Open the Eyes of Our Hearts
A Study Through Ephesians - IV
Ephesians 2:1-10
February 24, 2008
John Ryan

Inigo Montoya: He's dead. He can't talk.

Miracle Max: Whoo-hoo-hoo, look who knows so much. It just so happens that your friend here is only MOSTLY dead. There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive. With all dead, well, with all dead there's usually only one thing you can do.

Inigo Montoya: What's that?

Miracle Max: Go through his clothes and look for loose change.

(From the movie "Princess Bride" - 1987)

Ephesians 2:1-3 1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins
If this is true, that all of us (vs. 3 "among whom we ALL once lived") were or are dead in our sins, this has potentially huge and staggering implications. What are they? Before we can even consider them, we must see what the Bible means when it says "you were dead". The words, "were dead" literally mean that in the past one was without life. Now, according to verses 2 and 3, this cannot be referring to physical life because while "dead", we were very much alive and living in disobedience to God.

The Bible speaks of a living spiritual death that is the result of sin. (v. 1) What is this according to God's word?
First, it is trespasses (rebellious false steps - step out of bounds on purpose) and our sins (to miss the holy mark of God unknowingly or because that is our nature, our ability) that lead to this death. All through His word God says that sin kills (Gen. 2:17; Ezek. 18:4; Rom. 5:12; Rom. 6:23). Moreover, the Bible teaches that this sin is present at our birth, having been passed down from Adam's sin through every successive generation. (Rom. 5:12; I Corinthians 15:21-22) It brought physical death to this earth but it also brought death to the soul/spirit of man.
Second, this death has consequences while we are on this earth.
1] It involves separation from the presence of God. (Isaiah 59:2) Verse 2 and 3 tell us the result of this. We live following the path of Satan - which is a life in rebellion to God. This was our nature, our natural state by birth.
2] Because we are separated from God, it leaves all people incapable of making themselves acceptable before God. Further, the Bible tells us we are not capable of understanding or seeking God on our own. (Romans 3:10-18)

The Importance of This Truth / Why It Feels Wrong
Many Popular Preachers Are Preaching Against This Truth

Often this truth is called the doctrine of the Total Depravity of Man. Simply put, man is completely sinful from birth and separated from God by sin. The evidence of this truth is a life that rejects God's rule and love according to the scripture. We either seek to become our own god or we seek to negotiate how we will come to God. Either way, we are saying - "I will not do it your way." God's way says, in Jesus - his person and work - alone can you come to me and be made acceptable before me. The importance of this truth is that without the knowledge (this truth), man goes on running from God not knowing why or believing we can work our way to God through our good efforts. While the efforts might involve outwardly "good" actions - caring for others, reading our Bible, giving to the poor, going to church - the actions are still being carried out because we believe if we do them, we deserve to get from God. Why do some preachers remove this truth from their teaching? What is the consequence of removing this truth? First, this is not a new vein in "Christian teaching". For generations teachers have denied the sinfulness of man. The first and most famous was Pelagius who was banned from the church as a heretic in 418 AD. Why is this teaching removed? It offends our sense of being. We seek worth in who we are and long to find goodness outside of God. This truth says our worth and goodness is in God alone through Jesus. This offends ancient and modern humanism, which seeks to elevate man as the prime element in this universe. Bottom line - sin, man's total depravity, declares we need a merciful God and a Savior (Jesus). Those who want to elevate man as not needy see this view of God as belittling the human condition, archaic, and a hateful view of God. (Any God who must judge sin cannot be a true God of love.) Brian McClaren, Doug Pagitt are two popular preachers in the Emergent Liberal movement who declare this belief. Emergent is a catch-all term these days for young church leaders. However, there are several veins of "emerging" church leaders. The group we are associated with via Acts 29 and our belief is the Emergent Reform View. This view holds to fundamental teachings of the church, dating back to the reformation of the church, and places a high emphasis on scripture, the gospel of grace according to Jesus Christ, and the missional movement of God's people in word and action in the community around us.

"Although the link between grace and sin has driven Christianity for centuries, it just doesn’t resonate in our culture anymore. It repulses rather than attracts. People are becoming much less inclined to acknowledge themselves as ‘sinners in need of a Savior.'"

Spencer Burke and Barry Taylor, A Heretic’s Guide to Eternity

Ephesians 2:4-5 4 But? God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love ...

Because we were dead in trespasses, God had to move toward us to save us from His judgment on sin. As Chap. 1 has stated, God, because of His "great love", authored this eternal restoration plan and Jesus physically carried out the plan.

made ... alive (zoopoieo) "to cause to live, to make alive, to give life." The idea in this word is to make something that was dead alive. This is a powerful word that begins with the action being birthed by God and ends with the action being focused on those who were dead. We could not save ourselves. God's favor was unconditionally poured out on us (grace) through the person and work of Jesus. Now, GOD has made our once dead spirits alive in Christ.

Ephesians 2:6-7 6 and raised us up with him ...
This is a great overall picture of what being "made alive together with Christ" has done to who we are.

1] "raised up" - We are new creations in Christ with a new calling of hope, a new value on us and a new power working in us and through us. (Eph. 1:18-19)

2] "seated us with him" - We have a new home. We have a new citizenship or kingdom (Phil. 3:20; Col. 1:13-14) and with that we have a new allegiance and we have every spiritual blessing in Him. (Eph. 1:3)

Ephesians 2:8-10 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith.
3 verses - a great synopsis of the gospel.

1] We are rescued from God's judgment on our dead spirit. According to these verses and all of chapter 1, this is God's doing not ours.
2] God appropriates salvation or rescue through faith. But according to verse 8 - "this (faith) is not your own doing; it is the gift of God." This is the clear translation of this phrase in the Greek according to all scholars. The phrase "And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God," is a parenthetical statement describing "faith". Verse 9 then goes back to describing the rescue.
3] Works that were "prepared before hand" (long before our salvation occurred) are now to be lived out joyfully and with the knowledge that these works do not make us acceptable before God. We were created for these works but we were not rescued because of them. The gospel says we are made right and stand before holy God holy and without blame because of the person and work of Jesus Christ alone. Because of that, we can joyously and without guilt or fear live out the works He has prepared for us in Christ.

What does all this mean for me, for us, ... for my neighbor?
Spiritual death is not a result of
1) bad genes,
2) being born in the wrong country or the wrong family, or
3) our "bad" actions.

Spiritual death is the result of the sin nature we were all born with. We can scream "not fair" or "that is crazy" but examine the reality of your life, mine, your kids, others. We are born with the propensity to be selfish not giving, thieves not providers, and do wrong things not good things. Yes we are born cute and gentle but every child must be taught to give, share, and play nice. They do not have to be taught to do the wrong thing. Why? It is our sin nature. Much deeper - none of us, no matter the home we grew up in, want God to tell us what to do. This is sin at its core. This is how we are all born. For some this is not a popular view on life. It strikes a killer blow the religion of humanism, which exalts the human being as good and above all things. However, even in the Evangelical church the attack against sin is on. My fear concerning the truth of spiritual death is not for my neighbor or lost friend. It is for you, for me, for us in the body. Without us believing that we are completely sinful we do not need a savior. For believers, when we lose the view that we are fully sinful yet fully accepted in Christ, we lose our dependency on the gospel for eternity but, more importantly, for now. Repentance is rare in a low view of sin. Brokenness is not a way of life. In the gospel, we are constantly being taken to two truths...
1) I am sinful - and today here is the result of that sin. I have trusted in this idol or this truth above Jesus. The brokenness of my heart leads to repentance - running from this idol and turning again to the gospel.
2) I am accepted - In Christ I'm forgiven and I stand fully acceptable before God not because of my repentance but because of Jesus. My repentance just allows me to trust Jesus more and live more fully in the good works God has created for me for the right reasons.

Check out the pastors' blog "Mostly Dead" for more on Eph. 2:1.

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