Ephesians Teaching Series

This beautifully constructed letter can best be understood by paying attention to its amazing structure.

3. Eph 2:1-10 God Joined with Us, in a Love Stronger than Death

  • The goal for this message is that you should fall in love with the way this story is told, which if you trust Jesus, is your story!

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Please open the page showing this passage by Clicking here,
or download the PDF of the page here.

  • Goal:

I want you to fall in love with the way this story is told,
which if you trust Jesus,
is your story

The Story So Far

1. The Epic Poem that Opens Ephesians

  • One long sentence, v.3 all the way to v.14!!
  • Exquisitely constructed jewel of a sentence
  • Poetic in its structure
  • Would have been read aloud as a public event

2. Paul’s Prayer —For Us!

  • Paul takes the three core parts of the epic poem and turns them into a prayer
  • 1. Past, 2. Present and 3. Future
  • We will come back later to the details of last time because today’s passage builds on in.

God Joined with Us, in a Love Stronger than Death

  1. v.1-3 Dead and Hopelessly Trapped
  2. v.4-7 A Total Rescue by a Love Beyond Measure
  3. v.8-10 Reflecting and Responding

1. v.1-3 Dead and Hopelessly Trapped

Ephesians 2:1-10

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  1. Καὶ ὑμᾶς ὄντας νεκροὺς τοῖς παραπτώμασιν καὶ ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις ὑμῶν, And you were dead in your trespasses and sins
  2. ἐν αἷς ποτε περιεπατήσατε in which you once walked
κατὰ τὸν αἰῶνα τοῦ κόσμου τούτου, A according to the system of this world
κατὰ τὸν ἄρχοντα τῆς ἐξουσίας τοῦ ἀέρος, B according to the ruler of the power of the air
τοῦ πνεύματος τοῦ νῦν ἐνεργοῦντος ἐν τοῖς υἱοῖς τῆς ἀπειθείας· the spirit now working in the sons of disobedience
  1. ἐν οἷς καὶ ἡμεῖς πάντες ἀνεστράφημέν ποτε ἐν ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις τῆς σαρκὸς ἡμῶν, in which we also all once lived in the passions of our flesh
κατὰ ποιοῦντες τὰ θελήματα τῆς σαρκὸς καὶ τῶν διανοιῶν, C according to the choices of the flesh and our reasoning
καὶ ἤμεθα τέκνα φύσει ὀργῆς ὡς καὶ οἱ λοιποί· and we were by nature children under wrath like everyone else
  1. ὁ δὲ θεὸς πλούσιος ὢν ἐν ἐλέει, διὰ τὴν πολλὴν ἀγάπην αὐτοῦ ἣν ἠγάπησεν ἡμᾶς, But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he has loved us
  1. καὶ ὄντας ἡμᾶς νεκροὺς τοῖς παραπτώμασιν even though we were dead in trespasses
συνεζωοποίησεν τῷ Χριστῷ C made us alive together with Christ
χάριτί ἐστε σεσῳσμένοι by grace you have been saved
  1. καὶ συνήγειρεν B and raised us up together
καὶ συνεκάθισεν A and seated us together
ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ, in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus
  1. ἵνα ἐνδείξηται ἐν τοῖς αἰῶσιν τοῖς ἐπερχομένοις τὸ ὑπερβάλλον πλοῦτος τῆς χάριτος so that in the coming ages he might display the immeasurable riches of his grace
αὐτοῦ ἐν χρηστότητι ἐφʼ ἡμᾶς ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ. through his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
  1. τῇ γὰρ χάριτί ἐστε σεσῳσμένοι διὰ πίστεως· καὶ τοῦτο For by grace you have been saved, through faith and this is
οὐκ ἐξ ὑμῶν, θεοῦ τὸ δῶρον· not from yourselves; it is God’s gift
  1. οὐκ ἐξ ἔργων, ἵνα μή τις καυχήσηται. not from works, so that no one can boast.
  2. αὐτοῦ γάρ ἐσμεν ποίημα, κτισθέντες ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ ἐπὶ ἔργοις ἀγαθοῖς For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works
οἷς προητοίμασεν ὁ θεὸς ἵνα ἐν αὐτοῖς περιπατήσωμεν. which God prepared ahead of time that we should walk in them.

Translation and structure by Andrew Fountain

2. v.4-7 A Total Rescue by a Love Beyond Measure

Love Rescues Us

  1. Enmeshed in the system of this world
    B. Influenced by evil demonic powers
    • C. A nature that is broken by sin

C. Raised with Christ, a new creation

B. Lifted with Christ above all powers

  1. Now in a different plane of existence:
    with Christ in the heavenly places
  • Now let’s see how this fits into the text

Eph 2:5-6

  • C. Made us alive together with Christ
    • Expanded as the New Creation in v.10
    • Marked with grace phrase so he can expand it later in v.8-9
  • B. Raised us together with Christ

note that Paul is making up new words here, just to capture the magic of the uniqueness of what Jesus did for us

  • A. Seated us together with Christ in the heavenly places

The Torrey Canyon Oil Supertanker Disaster

  • 18 March 1967 Worst Tanker disaster/oil spill in the world at that time

3. v.8-10 Reflecting and Responding

  • My Goal at the beginning

I want you to fall in love with the way this story is told,
which if you trust Jesus,
is your story

God’s love for you that surpasses everything

  1. I am lovingly lifted out of the negative power of the society around me and joined to Jesus
    • Rest for a moment in how that feels
  2. Still joined to him, I am lifted above the power of anything that could hurt me!
  3. God has lovingly re-created with a new nature, connected to Jesus, that pleases him
    • Feel his pleasure over you
  • It’s extremely important how Paul sets this up to motivate us for the rest of the book.
    • The second half of Ephesians (chapters 4-6) is about how we should live
  • What radically different motivations: works to achieve salvation, or bring joy to the one who loves us.

Your new work

  • Feel the comfort and security, wrapped around you with staggering power and safety
  • Feel the warmth of his love for you and your love him in return
  • Feel the energy in you to live out this new work he has given you to do
    • —motivated to bring joy to the one who loves you.
Last updated on 30 Apr 2023
Published on 30 Apr 2023