The Bible is great literature but to the Christian it’s more than that – it’s God’s Story of His self-revelation to mankind. The story-line is God’s working out of His sovereign purpose in effecting a re-creation of what was fundamentally damaged by the sin of our first parents. God chose to do it in the lives of the patriarchs and the nation of Israel. By the end of the Old Testament Israel had proved to be as much part of the problem as part of the answer except for one redeeming factor - it was the emergence of the One true Israelite, the Messiah Jesus. He’s the climax of God’s Story and we can’t remind ourselves too often of what He accomplished – Eph 2:1–10.
The apostle Paul would have made a great physician in diagnosing the ailments of his patients, going to the root of the problem. It wasn’t a matter of rectifying some minor faults in the lives of the populace of Ephesus. It was a fatal disease that had infected the whole of the human race – it was the human condition apart from God. Although he’s writing to Gentile readers he makes it clear it’s a universal complaint, including himself as a Jew in the words “All of us (were) … like the rest (of mankind)”. He proves his point by stating three appalling truths about unredeemed human beings - until God had mercy on us. In the first place:
WE WERE DEAD – BUT HOW? “THROUGH TRANSGRESSIONS AND SINS”
What can that mean? How can somebody evidently alive, warm and breathing, be written off as dead? It doesn’t make sense to ‘Mr Average Man In The Street’! This is the spiritual condition outside of Christ. A ‘trespass’ is the wrongful crossing of a boundary. A ‘sin’ means missing the mark, a falling short of a standard. Putting the two together they cover our all human wrongdoing, whether acts of commission (when we do something wrong) and acts of omission (when we fail to do what we should).
In Guernsey there’s hundreds of notices ‘Ces premises sont a l’amende’ warning that it’s ‘Private Property’ and if you park your car there, you’re trespassing, you’re acting unlawfully. Sometimes we may take a chance and not get caught! But with God there’s no such possibility – we’re “dead” (and Paul tells us why) “through transgressions and sins”.
The unconverted person can’t understand this – ‘Of course I’m alive, what nonsense!’ Yes, alive physically, but dead spiritually and blind to the glory of Jesus Christ, and deaf to the voice of the Holy Spirit. We sometimes see sad pictures on TV of a person in the intensive care ward of a hospital, unconscious and apparently clinically dead except for the medical equipment that sustains them for a time. This is a picture of fallen human beings: people who were created by God and for God but living without God. They are as unresponsive to Him as a corpse. How sad, but let’s think of the next picture of unconverted mankind:
WE WERE ENSLAVED – WHY? BECAUSE WE “FOLLOWED THE WAYS OF THIS WORLD”
This is the whole value-system prevailing throughout history, which is alien to God. It’s the evil in society – where human beings made in the likeness of God are dehumanised and oppressed; where truth and morality are repudiated; and where materialism and injustice reigns. This is bondage as a result of being captive to what Paul calls “the ruler of the kingdom of the air.” It’s Satan at large in the world.
This isn’t a popular doctrine in our day of great achievements in scientific knowledge and the harnessing of technology in the enjoyment of life. But there’s a darker side as the apostle mentions that mankind is guilty of “gratifying the cravings of our sinful flesh” where the God-given appetites are perverted by the evil-one into lust, pride, envy and so on. Yes, we’re all fallen beings under the domination of Satan. We’ve become a law unto ourselves, to do anything and everything we want to do, without having anyone interfere. As Frank Sinatra’s famous song goes, ‘I’ll do it my way.’ God’s lordship has been renounced to the sway of another master, the prince of darkness. But there’s another unpleasant truth that Paul has to state:
WE WERE CONDEMNED – HOW? WE ARE “BY NATURE OBJECTS OF WRATH”
This is most unpalatable to unbelievers and even to many Christian theologians! One such, a doctor of divinity, (R W Dale) called this a ‘dreadful doctrine’, that by being born we incur the divine anger and are under the divine curse before any voluntary wrongdoing! How should we understand Paul’s shorthand expression that all humanity is “by nature the children of wrath”? (AV). We have to go to Romans 5 : 12-14 for an explanation.
Paul’s argument is not only that we have inherited a sinful nature but that “all men sinned” in and with Adam. We can’t blame Adam for we were ourselves in Adam. This is difficult to understand until we realise that it’s only one side of the coin. The other, glorious side, is that Jesus is the Second Adam, the perfect Son of God, and if we’re believers in Him, we’re “in Christ” with all the blessing that comes with our new status. ‘Look at yourself in Adam; though you had done nothing you were declared a sinner. Look at yourself in Christ; and see that, though you have done nothing, you are declared to be righteous. Of course, Adam and we, his successors, still retained something of the image of God and there are degrees of human depravity when we think of the actions of Hitler, Stalin in the 20th century and bin Laden in the 21st. On the other hand, there are many people who are quite the opposite and exhibit ‘Christian’ virtues, but nevertheless are still unbelievers and lost apart from Christ.
Paul’s diagnosis is valid in that outside of Christ, man is dead because of trespasses and sins, enslaved by the world’s false values, and condemned under the wrath of God. Not a pretty picture! The god of this world would deceive mankind by offering superficial remedies of self-improvement, advancement in learning and the passing of sound laws. This, of course, is pleasing to God as far as it goes, but they’re totally inadequate to rescue mankind from spiritual death. A radical disease requires a radical remedy. This is what the apostle Paul is about to proclaim as:
THE GRACE OF GOD IN CHRIST
The picture of mankind portrayed by Paul is one of darkness and despair, spiralling down towards doom. Then, like a shaft of sunlight into a darkened room, comes two words: “But God …” Those powerful, life changing, words make all the difference. Yes, we were objects of God’s righteous anger, “but (God), because of his great love for us” had mercy upon us. We were dead, and dead men don’t rise, “but God” made us alive in Christ. We were enslaved to sin and condemned, powerless of ourselves, “but God” intervened. Paul goes on to tell the matchless story of the gospel of Jesus. He tells us:
WHAT GOD HAS DONE
The good news of the gospel of Jesus is that we’ve been “saved through faith.” If you tell a non-Christian that you are ‘saved’, they think you are odd, to say the least, because they’re spiritually dead, but to those who are “saved” it’s their most precious possession. So what is this business of being “saved”? The Bible speaks of being “saved from wrath” (Rom 5:9) or “delivered from the wrath to come.” The judgement of God hangs over our rebellious race. To be “saved” is to be rescued and released from this final condemnation.
But there’s another precious meaning to the word – and it’s ‘to be restored’. Salvation is the renewing of a marred image, the recovery of what was lost. If we think of salvation only as escape from impending danger, as John Wesley put it, ‘as a brand snatched from the burning’ or a release from ‘death row’, we impoverish it’s meaning. Christ’s victory isn’t fully visible yet, but God’s people already enjoy its effects. Yes, we’re saved from these evils for something magnificent. Just imagine, for endless ages God will be thinking up ways of being kind to us, just because we belong to Christ! But even in the ‘here and now’, God wants us to be fully alive, until at last we’re conformed to the image of His Son.
Salvation in the New Testament can be described as ‘past, present and future’. Paul writes to Christian believers, “(You have) been saved” which pictures an action in the past that has continuing effects. It indicates that a right about turn has been made and a decisive change has come about in their situation. The apostle also affirms that believers are ‘being saved.’ There’s an ongoing process of change in their experience. God is at work in the lives of His people, renewing and transforming them. And then there’s the statement that the people of God ‘shall be saved’. This tells us that God’s work of salvation will one day be consummated: “We shall be like him (Christ), for we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2.
The salvation through faith in Jesus, made possible by His death and resurrection, is for all eternity. This is all due to what God did to Christ. But what’s more, the statements that Paul makes link us to Christ in three supernatural, but historical events. We can rejoice that in them, God:
- “made us (yes, us, you and me!) alive with Christ”: in His resurrection;
- “raised us up with Christ”: in His ascension; and
- “seated us with him in the heavenly realms with Christ Jesus”: in His enthronement at the right hand of God.
This is absolutely amazing! What a transformation for sinners, now saved and eternally secure through the grace of God in Christ. It passes all human understanding! If we’re saved, we’re “with Christ … in Christ.” We can sing the hymn ‘Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine: O what a foretaste of glory divine! Heir of salvation, purchase of God; Born of his Spirit, washed in his blood.’
We were dead, but have been made spiritually alive and the Spirit of Christ bears witness with our spirit. In the words of Paul to his young friend Timothy “I know in whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day” (2 Tim 1:12). We thank God for what He’s done for us in Christ and go on to learn from Paul:
WHY GOD DID IT
It was out of His sheer mercy, love, grace and kindness. These four words are the key to understanding God’s saving initiative. Paul writes of:
- “God who is rich in mercy” : a justly condemned person can only plead for mercy; he or she has nothing to say in mitigation;
- “out of the great love with which he loved us” : we deserved nothing less than judgement but Jesus bore the penalty of our sin at Calvary;
- “by grace you have been saved” : if we’re saved we’re the recipients of God’s undeserved mercy. God forbears and forgives as He sees us sinners through the merits of His Son, our Saviour.
I have to confess that I’ve made one appearance at the Magistrate’s court for the offence, ‘Not paying due care and attention’. I pleaded ‘Guilty’ as I felt I was at least partly to blame for a minor accident. After the Police prosecutor had given details of the case, I was asked by the Magistrate, ‘Do you have anything to say in mitigation?’ I explained the circumstances and then was surprised to hear him say, ‘It could have happened to anyone. No order will be made.’ Some may question whether justice was done when I had pleaded guilty and received no penalty! But I have to say that my salvation in Jesus is even more amazing!
The provision of this “so great salvation” (Heb 2:3), this stupendous divine generosity, is the very heart of God. There’s a wonderful verse in the psalms that sums it all up: “Love and faithfulness meet each other; righteousness and peace kiss each other” (Ps 85:2) – and we see this in the Cross of Jesus. And what was God’s reason for doing so? It’s “that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace.” God works in everything for His own glory. The devil will try to pervert this to make it sound like a colossal divine selfishness. The evil one would like us to think that God
wants everyone to think He’s wonderful in showing off His virtues. But it’s quite the reverse: God’s glory is simply the outshining of who He is, the revealing of His character. His glory consists of His amazing grace, that great love and that rich mercy, which designed the plan of salvation from all eternity.
When the confusion and pain of history is ended, God’s glory will be shown through eternity in the unspeakable happiness of those who have come into the life of Christ. Paul reminds us that it’s God’s gift “so that no man can boast.” The salvation that God’s people receive is “not of ourselves.” So what is the source of salvation? Where does it come from? Paul says emphatically, “It is by grace you have been saved, through faith” Salvation isn’t ‘self-help’; it’s not a
matter of ‘pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps’. And how should we react to this incomparable wealth of God’s grace, mercy and kindness through Jesus Christ? This wonderful prospect leads us to consider:
WHAT WE ARE NOW (OR SHOULD BE
Paul tells us, “For we are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus.” We are His masterpiece. This prompts the question, ‘Are we a living expression of His handiwork, a work of art that God is seeking to reveal to an unbelieving world?’ Because that’s what He had in mind in saving us. It’s “to do the good works which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
Salvation is a resurrection from the dead, liberation from slavery and a rescue from condemnation. It’s our re-creation, a new creation by God, but for a purpose, “for good works.” Yes, God designed in a past eternity some task for each one of us to do.
There’s a story told of a husband and wife both of who were doctors - one a doctor of theology and the other a doctor of medicine. When their doorbell was rung and the maid answered, the inquirer would often ask for "the doctor". The maid’s interesting reply was: "Do you want the one who preaches or the one who practices?" We know the theory of Christian living, many of us preach it, but what we must do is to practice it!
God’s great purpose is to create and call out a people who will respond to His love and with whom He can be in perfect and everlasting fellowship. This is ‘New Life in Christ’.
