“By grace are ye saved through faith.” (Eph 2:8)

It was from his Roman prison that the Apostle Paul wrote the Epistle to the Ephesians, one of the most beautiful of all his letters to the churches; full of deep spiritual instruction. Its keynote is “IN Christ,” this expression, or its equivalents, occurring at least twenty times in this Epistle. As the first chapter points out that the Church is chosen IN Christ Jesus, so our lesson shows that we have life in Christ alone; and, subsequently, the Epistle shows that all of God’s blessings and favors toward his people are solely upon consideration that they are IN Christ Jesus – members of the body of Christ, members of the New Creation.

None can get clear-cut, distinct appreciation of the Apostle’s meaning except those who clearly differentiate between the Church and the world, and discern their different hopes, built upon different promises; and perceive that in God’s plan only the Church is being dealt with at the present time – that the world’s hope is future, and very different from that of the Church, now being called as the body of Christ, “members in particular.”

Our lesson opens with a dark picture, delineating the condition of the whole world through the fall; a condition of sin and worldliness under the power of Satan; in disobedience to God, under divine sentence of death, which has already operated to the extent of corruption in matters moral, mental and physical. The whole world, although creatures of God, and thus in a general sense his offspring, or children, ceased to be children of his favor, and became “children of wrath,” through sin. The Apostle points out to the Ephesians that this had once been their wretched and terrible condition in common with the rest of mankind. How true is the picture even today! But let it be remembered that this is not merely the picture of the villains and outlaws of the world, but a picture of the world as a whole, including its very best representatives. “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” All are “children of wrath“; all are more or less under the power and control of the great Adversary; all are more or less controlled by the spirit of disobedience common to the whole world of mankind.

The only exceptions to this rule are the few who, like those addressed at Ephesus, have escaped this bondage, this corruption, this death state, this condition of alienation from God; – and surely these are few today, as they were in all but a “little flock” in the days of the Lord and at the time the Apostle wrote these words.

But the Apostle passes on to note what a great change came to the saints at Ephesus, on their acceptance of the Gospel; and how glad we are that a similar change has come to all who have become the Lord’s saints, from that day to the present time! The experience of passing from death to life is the same in every instance, although the circumstances connected with the transformation may vary considerably. The steps of grace by which the Lord delivered us from being children of wrath and under power of the Adversary are set forth by the Apostle in the succeeding verses. Let us trace these steps, and note to what extent we have taken them, and to what extent our experiences correspond to those which the Apostle delineates.

Our recovery did not begin with something in ourselves, – good resolutions, good works, etc. We did not improve ourselves, and thus commend ourselves to God: on the contrary, God was the prime mover in our release and recovery. He was inspired to give us aid by the benevolence of his character, for he is “rich in mercy.” He is rich in all of his attributes, rich in wisdom, rich in justice, rich in power, rich in love; but it is with the attribute of love and its corresponding benevolence, or mercy that the Apostle is here dealing.

How necessary it is for us to get this thought of God’s richness of mercy well rooted and grounded in our hearts – that we may never doubt his generosity, his kindness, his sympathy, his mercy toward all those who desire and seek to know and to do his will! We need great faith in our heavenly Father, and it is only as we come to a clear knowledge of his glorious plan through the Word that we can exercise such a confidence in his love and mercy. The Adversary evidently desires that we should misunderstand our Creator, and, hence, has in every way possible sought to misrepresent his character and his plan; – and so successfully has he done so that at this very moment 999 out of every 1000 of those who profess his name are moved by fear of an eternity of torment, rather than by love for him and appreciation of his love for them.

The Apostle assures us that God had great love for us, even when we were dead in sins – when we were corrupt. It is difficult for us to think of God’s greatness, purity and splendor of character, and of man’s fallen condition – his corruption, mental, moral and physical – and then to understand how the holy Jehovah could have love for his fallen creatures. We may be sure that it was not the love of affection, such as he has for us now, as his sons, newly begotten of the spirit, but merely the love of sympathy. He beheld our miserable condition, and realized that an offer of release from our corruption, and of return to holiness and harmony with himself, would be joyfully appreciated and accepted by some – let us hope, by many; – and it was, undoubtedly, in view of such a response to his goodness and mercy that our Creator opened up for the world of mankind “a new way of life,” in and through the Lord Jesus and his redemptive work.

But although this sympathetic love was toward the whole world, it has not yet been made generally known – it has not yet been practically exercised toward the world, but only toward a comparatively small proportion of the whole. Here and there the message has been sent to a special class – to those who have “an ear to hear” – the remainder being left for the present, to be dealt with later. (Isa 35:5.) It is to those who had the “ear to hear“, and who hearing, have responded and laid hold upon the grace of God in Christ, that the Apostle is now writing. He calls attention to the blessing of such an experience.

He does not here differentiate between those who have taken merely the first step of faith and obedience unto justification, and those who have gone on and taken also the second step of full consecration to the Lord, “even unto death“; but addresses the latter class only – those who, having made a full consecration to the Lord of their justified selves, have been begotten of the spirit, quickened and energized by that spirit as members of the body of Christ.

The Apostle here interjects in parenthesis (Eph 2:5) a reminder that all this blessing has come to us, not of our worthiness, nor of our work, but by divine “grace are ye saved“; we reached this position in the new life, this reckoned saved position, by faith; – delivered from the sentence of sin, saved from the darkness and delusion of the Adversary, saved from the wrath of God, and brought, instead, into his loving favor.

Oh, how great is the salvation which accompanies (those who have taken the second step, of) a complete conversion and full consecration to the Lord! What a wonderful change it brings to us, in thought, in word and in act! And yet this is only the beginning of our salvation, or what the Apostle elsewhere speaks of as being “saved by hope.” (Rom 8:24.) While thus saved by grace now, we are still waiting for a further salvation, by grace – “for the grace [salvation] that is to be brought unto us at the revelation of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” – the First Resurrection.

All that, by the Lord’s grace, we shall ultimately have through the “change” of the resurrection as members of the body of Christ – all the heavenly things, including full fellowship and communion with the Father and with our Lord – are reckoned as having their beginning in the present life. He, therefore, who knows not such a beginning of the new life, and its holy spirit now, has no reason whatever to believe that he has been begotten of the holy spirit – that he is a new creature in Christ. These new creatures are reckoned as having been raised up out of the state of sin and death into a new condition of life, and love of righteousness.” (R3165)

Continued with next post.