Eph 2:4–7 — Raised with Christ

Why does Paul spend so much time describing our state of spiritual death outside of Christ?

In order to set the context for a proper understanding of the wonder of God’s grace in raising us from death to spiritual life in Christ.

Verse 4

“But God …”

God takes the initiative Paul emphasizes the theocentric nature of our salvation God was not obligated to save us. He acted merely out of his mercy and grace. The only thing that bound him was his own free election in eternity by which he had bound himself to save those whom had freely loved in Christ “being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us” (v. 4). This is almost a fixed phrase in the OT to describe God “abounding in lovingkindness (hesed)” (Exod. 34:6) Refers to YHWH’s steadfast covenant loyalty and love When Israel violated the covenant and God would have destroyed them yet in his hesed he did not forsake them but delivered them from their enemies Nehemiah 9:17-19, 26-31 God’s steadfast faithfulness to the Abrahamic Covenant which was 430 years prior to the Mosaic Covenant with its threats and its curses. Although the Law continually jeopardized the stability of Israel’s status as God’s people, the underlying substratum of the unconditional promise of grace that God gave to Abraham (the oath which God swore when he undertook the covenant curse-sanctions by passing between the slaughtered animals) that unconditional promise of God’s free hesed is what continually sustained Israel even in the face of apostasy and the threat of the Law’s curse. The emphasis is the unexpected nature of God’s grace Israel’s disobedience should have led to Israel’s total annihilation. Instead, God’s hesed, his gracious commitment to his covenant people, intervened and the people were spared. You see how appropriate it is for Paul to use this term in connection with our salvation, even when we were dead in our trespasses and sins. But we must not think of this glorious spiritual resurrection with Christ as merely one more deliverance in the long line of deliverances that God graciously provided to his wayward people. This is the climactic, eschatological deliverance of the last days. Observe that Paul applies this covenantal language to the Gentiles God’s exclusive covenant grace is operative among the Gentiles who receive the good tidings of Jesus Christ.

Verse 5

“made us alive together with Christ” Although at first glance the passage appears to be speaking of our conversion when we were born again and brought from death to spiritual life in Christ, this interpretation would totally miss the profound point that Paul is making here In Greek the phrase “he made us alive together” is actually one word. This verb must be interpreted precisely. It is a compound verb with three words “to make alive” In the NT this verb always refers to bodily resurrection from the dead Prefix - “together” or “co” E.g., co-crucified (Rom. 6:6). A possible translation would be “he co-resurrected us with Christ” Thus, the event that is in view here is not our conversion or regeneration but the literal resurrection of Christ an event that we too have experienced by virtue of our being joined together with Christ Paul is describing here not the ordo salutis but the historia salutis Not an event in the subjective, conscious experience of each individual believer but a concrete, historical event in the life of Christ an even with corporate implications and subjective reverberations for each individual believer. This concrete historia salutis interpretation of the main verb is reinforced by the totality of the three verbs strung together:

co-made alive … co-raised … co-seated. It is indisputable that the historical event of the resurrection, ascension, and exaltation of Christ is what is in view in this passage. Why does Paul omit any reference to the atonement, the death of Christ?

Why only speak of the resurrection of Christ?

Because the cross and the resurrection form a single, indivisible eschatological event. Although he refers explicitly only the resurrection, the cross is also implied 1:20 “raised him from the dead” 2:6 “when we were dead … he made us alive together with Christ” Union with Christ. Not a mystical experience of Christ in our hearts although Christ does dwell in our hearts by faith. Not a pleasant feeling of spiritual closeness with Jesus. But a judicial and eschatological event Christ united himself with his people through the incarnation and he became our federal head or representative so that what God did to Christ, he did to us God made him to be sin, cursing him with eschatological torment God made him alive, raising him to eternal life and blessedness. The accent must be on the Christ-event and then, second, on our solidarity with Christ in that event Solidarity is a good word to describe it for it helps us to understand that Christ was not merely our substitute or representative, undergoing something in our place but our head undergoing something for us and with us so that, being in him, we underwent it as well. The experience of Noah and his family in the ark illustrates this thought. The flood was an intrusion of the day judgment Yet for those who were inside the ark, the flood waters of judgment were not destructive but saving. And how did Noah’s family get the privilege of entering the ark?

We read nothing of their own righteousness, only of Noah. Noah and the ark, then, constitute a type of Christ Christ’s federal headship over us brings us into a special relationship with him so that his being judged on the cross is not merely a substitutionary judgment but a judgment of co-participation for us Solidarity with Christ in his being the object of divine judgment results in salvation for us. The cross and the resurrection, as a single cosmic event, was the day of judgment for the elect. It was the revelation of the righteousness of God “But NOW apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets” (Romans 3:21) In that Christ-event, we stood in the person of Christ before the Almighty Judge of all the earth When Christ was crucified and judged and condemned as a sinner, we were crucified and judged and condemned as sinners When Christ was vindicated in his resurrection, and declared to be the Son of God with power, we were vindicated and declared righteous and raised up to a permanent status of sonship and heirship “by grace you have been saved” Parenthetical remark inserted at this key point Grace, according to Paul, is particularly revealed in the fact that we have been co-resurrected with Christ because of our union with Him. Many have a quite unbiblical understanding of what grace is. It is common to hear grace defined as “unmerited favor” But does this definition truly capture the fullness of the concept of grace?

I believe it is an inadequate definition, because it fails to mention the all-important notion that grace is merited favor for Christ but unmerited for those who are united to Christ That is why Paul places this parenthetical remark at this precise point in the text - immediately after the phrase “with Christ”

Verse 6

“and raised us up with him, and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” This verse is one of the most dramatic and powerful in all the Bible Elsewhere Paul states that we died and rose with Christ Only here does he say that we were seated with Christ in heaven. How can this be?

How can we be partakers of Christ’s exaltation?

Isn’t this applicable only to Christ as the Son of God?

We are enthroned with Christ in heaven Implies two things:

Victory in Christ over the powers of darkness (1:20ff) Privileged position as kings reigning with Christ (Rev. 20:4). The millennium is NOW “According to Ephesians the saints are closer to heaven and more firmly established there now than theater-goers who have reserved tickets in their pockets and wait for admission” (Markus Barth) Verse 7. Although we have already experienced the riches of God’s grace in that we have been raised with Christ, and are presently enjoying that grace in that we are now seated with Christ in the heavenly realms, nevertheless, Paul reminds us that we have only begun to experience God’s grace. The full abundance of divine grace and favor is yet to be realized in the ages to come Paul uses the plural “in the ages to come” F. Bruce eloquently writes that this language poetically suggests the thought of “one age supervening upon another like successive waves of the sea, as far into the future as thought can reach” And so, “throughout time and in eternity the church, this society of pardoned rebels, is designed by God to be the masterpiece of his goodness”

Summary

A complete reversal: a totally new situation has arisen by God’s grace. We were objects of God’s wrath. But God had mercy on us. We were dead in our sins. But God made us alive with Christ. We were in bondage to the spiritual forces of evil. But God seated us with Christ in the heavenly realm in a position of kingly victory over the demonic powers.

This text teaches us many things,

but there are two that stand out …

Our salvation is not a cooperative effort with God and man sharing in the work God sovereignly acted by the unaccompanied exertion of his sole power Monergism versus synergism The Christian faith is doctrine, but not just any kind of doctrine. It is doctrine in the form of a drama - a drama that is summarized in the Apostles’ Creed To use Dorothy Sayers’ phrase, “The Dogma is the Drama” The eternal Son of God was born of a virgin. He suffered under Pontius Pilate. He died and was buried and descended into hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven That drama is not something that happened merely as any other series of ordinary historical events - events that merely affect us only in a remote manner. No, this drama is something in which we were included. The Son of God entered history in order to take human flesh into personal union with himself, thus uniting us to himself and making us partakers of himself In our nature - with us and for us, and we in him and with him - he then died and rose and ascended, so that we too died and rose and ascended.