Paul concluded his revelation of the Christian's individual calling in Christ (1:3-2:10). He began this section of the epistle by explaining the purpose of our calling (i.e., the glory of God, 1:3-14). He then expounded the means whereby we appreciate our calling (i.e., knowledge given by the Holy Spirit through God's revelation, 1:15-23). Finally He enunciated the motive for our calling (i.e., the unmerited grace of God, 2:1-10).
These verses continue the theme of redemption (1:7). The pericope is a condensation of Paul's exposition of redemption in Romans. Whereas we were once dead to God (vv. 1-3), we are now alive in God (vv. 4-10).
"Having described our spiritual possessionsin Christ, Paul turns to a complementary truth: our spiritual positionin Christ. First he explains what God has done for all sinners in general; then he explains what God did for the Gentiles in particular."46
These verses are really preliminary to Paul's main point. They describe the Christian's condition as an unbeliever before God justified him or her. In the Greek text verses 1-7 are one sentence. The subject of this sentence is God (v. 4). The three main verbs are "made alive"(v. 5), "raised up"(v. 6), and "seated"(v. 6). The object is "us,"and the prepositional phrase "with Christ"describes "us."The main point then is that God has made believers alive, raised us up, and seated us with Christ. Everything else in verse 1-7 is of subordinate importance.
2:1 Before their regeneration, believers were spiritually dead, separated from God, and unable to have fellowship with Him (cf. 4:18; John 17:3). We were living in the sphere of rebellion against God (cf. v. 2). Transgressions (false steps, cf. 1:7; 2:5) and sins (acts of missing the mark) describe deliberate offenses against God.
"There are three outstanding schools of moral pathology traceable throughout the centuries. Pelagianism asserts the convalescence of human nature. Man merely needs teaching. Semi-pelagianism admits his ill-health, but affirms that the symptoms will yield to proper treatment, to a course of tonic drugs and a scrupulous regimen. But Biblical Christianity probes the patient to the quick. Its searching diagnosis pronounces that mortification has set in and that nothing less than infusion of fresh lifeblood can work a cure. Nostrums and palliatives aggravate rather than allay the disease. Sin is an organic epidemical malady, a slow devitalizing poison issuing in moral necrosis; not a stage of arrested or incomplete development, but a seed-plot of impending ruin."47
"The unbeliever is not sick; he is dead! He does not need resuscitation; he needs resurrection. All lost sinners are dead, and the only difference between one sinner and another is the state of decay."48
2:2 The apostle further described the sphere in which unbelievers live in three ways. First, it is a lifestyle in which people follow the ways of the world. The philosophy that seeks to eliminate God from every aspect of life dominates this lifestyle (cf. John 15:18, 23).
Second, the unsaved follow the person who is promoting this philosophy, namely Satan. As prince of the power of the air, Satan received temporary freedom to lead this rebellion against God (cf. 1 John 5:19; 2 Cor. 4:4; Rev. 12:9). The "spirit"now working probably refers to the "power"or "kingdom"(lit. authority) of the air rather than to Satan since that word is its nearest antecedent. "Sons of disobedience"is a way of saying people marked by disobedience, as a son bears the traits of his parent. Unbelievers resemble Satan in their rebellion.
2:3 Third, not only does the philosophy of the world guide unbelievers and Satan control them, but they also indulge the flesh. The term "flesh"(NASB, Gr. sarkos) when used metaphorically as here refers to the sinful nature that everyone possesses. It is our human nature that is sinful. The unbeliever characteristically gives in to his or her fleshly desires and thoughts whereas the believer should not and need not do so (cf. Rom. 7-8).
"Children of wrath"and "sons of disobedience"are both phrases that describe unbelievers. "Children"(Gr. tekna) highlights the close relationship between a child and his or her parents. "Sons"(Gr. huioi) stresses the distinctive characteristics of the parents that the child displays. Unbelievers have a close relationship to God's wrath because of their rebellion against Him (cf. Rom. 1:18-2:29; John 3:36).
These verses (1-3) picture the hopeless unbeliever as a part of the world system, controlled by Satan, indulging the flesh, and destined to experience God's wrath. When an unbeliever trusts Jesus Christ, the world, the devil, and the flesh become his or her three-fold enemy.
The wrath of God on the unbeliever (v. 3) contrasts with the grace of God on the believer (vv. 5, 7, 8). God's grace toward some unbelievers gives them life (vv. 4-5), raises them up (v. 6), and seats them in heavenly realms with Christ (vv. 6-10).
2:4 Paul introduced the contrast between the condition of the unbeliever and that of the believer with "But."God, the subject of this passage (vv. 1-7), makes all the difference. "Mercy"(Gr. eleos, the word the Septuagint translators used to render the Hebrew hesed, loyal love) means undeserved kindness. God's great love (Gr. agape) sought the highest good in the objects of His choice even though we were rebellious sinners.
2:5 Unbelievers are spiritually dead in their sins (cf. v. 1). However, God has given new life to believers. The only way a dead person can have any fellowship with the living God is for God to give him or her new life (cf. Rom. 4:17). Regeneration is an act of God in grace. Regeneration results in the commencement and continuation of new life. "Have been saved"is in the perfect tense in Greek indicating an ongoing permanent condition.
2:6 God has, second, raised up believers with Christ. This describes our spiritual, not physical experience. He will yet raise us physically, but spiritually He has already raised us to a new type of life (cf. Col. 3:1-2). As our Lord's resurrection life, ours is also powerful and eternal.
Third, God has seated us in the heavenly realms with Christ (cf. 1:20). That is where our heavenly citizenship lies (Phil. 3:20). What Christ did physically (i.e., died, arose, and took His seat in heaven) God has already done for the believer spiritually. The fact that God enabled Christ to do these things physically should help us believe that He has done these things for us spiritually.
2:7 God's ultimate purpose is to glorify Himself. The "ages"to come include all future ages. God will use the regeneration of believers to demonstrate the wealth and richness of His grace (cf. 1:7). Specifically His kindness toward believers as displayed in all that we have in Christ is in view. We see God's kindness in His giving life to those who were dead in sin.
Note that verses 1-3 describe what we were in the past, verses 4-6 what we are in the present, and verse 7 what we shall be in the future.
2:8 Verses 8 and 9 explain the surpassing riches of God's grace (v. 7) and expand the parenthetical statement in verse 5.
The basis of our salvation is God's grace (unmerited favor and divine enablement; cf. Rom. 3:22, 25; Gal. 2:16; 1 Peter 1:5). The instrument by which we receive salvation is faith (i.e., trust in Christ). Faith is not an act or work that earns merit with God that He rewards with salvation. When a person puts out his hand to take a gift that someone else offers, he or she is doing nothing to merit that gift. The giver gets credit for the gift, not the receiver. Likewise faith is not a meritorious work.49
To what does "that"or "this"refer? Since it is a neuter pronoun it evidently does not refer to "grace"or "faith"both of which are feminine in gender in the Greek text. Probably it refers to the whole preceding clause that describes salvation (cf. 1:15; 3:1). Salvation is the gift of God.50
"If we breathe, it is because life has been breathed into us; if we exercise the hearing of faith it is because our ears have been unstopped. We are born from above. Spiritual life is not of the nature of a subsidy supplementing dogged exertion or ruthless self-flagellation, but a largess from the overflowing well-spring of divine compassion, lavished on a set of spiritual incapables."51
2:9 Salvation is not by works since its basis is grace and its means of reception faith. No one will be able to boast that he or she has done something that earned him or her salvation. All the glory will go to God for accomplishing salvation.
"Since we have not been saved by our good works, we cannot be lost by our bad works."52
2:10 Here Paul gave the reason salvation is not from man or by works. Rather than salvation being a masterpiece that we have produced, regenerated believers are a masterpiece that God has produced. "Workmanship"(Gr. poieme, from which we get the word "poem"; cf. Rom. 1:20) means a work of art, a masterpiece. The Jerusalem Bible translates it "work of art"here. As a master worker, God has created us in Christ Jesus. The word translated "created"here (Gr. ktizo) describes only God's activity and denotes something He alone can produce.
Good works are not the roots from which salvation grows but the fruit God intends it to bear. God has not saved us because of our works (vv. 8-9), but He has saved us to do good works (v. 10). God saves us by faith for good works. Good works are what God intended for us to practice with His divine enablement. He intended that we walk in them, as a pedestrian walks along a path, before He saved us. This verse reveals that God is ultimately responsible for our good works (cf. Phil. 2:13). Paul developed the idea of walking in good works further in chapters 4-6.
". . . God has prepared a path of good works for believers which He will perform in and through them as they walk by faith. This does not mean doing a work for God; instead, it is God's performing His work in and through believers . . ."53
However this verse does not say that Christians will inevitably walk in the good works that God has freed us from sin's penalty and power to pursue. God has saved us so we can do works that are good in His sight, but this is obviously only part of His purpose in saving us. He has also saved us to take us to heaven, for example (John 14:1-3). He has guaranteed that all who trust in His Son will reach heaven (our glorification, John 10:28-29). He has not guaranteed that all who trust in Jesus Christ will persevere in good works (our progressive sanctification). That depends on our obedience (Titus 3:8).
God desires that everyone experience salvation (1 Tim. 2:4; 2 Pet. 3:9), but the fact that some will perish does not put God's desires or power in question. He has given us enough freedom to choose if we will believe or not. Likewise God has provided salvation so His children will be able to obey Him and do good works, but He does not compel us to do so (Titus 2:11-12).
"One could legitimately characterize the whole lordship controversy as a dispute over efficacious grace. All points in the discussion ultimately come back to this: Does God's saving grace inevitably obtain its desired effects? If all sides could come to consensus on that one question, the debate would be settled."54
I would respond by saying that God's saving grace inevitably obtains all that God has said it will inevitably obtain including the believer's justification, positional sanctification, and glorification. However it does not inevitably obtain what God has said depends on the choices of His people. We must be careful to distinguish what God wants to happen from what He has said He will make happen.55His desires are not the same as His decrees.56
God does not force Christians to persevere in good works any more than He forced the Israelites to persevere in good works. The Israelites' failure to walk in the good works that God had foreordained for them does not mean that His efficacious grace failed. Neither does Christians' failure to do so mean that.
This section of the epistle (2:1-10) contrasts what the believer was before regeneration with what he or she is after. All the glory for the change goes to God. He provided salvation for man. We do not need to do good works to merit salvation, but we should do good works because we have received salvation. This is God's plan for the believer.
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