Section three: 2.1-10

Rev. Stanley L. Derickson Ph.D.

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1 And you [hath he quickened], who were dead in trespasses and sins;

"Sins" is the normal word for sin while "trespasses" is a different word meaning offence or falling away from what is upright or true.

As to the phrase "hath he quickened" it is supplied by the translators. As to the validity of that phrase we will have to take a little bit of a look. Of course the King James Only people will know that it belongs just as it is because it is inspired that way. I would like to consider it for a moment.

American Standard Version: "And you [did he make alive], when ye were dead through your trespasses and sins,"

Darby: "and [you], being dead in your offences and sins"

Young: "Also you--being dead in the trespasses and the sins,"

LITV: "and you being dead in deviations and sins,"

Net Bible: "And although you were dead in your transgressions and sins,"

The Modern King James goes quite a bit further than its ancestor: "And He has made you alive, who were once dead in trespasses and sins," It doesn't bother to include the brackets to indicate it isn't in the original.

Notice that no translation inserts this but the ASV. It is true the believer is quickened from his lost state, but this verse does not say that. If you want to skip ahead, a little verse five will get you into the quickening (Col. 2.13 also). The term quickened might be misleading as well if it is taken to be a part of the text. Quicken has the thought of bringing something to some state other than dead, while salvation relates to bringing from the dead and making completely different or completely alive.

I am sure some would suggest this as a basis for some of the Calvinist idea that God brings us to some level of life whereby we can respond to him. Some Calvinists go as far as to say that this quickening is regeneration, but it is not salvation, only a pre-emptive strike against deadness while salvation is the winning of the war.

The Net Bible states that verses one through three are an incomplete sentence and that the first phrase, "And although you were dead" catches the reader’s attention, but does not supply the answer to their deadness until verse four. Humm, maybe English is needed to be a good preacher/interpreter.

It is of note how many of the older commentaries see a Jewish/Gentile split in some of these passages. One suggests that "trespasses" is speaking of the Jews that had the law but rejected it and the "sins" relates to the Gentiles. There is nothing in the text to suggest this that I have found thus I think it wise to reject the thought.

Gill, and probably others err by telling their reader that the deadness is due to the trespasses and sin. To be more correct they are dead because of the fall and the trespasses and sin are a result of that deadness. Really a quite important distinction theologically. (Gill states "...he begins with the Ephesians, and expresses the former state they were in by a death, which is ascribed to trespasses and sins...." He actually mentions later on that it was due in one sense to the original sin, but also restates that it was from the trespasses and sins.)

Does it matter that the words are inserted? Well, since they were inserted when the King James was translated, it seems as though they are adding their own "interpretation" to the verse, something the King James only folks abhor in all other translators. Is it consistent with Scripture? Sure it is, but let them do the adding, not me. Based on that we will wait until verse five to deal with quickening in its proper context.

In relation to the idea that we were dead, there are three schools of thought through church history. The Pelagian view says that man isn't quite up to par, but he can be restored with a little teaching. The semi-pelagian view teaches that we were sick but recovery can be brought about, while the most of Christianity today believes that we were dead - door nail dead. We cannot be helped short of being made completely alive by an act of God.

The deadness has nothing to do with our everyday sin, but has to do with Adam's sin. Had we been in the garden when Adam was there it could have been our sin, but we were not so it cannot be. Romans 5.12 "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:" As I said, if we had been there instead of Adam we would have sinned and caused death to all mankind, but we were not. He alone stands as the culprit that caused all to be dead. Not that we aren't responsible - we are.

There is a clear distinction between the death and the sin. Spiritual death is the state of being dead, of being against God and unable to respond to God spiritually. Sin, on the other hand is the outworking of that nature of your being. Our spiritual death results in outward sin.

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:

This verse is important to us as we try to understand what "dead" really means. Simply put we are spiritually dead, but how does that work out in life. We are alive physically. How do spiritually dead people act, or how do they live their lives? Some Calvinists would have us believe that the spiritually dead are totally incapable of doing anything good. There is nothing good in them, nor can they ever do good.

On the side of reality, I personally have met many people that are not Christians, but that live fairly good lives. They have chosen for themselves a life of doing good, of living a moral life. They can do all this and still be spiritually dead, so understand what "dead" isn't. It isn't the inability to do good, it isn't the inability to be moral, and it isn't the inability to appear to be a Christian. It simply means that they have chosen that lifestyle. Can they do good for God? If He allows it. Can they reach God with their works? Of course not. They can however live what appears to be a moral life.

I make a point of this to put you on notice that all that live moral lives, may not be Christian - don't forget to witness to anyone that has not given you a clear testimony of salvation. Spiritual deadness has to do with response to God, not response to man. I also make a point of it to clear up some fog from those that teach that spiritually dead men can't do anything good. They just can't do anything good for or toward God.

My own life illustrates this point. I tithed, I went to Sunday school and church, I was baptized and I did all sorts of good things for people, but I was lost as dead could get me. One day the gospel was shared with me and I started doing all those things for God. Before I was doing it because my mom said I had too as a child.

In this verse Paul reminds his readers of what they were as spiritually dead people. They were living life as only they could - as a part of the world. The world has its standard and God's people have their standard. The dead person can only live as the world and can only attain its standard.

We will note in the following verses that the lost person serves themselves rather than God, but this does not negate what we have said about lost people living moral upright lives - they do it to serve themselves. They may even do it to gain favor with God, but they are still dead.

My father, shortly before he died, told me that he had always tried to live a good life and do as much good as he could in the hope of maybe getting into heaven. He did good that God might do him good. The believer on the other hand does good because God has done good for them. We do right because of what He has done for us in salvation.

"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:" We once walked according to the world's standard, we once walked according to the Devil's standard and that is the standard for all that follow the Devil. The lost desire fame, fortune, and following just as the Devil. We, too, as lost people served the Devil and his standard - but some of us did good along the lines. Some fed the poor, some watered the thirsty, and some even gave their lives for others. The problem is that all that good did no possible good for them in the next life, only in this.

If nothing else, this verse should give you pause to wonder at where you are in this life today. You are spiritually alive, but why do you do good? Is it to gain fortune and following? If so, it is vain and will burn as wood, hay and stubble.

It should also give pause to consider the good works that you are doing for the right reason. Are you doing enough of them, are you doing the prescribed works that God has directed you to? Doing good works of one sort as substitute for what you know to be God's will is for feeling better for yourself, not serving God - not good.

Note that Paul said "in time past ye walked" - he is assuming that they are now walking as they ought in this life, rather than as they used to in their lost condition. It is assumed that the believer will leave those works and walks of the world and begin the works and walks of the next.

We have another declaration that we should consider. Some have suggested that "The Devil made me do it!" There seems to be some truth to that for the lost person. This verse states that the Devil's spirit works in the children of disobedience. They are dead and capable of doing all the world has to offer, but the Devil works in them to disobedience, seemingly over and above what they would find to do on their own.

Sometimes, you will run into people that are so evil in their talk, walk, and life; they treat others as if with total abandon toward evil. It is these that I believe the Devil is really working in to do evil.

We prize highly the Holy Spirit working in our lives; imagine the horror of one knowing the Evil one is working within them. That life is empty of all that is good. That life is empty of any capability of good. Even these need to know the Gospel of Christ - not saying it is easy, but they need to hear, no matter how difficult it may be.

One more little truth about the Devil. “the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:" Now, just consider for a moment the truth that some submit relating to eschatology. Some say that we are living in the millennium right now and that the Devil is bound with chains in the pit. Can you relate this passage to that teaching, that teaching that seems quite clearly from this passage to be false?

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.

We all - every single one of us - not one of us that did not live in this condition - save Jesus Christ Himself. All since Adam have spent time in this condition. Some for only a few years before their death, and some all their lives and those will spend eternity in the same predicament.

This seems to contradict those two positions about the deadness of man that we spoke of earlier - Pelagianism and Semi-Pelagianism. One that is just a little sick or maybe even real sick can be pulled out of the Devil's hold by teaching and some assistance - only through the blood of Christ can assist them out of this problem or should we say condition.

Paul tells us that the lost are lost on several fronts:

a. They are tied up in the lust of the flesh. This would relate to those desires that come from our skin and bones. It would be the sexual desires, the stomach desires, the eye desires etc. It would be those things that our body desires to do that we probably should not do. The lust is that desire, the act is what the lust produces if it is not stopped. In the lost person there is little desire to stop lust.

In the believer we have the Holy Spirit; He convicts us of that lust before we act, we have the Spirit to empower us to say no to that lust.

b. They are tied up in fulfilling those lusts of the flesh. Not only do they lust, they act on that lust. They give in to those desires of the body and continue to sin against God and themselves.

c. They are tied up in fulfilling the lust of the mind. This term mind is the same Greek word that is translated "eyes of your UNDERSTANDING" in verse eighteen. They are treating themselves to anything that their mind can dream up to do. If it enters their mind, it translates into actions to give them pleasure.

d. They are by nature children of wrath. The term "wrath" is the Greek word "orge" and relates to actions of anger, indignation and vengeance. This is their nature. It is who they are, it is what they are, it is their very nature, and it is their very makeup. It is what makes them tick.

I John 2.16-17 is one of the clearest passages on this subject that I know of. It is quite clear in the way of the lost and it is in stark contrast to the way of the righteous. "For all that [is] in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever." Pride of life relates to being proud of whom or what you are or what you have become.

All sin fits into these three phrases and the three describe lost man as best he can be described. This stands in contrast to the believer - the believer is forever and the lost are destined to pass away into an existence prepared for them by God.

By the way this stuff we are talking about is what many call the old nature. This is the stuff they say God left inside us to fight and war with the new nature that He placed within us. Now, I don't know about you, but if God promised that I would be new, I really would resent knowing He left all this terrible stuff inside me. I'd, even, more than this, be upset that the God I had decided to serve could not clean me up better than that.

To suggest that God left us as we were and just stuck in a new nature to fight with our old seems to be a serious disservice to Him that made us new.

The Net Bible states that "children of wrath" is a Jewish idiom that can be taken one of two ways, indeed it is true either way. It can mean children whose character is full of wrath, or it can mean they are destined for wrath. They are both, by character full of wrath and are definitely destined for wrath.

An idiom is a phrase that is particular to a certain language and that language only. This is not quite as clear in our day as an idiom in America quickly is adopted into other languages and vise versa. An American idiom might be something like, "Ya think." "Well, duhh." I know those aren't real intellectual, but you get the point. Huum "you get the point" is probably an idiom as well.

4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,

Paul has reminded them of where they were and what they were like, and now begins to remind them of where they are and what they are to be like.

God is rich in mercy - He has ample for all that He would shed it upon. On top of that mercy, He has a great love for us. The love mentioned is the self-sacrificing love rather than brotherly love. It is a love that desires to benefit, even if there is a cost involved for the one that loves. It is a love that acts for the betterment of the one loved.

I like the word "RICH" in mercy. He has a big bunch of it, He has loads of it, He has all that is needed and a lot more. "Rich" reminds me of Scrooge McDuck in the old comics. When I was very young, I was hospitalized for a time, then confined to bed for a few months at home. My folk’s friends all wanted to assist my boredom by bringing comic books and toys that could be used in bed. My favorite comics to receive were McDuck's. He was my man, to say the least, he had it all, he enjoyed it all, he thrived in getting it all, and what is more important, he had all that I would have loved to have had.

Scrooge would build humongous safes to keep all his money in, safe after safe after safe. These safes were really huge buildings in the shape of a safe - all full of his money, and usually money pouring out of the windows and falling off the dump trucks that hauled the money to the safes.

God has that kind of mercy and even more. He selected us believers to shed that grace upon, for no reason at all other than His plan and His good pleasure.

This mercy was headed our direction before we even responded to His mercy. Indeed, His great love was love that existed before we responded to Him. He fully committed Himself and His love to us while we were still thumbing our noses at Him in our unbelief.

5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)

Even in our completely dead state, He reached down and saved us. Made us completely alive. As I mentioned, "quicken" to some might indicate something of an improvement, but not the full range of what salvation is, however here we see that it is the full process of salvation.

We were quickened together with Christ. Quickened would relate to that washing away of the old and installation of the new, the regeneration that was needed to make us alive. We were reborn, or rebirthed anew. Our first birth by man was to death, but our rebirth by God is to life.

Some suggest that God washed away some of the stuff we have studied in this section - the death, but that He left the lust, the flesh, the rotten side that we were born with and poured in a new nature. The result of this is a new/old nature struggle that we are caught between.

I prefer the truth that God washed away all that stuff, completely and finally and left us with a completely new nature, one that is pure, one that can be maintained as pure, and one that ought to be maintained as pure. I John 1.9 and the forgiveness it promises is that maintenance that is needed to be a pure living believer. We may choose to sin, we may choose to thumb our nose at God, and we may falter, but it is not because we are dead, it is not because the Devil made us do it and it is not because of any external or internal force that is working on us - it is simply that we decide to follow self and do what we want rather than what God wants.

Many label this sinless perfection - mostly because they don't want to accept the implications of the teaching - that they should live a fairly pure and righteous life. It is not sinless perfection, that false teaching that once we attain a certain level of spirituality we stop sinning and become one without sin - what a farce that is and many there are that have fallen in their attempt to attain such an ethereal plateau.

I do not teach sinless perfection, I teach what I believe the Word of God teaches - God recreated us new, rather than this illogical view that our being can be made up of two natures at the same time. The word nature means the sum of the whole. What we are is our nature. We can't have two natures, that would make our nature two natures, and that is illogical.

Webster suggests, among others, "...The essence, essential qualities or attributes of a thing, which constitute it...." I suppose you could have an old characteristic and a new characteristic or some such terminology, but nature has to do with the total makeup of a thing. We are a new creation - if we fall into sin, we are a new creation that has erred and which needs restoration, but we do not become a fallen being again, we don't become dead again, and we certainly don't need to be requickened or re-regenerated to correct our being. We need only forgiveness from the merciful and loving God and Father that has released us from our death unto life.

Paul adds "by grace ye are saved;" to clarify that leaving the works of the world for good works would not be enough. It is the quickening of God that saves us and nothing we can do - it is His grace that saves, not ours or someone else's grace. This counters the false teaching of the Roman church which tells us that the "extra" grace that is collected from others overflow is given to those that are in need.

There is an interesting use of verbs in this verse. We were continuingly dead, but God at a point in time quickened us (regeneration) and grace saves and keeps on saving until we are complete in the heavenlies with Him. “Saved” is a perfect tense, showing something that has happened, and the results will extend into the future to some future end when all will be complete. The Net Bible says that "you have been saved" and "you are saved."

Another of those many indicators that the believer is eternally secure in Christ, but easily rationalized away by those that don't believe in the doctrine.

6 And hath raised [us] up together, and made [us] sit together in heavenly [places] in Christ Jesus:

Now, this verse has some interesting implications. Notice the past tense of "raised" and "made" us - both are actually aorist tense which is a statement of something that occurred at a point in time. Sometime past of when Paul stated it, they were all "raised up together, and made to sit together" in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. This pictures our standing in the overall plan of God. I would suggest that we were all raised in Christ at the point of His resurrection. We have this standing and it is ours never to be changed no matter what we might try to thwart it. Again, that eternal security stuff.

Apply that to the way you live. We have a standing of sitting with Christ and the Father in heaven, but what is our state, our lifestyle, like? We ought to live as if we were with Him in the heavenlies. That rather discounts being short with people, being a liar, being troublesome, being lazy, being slothful etc. Years ago there was a book by Francis Schaeffer entitled HOW THEN SHOULD WE LIVE? According to this passage we should live as if we were sitting beside God in the heavenlies.

"Hath raised us up together" is actually only one word in the original, which means raised together. This indicates all of us at once were raised. I would suggest that this is also true of all Old Testament saints. They were in Sheol awaiting action on their final salvation. I personally believe that the Old Testament saint was not regenerated as we. They were unable to be allowed into heaven because of this deficiency. They awaited the work of Christ to have their faith rewarded.

This was the reason for Sheol; it was a pleasant place to be until the resurrection of Christ when they could be released into God's presence. My book on regeneration explains all this in much more detail if you are interested.

The term translated "made us sit together" is rendered quite accurately, as it means to be made to sit together. Again, the thought of eternal security comes to mind. Some suggest that we can walk away from salvation, but this passage seems like God puts us in a seat - are you going to get up and walk away from that situation? I rather doubt it.

7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in [his] kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

It would seem that there may be more grace and kindness and riches to come in the eternal state as well as here on earth. He has called us, he has done all that was needed to save us, He has saved us, He cares for us daily and He has even greater riches and grace and kindness to shed upon us in the coming day.

Exceeding has the right thought, but maybe even a stronger emphasis would be the true meaning of the word. If an item costs ninety-nine cents and I have a dollar, then my assets exceed that which I desire. This word has the thought of way exceeding, it is the thought of throwing something far and above that which is expected. His grace exceeds - even way over exceeds all that is expected. Indeed, His grace is not only sufficient to the salvation of all mankind, but His grace is way over sufficient, there is a large abundance of left over grace if you will.

I mentioned riches as separate from grace and kindness, but indeed, is not his grace and kindness toward us riches for us? It is the richest gift that He can give to His children.

I think the primary idea is to benefit His children richly, but there is also the benefit to God that He is able to show the Devil and his followers just how great and grand He is. They thought themselves so great and so grand, yet He is so much more than they and at that point in time they will certainly know it.

When Yasser Arafat died the media mentioned that he had been offered a great offer from Israel to end the Palestinian conflict and he flatly rejected it. The point was made that at the time most of the world knew he had made a grand mistake. It was revealed that he understood that this was a great mistake after the fact, but it was too late, the offer had been withdrawn.

So, with the Devil and the fallen angels, they will one day know just what a terrible decision they made when they turned against God. They will know, but it will be too late. The same goes for all the lost people of the world throughout the ages - all will one day know that their decision was a grave error and they will also know that the mistake can never be remedied.

In this respect, if none other, we ought to feel a touch of sorrow for the Devil, for his followers and for all the lost of the ages. Yes, they deserve all they will receive, but empathy is not misplaced if we feel it for them.

This is why it is hard for us to understand the Lord throwing them all into the Lake of Fire. We may feel sorry for them and wonder why there isn't mercy for them, while from God's perspective and at this future time our perspective as well, we will understand their punishment is a direct result of the justice of God and the intolerance of lost man toward Him.

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.

Faith brings grace which saves us. The gift is in dispute by many as to what is the gift, faith, grace or salvation. Salvation is not of works so that we don't get puffed up in what we have accomplished. This is the teaching of the verse but many add a parenthetical clause onto these two verses. They believe they are saved, they believe they are saved by the grace of God, they believe that they are not saved by any works that they have done, but if you press them on the passage, they add, "but you have to work to keep this salvation."

Now, to the question of what the gift of God is. Is it the grace, the faith or the salvation? If anything I would add that verse nine is a gift in and of itself. Not having to prove to other humans that I have done the work needed for salvation is a tremendous blessing. To some human beings, you could never prove such a thing to their satisfaction, but now back to the question.

Some suggest that the faith or the grace or both are the gift of God and salvation is the end result of the gift. I would hold that salvation is the gift of God as Romans 6.23 tells us "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." I would also hold that God's grace is a gift and that faith is that part of us that trusts in what God has told us, however in this passage I believe that the gift mentioned is the salvation rather than the grace.

Some very old translations/texts translate it "you are saved through the faith" indicating that we are saved by holding faith in a particular creed or set of beliefs. Some reform people hold dearly to their Westminster confession. Indeed, you can't be a part of some of their internet boards unless you subscribe one hundred percent to the entire creed.

Now, I don't think any one of them think that the creed saves them, but they are coming very close to that line of thought, and I would guess they are endangering some followers that might misinterpret their strong stance on the creed for a way of salvation.

As you minister to new believers and lost people be sure you are setting forth the Word of God as the one and only standard for salvation.

10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

And now we see why one might feel that works were important enough to class them as a salvation keeper. Works are way more important than most believers allow these days. We were created in Christ; we are saved unto good works. We are ordained to walk in good works. We are to be constantly in good works, not just on Sunday, not just on Tuesday, but all the time - walking in them is the passage.

Think about walking for a moment. You are putting one foot in front of the other, you are concentrating on where you are going, you are looking at where you are going, you are evaluating your situation, your path, the bumps and rocks in your way, you are planning ahead as to where you will turn, you are planning as to where you are going, you are constantly involved in your walk.

If your walking is not similar to that described, then you should come and walk with me. You have to watch out for rises, holes, rocks, chunks of concrete, branches, dogs, cats, trash cans, trikes, bikes and about everything else along the way, then you must wonder who is lurking around the dark corner.

That is the way we should be in our good works. Always planning how, where, and when we can find and do good works. How can I do the most that I have time for as I walk along the path that God has set before me?

For a pastor or a missionary the good works are kind of second nature to the ministry, but for the person in the pew, good works are something that is not always a typical part of our life. It can be if we walk in them, but if we don't walk in good works, we tend to do little good for the Lord.

It is so easy to get bound up in the everyday hustle and bustle of the world system in which we operate, but we must do our best to take time for God and the works that He wants us to do.

I am reminded of the candle on my desk that is burning. Its entire existence is to burn, its total concentration, if a candle can have concentration, is to produce a little light and a little fragrance. It never deviates from those purposes, it only burns and emits. It doesn’t decide in the middle of the day to go do its own thing and start singing and dancing, indeed it cannot step aside from its prescribed purpose.

How can we then step aside from that which we were created for and ordained to do? Now, tell me that man does not have free will. Anyone that has been in a church these days knows full well that many believers never get involved in good works.

It is no wonder Christ used the illustration of a candle and the believer in Matt. 5.15 "Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." Do please notice he related the candle to good works showing forth. (No, I didn't put the illustration in to fit the passage, I set the illustration down and the passage came to mind. Nor, did I realize the passage would mention good works - it was totally accidental - well on my part, I suspect God knew it was going to happen :-)

Be involved in good works is the thought of the text. If you can't figure out how, go to your pastor, I'm sure he has something for you to get involved in. There are always ways to get involved in your own neighborhood as well. Good works don't have to be in the church, nor do they have to be aimed toward Christians. The account of the Good Samaritan would bear out this thinking.

APPLICATION:

1. In verse one the distinction was made between spiritual death and sin. We noted that spiritual death is our condition and that sin was the outward working of our spiritually dead nature. I doubt anyone would argue with that analysis, yet many reject, in practice, the opposite of this. If we were spiritually dead and the outward sign of this is sin, would not the outward sign of our new nature be good works. As a new creation in Christ we are a new creation, we are totally alive, and good works would be the outward manifestation of that life.

Interesting, that when we were spiritually dead we had no problem manifesting our condition with sin, but now that we are spiritually alive, we seem to be quite handy at not manifesting our condition by not doing good works. Amazing what free will can do if put to the test.

There is an interesting side note. If Christ did all that is needed to bring man to God - ALL man - then might it be that spiritual death is removed and taken care of? Might it be that the only sin that would put us into the lake of fire be rejection of Christ? Personally, eternal life/death was not an option until the cross. Now that the cross work is done, are not all men going to live eternally? Are all not going to exist eternally? Correct, some will be in torment for that eternity, but the rest will be with God for eternity.

I suspect that spiritual death was dealt with at the cross and that until then all were placed into Sheol until the cross work was done.

2. There seems to be evidence here that the Lord sitting down at the right hand of the Father, may well have been the occasion of the Devil being cast out of and barred from entrance into God's presence. We know from Job that in the Old Testament Satan had access to God's throne and he would go there to accuse the saints. It was there that Job and his spirituality was challenged and the challenge met.

No more can Satan enter into God's presence and accuse, the Devil is limited to the earthly sphere for this time before the end. Indeed, this seems to be what Ephesians chapter one verse twenty-one and twenty-two are speaking of - the casting down and limiting of Satan. Later in the end time there will be one thousand years in which he is bound and he will have no say even here on earth.

Now, that he is not allowed into heaven he is limited to the earth and those upon it to cause problems. He is confined to the earth and its atmosphere, to cause it all sorts of spiritual pollution, but never fear, one day Christ will shine forth and eliminate all of Satan's pollution from this world. He will do all that is needed to correct all that Satan has unleashed upon the earth.

3. In verse ten we saw that we are His workmanship, we are made by God. I have always been amazed at how a sculpture is created, how the artist can see in his mind what he wants and then to take chisel and mallet and begin to create that desired end product. I have even wondered at the ability of an ice artist that could look into a block of ice and create something so fascinating. In a crude way the same goes for the chain saw artist. This one that takes a log and chain saw and creates artwork.

An interviewer asked a chainsaw artist once how he was able to do such fine work with such a crude instrument. He simply replied, "I just imagine what I want to produce and saw away everything that isn't it." Simple enough, cut away all material that isn't what the end product needs to be.

God didn't have to go through this cutting away procedure to create us, He had in mind what He wanted and formed us according to his purpose for us. Take a moment to think about that one. How often have you wished you were something that you are not, how often have you wished you looked different than you do, and how often have you wanted to be educated in a different manner than you are? Face it folks, you are what God wanted you to be. You look like He wanted you to look, you are educated as He desired, and you are what He wanted you to be.

How arrogant of us to say Lord, you made my nose wrong, I'm going to have it fixed. God you didn't do it right but I can remedy your mistakes, I will reform, I will struggle to change, I will go into the world and wheel and deal until I am what I should have been. NO! God made you just like He wanted you, he is the craftsman, and you are the clay. Just to clinch the thought, how often have you seen a lump of clay up and form itself into a pot, or a block of ice begin to shudder and shake and become a swan, or a log begin to splinter into a wonderful grizzly - not too often I don't think.

Folks, lets be satisfied with whom and what we are. If you are a small church pastor be satisfied to tend the sheep he has given you. If you are a missionary, be content to go out day to day and do what you can for the Lord. If you are a store owner, be satisfied that God has prepared you to do what He wants you to do. If you are a house wife and/or a mother, be satisfied that you are doing the job that He wants you to do.

If He wants you to do something else, you need not worry - He is capable of letting you know.

Oh, so often in my life I have wished that I was good with talking to people, good with preaching to large congregations, good with words to the betterment of people in their walk with the Lord. I have done the best I could with what God has given me and I find in later life that He has prepared me perfectly for the ministry that He wanted me involved in - writing - some might disagree but that seems to be exactly where He has placed me. I find my thoughts transfer to the keyboard like water flowing from a faucet, while my word tumbling from my lip are rather like pebbles being expelled from a mouth overfilled with them. At least with writing the dyslexic mistakes can be corrected before anyone sees the - well most of them anyway.

Short or tall, brilliant or not so well inclined, rich or poor, God has a plan that He wants you to be involved in just the way that you are, you don't need to struggle for change, He will assist if He wants it for you and His purpose. You are what you are by a divine plan and design, who in the world are you to second guess the Creator of the universe?

Part of our obedience to Him overall, is that satisfaction with whom and what we are in Him. If he wants you changed, He is capable of leading you to that change. If you need more education, He will lead you to it. If you need spiritual change, He will lead you to it.

4. We should not loose sight of the sequence that Paul sets forth here. We were dead - we had no hope - then God saved us. To put it bluntly, as we witness we need to get them lost first, we need to help them realize they are dead before we give them the good news. Give em the bad news first and then the good news.

I have a message that I have preached variations of many times over the years and the main emphasis is that we need to get them lost before we try to save them. If you ask most in America if they want to be saved, their mind would probably suggest "saved from what?" They are having fun in sin, they are fun being out drinking and chasing the opposite sex, they are having fun chasing the American dream, so why do they need to be saved, why would they want to be saved out of that.

It is of interest that many of the tribal peoples that are contacted know that they are in a miserable condition and are quite ready for the good news, while people in some of the European countries don't even know there is a God. You have to tell them there is a God before you can tell them that God loves them.

Realize where your contact is spiritually before you blast them with information, for you may well be giving them information they don't need. It is much like the technical computer service you get these days. You ask the support people a question and they totally ignore that question - your need, and give you a lot of information that answers somebody’s question but not yours.

Recently I wanted to know what the cartridge numbers (there are three different cartridges available) were for my computer printer so that I could purchase some new ink. I could not find the information in the book, nor could I find it on the manufacturer’s website. I emailed their support address and asked, "What are the cartridge numbers for a model i3 printer? Black: Color: Photo: thinking that they would fill in the numbers.

The reply came fairly quickly but to my surprise and disappointment the technician told me to run a self diagnostic test on the printer to see if the problem was in my computer or if it was in my computer. They wanted me to determine whether the computer could print to another printer. They decided I did not know what I needed so they were going to step in with their superior intellect and guide me to the answers they wanted to give. They certainly did not answer my question. He had a good answer to someone's question, just not one for mine.

5. We have given a meager contrast to the difference between the lost and the saved. We know there are differences, but do we realize the depth of those differences? They are totally lost, they are dead, they are completely without hope, they are totally unresponsive spiritually to God, and they are completely unable to know the love of Christ.

We on the other hand know Christ, we know His love, and we know what death is like and enjoy the benefits of true life. We know what the inheritance we have coming is and we love and worship the God that provided it for us.

Now, consider the outworking of this chasm between the lost and the saved. Is it any wonder that they don't want to talk to us, is it any wonder they don't want to associate with us, is it any wonder they are uneasy around us? Well, that used to be the case, but I am finding in recent years it is the Christian that is uneasy around a spiritual believer, it is the Christian that is uneasy about talking about spiritual things, and it is often the lost person that feels some affinity with the spiritual person.

I personally believe that the lost in America know they are lost and I further believe many want to know what we know, but there are too few believers that are witnessing. I further believe that there are many believers living where the spiritually dead live and this is why the country is sliding into the depravity that we see around us every day. We have not been the light of the world; we have been a graying factor upon sin and the terribleness of lostness.

I trust that you will begin to realize the importance of being truly spiritual in you life. If you do not you are contributing to the problem of so many that want to hear of Christ but do not.

Some suggest that America is full of Bibles, so no one is without excuse. Well, technically no one is without excuse whether they have a Bible or not, but to prove the point in America, I was told by a student that he was talking with some friends and some of their friends in Denver, CO and the young people were talking about Christ. One fellow inserted himself into the conversation by asking who this Jesus they were talking about was.

It is incomprehensible to me that in America we have people that have never heard of Christ when supposedly by the surveys, over half the country is evangelical Christians. Even if you cut that to twenty-five percent, we aren't doing a very good job of spreading the good news to lost man in America today.

6. Most commentators point out that Paul shifts from "ye" to "we" to include himself. What they do not mention is the why of this shift. They suggest he wanted to identify with them, but I think there was a much more clear explanation of this. All of these people knew what Paul was like before his conversion, what a striking effect this would be in the readers mind to hear the apostle talking about “ye” and suddenly insert himself and all his terrible persecution and murderous ways into the equation.

This is an illustration of the terribleness of the lostness of man and Paul was the prime example that would close the person’s thoughts around just how dead and spiritually corrupt they real were.

I trust you have this concept well in mind - this concept that before Christ you were no better than Adam thumbing his nose at God in the garden set for his enjoyment - this concept that before Christ you were no better than Paul when he was out persecuting Christians to the utmost of his ability.

Yep, we were lost, we were dead, we were stinking rotten dead, we couldn't get any deader. And yet, God in ages past said, Son we are going to do something about these and began planning and acting to bring us back to life for an inheritance with Him for all eternity.

7. We won't take a lot of time to discuss the fall, nor the fact that all are spiritually dead until we are reborn. If you want further study in these areas, go to my Theology online for more.

Suffice it to say all are spiritually dead when they were/are born. There was only one that was not and that is Christ Himself. He was born of a virgin. This tells us that the sin nature is transmitted to the child through the man, rather than the woman. It was man that fell, it was man that sinned first, and it was man that corrupted the entire race.

This is why mankind is universally lost to the lake of fire unless God intervenes in the scheme of things with the individual.

One of the objections to this doctrine is that babies die and a God of love would not condemn a poor baby that did not have opportunity to be saved to the lake of fire. Many believe that God will take those to Himself in some manner. King David, when he lost his child, declared that he would see him in the future thus indicting what has just been said. Most also believe that there is an age of accountability at which time the individual comes to a time intellectually that he needs to decide upon God. After that point of time God has no responsibility to allow this one to live another moment, nor give him another opportunity, yet often times God is so gracious in allowing these to go on living and rejecting him through much if not all of their lives.

One might suggest that we were just at as far down the dead end of the spectrum as we now are at the far other end of the spectrum in life. You can't get any deader than we were and you can't get no more aliver than we now are.

8. The point has been made, but again might be of benefit. The lostness of man results in sin, the salvation of man results in good works - both sins and works are actions of the condition. Are we not to assume that a person living in sin is not lost - even if they have made good professions of faith? The believer is saved, is set aside unto good works, thus if there are no good works, and there is sin, one might have validity to wonder of the profession of faith and the soundness of it.

No, we are not to judge, to condemn that one living in sin to the lake of fire, but we are surely to consider the outworking of the inner spirit. If that outworking is sin, then the inner may well be dead.

9. A comment or two about security. Constable quotes Wiersbe on security and I think it is a catchy phrase, but one which bares remembrance. "Since we have not been saved by our good works, we cannot be lost by our bad works."

Of course this is a rather flip statement of security, but it tells it like it really is; there is nothing we can do to get salvation and there is nothing we can do to loose it.

Just think of the love God has for us and then think of the kind of salvation that He might design for us in ages past. Why would he love us, and want to assure our spending eternity with Him then design a salvation that was very "ify" at best. It does not make sense that He would create a scheme so flimsy as to be thwarted by man giving himself over to his fleshly desires.

What would that say about the love of God? What would that say about the intelligence of God? What would that say about the wisdom of God? It all would say that He isn't much of a God if He couldn't do a better job than that.

10. There has been a teaching around, a controversy if you will that relates to this passage. Paul makes it quite clear that the salvation that God has given is designed to result in good works. He created us, He was the master planner for each one of us and the resulting design was to produce good works.

However, that is where Paul stops in his teaching. He does not go that one step further and state that if a person does not do good works, he is then not a true believer.

The Lordship controversy centers around the fact that some say that you cannot be saved if you have not made Christ Lord of your life and if you are not involved in good works. This passage does not teach this nor in my mind does any other passage in the Bible. All the Bible states is that we are created and designed to produce good works, but it is a decision of OUR mind whether we produce them or not.

God designed, God desires, and God expects good works, but it is the choice of man as to whether they will be produced or not.

The other side of the dispute, as you can easily imagine, is the "Well we are saved by grace not by works" crowd.

In my mind, we can wonder at the salvation of a person without good works, but it is not a clear indicator of lostness, it may only be an indicator of coldness.

11. In verse eight we mentioned that there was some discussion as to the word "that" and what it refers to. Many say that "that" is neuter and faith and grace are feminine so "that" cannot refer to either of them so it must refer to salvation. There is an editor's note in Gill's work - I don't know if it is someone that edited the digital version or some other version - but it points out two things. He points out that not only are "grace" and "faith" feminine, but so is "salvation" thus "that" cannot refer to any of the three, or that it may refer to all three. He mentions that he had discussed this with a professor of Greek. He suggests that the conclusion one might reach is that the Greek is not quite as exact as some commentators have given us to believe. In my mind I'd suggest also that Greek in general is not as definitive as most would have us believe.

I would like to pursue this for a moment. He goes on to suggest that the words are a tautology, or a series of words that show a sequence. Webster describes tautology as "A repetition of the same meaning in different words; needless repetition of a thing in different words or phrases; or a representation of any thing as the cause, condition of consequence of itself, as in the following lines. The dawn in overcast, the morning low'rs, And heavily in clouds brings" He suggests "that" refers to all three and that even faith is the product of God implanted in man so that he can believe. Now, this is the normal Calvinist position that quickening or regeneration is something that allows us enough spiritual umph to believe in God.

The problem with this is that faith is basically believing in what God has said. How can we be given faith so that we can believe, when in fact faith is belief? To say this they must suggest that God gives us faith/belief and thus there is no part of salvation that is man's - even the belief is from God, leaving man with no choice in the matter, and this is the result and product of that system of theology.

It would seem that if the "that" belongs to all three, grace, faith, and salvation, then wouldn't it be a better interpretation to say that the "that" refers to the whole of salvation, from call to finish and that the whole is the gift, which does no damage to the fact that the faith is on man's side. Robertson in his work suggests that the grace is God's part and that belief is man's part. This seems to be the teaching of the Word. God provided salvation as a whole to man, while man has a responsibility to believe within that whole gift of God - salvation.

12. Ray Stedman mentions a book by Os Guinness, the associate of Dr. Francis Schaeffer. The books title was DUST OF DEATH. Mr. Guinness stated that he had been reading all of the great books of the great men of the day and found that they all had the answer for man in this present world, but as he read these books he found that the answers presented were quite lacking and that there were, indeed, no answers for man in this present world. He related that he was depressed by this verbiage of despair and he turned to the Bible and the fact that Jesus Christ is the only answer for man in any age, including this present age.

It has been mentioned that man can do good deeds, that he can live a moral life without Christ, but we must not miss the very important truth that even within this "good living" these folks will one day realize that their life has not measured up and that there was something very important missing in their life. They will understand that that was not enough, that they have missed out on something much better than the best that they have offered.

Stedman relates this to our good intentions; that really misses the mark. All of this was to explain the term trespass in verse one. I feel that this explanation is quite valid in reality, but I am not sure how valid it is in this context. The verse speaks to our deadness, our total deadness, our not ever going to live again deadness, not just our missing the mark in life.

13. The Life Application Bible states that because all men sin we have proof that we are all dead. I would argue that all men are dead thus all men will sin. We were dead in sin. The verse does not say we sin, thus we are dead; it says we were dead in sin. Perhaps the writers believe in one of those teachings that say man has some good inside and that sin brings them down. God is clear in the Word that we are dead, not kind of alive.

Is there a difference? Yes. Does it matter? Yes. If we are dead because we sin, there might be the thought that if someone didn't sin, that they would be alive - alive until they sinned. This is not correct theology. We are dead because of the fall, and because of that death we can only sin.