Editor’s Note:
You can read the first article in this series here.
First, The Bad News
If you don’t understand the bad news about sin, the gospel of Christ really won’t seem like good news.
Unfortunately, many Christians don’t like to talk about sin when they talk about Jesus, because they don’t want to offend anyone. However, excluding any mention of sin or the need to repent in turning to Jesus is a corruption of the gospel. It gives people a false idea of their current state and gives them no reason to see their need for Christ. If you don’t need to be saved from anything, then why would you need to place your faith in Jesus?
A gospel presentation devoid of any talk of sin also doesn’t match what you see in the Bible. In Ephesians 2:1-10, the apostle Paul gives a masterful overview of the mercy and grace of the gospel. However, he starts off with the bad news first. In verse 1, Paul starts by saying that all people are born spiritually dead in their sin. That’s clearly going to offend people, so shouldn’t he soften the rest of his message? He goes on in verses 2 and 3 to say that all unbelievers are following Satan and that they are under the wrath of God.
That sounds like horrible news. How is that the good news of the gospel? Well, Paul makes a huge transition in verse 4 that explains why he needed to start with the bad news. The good news of salvation in Christ can only be understood by first realizing that we are born spiritually dead in our sin. Now, in Ephesians 2:4-7, he’s going to share the good news.
Alive in Christ
But God,
verse 4a
I once heard a pastor say that this transitional phrase “but God” is his favorite phrase in the Bible, because it contrasts the horrible news of what came before with the great news of what comes after it. Basically, Paul is saying, “here’s the bad news of your current state, but, in contrast…” In contrast to his previous description of our lost state, God comes in to save the day. Paul goes on:
being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ
verses 4b-5a
Despite our sin, our rebellion, and our spiritual deadness, God does something amazing. He gives us mercy. Mercy is not giving us what we deserve. We deserve God pouring out his wrath on us in hell, because we have broken his law. But God is rich in mercy. The Greek word for “mercy” is eleos and means “compassion.” God has compassion on us lost sinners.
The Greek word for “rich” is plousios and means abounding, unmeasured, or unlimited. God is so merciful that we can’t even measure his mercy. Our sin is great, but God’s mercy is greater. We cannot fathom the compassion that God has towards those he chooses to save.
Why is God so merciful to us? Because he is so loving. He loves us with a great love that cannot be measured. Why? Because we’re so lovable? No—he loved us when we were dead, rotting corpses who were rebelling against him in our sin (Rom 5:6-11). What can a dead person do? Absolutely nothing. To save us, it’s all God’s doing. God is the one who brings us from being spiritually dead to being spiritually alive (Rom 5:17; 6:8-11; 6:23; Col 1:13-14).
The Graciousness and Kindness of God
—by grace you have been saved—
verse 5b
Scripture is clear that those who place their faith in Jesus are now spiritually alive in Christ (e.g., John 5:24). By God’s grace we have been saved. Mercy is not giving us what we do deserve, which is wrath. Grace is giving us what we don’t deserve, which is salvation and blessing. The Greek word for “grace” is charis and means favor or kindness. We receive the unmerited kindness of God through Christ in salvation. Paul says part of God’s grace is not only have we been saved, but that we have union with Christ now:
and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
verse 6
From a positional standpoint, we are seated with Christ in heaven. In the future, we will experience that reality of living with Christ in sinless, glorified perfection for all time:
so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
verse 7
God’s immeasurable grace in blessing us will be made manifest in the future for all of eternity (1 Pet 1:3-5).
The Good News
As we have seen, the gospel of Christ can only be understood by first realizing that we are born spiritually dead in our sin. Only then does the amazing truth that believers have been brought from spiritual death to life through faith in Christ make sense. The fact that God brings spiritual corpses from death to abundant life in Christ is the greatest news that anyone can ever receive. By turning from sin and placing your faith in Christ, you can receive full deliverance from the wrath of God that justly needs to punish sin. Only in Jesus can you go from death to life. From wrath to mercy. From just condemnation to grace.
(Paul has briefly touched on the grace of God in saving sinners in verses 5 and 6, but in our next article, we will dive into the amazing truth that salvation is entirely a gift of God and cannot be earned.)
