Scripture Test: Ephesians 2:4-5
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ, by grace you have been saved.”
Before the gospel is received as good news, it must first be heard as a true diagnosis.
Scripture does not flatter our human condition. It does not describe sin as a small mistake, a personal weakness, or a minor character flaw that can be corrected with enough effort. Paul says we were “dead in the trespasses and sins” in which we once walked. We followed the course of this world. We lived beneath the influence of the prince of the power of the air. We carried out the desires of the body and the mind. We were, by nature, children of wrath (Ephesians 2:1–3).
This is a serious diagnosis. A shallow diagnosis can never lead us to deep healing. If sin is only bad behavior, we may imagine that better behavior can save us. If sin is only ignorance, we may imagine that more information can rescue us. If sin is only weakness, we may imagine that stronger resolve can make us whole. But Paul says the problem is deeper. We were dead.
That is why the gospel must be the gospel of grace.
Grace is not God’s assistance added to our best efforts. Grace is God’s saving action to make the dead alive. When we were dead in trespasses, there was nothing we could do to make ourselves life. Grace does not begin with our worthiness, strength, wisdom, or obedience. It begins in the mercy, love, and kindness of God.
As we read Ephesians 2, we encounter two of the most beautiful words in Scripture: “But God.” We were dead in trespasses, but God. We were following the course of this world, but God. We were children of wrath, but God. God, being rich in mercy, made us alive together with Christ. He raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:4–7).
This is why Paul could describe his ministry as testifying to “the gospel of the grace of God.” The gospel announces that God has acted in Christ for the dead, the guilty, the enslaved, and the undeserving. Salvation is not our achievement. It is God’s gift. “By grace you have been saved through faith” (Ephesians 2:8–9).
We must never think grace leaves us unchanged. Paul says we are created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Good works do not purchase grace. They are the fruit of grace. The same God who makes the dead alive also forms a new people who walk in the life He has given (Ephesians 2:10). As Paul says in Titus, “the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age (Titus 2:11-14).
So we all stand before the cross. We stand as sinners in need of mercy, as the dead who need life, as the guilty who need forgiveness. And there, in Christ crucified, we behold the gospel of grace.
—Jacob Brunjes
Scripture Anchors:
Ephesians 2:1–10; Acts 20:24; Romans 3:23–24; Romans 5:1–8; 1 Corinthians 15:10; Titus 2:11–14; Titus 3:3–7; 2 Timothy 1:8–10