
Grace Given
Our salvation hangs entirely on those two words:
- We were dead, but God…
- We were enslaved, but God…
- We were trapped, but God…
- We were self-destructing, but God…
- We were lost in sin, but God…
Love, Mercy and Grace
Love is that when God reached out to His creation in benevolence. Mercy is God withholding punishment. And grace is the unmerited favor of God.
Imagine a vast reservoir of God’s love. As it begins to flow toward us, it becomes a river of mercy. As it cascades down upon us, the mercy becomes a flood of grace.
Mercy is God not giving us what we do deserve: judgment. Grace is God giving us what we don’t deserve: salvation. Grace never goes up, it always comes down.
Grace Received
It does not come by works, by religion, or by anything we might conceive as “earning” God’s grace. Grace saves us through faith. Nothing more, nothing less. We believe that salvation is by grace plus nothing and minus nothing.
It’s humbling to admit that we can do nothing to earn our deliverance from sin. But anytime we add anything to grace, we subtract from its meaning. Grace must be free or else it is not grace at all.
Grace is the source, faith is the means, and salvation is the result. You might also say that grace is the reservoir, faith is the channel, and salvation is the stream that washes sin away. And all of it is the gift of God!
Even our faith is not of us. It, too, is part of God’s gift. God creates faith in the human heart the same way that He created the world. He found nothing and created something. Thus, every part of our salvation is a work of God from first to last.
We must admit that nothing we have done matters in the least when it comes to being forgiven by God. In the end, grace means that no one is too bad to be saved. God’s grace cannot help you until you are desperate to receive it. This is the miracle, the wonder, of God’s grace!
When we look back and see what we were before, when we see the pit from which He rescued us, when we recall how confused we were, when we remember how God reached out and dragged us into His family, and how He held us in His hand, and when we see Jesus who loved us and gave Himself for us, it is an amazing grace, indeed!
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound,
that saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost but now am found,
was blind but now I see.