Your ShelfYour Projects

STUDIES IN EPHESIANS

2%

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jul 1, 1903

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 29, No. 26.

Read the full edition

STUDIES IN EPHESIANS

CREATED ANEW.

Chapter 2: 1-10.
[Lesson Study for Sabbath, July 18, 1903.]
What does the apostle say that Christ the Head has done for us as Christians?—“And you did He make alive.”
When did He thus give life, and what was the necessity?—“When ye were dead through your trespasses and sins.”
According to what did we walk in our sinful condition?—“Wherein ye once walked according to the course of this world.”
According to what ruler did we serve?—“According to the prince of the powers of the air.”
Of what spirit was our conduct?—“Of the spirit that now worketh in the sons of disobedience.”
How many can be classed among the sons of disobedience?—“Among whom we also all once lived.”
In what did we live?—“In the lusts of our flesh.”
What did we do?—“Doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind.”
What were we by nature?—“And were by nature children of wrath.”
How did we differ from others?—“Even as the rest.”
What word expresses a change in condition and nature?—“But.”
What is said of God’s riches to meet our need?—“But God, being rich in mercy.”
What moved God to act?—“For His great love wherewith He loved us.”
When did He act?—“Even when we were dead through our trespasses.”
What did God do?—“But God . . . made us alive.”
With whom did He make us alive?—“Together with Christ.”
By virtue of what does He do this?—“By grace have ye been saved.”
What more has He done for us in Christ?—“And raised us up with Him.”
What exalted position has He given us?—“And made us to sit with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus.”
How much farther does His purpose for us extend?—“That in the ages to come.”
What will He do in those eternal ages?—“He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”
Through what channel does the salvation come?—“By grace have ye been saved through faith.”
Is the salvation earned?—“And that not of yourselves.”
How is it furnished?—“It is the gift of God.”
Of what is that salvation not?—“Not of works.”
Why is it not of works?—“That no man should glory.”
Why is it impossible for Christians to glory?—“For we are His workmanship.”
What made us His workmanship?—“Created in Christ Jesus.”
For what are we created?—“For good works.”
Whose good works?—“Which God afore prepared that we should walk in them.”

Suggestions for Study

“Dead.”—Have you ever seen a little child with cheeks flushed with fever, eyes of an unnatural brightness? Have you heard people remark, How beautiful that child looks? Have you seen that child in a few days a pale, cold corpse? That was the fever finished. So death is ever ripened sin. “Sin, when it is fullgrown, bringeth forth death.” Transgression, disobedience, sin, are the perversions of God’s way of righteousness; and as “in the way of righteousness is life,” so out of that way is death. And mankind “have all turned aside, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not so much as one.” “For all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God.” Rom. 3:12, 23. To use another term, mankind is sick with an incurable disease. “From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores.” Isa. 1:6. We may not see the repulsive forms of the leprosy of sin in the little child or the “moral” man or woman; but it is there, and, apart from divine grace, it will work out eternal death. The awfulness of this condition of the entire race ought to awaken within every heart the most intense hatred of sin, and pity for the sinner.
“Course of This World.”—When man came from the hand of his Maker, he was pure and holy. Righteousness dwelt in his flesh; it was incarnate; it belonged there, in perfect harmony with God’s creation. When man, the prince of earth, yielded his will to Satan, the prince of evil came in and took possession, not only of man’s mind, but man’s flesh. Sin became incarnate, infleshed. The earth, the dominion of man, passed to the control of Satan, the usurping prince. And as the result of Satan’s entrance, the world, and all connected with it, became perverted. Disease entered the very earth, manifest in earthquakes, pestilences, famines. Disease entered the air, manifest in storm and tempest, tornado and whirlwind. “The course of this world” is downward to destruction, and the guiding, controlling power, so far as God will permit, is Satan, “the prince of this world,” to whom man yielded the dominion in the beginning.
“Even As the Rest.”—The sooner man sees, appreciates, his utterly lost condition apart from God, the sooner, the more readily, will he grasp the salvation that God has for him. Note the many terms which the apostle uses to teach man this. Men are “dead,” tending to destruction, “according to the course of this world,” subject to “the prince of the power of the air,” of the spirit of disobedience, among the sons of disobedience, among whom all belong, living in and doing the lusts, the desires of the flesh, and “by nature children of wrath.” Wrath is therefore our heritage, whoever we are, of whatever race, or nation, or people, or tongue, or color. As the apostle asked for the Jews, comparing them with the gross, corrupt, idolatrous Gentiles, “Are we better than they?” and the answer of Inspiration is, No, in nowise; for we before laid to the charge of both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin; as it is written, “There is none righteous, no, not one.” Sin may be developed in one more than in another, but the horrible blood-poisoning is in us, even as it is in “the rest.” We are utterly lost, hopeless, dying.
“But God.”—What is God that He should do for such poor wretches? Why did God do? When did God do? What did God do? God is rich in mercy. The sin abounds; judgment condemns us; “Mercy glorieth against judgment.” James 2:13. God is rich. It matters not how great the sin, how needy the sinner, the riches of God’s mercy are inexhaustible. He is “Jehovah, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness and truth; keeping lovingkindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.” Ex. 34:6, 7. “His mercy endureth forever.” Then let not the sense of the greatness of the sin keep us away from God; plead for forgiveness “according to the multitude” of His “tender mercies.” Ps. 51:1. God is rich in mercy, and “He delighteth in [bestowing] mercy.”
Why Did God Do?—Simply, solely, because of “His great love,” not because we were lovable. We sinned and lusted and disobeyed, because that was our nature. He loves, because it is the nature of Infinite Goodness to love.
When Did God Do?—When we were dead through trespasses. It was then He loved us, when we needed His love. It was then He was merciful, when we needed His mercy. “God commendeth His own love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” God wrought when we were helpless, without strength.
What Did God Do?—Made us alive. It is no figure of speech—the “dead” and the “alive.” Man in sin is separate from God, “alienated from the life of God,” knowing only animal life, fed only by the life indirectly from God through root and herb and plant and tree and flesh. All the higher, nobler part of man is literally “dead.” God makes alive. He gives actual life, not telling us that we already have it and do not know it, not telling us that it is a promise of a life to come; but He gives the life here and now to every soul who will grasp it by faith.
“With Christ.”—It all comes in and through and with Christ Jesus our Lord. He, the Righteous One, was made sin that we, the sinful ones, might become righteous. 2 Cor. 5:21. When He died, He died for our sins, and God saw us dying there “with Him.” When He was made alive, God saw us made alive together “with Him.” In Him God has brought us the forgiveness, the life, nay, more, when Jesus ascended up on high, and took His seat at the right hand of the Father, the Father saw us together with Christ, the elect number complete, sitting in the heavenly places at His right hand. And He gives us the inexpressible privilege of grasping it all, knowing it all, by simply believing His Word, taking the blessings He has already given. This is the exceeding great salvation that is the gift of God. Its fullness and wealth can never be realized; for throughout all “the ages to come” it will be a constantly unfolding gift, filled with infinite blessings of life and love.
“Not of Works.”—“But must not I do something to obtain it?” asks some poor soul who has struggled vainly all his life. No, a thousand times, no. It is “not of works.” Does God mean what His Spirit inspired? Do you mean to say that God did not bring all of this in Christ Jesus? that He does not give it all freely? If you could do one single, little thing to earn it, to make yourself worthy, you could glory, or boast, to that extent. But you can not. Christ Jesus is “made unto us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption; that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.”
“His Workmanship.”—There are works, but O, they are perfect works. It is the obedience of the One that makes us righteous. Rom. 5:18. He takes the sons of disobedience that yield themselves to Him and recreates them. The evil heart, the selfish spirit, He takes away, and gives a new heart, a new spirit, a new mind, new affections, like His own, in harmony with all His righteous will. By His life we are joined to Him to bring forth fruit unto God. Rom. 7:4. By His Spirit we do the works which He has wrought in Christ. And the freed soul sings: “O how love I Thy law! it is my meditation all the day.” Ps. 119:97. “This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not grievous.” 1 John 5:3.
Review the First Chapter. Note (1) the salutation, verses 1, 2; (2) God’s eternal purpose in Christ Jesus concerning man before man was, verses 3-5; (3) God’s purpose worked out in time in Christ Jesus through forgiveness, the gift of wisdom and prudence, the knowledge of His will, and the eternal inheritance, verses 7-12; (4) God’s purpose inwrought in believers by the Holy Spirit, verses 13, 14. Note how verses 3-14 divide into these three sections, each ending with the praise of His glory. (5) The prayer for the fulfillment of God’s purposes in Christ the Head and the church His body.