Ephesians Chapter 2

Ephesians 2:1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;

The YOU Paul refers to here is a continuation of the thought of the previous chapter. It is a reference to the YE ALSO of Ephesians 1:13. In other words, a second group of people who at a later date, after the time period covered by the book of Acts, had ALSO trusted in Christ as their Saviour.

You might just take note of how many times Paul refers to you, ye and your from Ephesians 1:13 down to this point. You will notice that there is a plain distinction between this group of people and those of Ephesians 1:12 who FIRST trusted in Christ.

These people in time past WERE dead in trespasses and sins for two main reasons. One of them is here:

Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

All men are sinners and all men die. The death rate among men is one each. The only exception to that will be those who are alive and remain at the time of the Rapture of the church Paul talks about in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. All men have the blood of Adam and hence all are sinners. Men sin because they ARE sinners. They don't become a sinner when they commit some sin or other.

But these people were also dead in sins for another reason, and that reason is brought out in verse 12 of this chapter. The verse says that "in time past" that these people, who are just like the people of today, were without Christ, without God, and without hope in the world. The reason for that? Because they were "aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise."

There are other people in Paul's epistles who do not match that description. For instance, the Galatians were not aliens from Israel. They were aligned with Israel in the past. They were not strangers from the promises, instead they were IN the promises. The same would hold true of the Romans, the Corinthians and the Thessalonians. All of those people were IN the promises. God, however, never made any promise to the Ephesians nor to the likes of you and me and people today.

Ephesians 2:2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

There is a spirit which works in all unbelievers. Paul says that it works in the children of disobedience. The word "disobedience" is literally disbelief or unbelief. The opposite of disobedience is obedience, but it is not referring to being obedient to a system of laws, as in the law of Moses, but rather it is a reference to the "obedience of faith." Notice the following:

2 Thessalonians 1:7 And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,

2 Thessalonians 1:8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:

To obey the gospel is to believe it. Look at what Paul says in Romans:

Romans 16:26 But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith:

So the obedience, then, would be the obedience OF FAITH. The opposite of that would be disobedience or disbelief. Paul says that if our gospel is hid then it is hid to them that are lost:

2 Corinthians 4:3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:

2 Corinthians 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

The god of this world is the prince of the power of the air Paul referred to in Ephesians 2:2 above. Those who believe not are those who hear the gospel of Christ and refuse to believe it. Their minds become blinded to the truth of the gospel, that Christ died for all of our sins. That he was delivered for our offenses and was raised again for our justification. All that is needed is to believe on Christ and be saved but there are those, many of them, who will not believe it.

Paul says that by nature we were all the children of wrath:

Ephesians 2:3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

Ephesians 2:4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,

Ephesians 2:5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)

God loved even these Ephesians and even people like us, so much so that he sent Christ to die for us, to be made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. So our salvation is according to God's love, his mercy and his grace. It is BY grace that we are saved. We were quicked together with Christ. Christ died to save his BODY. The church IS the body of Christ. When Christ died, then judicially, the whole body of Chrst died with him. When he was buried his body was buried and when he was quickened his body was quickened. It is a judicial and a spiritual position that believers have IN Christ.

Ephesians 2:6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

So the entire body of Christ was quickened, raised up together, ascended up together, and are now seated together with Christ in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Paul refers to "heavenly places" four times in the book of Ephesians and all of those are in reference to Christ and his body:

Ephesians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:

Ephesians 1:20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,

Ephesians 2:6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

The fourth reference has to do with principalities and powers in heavenly places, the intent being that God is showing to them, by the church, his manifold wisdom. But Paul continues in the passage:

Ephesians 2:7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

In other words if some old testament saint were to ask God to shew him an example of his grace then God would point directly to the members of the church, the body of Christ.

Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

Ephesians 2:9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Salvation today is a gift. It is not of works, lest any man should boast. Our salvation is the result of the workmanship of Christ. He did all the work of our salvation and it is a done deal, it is finished. Nothing can be added to it and nothing can be diminished from it.

Look at this verse:

2 Corinthians 5:19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

God has reconciled the world unto himself. He did that by imputing our sins to Jesus Christ. God made him to be sin for us and Christ suffered the death of the cross. He took our place. The cross should have been our cross. But Christ went to the cross, suffered and bled and died for sinners, for the ungodly and even for the enemies of God. (Romans 5:6-8-10) So all that is left for us to do is exactly what these Ephesians had done...to trust in Christ alone for salvation.

Now the main issue of this chapter, and the main issue where the Ephesians to whom Paul wrote the letter is concerned, is what he brings up next.

Ephesians 2:11 Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;

Ephesians 2:12 That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:

Notice that he says that "in time past" these people, the group of people named in Ephesians 1:13, were without Christ. Why were they without Christ? It was not simply the fact that they were sinners not yet saved. Notice WHY he says they were without Christ. It says BEING...that is BECAUSE OF...these things he brings out in the verse. BEING aliens from the commonwealth of Israel.

Those of Ephesians 1:12 were not aliens from the commonwealth of Israel. In fact they were Jews, Jewish proselytes and Gentiles who feared the God of Abraham. The "we who FIRST trusted in Christ" of Ephesians 1:12 were Israelites and Gentiles who were associated with Israel, not aliens from Israel. That was the case of the people Paul had previously preached to during the time period covered by the book of Acts. Notice the Galatians:

Galatians 3:7 Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.

Paul never tells the Ephesians to whom he wrote this letter that THEY are the children of Abraham. Abraham is not even mentioned, not in this epistle nor in any of Paul's later epistles called the "prison epistles." But the Galatians, the Romans, the Corinthians and the Thessalonians had a spiritual connection with Abraham They even called him "father." Paul writes in Romans 4:16 that Abraham is "the father of us all."

Notice also in Galatians:

Galatians 3:8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.

Now if the old testament scripture "foresaw" the justification of the Ephesians then there is a problem in Ephesians three:

Ephesians 3:8 Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;

Paul refers specifically to THIS grace, given to Paul, that he should preach something that was "unsearchable."

If something is unsearchable then it is "past finding out, untrackable, untraceable." There was nothing written in the old testament scriptures, nor in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, about the salvation of THESE Gentiles. Reason:

Ephesians 3:9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:

This "fellowship of the mystery" was not something in scripture, hidden or otherwise. It was HID IN GOD...not hid in the scriptures. It was past finding out until it was revealed to Paul. That's what he refers to it as THIS grace.

Notice again in Galatians:

Galatians 4:28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.

The children of promise is a reference to the promises God made, first to Abraham, then Isaac, then Jacob, the fathers of the nation of Israel. But notice again in our verse that instead of being like Isaac was, children of promise, that these people were STRANGERS from those promises:

Ephesians 2:12 That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:

Notice all of the verse: Without Christ, aliens, strangers, having no hope, without God in the world. That's who these people were in time past. That's who the people of the world today were in time past. Our only hope is the next verse:

Ephesians 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.

BUT NOW we ARE made nigh by the blood of Christ. So this is true BY the cross of Christ...but not AT the cross of Christ. This was a mystery, it was unsearchable, it was hid in God until the Lord made it known to Paul. It has everything to do with Paul's temple vision that he speaks of in Acts 22:

Acts 22:21 And he said unto me, Depart: for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles.

By way of comparison, look at another verse. Take note of the verse we will look at. It is Paul's account of what the Lord said to him on the road to Damascus in Acts chapter nine, although it is written in Acts 26:

Acts 26:17 Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee,

Notice the difference in those two verses. At the time of Acts chapter nine, which is the verse above where Paul talks about the Lord's appearance to him on the road to Damascus, notice what it says:

It says NOW I SEND THEE. Now compare the other verse, the verse of Acts 22:21 above. It says I WILL SEND THEE. Now send and will send involves two different sendings. One of them on the road to Damascus in Acts chapter nine, and the other from the temple in Jerusalem AT A LATER DATE.

That's the reason for Paul, in Ephesians to speak of THIS grace, and for THIS cause, and to say BUT NOW in contrast to IN TIME PAST in Ephesians 2:11-12-13.

So all of the truth of Ephesians is possible BY the cross but not AT the cross. Nobody could have beleived this truth until it was made known and it was not made known until the Lord sent Paul, not TO the commonwealth of Israel, but FAR HENCE to the Gentiles like the Ephesians, and like people today. A careful study will reveal that this did not happen in Acts chapter nine, thirteen or even in Acts 28. It most likely happened during Paul's trip to Jerusalem at the time of Acts 18:22.

Not that Paul was specifically sent at the time of Acts 18:22 but that that was the time Paul had the vision. Paul yet had some work to do before he could fulfill what the Lord said in the vision and that was to FULLY PREACH the gospel of Christ, as in Romans 15:19 and 29. Paul did that during the time of Acts 19 and the early part of Acts 20, and then his ministry took a huge turn:

Acts 20:22 And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there:

Acts 20:23 Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me.

Acts 20:24 But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.

The gospel of the grace of God in the dispensation of the grace of God is what Ephesians is all about.

Ephesians 2:14 For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;

Ephesians 2:15 Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;

Ephesians 2:16 And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:

Some say that that is merely a reference to the law, but it also includes something else. It includes handwritten ordinances. Notice what James said at the time Paul went up to Jerusalem to communicate unto them "that gospel that I preach:"

Acts 15:20 But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.

Acts 15:21 For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day.

During the time of the book of Acts, Paul went to synagogues, the law of Moses was read in them and he delivered ordinances for them to keep:

Acts 16:4 And as they went through the cities, they delivered them the decrees for to keep, that were ordained of the apostles and elders which were at Jerusalem.

1 Corinthians 11:2 Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you.

Today, there are no ordinances to keep. There is no enmity today between those who were formerly associated with Israel and those who were not. As a matter of fact there is no Israel to bless anyway. Israel was cast away, scattered among the nations and they became loammi or not God's people until a future day. Today the grace of God that bringeth salvation has appeared to ALL men and God would have ALL men to be saved and come unto the knowledge of the truth.

Ephesians 2:17 And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.

Notice those who were AFAR OFF in contrast to those that were NIGH. Those that were afar off are the very people to whom the Ephesian letter is written. They match the people of today.

Ephesians 2:18 For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.

WE BOTH is a reference to those of Ephesians 1:12 who FIRST trusted in Christ and a referrence to YE ALSO of Ephesians 1:13.

Ephesians 2:19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;

Strangers and foreigners was the condition of the Ephesians in time past. But that is no longer true. But the verse does not say that we are fellow citizens OF Israel. All of the people in Ephesians are citizens, not of Israel, but of Heaven. It is called the household of God. Some of the people WERE in time past OF Israel and some were aliens FROM Israel. But now the focus is the household of God. It is not a doctrine that the church, the body of Christ is "spiritual" Israel.

Ephesians 2:20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;

Ephesians 2:21 In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:

So the household of God is likened unto a building. Paul said that as a wise masterbuilder he had laid the foundation in 1 Corinthians. Notice it is a holy temple. There are not many temples. There is only one:

1 Corinthians 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

Ye, collectively, are THE TEMPLE. It doesn't say temples but only one temple. That temple is the house of God. It is the church the body of Christ. Paul calls it the pillar and ground of the truth, the church of the living God in 1 Timothy 3:15.

Ephesians 2:22 In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

And the final verse in the chapter is concerning YE ALSO in contrast to WE WHO FIRST. All are members of the SAME BODY. Some became members during the book of Acts and some after. The book of Ephesians was probably one of the two last letters written by Paul. The other one being 2 Timothy. At the conclusion of 2 Timothy all scripture WAS GIVEN.