Ephesians 2:4-7

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.

Verses 4-7 are a beautiful crescendo to all that preceded it in Ephesians. "But God" is one of the most important transitions in all of Scripture. A demonstration of His mercy and love are almost always what follow, even if those words are not explicitly used. It is reasserted that we were dead in sins but now quickened with Christ; as we saw before, the sense of this word is to take what is dead, and make it alive, which is a precision of language that is simply not matched in the “modern” translations. The parenthetical statement makes it seem as if Paul cannot wait for verses 8-9 to come. Notice we are raised with Christ because we in essence died with Him (Romans 6:4 and Colossians 2:12) and are now seated with Him at the right hand of the Father (1:20-23). The prepositions, as always, are of great importance – we are seated with Christ. Nowhere does Scripture claim that this exalted position rids of us of our old sin nature; it merely gives us the ability to have victory over it. This is the important distinction of a Christian’s standing and state. While a believer has the security of being in Christ and the hope of a resurrected body that is free from sin, we currently struggle against the flesh, daily striving to subdue the flesh so that we may enjoy the blessings of our renewed soul. Anyone who would attempt to deny this sort of “holy schizophrenia” need look not further than Paul’s confession to it in Romans 7, and the provision of I John 1:9.

The riches of God (specifically pertaining to His grace) is a reoccurring idea in Ephesians. It is remarkable to think that we will be the very proof – the tangible evidence – of the limitless riches of His grace for all eternity (refer back to Ephesians 1:7). Likewise, the idea of "through Christ" appears repeatedly in Scripture; this is another precision afforded by the Authorized Version that couples with Matthew 7:13-14, which likens the way of salvation as a narrow gate. How do you enter a gate? By going through it!

Notice that everything that happened to Christ we share together with Him. We are not only described as being in Him, but also as being His bride (this will be addressed at length in the fifth chapter of Ephesians) and thus His good is our good. We had none of this prior to salvation because we were in sin (John 8:24) and its demise was our demise; we were only freed when we were spiritually circumcised from our old fleshy natures.

NEXT IN THIS SERIES:

Ephesians 2:8-9