You Were Dead, but Now You Are Alive, Be Humble About It
And although you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you formerly lived according to this world’s present path, according to the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the ruler of the spirit that is now energizing the sons of disobedience, among whom all of us also formerly lived out our lives in the cravings of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath even as the rest…
Ephesians 2:1–3 NET Read More
Many of us have heard some sort of the hellfire and brimstone message. The trend comes around every once in a while in church history that compels people to yell and shout and tell people how evil they are. After a generation or so of that, the survivors find calmer churches and the casualties either leave the church altogether or join denominations that are so welcoming of sin that it might have been better for them if they would have just left the faith.
Remember the context of this section right here. Paul has just finished talking about the power available to believers and the glorious throne of Christ. He’s not talking about people being dirtbag sinners just to plow them down. Paul is contrasting the glory of God with the beginning of the Cinderella story of who we were before we followed God. Note also that Paul is talking to a group of very strong believers. This crowd might need a little check to their pride before they forget where they came from.
The point of Paul saying this, in the context of the glory of God, is to bring us to humility and gratitude. This is not about shaking our heads and agreeing that people that don’t follow Jesus are being led by evil spirits toward eternal death. This is about us bowing our heads to the One that showed us such great mercy.
When we call people to repent from their sin, we don’t need to tell them what sin to repent from. Every one of us, even the mightiest Christians, know our guilt and struggle better than any observer. That’s the beauty of the word ’repent’. Not only does it mean to quit doing something, but it also means to turn toward doing something else.
That is the best lens to read this passage today. Once you were doing the wrong thing, living for the wrong goals in life. You don’t have to list the details or even fully understand what all was wrong with it, but when you consider it, God’s way is different. Turning to God’s way is what the majority of the rest of the letter of Ephesians is going to be.
Let us humble ourselves before God because He joyfully called us to follow Him. We were not the best people to pick in the eyes of the world, but that made us the perfect pick for the Lord.
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