Ephesians 2:4-10 (NIV)
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions–it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God–not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Now that Paul has laid out the grim picture of being lost, dead in transgressions and sins, he turns to the flip side of the coin: being made alive with Christ. This section clearly paints the central hope of the gospel for all who believe.

Paul’s first point is that this new life is made available to us purely because of God’s love, mercy, and grace. It does not come to us by our own merit, because before God raises us up, we are spiritually dead, and corpses can’t do anything to help themselves or redeem themselves.

But God does far more than merely animate corpses. In one movement He makes spiritually dead people spiritually alive, and then seats them in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus. That means that we are given hope and a destiny, a future with God. We are made alive not just with physical life that extends throughout our earthly existence, but with eternal life that will last forever.

Paul reemphasizes that this salvation, this new life, is very specifically not the result of personal effort or striving for perfection in one’s own strength. If that was possible, then Jesus’ death was unnecessary, and the Pharisees and teachers of the law would have been at the head of the line into the kingdom of heaven. Instead, this life is available only by God’s grace, and accessed only by faith in the person and work of Jesus.

And one more vital point: this salvation, this new, eternal life, is not simply a gift to be used in any way that the recipient chooses. Instead, each person who receives this salvation by grace through faith must understand that he or she has been bought with an unimaginably high price: the blood of Jesus. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) And because of the high price that was paid for our lives, we now belong to God. And as God’s people, there is work to be done. We have been saved for a purpose: to do the good works, which God has prepared in advance for us to do. The greatest of these good works is to continue the spread of the gospel and the growth of the kingdom by making disciples of all nations, in obedience to the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20).

Father, I have really been struck by the imagery that Paul uses and that You have reemphasized here: to be dead in our sins is to be as helpless as a corpse to improve ourselves or our lot. Instead, we need to be made alive by your love, mercy and grace, because all our own best efforts are futile. And being made alive is such an amazing and great gift that I have no problem giving my whole self to You out of gratitude and committing myself to doing Your will forever. Thank you so much! Amen.