And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
As you may already know, this summer, we have been covering the book of Ephesians in our services. The Lectionary has been going through the book of Ephesians, but unfortunately, this text has not been covered (although it is covered elsewhere), and it is worth doing so!
In the first three verses, Paul tells us how we were dead in our sin. There is a scene from the movie “Princess Bride” that illustrates Paul’s point well. Let me describe the scene. The hero of the movie is in bad shape, perhaps even dead, and the hero’s friends take him to the only person that can help. It is a man named “Miracle Max.” At some point in the conversation, the friend tells Max, “He can’t talk. He is dead.” To that, Miracle Max responds, “There is a big difference between mostly dead, and all dead. … Mostly dead is slightly alive.” He is absolutely right. We were not “mostly dead” or “slightly alive” in our sin. We were “all dead.” We had no hope, no chance. There was nothing that we could do to save ourselves. A dead person can do nothing!
Enter Jesus Christ. In the verses following, Paul points us to God’s saving work in Jesus. God saved us and made us alive in Jesus Christ. God saved us when we were dead, hostile, rebellious, and His enemies. He did this out of the great love He had for us when we were completely unlovable. It really is by grace, His undeserved kindness, that we have been saved. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we are forgiven of our sins and are no longer children of wrath. Rather, we are God’s loved and forgiven children. In Jesus Christ, you are saved. You are God’s child. You are no longer a child of wrath. That is who you are in Jesus Christ.
Pastor Kooi
(Originally published in Emmaus Footprints, Vol. XX, Number 1, August 2018)