Tuesday, October 16, 2007
But God...
1And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.
3Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
4But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
5even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
6and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
7so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
8For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
9not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
10For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
- Ephesians 2:1-10
I am a person who likes to be concise. I try to get to the point in the most direct manner. Although you may not guess it after reading how I amble through blog entries. I was asking myself "What is the shortest proclamation of the gospel in the entire Bible?" Then I came across Ephesians 2:4. Maybe it's not an exhaustive exegesis of the gospel or the total gospel (as the Westminister Divines would call "The Sum of Saving Knowledge"), but it articulates a lot.
My wife and I committed Ephesians 2:1-10 this past summer and I have oftentimes found myself meditating over it. One thing that strikes me about this fairly brief synopsis of the gospel is the abrupt shift in verse 4. The first three verses focus upon our estate as sinful creatures. The highlights of which include:
3Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
4But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
5even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
6and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
7so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
8For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
9not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
10For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
- Ephesians 2:1-10
I am a person who likes to be concise. I try to get to the point in the most direct manner. Although you may not guess it after reading how I amble through blog entries. I was asking myself "What is the shortest proclamation of the gospel in the entire Bible?" Then I came across Ephesians 2:4. Maybe it's not an exhaustive exegesis of the gospel or the total gospel (as the Westminister Divines would call "The Sum of Saving Knowledge"), but it articulates a lot.
My wife and I committed Ephesians 2:1-10 this past summer and I have oftentimes found myself meditating over it. One thing that strikes me about this fairly brief synopsis of the gospel is the abrupt shift in verse 4. The first three verses focus upon our estate as sinful creatures. The highlights of which include:
- We are dead
- All people are in this estate
- We blindly follow earthly pursuits
- We evoke rather in God's sight
But a dramatic change happens in verse 4 when God steps in the picture. God, who loves us dearly resurrects (note: he doesn't rescue us b/c we are already dead, he gives us new life) us from this death. Through the atoning work of His Son on the Cross, we move from death to life. We have been raised up to a place of stature with Christ.
Our salvation rests in God's grace and His grace alone. He gives us the gift of the faith. This is done out of God's deep love for us. We are also saved for a purpose: this is glorifying to God (v7) and God has a plan to use for works He has already has planned.
"But God" means that God has intervened in our human situation of sin. We are no longer dead, sinful people who are provoking God's wrath. We are people who have life to the fullest and are dearly loved by our Creator. And that is the essence of the gospel.
