Ephesians 2:1
Outline:
I. \\#1:1-3:21\\ The Position of the Christian
A. \\#1:1-14\\ Praise for Redemption
1. \\#1:1, 2\\ Salutation from Paul
2. \\#1:3-6\\ Chosen by the Father
3. \\#1:7-12\\ Redeemed by the Son
4. \\#1:13, 14\\ Sealed by the Spirit
B. \\#1:15-23\\ Prayer for the Ephesians
C. \\#2:1-2:22\\ Position of the Christian
1. \\#2:1-10\\ The Christian’s Position Individually
2. \\#2:11-2:22\\ The Christian’s Position Corporately
D. \\#3:1-13\\ Paul’s Ministry in God’s Work
E. \\#3:14-19\\ Paul’s Prayer and Desire for the Ephesians
F. \\#3:20-21\\ Paul's Doxology
II. \\#4:1-6:24\\ The Practice of the Christian
A. \\#4:1-6\\ Unity in the Church
1.\\#4:1-3\\ Exhortation to Unity
2.\\#4:4-6\\ Explanation of Unity
3. \\#4:7-11\\ Means for Unity: The Gifts
4. \\#4:12-16\\ Purpose of the Gifts
B. \\#4:17-5:21\\ Holiness in Life
1. \\#4:17-22\\ Put Off the Old Man
2. \\#4:23-29\\ Put On the New Man
3. \\#4:30-5:12\\ Grieve Not the Holy Spirit
4. \\#5:13-17\\ Walk as Children of Light
5. \\#5:18-21\\ Be Filled with the Spirit
C. \\#5:22-6:9\\ Responsibilities in the Home and at Work
1. \\#5:22-24\\ Wives: Submit to Your Husbands
2. \\#5:25-33\\ Husbands: Love Your Wives
3. \\#6:1-4\\ Children: Obey Your Parents
4. \\#6:5-9\\ Service on the Job
D. \\#6:10-24\\ Conduct in the Conflict
1. \\#6:10-17\\ Put On the Armor of God
2. \\#6:18-20\\ Pray for Boldness
3. \\#6:21-24\\ Conclusion
Notes:
I. \\#2:1-2:22\\ Position of the Christian
A. \\#2:1-10\\ The Christian’s Position Individually
1. \\#1-2\\ Notice that these verses are directed to "you"
and "ye."
a. Those are personal references and while they do apply
to everyone, Paul was speaking to Christians as
individuals.
b. That would include us too!
2. \\#1-3\\ Our lost condition
a. \\#1\\ We all were "dead in trespasses and sins."
(1) While "trespasses" and "sins" are two completely
different words, they both have basically the
same meaning. They refer to acts that we have
done which are against God, acts which are faults
or errors on our part.
(2) "dead" means we are separated from God and thus
damned forever.
b. "you hath he quickened"
(1) But that is not the state that these Ephesians
were in at the time of Paul’s writing.
(2) "quickened" means they—and we—had been made
alive.
c. \\#2\\ "in times past" - They WERE dead but now are
alive.
d. \\#2-3\\ And what were we like while dead?
(1) "they walked according to the course of this
world" - That is, they followed the same
path the remainder of the world followed.
(2) They walked "according to the prince of the
power of the air"
(a) Those walking the worldly path, are under
someone else’s influence and control.
(b) That person is the prince of the air (the
devil).
(c) It is the prince of the air’s "spirit that
now works in the children of disobedience."
Paul was saying the devil does have a part
in how the people of this world behave.
Interestingly, he does not say that about
those who are God’s!
(3) "we all had our conversation… in the lusts of
our flesh"
(a) "Conversation" means more than our speech or
dialogue. It means our lifestyle, our
self or nature.
(b) We were all living a life where we were
motivated to do what the flesh wanted to
do.
(4) "fulfilling the desires of the flesh" - Being
driven by the flesh, we did what it wanted.
(5) "were by nature the children of wrath" - The
"wrath" would be God’s wrath. We were part of
the family that had been condemned by God, i.e.
we were the children of the devil and the flesh.
3. \\4-10\\ Our saved condition
a. \\#4\\ "But God" - The conversation could not go very
far without speaking of God! He is the One who made
salvation possible.
(1) The sinner’s part in salvation is minimal and
reactionary.
(a) We must believe and repent.
(b) While some might call these works, they are
really just reactions to the Holy Spirit’s
work.
(c) If we react to the Holy Spirit’s
illumination and conviction with these two
proper responses, we will be saved.
(2) But God has done so much more!
b. "who is rich in mercy"
(1) God started by showing us mercy. The human race
should have ended in the Garden—and would have
had it not been for God’s mercy.
(2) But that mercy has been renewed each day as we
are still sinners still deserving of death and
hell.
Lam 3:22 It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are
not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
23 They are new every morning: great is thy
faithfulness.
c. "for his great love" - And why did God show us such
mercy? Because He loved us! There is no reason
given to explain why God loves us. It was by His
sovereign choice.
d. \\#5-6\\ What did this love and mercy do for us?
(1) \\#5\\ "even when we were dead in sins" - Even in
our worst and most repugnant condition before
God….
(2) He "hath quickened us together with Christ."
(a) He made us alive for we were as separated
from God has any dead person is separated
from his family.
(b) "with Christ" - This quickening was done at
the same time that Jesus was being raised
from the dead!
(c) No wonder God spoke of the power which
raised Jesus from the dead
\\#Eph 1:19-20\\. God raised us all at the
same time!
FOOTNOTE "(by grace are ye saved}" - This salvation was produced by
God’s grace not ours! It was not our goodness or effort which saved
us! The word "grace" used in this verse takes us back to the phrase
"But God" of \\#4\\!
(3) \\#6\\ "And raised us up together" - This second
use of the word, "together," refers to all
the believers being raised at the same moment—
with Christ.
(4) "and made us sit together in heavenly places"
(a) "together" - Paul continued to emphasize
the commonality of our position. What
happened to one of us, happened to all of
us at the same time.
(b) "heavenly places" - This is the third of
four times Paul will mention this "heavenly
place."
i. \\#Eph 1:3, 20, 2:6, 3:10\\
ii. The thought being that the action is
already done but done in the heavens,
indicating that we cannot yet
experience the full impact of the
action.
iii. From God’s perspective, we are already
sitting with Jesus, already completely
redeemed, adopted, and endued with
power!
e. \\#7-9\\ And what was God’s purpose in doing so much
for us? "That… he might shew.. his grace… toward
us through Christ"
(1) "grace" - God did all of this for us that He
might have a way to demonstrate the power of
what He can do and His kindness and love.
(2) \\#7\\ "ages to come" - We will be God’s eternal
examples of grace, love, mercy, and power.
(3) \\#8\\ "for by grace are ye saved" - While just a
footnote in \\#5\\, it is a primary point here.
(a) Salvation is by God’s grace. The word
"grace" itself would mean salvation is not
by our works. Salvation being by God’s
grace demands that it be of God’s goodness
and effort.
i. Salvation is "through faith."
ii. Faith is the medium which makes
salvation possible for us. We enter
salvation through that means.
iii. Faith is believing God, which includes
His Word and the honest preaching of
it.
(b) "and that not of yourselves" - Paul
emphasized grace which would exclude our
efforts to redeem ourselves, but here he
emphasized again and plainly that sinners
are not saved by their works. All any
sinner does is to respond to the work of
the Holy Ghost.
(c) "it is the gift of God" - Another emphasis
is given to be certain that we understand
how the sinner contributes nothing and God
all.
i. A gift is an undeserved demonstration
of love from another.
ii. Salvation is a totally unearned and
undeserved gift.
(d) \\#9\\ "Not of works," man’s works.
i. And now a third statement to emphasize
that salvation is not earned by man.
ii. "lest any man should boast" - And here
the reason God would not let man have
any part in it is explained.
(aa) Salvation is to give God glory
\\#7\\.
(bb) It was not designed to give man
glory or cause to boast.
f. \\#10\\ God’s purpose accomplished
(1) "We are his workmanship" - What God’s salvation
is doing for us will create a prize that God
wants to proudly display.
(2) "created in Christ Jesus" - This salvation comes
by and through Jesus Christ.
(3) "to good works" - Good works are not what saves
the Christian, but they are the results of being
saved.
(4) "which God hath before ordained" - This phrase
means God has pre-determined this to happen—
not who should be saved, but that they should
be so changed by the power of that salvation.
(5) "that we should walk in them" - That Christians
would "walk," that is, continuously move about
in, good works.
Note: All of this emphasizes the truths we proclaim…
1. If there has been no change in your life, there has been no
Christ in your life.
2. We are not saved by our good works but to good works.
3. Christians should not be marked merely with worship but with
WORKship.
B. \\#2:11-2:22\\ Christians’ Position Corporately
1. \\#11-12\\ Our Gentile Past - This conversation quickly
turned to describe the Gentiles and their condition.
a. \\#11\\ "remember" - This is not what we are, but what
we were!
b. "Gentiles" - Ephesus was a Gentile church—although it
may have had some Jews in it—so Paul will relate our
Gentile past.
(1) We were "Gentiles in the flesh" - Under the bond-
age of the flesh \\#2:3\\.
(2) "who are called Uncircumcision"
(a) Those who are called "the circumcised"
(Jews) called us the uncircumcised"
(Gentiles).
(b) Circumcision was the external mark of being
a partaker in God’s Old Testament kingdom.
Without that mark, Gentiles were just out
of luck.
(c) The Jews had come to see this physical
marking of the Jewish men as a form of
spiritual purging of sin—which Paul taught
us it was not
\\#1Cor 7:19, Romans 2:25, Gal 6:15\\.
(3) \\#12\\ "ye were without Christ" - This is the
natural condition of all mankind.
(4) "aliens from the commonwealth of Israel"
(a) This statement speaks of a wealth that all
Jews who are under the Old Testament
covenant had.
(b) What wealth did they have? Paul started to
answer that question in \\#Romans 3:1-2\\.
i. \\#Romans 3:2\\ "unto them were
committed the oracles of God." God
gave them His Word.
ii. Paul never got around to finishing his
answer but we can add many more
things to the list.
aa. God gave them the priesthood.
bb. God gave them the Messiah.
cc. God gave them their land.
dd. God gave them a ministry. They
were to be a nation of priests
to the world.
ee. God offered to give to them
divine protection.
ff. God will give them a kingdom.
(5) "strangers from the covenants of promise"
(a) The word covenant means promise or treaty,
but when used in the Bible it usually
refers to the contracts God made with the
nation of Israel.
(b) There were several:
i. Noahic Covenant - Genesis 9
ii. Abrahamic Covenant - Genesis 12
iii. Mosaic Covenant - Exodus 17
iv. Davidic Covenant - 2Samuel 7
v. New Covenant - Jeremiah 31
(c) Gentiles were not included in any of these
covenants—at least as Gentiles—until God
opened the door for them in Acts 10.
(6) "no hope" - All of this left the Gentiles with
absolutely no hope!
(7) "and without God" - And utterly separated from
God.
2. \\#13-22\\ Our Gentile Present - \\#13\\ "But now" -
While the topic is the same (Gentiles) the time has
changed.
a. "in Christ Jesus"
(1) The Person is introduced that changed the
Gentile condition.
(2) But not only the WHO that changed our condition
but also the HOW, by being IN Jesus. This is
the same message as was proclaimed in
\\#Eph 1:1\\.
(3) "by the blood of Christ" - And not only the
WHO and the HOW, but the WHAT.
(4) And what has the blood of Jesus done for us? It
has made us "nigh" or near to God. Everything
Paul makes it clear we were nowhere near Him
before!
b. \\#14-17\\ We have peace with God.
(1) Jesus "is our peace"
(a) He is the One who provided our Peace but
even more, He is the Peace.
(b) Peace is not a possession we hold. Peace is
a Person who holds on to us!
(2) How?
(a) "who hath made both one"
i. It seems to be a unanimous consensus
that the "both" is a reference to the
Jews and Gentiles and, based on
\\#16\\, I would agree; however, I do
not believe that is the only
relationship of which Paul was
speaking.
ii. While Paul was talking about the Jews
and the Gentiles in \\#11-12\\, in
\\#13\\ the topic turned to Gentiles
and God.
iii. The purpose of the blood of Jesus was
not merely to bring Jew and Gentile
together but sinner and God. That
relationship is woven into these
verses as much as the discussion of
the Jew and the Gentile.
iv. That sinner and God might be one was
was Jesus’ prayer.
Joh 17:11 And now I am no more in the world, but
these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy
Father, keep through thine own name those whom
thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we
are.
Joh 17:21 That they all may be one; as thou,
Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also
may be one in us: that the world may believe
that thou hast sent me.
22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have
given them; that they may be one, even as we are
one:
v. I believe Paul was speaking of two
separations, the Gentiles from the
Jews and the sinners from God, in
these verses.
(b) "and hath broken down the middle wall of
partition between us" - Not only has Jesus
made two into one, but He has also removed
the wall that was between those two.
(c) "Having abolished in his flesh the enmity"
i. This is not a new thought but the
continuation of what Christ has done
to be our Peace.
ii. "Enmity" means hostility or hatred.
iii. "even the law of commandments
contained in the ordinances"
aa. This enmity was caused by the
law.
bb. The law created a far bigger
separation between sinner and
God than it did between Jew
and Gentile.
cc. The only laws that I know of
which separated the two nations
was in marriage and worship.
iv. Jesus gave His body that the
separations might be removed.
v. Thus making of the two nations one
people in Christ.
vi. Thys "making peace."
c. \\#18-22\\ We have access to the Father.
(1) \\#18\\ This is the fellowship that Jesus died
to give to us. (For some reason, God desires
to have permanent fellowship with us!!)
(2) "by one Spirit" - By the Holy Ghost.
(a) Jesus died to provide the bridge.
(b) The Holy Ghost came to be the Medium by
which we have fellowship with God.
(3) \\#19\\ "Now… ye are no more strangers" - These
two have changed the relationship we have with
the Father.
(a) "fellowcitizens with the saints" - All of
the saints have been joined together to
God.
(b) Notice that the term "saint" is applied to
all the saved, not just a few picked out
by a few.
(c) "household of God" - And we are all part of
God’s house.
(d) \\#20-22\\ The imagery of God’s house will
continue into the next three verses.
i. \\#20\\ We are a house built on the
foundation of the teachings of the
apostles and the prophets.
ii. "Jesus himself being the chief corner
stone" - The Corner Stone being the
key stone around which others are
laid and upon which the strength of
the house rests.
iii. \\#21\\ "all the building fitly framed
together" - We have been shaped by God
so that we fit together!
iv. "an habitation of God through the
Spirit" - And so we are a most holy
temple, a place for God to dwell by
the Holy Ghost.
v. "in whom ye also are builded" - To be
"builded" implies intelligence,
design, and effort. God put forth
these three and more to do a work in
the lives of the believers.
vi. "together" - But God’s purpose demands
the church be joined. It is through
that joining that the church gains its
power.
vii. "habitation" -We are built together to
form a place for the Holy Spirit to
live.
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