Here are some thoughts on the following verses:

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:
(Ephesians1:1)

1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
7 That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
(Ephesians 2:1-10)

The Apostle Paul begins this epistle by addressing it to the saints at Ephesus, and also to all the saints in general: "the faithful in Christ Jesus".
In the beginning of chapter 2, Paul tells us that, as saints, we have been "quickened" by God. In modern usage, the word "quick" is usually used to describe the speed of something, but in the context of this passage of Scripture, "quickened" means the giving of life to something that was dead.
Webster's Dictionary gives one definition of "quicken" as "to make alive".
Verse 1 goes on to tell us that, prior to our quickening, we "were dead in trespasses and sins". The death spoken of here is spiritual death. A person may enjoy good physical health, and yet be spiritually dead. This lack of spiritual life in a person may not be immediately evident to onlookers, but it is as real as physical death. Spiritual death in this world had its origins in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3, where Adam committed sin by breaking the only commandment that God had given him. As a result of Adam's fall, "sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned" (Romans 5:12). Because we are all descendents of Adam, we inherit his sin nature and commit "trespasses and sins".

As we observe the world around us, we are aware that life inevitably ends in death. We are aware that living things are dying all the time, even if we do not often witness the death ourselves. In our modern society, we try to put thoughts of death as far away as possible. We try to insulate ourselves from death, and attempt to lessen its psychological impact with words like "deceased", and "passed away"; or, in the case of a pet that we were fond of, "put down". But, no matter how much we may wish to avoid it, there is no escaping the reality that the lives we now enjoy will one day come to an end.

For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. (James 4:14b)

But here in Ephesians 2, we are told of another reality; a wonderful, glorious reality. "And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins".
As believers familiar with God's Word, I feel that we can sometimes have a tendancy to read verses such as these without stopping to consider and attempting to comprehend the full depth of what is being presented.
Think about it for a moment. In the Scriptures, there are many examples of dead people being raised back to life. In all of these cases, life was restored to people who (obviously) had been alive before their death. But in the case of the quickening by God of a spiritually dead person, spiritual life is given where no spiritual life has ever existed. It is not as though there is some small vestige of spiritual life in the person, some tiny spark of untapped potential for good within, and God comes along to restore the sick soul back to full spiritual health. The truth is that there is nothing good there to begin with. In spiritual terms, the unsaved person is as dead as the proverbial doornail.

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9)

I once heard some children sing a chorus at a church I visited several years ago. The words of the song were: "Without Jesus you're like a doughnut, 'coz there's a hole in the middle of your heart!"
O.K., it was a bit silly, but those words illustrate the condition of the natural man's heart precisely. Without Christ in a person's heart, there exists only a spiritual void.

Not only does the natural man lack spiritual life, he actively opposes God in all his ways.

But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Cor 2:14)

Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. (Romans 8:7)

A person who is spiritually dead is utterly devoid of spiritual life. But God's power and saving grace is able change the desperate state of a natural man's stony heart.

Consider Saul of Tarsus in Acts 9. This man "made havock of the church" (Acts 8:3), breathed out "threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord" (Acts 9:1), and now was on the road to Damascus to arrest the Christians who lived there.
But only a short period of time later, this same Saul "preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God."(Acts 9:20)
What happened to Saul was what happens to every person who comes to saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. (John 5:24)

This process of passing from death was aptly described by the hymnwriter Charles Wesley in his hymn "And Can It Be". He wrote: "Thine eye diffused a quickening ray, I woke; the dungeon flamed with light". The dungeon was the old unsaved state of trespasses and sins, and the quickening ray was the regenerating light of the Saviour shining into the unbeliever's heart.

In verses 2 and 3 of this passage in Ephesians, Paul goes on to tell us what we are saved from. Before our salvation, we "walked according to the course of this world". We lived for ourselves, and in doing so we served "the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience". (verse 2) The thought that God had authority over our lives was a thought that was repungent to us. We made our own rules. Sin was something that we found enjoyable, and we never imagined that one day we might be held to account for our actions. Even the good deeds that we tried to do were still tainted by sin. When we showed kindness or charity to people, there was still that secret hope in the back of our minds that others would notice our good deeds and think well of us. We had no desire to please God. There was nothing absolute or unchangeable about our standards of right and wrong. We looked to society and the people around us to decide what standard of living was acceptable, and as the years went by and society changed its beliefs, we would change our beliefs, too. In time, that which was once condemned as wrong was later embraced as right, and that which was previously considered right was eventually rejected as wrong. And thus, we "walked according to the course of this world".
But from all this, the Scripture says that we have been "quickened", and now we walk in newness of life. Gone is the old love of sin, and in our hearts we now have a fervent desire to please our Saviour.

The spiritual life that we enjoy as believers is a gift of God's grace, and it is not ours as a result of our good works. As the Apostle Paul says in those famous verses 8 and 9, "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." There is simply no way that we could make ourselves good enough to deserve God's grace. With our old sin nature, it was an impossible task. Indeed, the word "grace" means "unmerited favour".

God was under no obligation to send the Lord Jesus Christ to die for our sins, and his grace is not a right to which we may lay claim. As sinners, we were fully deserving of God's judgement. But in verse 4 of this passage, we are told that God is "rich in mercy". This mercy was manifested in God's "great love wherewith he loved us". In our everyday use, the word "mercy" usually refers to the way that we forgive people their wrongdoings by choosing not to seek justice for ourselves and treating those people as though they had done no wrong. God's mercy, however, is different to this, because he did not turn a blind eye to our sin. God could not let sin go unpunished, for to do so would be to act contrary to his nature. So, God showed his mercy and love for us in the only way possible; by sending his only begotten Son to die in our place so our sins could be forgiven. And thus, we were saved from the sin of our natural state, and we were given spiritual life.

God's gift of spiritual life is undeserved, unmerited, and because it is a gift, absolutely free. This gift is a package with many wonderful things inside. There is spiritual life, forgiveness of sins, a peace that passes understanding, a hope for eternal rest in Heaven, and a desire to walk in newness of life and serve the Saviour who did so much for us.
Verse 10 says, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." As believers, our good works are a way we show our love for God, and they are an outward evidence for the inward change that has occured in our hearts. We have been "quickened" by God to walk in a new and living way, and while vestiges of the flesh remain to trouble us, the old life is left behind. The path of righteousness lies before us and we cast no wishful glances back to Sodom. We desire to taste the milk and honey of the Promised Land, and no more do we long for the leeks and onions of Egypt.

To be quickened is to be made alive; alive with spiritual life that only God can give. And with this spiritual life comes the promise that Christ will never leave us, nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). We were not saved by our own efforts, and it is not our own efforts that keep us saved. Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ, and Christ will not separate himself from us. The love Christ has for us has no limit, and it will last for eternity.

It is truly a wonderful thing to have spiritual life, and peace with God.

This post was last modified: Sun Apr 26, 2009 07:37 AM by Upholder.

Thank you, Upholder for this message.


Upholder said:

For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. (James 4:14b)

This scripture reminds me of when my husband and I first met. He repeated this to me, a lot. It is another wonderful scripture verse in the KJB.

Upholder said:


The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9)

My MIL, who was very instrumental in leading me to Christ... said this scripture verse to me... many times.


Upholder said:

But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Cor 2:14)

Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. (Romans 8:7)

These were 2 other scripture verses that I heard, again and again, from my old IFB church. It really amazes me of how much God's Word can really come back to the mind... when heard again and again. After all, we are all "dumb sheep." We need to be reminded "over and over" again... by Our Heavenly Father.

Thanks again, for this message... Upholder. This really spoke to my heart and also reminded me of when God was leading me to "the saving knowledge" of His only begotten son... Jesus Christ.

In Christ Jesus ~

Molly