We Are Raised and Seated With Christ – Eph 2:1-10

[Eph 2:1-10]

Chapter 1 emphasized our possessions (riches) in Christ; and we will see that chapter 2 emphasizes our position in Christ. Your position determines your possessions and authority. For example; regardless of where the President of the United States may be physically, his position, where he is seated, (as the man who sits in the White House) – gives him power and authority. So it is with the Christian. Regardless of where we might be physically (Paul was a prisoner when he wrote this letter), we have power and authority in the spiritual realm because of our position in Christ.

What we were (vv. 1-3).

Verse 1 begins by saying we, “were dead in trespasses and sins.” Now keep in mind, in the Bible death is “separation.” Death does not mean to cease to exist. Humans are spiritual – spirits are eternal. Physical death is when the spirit (and soul) is separated from the body. God is Spirit, so spiritual death is separation from God. If death meant that people ceased to exist, there would be no resurrections.

[2:1] And you [He made alive,] who were dead in trespasses and sins,

Sinners are dead spiritually. That is, the inner man is dead to spiritual things and cannot respond to them.

Death is certain, and the separation it causes is certain. We exist eternally in heaven or hell depending on the decision we’ve made for Jesus Christ while alive on earth.

[2:2] in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,

Sinners are not only dead, they are enslaved by the world and live for its pleasure and fashions. Sinners (and carnal Christians) think they are doing their own thing. Wrong! They are being manipulated and led by the god of this world. They are not doing their own thing; they are doing the devil’s thing – they are conformed to the world. The kosmos is the satanically organized system that hates all that is godly (cf. Jn 15:18,23).

Here Satan is called “the prince of the power of the air.” He is the prince of the demons who are the power of the air. Earth’s atmosphere is full of evil spirits. The devil has directed some demon spirits to earth, to find a body to inhabit. They need an earth body to operate through while on earth and in the world system.

We were a people who lived according to the plan of the world. The devil, a.k.a., “prince of the power of the air” dictates how society and global culture is shaped – working it out through those who are dead to Christ.

Unbelievers are in bondage to Satan, who is at work in their lives. This does not necessarily mean that he makes them all drunkards or murderers. No, his usual scheme is to give people false security through self-righteousness, though they are unrighteous and spiritually dead. Jesus called the Pharisees “children of the devil” (Jn 8:44), yet they were religious upstanding citizens.

Don’t be deceived by the idea that, “good people go to heaven and bad people go to hell.” No one has entered heaven because they were “basically good.” Jesus is the only way (Jn 14:6). You must say yes to Him and be born again (Jn 3:3,7).

[2:3] among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

We are born by nature children of wrath. When we reject Christ knowingly after reaching an age of accountability, we become sons of disobedience by choice.

All humans start out under three curses;

• Verse 1, under sin and it’s wages – death,

• Verse 2, under the world system and ruler – the devil.

• Verse 3, under the lust of the flesh and a self-centered mind.

The meaning for, “just as the others” is given in another letter of Paul’s, “…as others who have no hope,” (1Thes 4:13). This is the desperate situation God saw us in as He planned our salvation through the blood of Jesus. We were not a pretty sight!

Verses 1-3 tells us what we were and how God found us; Spiritually dead, under Satan and his system, controlled by the flesh and thinking like the world. In spite of our great educations and all of our good intentions, we were lost and speeding toward hell.

We must see everyone from a Biblical perspective. These first 3 verses should give Christians a deep compassion and mercy for those who are still lost and confined to enemy strongholds.

However, there is Good News! In verse 4, we come to know the love of God. Even in our nasty condition, God loved us!

What God did (vv.4-9).

[2:4] But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,

“But God!” These words are among the greatest in the Bible. God could have allowed us to go on in sin and live eternally with the devil in hell, but instead He chose to save us.

Rich in mercy, is the Greek word, plusios, it means filthy rich. This is where we get the English word, plutocrat, someone who is so rich he has influence over others. (Pluto was the god of wealth in Greek mythology.) God, who is plusios, uses His wealth to win us over. God’s rich mercy is His grace in action! When grace is bestowed toward man, it is called mercy.

His great love. God loved us when we were completely contrary to Him. The love of God is who He is. He didn’t just love you and me, but He loved the world (Jn 3:16). And He continues to love us!

The next verses show us His rich mercy.

[2:5] even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

Up until verse 5, we were dead, alienated from the life of God (4:18), in trespasses (the sin that separates causing death). The only way a spiritually dead person can communicate with God is to be made alive, and that must be done by the One who is Himself alive. He is the living God, “who gives life to the dead” (Rom 4:17).

He made us alive and then raised us up out of the mess and gave us a seat with Himself in heaven. More than that, He made us members of Christ!

Eph 2:6 (NIV) –[6] And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,

2:6a (NIV). Besides being made alive, we also have been raised … up with Christ. This is about us being positionally resurrected. After Christ’s resurrection He was given powerful authority. So too Christians, in whom He dwells, have a powerful position of authority. This new life of power and authority demands that believers have a new set of values, as Paul stated in his companion letter to the Colossian believers: “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your heart on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things” (Col 3:1-2).

God seated us (2:6b-10).

2:6b (NIV). Not only has God made us alive and raised us up with Christ, but He has also seated us with Christ in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus (We see this in; 1:3, 20; 2:6; 3:10; 6:12). We are seated spiritually in heaven, with Christ. We are no longer just earthlings; our citizenship is in heaven (Phil 3:20). Jesus is the exalted Son of God, and we are exalted sons and daughters of God.

“But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you” (Rom. 8:11, see 1Cor 3:16; 6:14).

Eph 2:7 (NKJV) [7] that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in [His] kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Why did God want us to sit in heavenly place with Him? He wants us to be with Him throughout eternity so that He can show us His boundless riches of grace in kindness to us who are in Christ! He wants to wow us with agape love and His excellence, now and forevermore!

There is more grace now (James 4:6), available in this life. And He supplies our needs now (Phil 4:19). But our Father wants to show us His inexhaustible storehouse of grace.

Eph 2:8-9 –[8] For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; [it is] the gift of God, [9] not of works, lest anyone should boast.

These verses explain the “exceeding riches of His grace” (v.7). Paul expands his parenthetical statement in verse 5, “by grace you have been saved,” and adding that the means of this salvation is “through faith.” So the basis is grace and the means is faith alone (cf, Rom 3:22,25; Gal 2:16; 1Pet 1:5). Faith is not a “work.” It does not merit salvation; it is only the means by which we accept and receive God’s free salvation (see, Faith And Grace).

What we are now (v.10).

Eph 2:10 (NKJV) – [10] For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

The Greek word for “workmanship” is poema. This is where we get the English word poem. We are God’s special creation from His heart. When you read a beautiful poem, the glory doesn’t go to the printed page. The glory goes to the author, the creator of the work of art. We are God’s creation. He authored us! We are His workmanship. We are His masterpiece.

God bless you my friend,

— Dwight Hammond