In Eph 2:4-10, Paul wrote about being quickened together with Christ, when we are saved. Before we were saved, we walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, who is the devil.
When Paul wrote “But God,” in Eph 2:4, he showed us that God is very different than the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.
Now that we are saved, we are no longer of the world; we are now in Christ. We have been quickened “together” with Christ.
According to Eph 2:4, we are quickened together with Christ because of God’s rich mercy and great love for us. When Paul gave his testimony to Timothy in 1 Tim 1:12-16, he said, “Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all long-suffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.”
God’s great love is demonstrated by his gift of Jesus Christ to the world. Jn 3:16 says that God gave his Son because he “so loved the world.” Jesus said, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends,” [Jn 15:13].
He quickened us because we were dead in sins – Eph 2:5.
Sin is the killer. The wages of sin is death [Rom 6:23]. Under the law, Paul said, “I died… sin… slew me,” [Rom 7:9-11]. Howbeit, “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us [Rom 5:8].
He quickened us together with Christ – Eph 2:5.
To quicken is to make alive. We were dead in sins and now we are alive in Christ because Christ is alive [Rom 6:3-11].
He quickened us when he saved us by grace – Eph 2:5.
Because we received the gift of God’s Son, we now have the eternal life that is in his Son [1 Jn 5:10-13].
Because we were quickened together with Christ:
God raised us up together with Christ – Eph 2:6.
As Christ was risen from the dead, so we have been raised together with him [Rom 6:5].
God made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ – Eph 2:6.
We are now sitting together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. This is possible because “we are members of his body, of his flesh and of his bones,” [Eph 5:30]. And his body is seated on the right hand of God [Heb 1:3].
God will shew us the riches of his grace in the ages to come – Eph 2:7.
You and I can’t see all of Christ’s kindness toward us today. Though we have been quickened together with him, we are still stuck in these bodies until we die or he comes [2 Cor 5:6-8]. But after our bodies are glorified [Phil 3:21], he will shew us the exceeding riches of his grace in the ages to come. Right now these riches are unsearchable [Eph 3:8]. In time they will be revealed. Hallelujah.
For we are now saved by his grace through faith – Eph 2:8-9.
God’s salvation, his grace and his faith are all gifts to us in salvation that make us alive in Christ. We are saved by:
- The gift of God’s grace – Rom 5:15 “… the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.”
- The gift of Christ’s faith – even the faith that we have to be saved is a gift of God. We are not justified by our faith [Hab 2:4], but by the faith of Christ. Gal 2:16 “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ… we might be justified by the faith of Christ.” Compare Phil 3:6-9. Gal 2:20 says, “… the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God.”
Though we are not saved by works, God ordained that we should walk in good works – Eph 2:10.
Paul made it clear that we can’t be saved by our works [Eph 2:9]. But after we are saved, because we are quickened together with Christ, “we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works.” See Titus 2:7; 2:14; 3:1; 3:8; 3:14. We each have work to do for him.
Conclusion: The Lord did much more than just save us from our sins when he quickened us together with Christ. We enjoy the assurance of knowing that we are already seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And we get to rely upon the power of his life to do the works he has given us to do till he comes. Praise the Lord!!