Ephesians 2:4-7 meaning

Ephesians 2:4-7 teaches that God mercifully makes sinners who believe alive with Christ and saves them by grace through faith, displaying the immeasurable riches of His kindness.

In the previous section (Ephesians 2:1-3), Paul described the dreadful former reality in which he and the Ephesian believers lived before they came to Christ. He said they were spiritually dead in their trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1). This described how they were severed from having fellowship with God and finding lasting fulfillment in their design.

He described how they formerly walked according to the course of this world, under the influence of Satan (Ephesians 2:2). This described their sinful habits and sin nature. And he said they were by nature children of wrath who were constantly indulging the lusts and desires of their flesh (Ephesians 2:3). This described the hopeless future brought on by their sin.

They were hopelessly separated from Christ, and thus they would have forever remained had not God intervened to save them from their spiritual death. Now in Ephesians 2:4-7 Paul transitions to remind them that God has in fact mercifully intervened to rescue them by sharing a powerful statement of the Gospel that is packed with many expressions which demonstrate the great things our great God did for us.

Paul's Gospel Statement

This commentary will explain each clause in its own turn and the commentary for each clause will be marked with boldface. But before we explain individual phrases, we will first explain the overall construction of Paul's incredible statement and its meaning.

Paul's Gospel statement is:

But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, 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 surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus (vv 4-7).

• God is the grammatical subject. God is the one who does all these actions.

• We/us are the direct object. We are the recipients of all God's actions.

• Christ is the indirect object. Christ Jesus is both the blessing God lavishes upon us—We are with Him—and Christ Jesus is the means through which God lavishes these blessings upon us—God's grace and kindness is toward us who are in Christ.

In this statement, God has done three great acts of salvation for us, referring to those who have believed in Jesus:

1. God made us alive together with Christ (v 5b);
2. God raised us up with Him (v 6a);
3. God seated us with Him in the heavenly places (v 6b).

These are the three main actions of Paul's Gospel statement. All three acts result in us no longer being separated from God (dead), but rather, us being with Him, that is connected with Jesus Christ, and therefore alive in Him.

But before Paul mentions these three acts of salvation, he first inserts intervening phrases that describe God's merciful character, His incredible love for us, and His gracious timing in doing these three great actions for us.

These three modifying clauses describing God's character that interrupt the action are:

1. Being rich in mercy (v 4b)
2. Because of His great love with which He loved us (v 4c)
3. Even when we were dead in our transgressions (v 5a)

Paul concludes his Gospel statement by explaining why God did these three great acts of salvation (made us alive, raised us up, seated us) for us.

The reason God saved us was so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus (v 7).

Finally, Paul also sticks a parenthetical thought in the center of this densely packed Gospel statement that colors the entire message. The parenthetical statement is: (by grace you have been saved) (v 5b).

The significance of God's grace is so important that Paul will immediately follow up this statement with another statement explaining the central role of God's grace in our salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9).

This parenthetical insert demonstrates how God's grace does two things.

• First, it’s centrality demonstrates how God's grace pervades the entire Gospel. All three of God's great acts of salvation (made alive, raised up, and seated) are acts of His grace.

• Second, its placement functionally divides the action of Paul's Gospel statement into two halves.

The first half of the action is: But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (vv 4-5).

The second half of the action is: and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (v 6).

Significantly, these two halves speak to what God has already done for our salvation from being spiritually separated from God and what He will do in regard to our being justified in His presence. He has already made us spiritually alive. And God will raise and resurrect us with Jesus and He will seat us with Him in the heavenly places.

(More will be said of the timing of these acts beneath the subsequent heading: "…By grace you have been saved…").

The Greek word "sozo" is translated saved. It refers to something being delivered from something, with context determining what is being delivered from what.

An example is Matthew 9:21, where a sick woman said to herself that if she touched the hem of Jesus's garment, she would be "sozo" from her sickness. Another example is Matthew 8:25, where Jesus's disciples cried out, "Save us ["sozo"] Lord"—asking Jesus to deliver them from perishing in the storm.

In this section, the context indicates that the deliverance/salvation Paul is speaking of is sinners (who are estranged/separated from God because of the Fall) being restored in their relationship to God through Christ. We will see that this deliverance has multiple benefits, including the benefit of having been delivered from the penalty and power of sin.

The Gift and the Prize of Eternal Life

Paul's statement of the Gospel describes the full scope of the Gospel which means it concerns both the Gift of Eternal Life and the Prize of Eternal Life.

Unlike many of the Bible's descriptions of the Gospel, as will be seen in the commentary below, this statement is mostly about the Gift of Eternal Life. Ephesians 2:10 will shift to addressing the Prize, which is gained through living in obedience to Christ, walking in the good works He prepared for us to accomplish.

What is the Gift and the Prize of Eternal Life?

The Gift of Eternal Life is received exclusively on the basis of God's grace and it is received through faith in Jesus as the Son of God and our Savior (John 1:12, 3:14-16, Romans 3:22-24, Ephesians 2:8-9, Titus 3:5).

The Gift of Eternal Life entails:

• Being born into God's forever family;
  (John 1:12)
  
  
• Becoming spiritually alive in Christ;
  (Ephesians 2:4-5)
  
  
• Having our sins forgiven;
  (Ephesians 1:7)
  
  
• Being gifted the Holy Spirit to indwell, guide, and empower us to live for Jesus;
  (Ephesians 1:13-14)
  
  
• Living forever with God instead of being cast into the lake of fire;
  (Revelation 20:15)
  
  
• Having the opportunity to inherit the Prize of Eternal Life by faith.
  (Ephesians 1:5, 1:10-11, 2:6-7, 2:10)

Once we have received the Gift of Eternal Life it cannot be lost (John 10:28-29, Romans 8:31-38, 11:29, 2 Timothy 2:13). Ephesians 2:8-9 speaks of the Gift, Ephesians 2:10 speaks of the Prize.

The Prize of Eternal Life is won by following Jesus's example of choosing to live by faith and trusting in God's grace to overcome life’s trials (Luke 9:23-26, Romans 8:16-18, Philippians 3:12-14, James 1:12).

The Prize of Eternal Life is experienced both in this present lifetime and in the life to come:

In this present lifetime, the Prize or benefit of Eternal Life is gained through a walk of obedience to Christ, setting aside/putting to death the flesh and walking in the Spirit. Current benefits include:

• Living in fellowship with God and others and having your joy complete
  (1 John 1:3-4, Mark 10:29-30).

• The assurance of belonging, knowing we are God's child through the inner testimony of the Spirit
  (Romans 8:15-16).

• Avoiding the negative consequences of sin
  (Romans 6:16, 23, 7:24-25, Galatians 5:16, Ephesians 4:17-23).

• Befriending and Knowing God by Faith;
  (John 15:14-15, 17:3, Hebrews 11:6, Philippians 3:7-8,1 John 2:3)

• Living in Truth and Freedom
  (John 8:32, Romans 6:2-22, Galatians 5:1, 1 John 1:7)

• Experiencing Peace, Joy, and Contentment in All Circumstances;
  (John 14:1, 16:33, Romans 8:6, 15:13, Philippians 4:4-7, 4:11-13, James 1:2, 1 John 1:4)

• Being a Member of a Loving Community/Fellowship with Brothers and Sisters in Christ;
  (John 13:34, 1 John 1:3)

• Partnering with God to Establish His Eternal Kingdom, having a purpose and meaning in our labors;
  (Matthew 28:18-20, Colossians 1:28; Ephesians 2:10)

• Eternal Significance from Doing Something that will Outlive this World;
  (Matthew 4:19, 7:24-27, John 15:16, 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, 1 John 2:8)

• Satisfaction from Living Life as God Created you to Live it and the reward of connecting to your design;
  (Matthew 5:6, 11:28-29, Luke 9:24, John 4:14, 10:10, Ephesians 2:10)

In the life to come the Prize of Eternal Life entails:

• Entering His Kingdom and Celebrating with Him at the Messianic Banquet (instead of being excluded from it and sitting in the darkness outside)
  (Matthew 7:21-23, 8:11-12, 22:1-14, 25:1-13)

• Being Praised and rewarded by Jesus when He Judges our works (not being ashamed)
  (Matthew 10:32-33, 24:42-51, 25:21-30, Luke 9:26, 1 Corinthians 3:11-15, 2 Corinthians 5:9-10, 1 John 2:28)

• Receiving the Full Reward of our Divine Inheritance (instead of squandering it);
  (Matthew 19:29-30, Romans 8:17-18, 1 Corinthians 3:11-15, 2 Corinthians 4:17, Philippians 3:10-14)

• Being Given Authority in the New Heaven and the New Earth, which scripture describes as being a “joy” that is before us:
  (Matthew 19:27-28, 25:21, Ephesians 1:10-11, 2:10, 2 Timothy 2:12, Hebrews 12:2, Revelation 3:21)

We win both the present and future aspects of the Prize of Eternal Life when we seek to please God and His rewards by faith (Matthew 6:1, 4, 6, 18-21, 12:2). Hebrew 11:6 asserts that faith is the only means by which we can please God.

Unlike the Gift of Eternal Life which, once received, can never be lost, the Prize of Eternal Life can be squandered—which is one of the main reasons why the New Testament strongly urges believers to be faithful (Luke 13:28, Hebrews 10:35, 39, 12:15-17, 1 Peter 1:3-9). Just as the first generation out of Egypt was cared for and kept as a chosen people, but failed to possess their inheritance due to unfaithfulness, so it can be for New Testament believers (Hebrews 3:16-19).

Now that we have described both the Gift and the Prize of Eternal Life, we return to Paul's Gospel Statement.

Paul’s Gospel Statement in Ephesians 2:4-7 announces the astonishing good news that God acted mercifully, lovingly, and graciously to save helpless sinners who were spiritually dead. We did not make ourselves alive, raise ourselves up, or seat ourselves with Jesus in the heavenly places.

God did and will do all these things for us in Christ Jesus, because He (not we) is rich in mercy and was moved by His great love. God united us with Christ in His resurrection life, God will raise us up with Him, and He will seat us with Him in the heavenly places (v 6).

And God did/will do all these great actions for us so that forevermore He might display the surpassing riches of His grace through His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus (v 7).

But God…

Paul begins the good news of his Gospel statement with a contrasting conjunction—But—to differentiate their former predicament in Ephesians 2:1-3 of the state of fallen unbelief from their current state of blessing as believers in Christ (Ephesians 2:4-7).

The conjunctive phrase is short and powerful: But God…

Only God could do what He has done for us. Only God had the power to make us spiritually alive again and restore us to Himself and seat us with Christ in the heavenly places (v 6). No one else could have done any of these things for us. And as we were dead in our transgressions, we could not do these things for ourselves. No one, but God, could do these things for us.

…Being Rich in Mercy…

This expression is the first of three modifying clauses that describes God's character.

Being rich in mercy describes God's compassionate character toward sinners who were dead in their transgressions.

To be rich means to have an abundance of something. A rich person has more than enough. God is rich in mercy, which means God does not have a small amount of mercy. He has an overflowing abundance of mercy. God is infinite in mercy.

God is so rich in mercy, that the Psalmist describes the LORD’s mercy—"Hesed" in Hebrew, and translated as "lovingkindness"—as being infinite toward us:

"For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
So great is His lovingkindness [hesed/mercy] toward those who fear Him.
As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our transgressions from us."
(Psalm 103:11-12)

And:

"But the lovingkindness [hesed/mercy] of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him"
(Psalm 103:17a)

God's mercy is not reluctant, scarce, or easily exhausted. God has more than enough mercy to rescue sinners from the spiritual death that their transgressions deserve.

Mercy describes God's compassionate willingness to help those who are helpless and to withhold the wrath they deserve for their sins and transgressions.

It is often said that mercy is not getting the bad that you deserve. We deserve death for our sins (Romans 6:23a). We "were by nature children of wrath" (Ephesians 2:3) who deserved His wrath, but God gave mercy instead. God not only mercifully withheld His wrath from us, He also offered us forgiveness of all our sins through Christ Jesus, His Son (Romans 5:8, Ephesians 1:7, 1 John 4:9).

God is so infinitely rich in mercy, that Christ's sacrifice is sufficient to forgive all the sins of everyone in the entire history of the whole world (1 John 2:2).

The fact that God is rich in mercy toward us, when we deserved wrath, is incredibly good news for us.

…Because of His great love with which He loved us…

This expression is the second of three modifying clauses that describes God's character. It explains why God is rich in mercy toward us.

God is rich in mercy toward us because of His great love with which He loved us (v 4). God's great love is the source from which His mercy flows.

And His great love is why God made us alive together with Christ, raised us up with Him, seated us with Him (vv 5-6). In other words, God saved us because of His great love for us.

The Greek terms that are translated in verse 4 as love and loved is a form of the noun ἀγάπη (G26—pronounced "a-gap-é"); and a form of the verb ἀγαπάω (G25—pronounced: "a-gap-a-ō"). We will refer to these terms as "agapé-love."

Agapé-love is the love of choice. 1 John 2:15 exhorts believers not to "agape"-love the world.

In this case, "agape" refers to God's choice to seek our good. God's agapé-love is His benevolent desire and commitment to give us what is truly good and to serve our best interest—even at great cost to Himself.

God's agapé-love is not merely an emotion He feels toward us. God's agapé-love is His active act of will to bless us, rescue us, restore us, and bring us into the fullness of life with Him.

Paul describes God's agapé-love as great. Great means "much," "large," "mighty," "abundant," or "surpassing in size or importance."

The agapé-love with which God loved us is great in many respects.

• God's agapé-love is great because of who God is.
  
  "God is love" (1 John 4:8). Agapé-love is not something God borrowed or learned. Agapé-love is part of God's eternal nature and character. God loved because God is agapé-love.

• God's agapé-love is great because of whom He loved.
  
  God loved sinners. He loved those who were dead in their transgressions. He loved those who deserved wrath. He loved those who were helpless. We could not make ourselves alive or rescue ourselves from death. God did not wait for us to become worthy or righteous before He loved us. God loved us when we were dead, helpless, sinful, and under wrath,

"But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
(Romans 5:8)

• God's agapé-love is great because of what it accomplished.
  
  His great love saved us from sin and death and restored us to eternal life. His love made us alive together with Christ, raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (vv 5-6).
  
  God's love resurrects us from spiritual death into everlasting life (John 3:16). God's love for us restores us to fellowship with Him and one another (Romans 5:8, 10,1 John 4:7-12). God, because of His agapé-love, reconciles the world to Himself through Christ and will set creation free from the corrupting influence of sin (Romans 8:19-21, 2 Corinthians 5:19a, Colossians 1:20, Revelation 21:5).

• God's agapé-love is great in its sacrifice.
  
  God's love for us cost Him His Son (John 3:16). God's love for us cost Jesus His life (John 10:11). Jesus said there is no greater love than laying down one's life for his friends (John 15:13). Jesus showed us the greatest love when He died for us.

• God's agapé-love is great because it is everlasting.

  (Psalm 136:1)

Paul later prays that the Ephesian believers would be able to understand the greatness of Christ's love for them:

"that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge."
(Ephesians 3:17b-19a)

The love of Christ is so great that it surpasses knowledge. This does not mean that believers cannot know Christ's love at all. Paul prays that they would know it. Rather, it means that Christ's love is so great that believers can always know more of it. The breadth, length, height, and depth of Christ's agapé-love cannot be exhausted.

…Even when we were dead in our transgressions…

This expression is the third of three modifying clauses that describes God's character. It is a temporal clause that tells us when God intervened and acted in our lives.

God made us alive together with Christ even when we were spiritually dead in our transgressions (v 5).

The timing of God's intervention deepens His rich mercy and great love for us.

The expression—even when—stresses the significance of God's timing. He did not intervene when we were worthy of His mercy or love. He did not intervene when we were improving ourselves or making spiritual strides in the right direction. God intervened even when we were dead in our transgressions (v 5),

"For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly."
(Romans 5:6)

"But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
(Romans 5:8)

When we were in our worst condition—dead in our transgressions—God mercifully came to us in His great love.

The phrase dead in our transgressions represents the condition of someone prior to believing in Jesus. It largely repeats what Paul said at the beginning of this chapter regarding the former condition of the Ephesian believers prior to coming to faith in Jesus: "And you were dead in your trespasses and sins" (Ephesians 2:1).

In both verses, Paul describes the former spiritual condition of believers before they received the Gift of Eternal Life through Jesus Christ. Before they believed in Jesus and God made them alive together with Christ, they were dead.

The Greek word that is translated as dead is a form of νεκρός (G3498—pronounced "nek-ros"). "Nekros" describes a corpse. Someone who is nekros is deceased, lifeless, and unable to act according to life. Paul does not mean that the Ephesian believers were physically dead before they believed in Jesus. He means that they were spiritually dead. They were spiritual corpses.

Death means separation. Death is what happens when something gets pulled apart from what it was made to be joined to. When a person is a corpse and physically dead, their immaterial self (their spirit and soul) is separated from and no longer connected to their physical body (James 2:26). They are unable to interact with the physical world.

To be spiritually dead means to be separated from God, who is the source of life and who we were meant to live and collaborate with (Genesis 1:28). Spiritually dead people are cut off from the life of God. And they are unable to restore themselves to God.

Humans were made to collaborate with God in stewarding His creation (Genesis 1:28, Psalm 8:5-8). But because they are severed from God, spiritually dead people are unable to fulfill the good purpose for which God created them. Spiritual death therefore entails being separated from knowing God, fellowshipping with God, partnering with God, and living according to God's good design.

The expression—in our transgressions—explains why we were dead.

Our transgressions were the cause of our spiritual death.

A transgression is a violation of God's good command.

The Greek word translated as transgressions in verse 5 is a form of παράπτωμα (G3900—pronounced "pa-rap-tō-ma"). It is the exact same word and form that Paul used in Ephesians 2:1 that was translated there as "trespasses." And it means the same thing here in verse 5.

Paraptōma literally carries the idea of "falling beside" or "falling away." Transgressions are lapses, deviations, or rebellions from God's holy standard. It is stepping away from the path of life God has given. It is separation from God's good design. Life is connection to God's design.

God's commands are not given to keep us from life. God's commands are given for our good to lead us into life. But when we transgress His commands, we depart from the path of life and enter the way of death. This is why Paul writes to the Romans:

"For the wages of sin is death."
(Romans 6:23a)

The consequence of transgression is death. Our transgressions separated us from God and left us dead before Him.

Being dead is the opposite of being alive.

If death is what happens when something gets pulled apart from what it was made to be joined to, life is what flourishes when it stays joined. Therefore, to be made alive when we were dead is to be reconnected to what we were made to connect to. We were made to be joined with Christ. In Christ, believers are connected to His design for us. In Christ, our purpose and destiny can be fulfilled.

Paul says we were dead, but God made us alive together with Christ (v 5). We were separated from God, but God restored us to life with Christ. When we were spiritually dead and severed from God and unable to reconnect with Him, God reconnected us to Himself with and through Christ and made us alive again.

As mentioned above, the beginning of Ephesians 2:5 largely repeats Ephesians 2:1, but it does not repeat it exactly and the points of emphasis are different.

One difference is that Paul moves from "you" (Ephesians 2:1) to we (v 5). In Ephesians 2:1, Paul says: "And you were dead in your trespasses and sins," while in Ephesians 2:5 Paul says: We were dead in our transgressions.

In Ephesians 2:1, Paul directly addressed the Ephesian believers and reminded them that "you were dead." In verse 5, Paul includes himself with them and is not describing a problem that belonged only to Gentile believers in Ephesus. He is describing the former condition of all believers including himself before God made them alive together with Christ.

But the main difference between Ephesians 2:1 and Ephesians 2:5 is their contextual points of emphasis.

Ephesians 2:1 begins Paul's description of mankind’s hopeless condition apart from Christ, and it emphasizes the dreadful reality of our former spiritual death.

Ephesians 2:5 places this repeated phrase inside the good news of God's intervention and emphasizes the merciful timing of God's saving action. God made us alive even when we were dead (v 5).

…Made us alive together with Christ…

The first great act of salvation that Paul describes as God doing for us is that He made us alive together with Christ (v 5).

This divine act of salvation—being made alive together with Christ—is part of the Gift of Eternal Life.

The phrase made us alive directly answers the problem that Paul has repeatedly described: We were dead in our transgressions (v 5—see also Ephesians 2:1). But God made us alive.

To be made alive means to be given life. In this context, because Paul has been describing spiritual death, made alive means to be made spiritually alive. It means to be connected to God's family, to our original purpose, to one another, and to our design. In Ephesians 2:10, Paul will assert that believers are designed to do works for God—we have a job to do. All of this connects us to our purpose, which leads to being fulfilled.

Since being spiritually dead means being separated from God, then being made spiritually alive means being reconnected to God. God made us spiritually alive together with Christ.

Moreover, just as the fact that we were spiritually dead cut us off from being able to fulfill the good purpose for which God created us, so too being made spiritually alive restores and enables us to live out and fulfill His good purpose for our lives.

Being made alive from being dead in our trespasses is an act of God's grace.

We could not do these things for ourselves because we were dead. Dead people cannot make themselves alive. A corpse cannot raise itself. A spiritually dead person cannot create spiritual life within himself. If spiritually dead people are to be made alive, then someone who has life must give life to them. Only God can give life to the dead.

God is the source of life.

• God created physical life in the beginning when He formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (Genesis 2:7).

• Jesus Christ, who is God in human form, raised the dead to life (Mark 5:35-43, Luke 7:12-15, John 11:39-44).

• God raised Jesus Christ from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).

• God makes those who are spiritually dead to become alive with Christ the moment they believe in Jesus (John 5:24).

God made us spiritually alive by sending His Son, Jesus Christ to rescue us from spiritual death. The term Christ means "Messiah"—the LORD’s anointed. Jesus is the Messiah, our divinely anointed Savior.

Jesus said: "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die" (John 11:25).

Jesus described to the pharisee Nicodemus what it meant for God to make us who are dead in transgressions alive; He called it being "born again" (John 3:3). Nicodemus asked Jesus what He meant by born again (John 3:4). Jesus clarified that to be born again is spiritual birth, when He said: "that which is born of the Spirit is spirit" (John 3:6). God is the Spirit who makes our dead spirit alive and who causes us to be born again.

Jesus described this rebirth as "eternal life" (John 3:15-16). Jesus said eternal life is given by God to "whoever believes in Him" (John 3:15-16). All it takes for us to receive the Gift of Eternal life is enough faith to look upon Jesus, the Son of God, crucified for our sins to save us from the deadly poison of our transgressions and spiritual death, just as all it took for the Israelites to be healed of the deadly venom of snakes was to look upon the bronze serpent that Moses raised in the wilderness (John 3:14-15).

Everyone who believes in the name of Jesus are made alive, born of God into His eternal family (John 1:12-13). Paul's statement that God made us (who were dead in our transgressions) alive together with Christ (v 5) is connected to the fact that Jesus also was once dead and separated from God.

Jesus was separated from His Father (spiritually dead) when He was forsaken by God on the cross. Jesus cried out: "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" (Matthew 27:46b) during the three hours of darkness (Matthew 27:45-46) as He became the sin of the world and the object of God's wrath (2 Corinthians 5:21, 1 John 2:2). This signified Jesus's spiritual death as His unbroken fellowship with God was temporarily severed.

Jesus was spiritually resurrected and restored to His Father in spirit. We see this when Jesus spoke from the cross in His dying words: "Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit" (Luke 23:46). As Jesus told the thief who died with Him that he would go immediately to paradise that day (Luke 23:43). Immediately after saying this, Jesus physically died and He was physically resurrected three days later when He walked out of the grave.

In the Book of Revelation, John describes Jesus as "the firstborn of the dead" (Revelation 1:5). That Jesus is the "firstborn" indicates He is the first to be resurrected to a new body, and also likely because He has been given all authority over heaven and earth as the "Son" who is over all things (Hebrews 1:5, Matthew 28:18). Jesus identifies Himself as "the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades" (Revelation 1:18).

Just as God made Jesus who was dead to become alive forevermore, He also makes us who were dead in our sins alive forevermore. God resurrected us and made us alive together with Christ. Jesus is called "the firstborn of the dead" (Revelation 1:5) because He was once dead but is the first of many (of us) who have been and/or will be made alive and born again from the dead.

All those who are made alive again by God are made alive together with Christ. Jesus is the Son over all. But He also desires to bring "many sons to glory" to reign with Him in the new earth (Hebrews 2:10, Revelation 3:21, 21:7).

We are no longer dead when God makes us alive together with Christ (v 5); we are, as Paul told the Corinthians, new creatures in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:16-17).

Being made alive together with Christ is an act of God's rich mercy and His great love and His amazing grace. Before Paul goes onto describe God's next two great acts of our deliverance from sin and death into eternal life with Him, he inserts a parenthetical thought that describes the means of our salvation which is God's grace.

(By grace you have been saved)

After saying that God made us alive together with Christ (v 5), Paul inserts the parenthetical statement: by grace you have been saved (v 5).

This parenthetical statement explains the means by which God saved us. God saved us by grace.

The Greek word that is translated as grace is χάρις (G5485—pronounced "khar-is" and often spelled "charis"). Charis means "grace," "favor," or "kindness." It indicates someone is favorable toward something, with context determining who is favorable for what reason. We can see this in Luke 2:52 where Jesus is said to have grown "in favor ['charis'] with God and men."

In Luke 2:52, we have men looking on Jesus with favor, and God doing likewise. In each case, the favor had to do with Jesus's "wisdom and stature." We can also observe in 1 Peter 5:5 that God "gives grace ['charis'] to the humble." This tells us that God favors those who humble themselves before Him.

In each case where God exhibits favor or grace, it is always because God chose to do so. No one can obligate God. If God favors someone for being humble, it is because God decided to do so. It is never because He is obligated to do so because someone has met a standard of humility to which God must submit. God is the standard, so His grace is always an act of mercy.

But unlike 1 Peter 5:5 where there is a reason, an action upon which God decides to grant favor or grace, God delivers us from our broken state of being fallen and separated from Him purely because of His great agapé-love for us. This saving grace toward us is unearned and it is freely given.

God's grace toward us when we were dead in our transgressions (v 5) is freely given apart from our works or deeds. Paul makes this clear in the next statement when he writes:

"For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast."
(Ephesians 2:8-9)

God's grace in delivering us from the penalty of sin through Christ's death is not because of anything we have done. This saving grace is God's favorable kindness freely given according to His own great love for us. We receive this amazing grace "through faith" (Ephesians 2:8). This faith is not of ourselves. The object of the faith is external to us. The object of our faith is Jesus and His death on the cross (John 3:14-15).

The expression that is translated—you have been saved—is a form of the Greek term: σῴζω (G4982—pronounced "sō-dzō"). Sōzō means "to save," "to rescue," "to deliver," "preserve from danger," "heal," or "to make whole."

Context always determines what is being saved, who is doing the saving, what something is being saved from, and what something is being saved to. See The Bible Says article: "The Four Salvation Questions: A Tool to Help Bible Readers Understand Salvation Passages."

In the context of Ephesians 2:4-7, saved refers to God rescuing us from being spiritually dead in our transgressions and making us spiritually alive together with Christ.

• God is the One who has saved us.
• We are the ones who have been saved.
• We have been saved from spiritual death and eternal separation from God in our sins.
• We have been saved to spiritual life with Christ.

God is the acting Savior. He saved us by taking upon Himself the punishment for our sin. We are the object of His saving action. We did not save ourselves. We did not make ourselves alive. We would have remained dead in our transgressions and been eternally separated from Him had God not saved us by grace when He made us alive together with Christ (v 5).

It is significant that the verbal tense of sōzō in verse 6 (and Ephesians 2:8) is in the Greek perfect tense. The perfect tense emphasizes the ongoing effects or consequences of an already completed action.

The perfect tense use of "sōzō" in verse 6 expresses that God saved them in the past when He made them alive together with Christ, and the effect of that salvation continues through eternity. As Colossians 2:14 indicates, the full payment for sin was made upon the cross. That payment continues without end.

When Paul writes you have been saved in the perfect tense, he is indicating two things.

1. Paul is indicating that God already has rescued and saved us from death to life. This outcome is already complete and is not in question or doubt.
   
   
2. Paul is emphasizing the eternal and ongoing ramifications of God's saving grace in our lives.

Among the most significant of these ramifications is our eternal assurance that believers will forever remain in Christ. That believers are in Christ means we are a part of His body. Jesus will never reject Himself. And as 2 Timothy 2:13 concludes, that means He would never reject believers either, because those who believe are safe in Him. The perfect tense of this salvation indicates that we will forever remain saved from death to life.

The perfect tense of we have been saved indicates what is stated elsewhere in scripture. We cannot become unborn out of God's family. This is the same as with physical birth. While we might be able to be estranged in fellowship with our parents, we cannot be unborn. We cannot go back into the womb and unravel our chromosomes.

Also, nothing can separate us from God's love (Romans 8:31-39). No one can take us out of His omnipotent hands (John 10:28-29). There is no sin (or amount of sins) we can commit to cause us to lose God's grace, for where our sin multiplies, His grace abounds all the more (Romans 5:20-21). Being made alive from our sins is part of the Gift of Eternal Life. And the gifts and callings of God are irrevocable (Romans 11:29).

The placement of Paul's parenthetical statement is important.

Paul places by grace you have been saved (v 5) in the middle of his Gospel statement.

This placement shows how God's grace permeates the entire Gospel. Both the Gift of Eternal Life and the Prize of Eternal Life are made available to us by God's grace.

God made us alive by grace. God raised us up by grace. God seated us with Christ in the heavenly places by grace. All three great acts of salvation are acts of God's grace. This is, again, because God's favor (“charis” or grace) is always a matter of His mercy because He is the standard by which all things are measured.

All three acts of God making us alive, raising us up, and seating us with Him are a progression of our Eternal Life. First, God made us to become spiritually alive with Christ from being spiritually dead. This took/takes place the moment we believe in Jesus (John 5:24).

Second, God will (physically) resurrect our bodies and raise us up with Him. This will happen when Jesus returns to earth (1 Thessalonians 4:14-17). And this is also true for us now as He has raised us up in spirit, from spiritual death to spiritual life (Romans 5:4-5, Colossians 2:12-13, 3:1) when He made us alive with Christ (v 5).

Third, God will seat us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ (v 6). This will happen after God establishes the new heaven and the new earth (Revelation 21:1-7). This is also true for us now, since we are in Christ and Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven. Therefore, believers are spiritually seated with Him now. This is all the more reason to walk in obedience to Him as new creations in Him.

The fact that we will raised up with Him and that we have the opportunity to be seated with Him in the heavenly places (v 6) are future ramifications of the fact that we have been saved.

…And raised us up with Him…

The second great act of salvation that Paul describes as God doing for us is that He raised us up with Him.

This divine act of salvation—being raised up with Christ—is part of the Gift of Eternal Life.

The phrase—with Him—means with Christ. The idea that we are with Him is expressed in all three of Paul’s list of salvation acts:

• we are made alive with Christ,
• we are raised up with Him,
• and we are seated with Him in the heavenly places.

In this case, with Him, means that our resurrection is joined to the Messiah's resurrection. We are not raised apart from Christ. We are raised with Christ.

The expression raised us up with Him describes our current reality that in Christ we are raised with Him and have His resurrection power available to live through us. This will be culminated by a future bodily resurrection of believers. But the spiritual reality is with all believers in the here and now.

Just as God has already made us spiritually alive together with Christ, so too will God raise our physical bodies from the dead together with Christ.

The Greek word that is translated as raised us up is a form of the verb συνεγείρω (G4891—pronounced "sūn-eh-gay-rō").

This term is a compound word. The first part of this compound word is sūn or syn, which means "with" or "together with." But the main part of the verb comes from εγείρω (G1453—pronounced "eh-gay-rō"), which means "to wake up," "to raise up," or "to awaken."

Egeirō can describe waking someone from sleep (Matthew 8:25). But it is also one of the New Testament's common resurrection words. It is frequently used to describe someone being raised back to life from the dead (Matthew 28:6, Mark 5:41, 1 Corinthians 15:4).

Therefore, when Paul says that God raised us up with Him (v 6), he is using a compound form of a clear resurrection word. God will raise us together with Christ. When Jesus returns, believers will be awakened from the dead and raised to bodily life with Him (1 Thessalonians 4:14-17). The bodily resurrection from the dead (into new incorruptible bodies—1 Corinthians 15:51-54) is one of the certain hopes of the Gift of Eternal Life.

In English, the action raised us up as it appears in the NASB-95 is phrased in the past tense—because the Greek expression of raised us up is in the aorist tense, which emphasizes a particular action rather than a tense or inherent timeframe. This verb is also third person, meaning that our raising up was done to us—we received it. Our spiritual resurrection occurred when we were placed into Christ when we believed. That is accomplished. But in the future that spiritual condition will become a physical reality when our redeemed spirits are united with a new, redeemed physical body (1 Corinthians 15:44).

The future timing of the believer’s resurrection from the dead will come after Jesus returns:

"For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first."
(1 Thessalonians 4:16)

The aorist tense of raised up captures this fullness of the current spiritual reality of having been raised in Christ with the future certainty of being resurrected in body as well as spirit.

Paul gives an extended account of the resurrection hope in 1 Corinthians 15. The resurrection of Jesus is not limited to Jesus. The resurrection of Jesus is the guarantee that all who belong to Him will also be raised with Him. Jesus is the first of many who will be raised up from the dead:

"But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep."
(1 Corinthians 15:20)

Jesus's resurrection is compared to the first fruits of the harvest. First Fruits is a holy day that describes the first part of a harvest. (Jesus was resurrected on the day of First Fruits—see "Jesus and the Messianic Fulfillments of Passover and Unleavened Bread"). First fruits are not the whole harvest, but they are the beginning and guarantee of the harvest to come.

Jesus's resurrection is the first fruits of the resurrection harvest. Because Jesus has been raised from the dead, all who are in Christ will also be raised from the dead. Paul explains the order of this resurrection:

"But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ's at His coming"
(1 Corinthians 15:23)

Jesus was raised first as the first fruits. After that, those who are Christ's will be raised at His coming. This means the believer's resurrection is a future event. God has already made us spiritually alive together with Christ, but He will raise our bodies up with Christ when Jesus returns. Revelation 1:5 describes Jesus as "the firstborn of the dead." Jesus is the first of many whom God will raise up from the dead. Those whom He raises will be raised up with Him.

Paul declares:

"For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead.
For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive."
(1 Corinthians 15:22)

The promise that "in Christ all will be made alive" (I Corinthains 15:22) means everyone who has received the Gift of Eternal Life will be raised up and made alive. Only those who trust in Jesus will be made alive (John 3:16, 5:24, 14:6).

In both Ephesians 2:6 and 1 Corinthians 15:22, the phrase "in Christ" refers to people who have believed in Jesus for eternal life. All who are in Christ will be made alive at the resurrection because Jesus has already been raised from the dead.

Jesus claimed to be "the resurrection and the life" and He promised, "he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die" (John 11:25-26).

…And seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus…

The third great act of salvation/deliverance that Paul describes God doing for us is that He seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (v 6).

This divine act of salvation—being seated with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (v 6)—is both a part of the Gift of Eternal Life and the Prize of Eternal Life.

The phrase seated us with Him means that God has graciously given believers the opportunity to share in Christ's heavenly position, honor, inheritance, and authority. Since we are in Him, and God is our inheritance without condition, our position in Christ as being in His family is secure. In this manner, we are seated with Christ as our position in Him—our heavenly position is linked to Christ's heavenly position. We are seated with Christ in a relational sense. This is a part of the Gift of Eternal Life.

However, there is another aspect of being seated. To be seated means to be seated in a position of power or seated on a throne with authority.

Paul has previously described where Christ is seated in Ephesians 1,

"[God] raised [Jesus Christ] from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places."
(Ephesians 1:20b)

This means that Jesus occupies the place of highest honor, authority, and rule under God the Father. To be seated at the right hand of God is to be enthroned in the position of royal favor and divine authority.

Jesus promises as a reward, a Prize, that believers who overcome temptation and live as faithful witnesses will share His authority (Revelation 3:21, 21:7). Romans 8:17a says God is our inheritance, without condition; this is the Gift. But Romans 8:17b says that we must suffer as Jesus suffered in order to be a joint heir with Him. The Parable of the Talents tells us that a great reward of entering into the "joy" of Jesus will be to share His authority to reign (Matthew 25:21).

Paul describes what Christ's being seated in the heavenly places entails. It is: "far above all rule and authority and power and dominion" (Ephesians 1:21) and "all things in subjection under His feet" (Ephesians 2:22—see also: Psalm 110:1, Romans 8:34, Hebrews 1:3, 10:12). Hebrews 12:2 calls this reward of authority the "joy" Jesus looked toward. It is what caused Jesus to live as "despising the shame" that the world heaped upon Him, by comparison to the "joy set before Him." He "endured the cross" in anticipation of this promise. In the same manner, the Parable of the Talents calls the reward of sharing authority "joy."

Jesus, the Messiah, told His disciples that He had been given all authority on heaven and earth (Matthew 28:18). Our being seated in the heavenly places (v 6) describes the divinely bestowed authority in Christ's kingdom in the new heaven and the new earth that faithful believers will inherit (Revelation 21:7).

In Ephesians 1, Paul talked about our participation in Christ's "administration" that will be installed at "the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth" (Ephesians 1:10). Paul called this "our inheritance" which is "in Him" (Ephesians 1:11).

Paul spoke to Timothy of the everlasting authority believers can inherit when he wrote: "If we endure, we will also reign with Him" (2 Timothy 2:12a). Jesus said He "will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne" whoever overcomes life's trials by faith, as He overcame life's trial by faith (Revelation 3:21).

Our being seated with authority in the heavenly places derived from and was made possible by Jesus first being seated in the heavenly places. We get a foretaste of what this is like in this life as our authority to carry out the Great Commission is grounded in the supreme authority of Jesus (Matthew 28:18-20). It is through being faithful in the "few things" God has granted us to steward here that we can be rewarded with being "put in charge of many things" that is the "joy of your master" Jesus refers to in Matthew 25:21.

In all respects, but current and future, when Paul says that God seated us with Him in the heavenly places (v 6), he is describing an astonishing act of God's grace. God has not only made believers spiritually alive with Christ and promised to raise believers from physical death, God has also graciously promised to reward faithful believers to share in Christ's heavenly inheritance.

The expression in the heavenly places describes the seat of Christ's exalted authority.

Paul discusses the heavenly places quite a bit in this epistle,

• Earlier we mentioned how Paul said that Christ is seated in the heavenly places far above all rule and authority and power and dominion.
  (Ephesians 1:20-21)
  
  
• Later, Paul will say that the manifold wisdom of God is being made known through the church to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.
  (Ephesians 3:10)
  
  
• Paul will also say that believers wrestle against spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
  (Ephesians 6:12)

To be seated with Christ in the heavenly places (v 6) is to be graciously connected to Christ's heavenly position. It means believers are no longer merely earthly people whose destiny is bound to this fallen world. Believers are united with Christ and are given a heavenly inheritance in His kingdom.

That all believers have been graciously positioned in Christ for heavenly inheritance is part of the Gift of Eternal Life. Everyone who believes in Jesus is born into God's family (John 1:12-13) and given the opportunity to inherit the fullness of what God has prepared for His children (Romans 8:16-17).

This opportunity to be seated with Christ is guaranteed by the Gift of Eternal Life because no one can share Christ's heavenly inheritance unless he first belongs to Christ. The Gift of Eternal Life gives believers access to the inheritance. The Gift of Eternal Life opens the door to the Prize of Eternal Life.

And there is also a Prize aspect of being seated with Christ. God graciously gives every believer the opportunity to share in Christ's heavenly inheritance as a reward for faithfulness. The experience of sharing Christ's honor, authority, reign, and royal position is His promised reward for faithful endurance.

We are "fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him" (Romans 8:17). This is how being seated with Him in the heavenly places is also connected to the Prize of Eternal Life.

The relational reality of being seated in the heavenly places with Christ is part of the Gift of Eternal Life. The inheriting of being seated with Him in the sense of sharing His authority to reign is part of the Prize. It seems Jesus will only grant authority to those who have proven a willingness to serve others in love. This is likely why the new earth will be one that is filled with righteousness. There will be no self-seeking rulers (2 Peter 3:13).

Jesus Himself connects sitting with Him in royal authority to overcoming:

"He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne."
(Revelation 3:21)

Jesus also connects faithful endurance with sitting with Him at the Messianic banquet table (Matthew 8:10-12).

The privilege of being seated with Christ at His table and getting to share in the joy, celebration, fellowship, and the honor of His kingdom is a reward of the Prize of Eternal Life. Similarly, being granted to sit on thrones to share in His authority, rule, and kingdom responsibility is also an aspect of the Prize of Eternal Life.

Believers are exhorted to endure, overcome, and walk by faith so that they might fully inherit and enjoy the reward of reigning with Christ (Matthew 7:13-14, 21, 25:21, 23, Luke 22:28-30, 2 Corinthians 5:9-10, 1 Peter 4:13). We should pay heed to this exhortation, and seek rewards above the rewards of the world.

The writer of Hebrews exhorts believers to:

"not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised."
(Hebrews 10:35-36)

John also warns believers:

"Watch yourselves, that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward."
(2 John 1:8)

Believers need to walk by faith and to endure so that they may receive what was promised—which includes being seated with Christ on His throne. This means believers must respond to God's promise with enduring faith if they are to receive the fullness of the promised reward. A full reward can be received, but it can also be lost, in whole or in part (2 John 1:8).

The Gift cannot be lost because God's gifts and calling are irrevocable (Romans 11:29). But the fullness of reward can be lost if believers fail to walk by faith. All believers are granted an inheritance. But living as a faithful witness is required in order to possess that inheritance. Our inheritance can be squandered, as exemplified by Esau (Hebrews 12:16).

In verse 7, Paul explains why God does all these incredible acts for us.

…So that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Paul now explains why God made us alive together with Christ, raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places (vv 5-6).

The expression—so that—introduces the purpose of God's three great acts of deliverance or salvation. God did these things so that He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus (v 7).

The phrase in the ages to come refers to the future ages that will follow this present age. This includes Christ's coming kingdom, the new heaven and the new earth, and the eternal ages when God's goodness will be even more vividly displayed (Revelation 21:3). The fact that Paul writes plural ages to come instead of singular "age to come" likely indicates there are at least two ages to come.

We are told of the thousand-year kingdom on this earth (Revelation 20:4) and the age of the new heaven and new earth (Revelation 21:1). There is also an inference that the ages to come will be unending (Revelation 22:5).

This present age is marked by sin, death, suffering, and spiritual conflict. But the ages to come will be marked by Christ's rule, the resurrection life, restored creation, and a world fully harmonized by God's grace. The ages to come will begin when "the fullness of the times" and this present age is summed up (Ephesians 1:10) at Christ's return and judgement of the earth (Matthew 25:31).

Paul says that God will show the surpassing riches of His grace (v 7). To show means to display, demonstrate, or make visible. God will openly display the great depth and extent of His grace in the new heaven and earth when He seats us with honor, glory, an authority in the triumph of Christ.

The expression surpassing riches means that God's grace is immeasurably abundant. God's grace is abounding and infinite. His grace surpasses our sin, surpasses our weakness, surpasses our suffering, and surpasses all that we can presently understand.

Paul uses similar language later in Ephesians when he prays that believers would know "the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge" and "be filled up to all the fullness of God" (Ephesians 3:19). Just as Christ's love surpasses knowledge, so also the riches of God's grace surpass what we can presently measure or fully comprehend.

The surpassing riches of God's grace is so unfathomable, that "eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him" (1 Corinthians 2:9).

God will show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus (v 7).

Kindness describes God's gracious goodness in action. God's kindness is His benevolent favor expressed toward us for our good.

Just as in the Lord's parable, the master returned home and elevated his faithful servants to partners (Matthew 25:21, 25:23), so too does God grant us an unfathomable inheritance and allow us to become partakers of His divine rule in the ages to come if we are faithful (1 Peter 1:3-7, 2 Peter 1:4). It is God who grants the reward of the inheritance. He gives it to those who do whatever they do as unto Him (Colossians 3:23-24).

God's kindness is meant to lead people to repentance (Romans 2:4). In the ages to come, people no longer have to attack and defend against one another for what's "theirs" because everything is God's and He graciously shares what is His with those who love Him. When we realize this, even in this life, God's kindness leads us to repent of following the world's path of trying to out-manipulate and out-exploit one another and begin loving and serving one another as Jesus loved and served us (Matthew 20:25-28, John 13:34).

In the prologue of his Gospel account, John writes that in the fullness of Jesus "we have all received, and grace upon grace" (John 1:16). As sinners who were dead in our transgressions, we received amazing grace in the riches of His mercy as God made us alive with Christ. As faithful followers of Jesus, we will receive the surpassing riches of His grace in the ages to come when we are seated with Christ in glory, honor, and authority.

Paul ends his statement by saying who the surpassing riches of God's grace is toward. He says it is toward us who are in Christ Jesus. The surpassing riches of God's grace is available to everyone, but it is only received by those who are in Christ Jesus.

God's kindness toward us is granted through Christ. There are two senses of what it means to be in Christ.

In the most basic and most important sense, to be in Christ means to be part of God's family. We are born into God's family when we believe in Jesus as the Son of God and our savior (John 1:12, 3:16). As Paul will say in the next verses, we become God's children "by grace through faith" apart from any works we do (Ephesians 2:8-9). If we believe in Jesus, we are in Christ and have received the Gift of Eternal Life, have graciously been made spiritually alive with Christ, and will be graciously physically raised up with Him. Further, we have been given the gracious opportunity to be seated with Him in the heavenly places (v 6).

The second sense of what it means to be in Christ means to abide in Christ (John 15:4). It means to walk in fellowship with Him by following in His ways (1 John 1:3).

The way we abide in Christ and have fellowship with Him is by enduring with Him (2 Timothy 2:12), sharing His sufferings with Him (Romans 8:17), obeying His commands (1 John 2:3), and overcoming life’s trials by faith in Him (2 Corinthians 5:7).

To be in Christ in this second sense is to physically live out our spiritual reality. It entails animating our faith with works. It requires an obedient faith, active faith, a living faith that does good (James 2:20).

We were "created in Christ Jesus for good works" (Ephesians 2:10). And in this sense, being in Christ means to walk in those good works that God has prepared for us (Ephesians 2:10). As the Apostle John describes it, we are to "walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light" (1 John 1:7).

To receive our full reward of the surpassing riches of God's kindness toward us we must refine our faith, which is more precious than gold, by abiding in Jesus, so that we may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at our judgment (James 1:2-4, 1:12, 1 Peter 1:6-7).

The Gift of Eternal Life is not dependent on our faithfulness, because it is already guaranteed by the faithful sacrifice of Jesus and the unbreakable promise of God (2 Timothy 2:13). But the full reward of the Prize of Eternal Life and being seated with Christ in the heavenly places in the ages to come (v 7) is dependent on our daily obedience and walk by faith.

Paul is telling the Ephesian believers about the great acts of God's salvation for us because he wants them to live in confidence of their future and for them to embrace all that God has in store for them. Paul desires that they not go back to living as slaves to sin, and endure the suffering of loss from the adverse consequences of sin. Rather, he desires that they live consistently with their new identity in Christ, as citizens of heaven and heirs of the promise of a kingdom that is to come.