BIBLE STUDY METHODS - Ephesians 2:1-10

In this lesson, Paul describes the process, the act, and the miracle of salvation. In the first ten verses of Chapter two he outlines the six aspects of SALVATION:

1. From Sin...
2. By Love...
3. Into Life...
4. With a Purpose...
5. Through Faith...
6. Unto Good Works...

In verses 2:1-3 Paul refers to our "old condition" (Dead to God) as being "...dead in trespasses and sins." John Eadie, a Scottish theologian and biblical critic, said: "It's a case of death walking." Before salvation, we are alive physically but dead spiritually--we are "death walking".

The modern art sculptures below gives us a visual idea of what "death walking" might look like. People mindlessly walking through life engulfed by zeitgeist (the spirit of the age). Paul said those dead "...walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience;" (2:2)

In verses 2:4-10 Paul refers to our "new condition" (Alive to God). Because of God's mercy and great love we are raised up to sit in the heavenly places that He might show His exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. As Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:17: "In Christ, I am a new creation." No longer are we "death walking".