Ephesians

Salvation by Grace through Faith. This section, like 1:3–14 and 1:15–23, is a single sentence in the original Greek. The overarching theme is that God lavishes his grace on Christians through his saving initiative. There are two subsections: 2:1–3 and 2:4–10.

Hopelessness and Helplessness without Christ. “God helps those who help themselves” is not from the Bible but from the ancient Greeks. As Paul emphasizes in this section, the truth is the exact opposite: God helps the helpless! Even more, he helps his enemies who have transgressed his holy law.

you were dead. Human beings as sons and daughters of Adam enter the world spiritually dead. They have no inclination or responsiveness toward God and no ability to please God. Paul begins with this phrase then breaks off with other thoughts until he returns to it again in v. 5. trespasses. Violations of divine commandments. sins. Offenses against God in thought, word, or deed.

prince … spirit. This refers to Satan as he dominates his human subjects, here called sons of disobedience, a Hebrew-inspired phrase like “sons of this world” in contrast to “sons of light” (Luke 16:8). They belong to the family of those who rebel against the holy and true God.

by nature. To be sons and daughters of Adam is to be born into a fallen state (Ps. 51:5) and subject to God’s condemnation as children of wrath. To escape this hopeless imprisonment requires nothing short of a new birth or a new creation (Eph. 2:10).

Hope in Christ. In contrast to the hopeless state of the nonbeliever, Christians exult in hope because of God’s incredible grace and free salvation. Paul accents this grace in contrast to the pre-Christ hopelessness analyzed in vv. 1–3.

But God. No hopeless fate looks any grimmer than that which awaits the forlorn company of mankind marching behind the “prince of the power of the air” (v. 2) to their destruction under divine wrath. Just when things look the most desolate, Paul utters the greatest short phrase in the history of human speech: “But God!” rich in mercy. God’s mercy on his helpless enemies flows from his own loving heart, not from anything they have done to deserve it.

when we were dead. Paul resumes his original thought, which began with “you were dead” in v. 1. made us alive. That is, God gave us regeneration (new spiritual life within). This and the two verbs in v. 6 (“raised up” and “seated with”) make up the main verbs of the long sentence in vv. 1–10. Since Christians were dead, they first had to be made alive before they could believe (and God did that together with Christ). This is why salvation is by grace alone (see notes on v. 8; vv. 9–10).

Raised us up with him means that, because of Christ’s resurrection, those who believe in him are given new life spiritually in this age (regeneration). They will also be given renewed physical bodies when Christ returns (future resurrection). seated us with him in the heavenly places. God has allowed his people even now to share in a measure of the authority that Christ has, seated at the right hand of God (cf. 1:20–22; 6:10–18; James 4:7; 1 John 4:4), a truth that would be especially important in Ephesus with all of its occult practices (see Introduction: Purpose, Occasion, and Background; also note on Eph. 1:18–19). Verse 7 of ch. 2 answers the question of why God lavished such love upon his people: so that they will marvel for all of eternity over the incredible kindness and love of God. It will take all of eternity to fathom God’s love, and those who are saved will never plumb the depths of it.

Faith is the means by which people acquire salvation: it is “through faith.” Salvation by grace through faith comes as God’s gift, not by works.

By grace refers to God’s favor upon those who have transgressed his law and sinned against him. But grace may also be understood as a “power” in these verses. God’s grace not only offers salvation but also secures it. Saved refers to deliverance from God’s wrath at the final judgment (Rom. 5:9); “by grace you have been saved” is repeated from Eph. 2:5 for emphasis. The verb form for “have been saved” (Gk. sesōsmenoi, perfect tense) communicates that the Christian’s salvation is fully secured. through faith. Faith is a confident trust and reliance upon Christ Jesus and is the only means by which one can obtain salvation. this. The Greek pronoun is neuter, while “grace” and “faith” are feminine. Accordingly, “this” points to the whole process of “salvation by grace through faith” as being the gift of God and not something that we can accomplish ourselves. This use of the neuter pronoun to take in the whole of a complex idea is quite common in Greek (e.g., 6:1); its use here makes it clear that faith, no less than grace, is a gift of God. Salvation, therefore, in every respect, is not your own doing.

Salvation is not by works. If it were, then those who are saved would get the glory. created … for good works. Salvation is not based on works, but the good works Christians do are the result and consequence of God’s new creation work.

While good works cannot merit right standing with God, good works are the fruit produced in the lives of those whom God has saved. Good works are neither an afterthought nor optional in the lives of believers. God created and saved for the very purpose of accomplishing good works.

Unity and Peace of Christ. Paul continues the theme of the new creation which he introduced in v. 10. In the previous sections God had been the main subject of the action, but now the focus falls on Christ Jesus and his redemption. There are three subsections: vv. 11–15, 16–18, and 19–22.

Unity of Christ’s People. Christ makes peace between Jew and Gentile to unify both in the church. There is only one unified people of God.

the circumcision. That is, the Jews. To be called “uncircumcised” was a Jewish term of derision (see 1 Sam. 17:26 and note on Acts 15:1) and signified that one was a Gentile, outside the covenant people of God.

separated. To be separated from OT Israel was to be separated from Christ, because “salvation is from the Jews” (John 4:22; Rom. 9:4–5). commonwealth. For “citizenship” and strangers, see note on Eph. 2:19. covenants of promise. God administered his OT redemption and promises by his oath-bound covenants (Luke 1:72–73), the chief of which were the Abrahamic, Mosaic, and Davidic covenants. The new covenant fulfills all the divine promises (2 Cor. 1:20; Heb. 7:20–22; 8:6; 9:15). Note that Paul believed that all Gentiles apart from Christ were unsaved and without God.

In securing peace through his death, Christ demolished all ethnic barriers in the church. The church should be the world’s most racially integrated community.

in Christ Jesus. The old division of all people into two classifications, Jews or Gentiles (Acts 14:5; Rom. 3:29; 9:24; 1 Cor. 1:23), or Jews and Greeks (John 7:35; Acts 14:1; 18:4; Rom. 3:9; 1 Cor. 1:22, 24; etc.), has been transcended by a new entity in Christ: “the church of God” (1 Cor. 10:32). near. To be brought near means to have access to God (see Eph. 2:18). blood. Christ’s substitutionary death. He died not only for the Jews but for all his sheep (John 10:16), even those who are far off (cf. Acts 2:39).

peace. This refers to the state of harmonious friendship with God and with one another in the church. made us both one. That is, Jews and Gentiles. The opposite of peace is the hostility that Christ has quenched. Christ created a unified new people from the old hostile camps (Col. 3:15; cf. John 17:20–21). in his flesh. This refers to Christ’s bodily death on the cross (see Eph. 2:16). dividing wall. There was an inscription on the wall of the outer courtyard of the Jerusalem temple warning Gentiles that they would only have themselves to blame for their death if they passed beyond it into the inner courts. Paul may or may not be alluding to this wall, but it well illustrates Christ’s reconciliation of all people into a new humanity (see v. 15).

law. The additional mention of commandments and ordinances identifies this as the Mosaic law, which included many commandments that served to separate Israel from the other nations. Thus the law was a “dividing wall” (v. 14) which Christ has abolished or rendered powerless both by fulfilling it and by removing believers from the law’s condemnation (see Matt. 5:17; Rom. 8:1; Heb. 9:11–14; 10:1–10). The result is a new man, denoting a new human race under the second Adam (Christ), in whose image the Christian is re-created (1 Cor. 15:45, 49; see also Eph. 4:24).

Peace with God. On the cross, Christ put to death the hostility between Israel and the other nations. In this section the focus shifts to the new, unified group being brought near to God.

reconcile. To bring two parties into peaceful relations, in this case, to satisfy God’s wrath against his enemies (see Rom. 5:1–11). They are now friends (John 15:13–15) in one body, the church (see Eph. 4:4–5). Paul describes Christ’s reconciliation very vividly as killing the hostility that stood in the way of peace with God. preached peace. Paul refers to Christ’s messianic ministry to the whole world both far and near, alluding to Isa. 57:19.

access. To draw near to God and to enjoy him forever in a new creation is both mankind’s greatest good and the ultimate accomplishment of Christ’s earthly work of redemption. one Spirit. See note on 4:4.

Implications of Christ’s Peace. Paul indicates with “So then” that he is drawing out key implications of what he has taught in vv. 11–18. The Christian’s assurance is based on these facts.

So then. Christians have to know and be thoroughly convinced of who they are as saints and members of the household of God if they are to live accordingly. strangers. As in v. 12 (“commonwealth”), Paul employs a term that was common to political life in ancient cities like Ephesus. Strangers (also v. 12) were complete foreigners with no rights or privileges (see Acts 16:20–23); aliens were non-citizens who dwelt in the city and were accorded customary privileges as neighbors. Only citizens had full protections and rights in the city (see Acts 21:39).

built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. There are several views about the apostles and prophets referred to here: (1) Some think that they were “foundational” because they proclaimed the very words of God, and some of their words became the books of the NT. Since a “foundation” is laid only once (i.e., at the beginning of the church) there are no more apostles or prophets today, but their function of speaking the words of God has been replaced by the written Bible, which is the foundation today. (2) Others argue that these “prophets” are very closely tied to apostles in the phrase “the apostles and prophets,” and that these prophets do not represent all who had a gift of prophecy in the early church (see note on 1 Cor. 12:10); they were a small group closely associated with the apostles (or else identical to the apostles) to whom God had revealed the mystery of the Gentile inclusion in the church (see Eph. 3:5, where the same phrase, “the apostles and prophets,” occurs). In this case ordinary Christians who had the gift of prophecy in Ephesus (4:11) and other churches (cf. Acts 11:27; 19:6; 21:9–10; Rom. 12:6; 1 Cor. 12:10; 1 Thess. 5:19–21; 1 Tim. 1:18; 4:14) were not part of the “foundation” but were part of the rest of the building that was being built (that is, the church) and would continue so throughout the church age. (3) Finally, some think the “prophets” here could be the OT prophets, though the same words in Eph. 3:5 point to prophets of the NT era. cornerstone. The critical stone in the corner of the foundation that ensures that a stone building is square and stable.

joined together. Christians are the temple of God corporately; belonging to the visible church is not optional for followers of Christ. holy temple. Where God meets with his people in joyful worship and fellowship. Believers do not have to worship in Jerusalem today because they themselves have become the new temple of God (see John 4:21).