CHAPTER 2

(A.D. 64)

ALIVE IN CHRIST

¹And you has He quickened(madealive), who were dead in trespasses and sins (total depravity due to the Fall and original sin);

²Wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world (refers to the fact that the unredeemed order their behavior and regulate their lives within this sphere of trespasses and sins), according to the prince of the power of the air (pertains to the fact that Satan heads up the system of this world), the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience (the spirit of Satan, which fills all unbelievers, thereby working disobedience):

³Among whom (the children of disobedience) also we all had our conversation (manner of life) in times past in the lusts of our flesh (evil cravings), fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind (the minds of the unredeemed are the laboratory of perverted thoughts, impressions, imaginations, etc.); and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. (Gods wrath is unalterably opposed to sin, and the only solution is the Cross.)

⁴But God, Who is rich in Mercy (His Mercy comes to us by means of the Cross), for His great love wherewith He loved us (the Love shown at Calvary),

⁵Even when we were dead in sins (speaks of a state in which we could by no means help ourselves), has quickened us together with Christ (this new life is imparted to us through our identification with Christ in His Death and Resurrection), (by Grace you are saved;) (Grace is made possible solely by the Cross, and comes to us in an uninterrupted flow as we ever make the Cross the Object of our Faith.)

⁶And has raised us up together (the Resurrection of Christ from the Tomb was our Resurrection as well, spiritually speaking, and gave us newness of life [Rom. 6:3-5]), and made us sit together in Heavenly Places(made possible by the Cross) in Christ Jesus (it is all done in Christ, and refers to the way He did it, which is through the Cross):

⁷That in the ages to come (in the ages that are coming, one upon another, unending) He might show the exceeding riches of His Grace (presents the Believers golden age is always future, never past) in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. (God is able to show us kindness only through the Cross. The Bible Student must realize the Cross is the oldest Doctrine in the Bible [I Pet. 1:18-20], and is, in fact, the Foundation on which all Doctrine must be built.)

REDEMPTION

⁸For by Grace (the Goodness of God) are you Saved through Faith (Faith in Christ, with the Cross ever as its Object); and that not of yourselves (none of this is of us, but all is of Him): it is the Gift of God (anytime the word Gift is used, God is speaking of His Son and His Substitutionary Work on the Cross, which makes all of this possible):

⁹Not of works (man cannot merit Salvation, irrespective what he does), lest any man should boast (boast in his own ability and strength; we are allowed to boast only in the Cross [Gal. 6:14]).

¹⁰For we are His workmanship (if we are Gods workmanship, our Salvation cannot be of ourselves), created in Christ Jesus unto good works (speaks of the results of Salvation, and never the cause), which God has before ordained that we should walk in them. (The good works the Apostle speaks of has to do with Faith in Christ and the Cross, which enables the Believer to live a Holy life.)

UNITY

¹¹Wherefore remember, that you being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision (referred to the Gentiles not being in Covenant with God; physical Circumcision under the Old Economy was its external sign) by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands (is said by Paul in this manner, regarding the Jews, in contradistinction from the Circumcision of the heart);

¹²That at that time you were without Christ (describes the former condition of the Gentiles, who had no connection with Christ before the Cross), being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the Covenants of Promise, having no hope, and without God in the world (all of this argues a darkened and perverted heart; the Gentiles had no knowledge of God at that time):

¹³But now in Christ Jesus (proclaims the basis of all Salvation) you who sometimes (times past) were far off (far from Salvation) are made nigh (near) by the Blood of Christ. (The Sacrificial Atoning Death of Jesus Christ transformed the relations of God with mankind. In Christ, God reconciled not a nation, but a world to Himself [II Cor. 5:19].)

¹⁴For He (Christ) is our peace (through Christ and what He did at the Cross, we have peace with God), Who has made both one (Jews and Gentiles), and has broken down the middle wall of partition between us(between Jews and Gentiles);

¹⁵Having abolished in His Flesh (speaking of His Death on the Cross, by which He Redeemed humanity, which also means He didnt die spiritually, as some claim) the enmity (the hatred between God and man, caused by sin), even the Law of Commandments contained in Ordinances (pertains to the Law of Moses, and more particularly the Ten Commandments); for to make in Himself of twain (of Jews and Gentiles) one new man, so making peace (which again was accomplished by the Cross);

¹⁶And that He (Christ) might reconcile both (Jews and Gentiles) unto God in one body (the Church) by the Cross (it is by the Atonement only that men ever become reconciled to God), having slain the enmity thereby (removed the barrier between God and sinful man):

¹⁷And came and preached peace to you which were afar off (proclaims the Gospel going to the Gentiles), and to them who were nigh. (This refers to the Jews. It is the same Message for both.)

¹⁸For through Him (through Christ) we both (Jews and Gentiles) have access by One Spirit unto the Father. (If the sinner comes by the Cross, the Holy Spirit opens the door, otherwise it is barred [Jn. 10:1].)

¹⁹Now (speaks of the present state of Believers) therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners (pertains to what Gentiles once were), but fellowcitizens with the Saints (speaks of Gentiles now having access the same as Jews, all due to the Cross), and of the Household of God (a progressive relationship with God in Christ);

²⁰And are built upon the Foundation (the Cross) of the Apostles and Prophets (Apostles serve as leadership under the New Covenant, with Prophets having served in that capacity under the Old), Jesus Christ Himself being the Chief Corner Stone (presents the part of the Foundation which holds everything together; Jesus Christ is the Chief Corner Stone by virtue of what He did at the Cross);

²¹In Whom (Christ) all the building fitly framed together grows unto an Holy Temple in the Lord:

²²In Whom you also are built together (Jews and Gentiles) for an habitation of God through the Spirit. (This is all made possible by what Jesus did at the Cross.)