Ephesians 2: Made Alive In Christ: Generosity Of God's Plan

Ephesians 2:1-10 — Made Alive in Christ: Generosity of God’s Plan

Introduction
God has given man free will which resulted in the “fall” of Adam and Eve when they committed “original sin.” As human beings, we have inherited this “fallen” state and are thereby capable of committing sin. In Ephesians 2:1-10, Paul explains that even when we were spiritually dead in our transgressions and sins, “God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ — we have been saved by grace through faith.” We are not spiritually separated from God even if we deserve to be.
Furthermore, the concept of grace is a constant and recurring theme in the Holy Bible. It is commonly known to people as God’s divine gift and favor to humankind. Hence, it is worth looking

In his biblical commentary, Thompson explains that “to be out of tune or out of step” with the purpose (of serving and obeying God) can be described as death. In the story of creation (Genesis), everything in the Garden of Eden has been created for harmonious relationship because God is “concerned for harmonious balance” and His “divine presence sustains life in all its week-to-week rhythms.” Birch emphasizes that God’s intention in creation is for everyone to experience His intended wholeness, otherwise known as shalom. Alongside with it is a story of broken creation, wherein “sin is the word used to describe how shalom (wholeness) gets broken.” In the Old Testament, spiritual death is also considered to be a consequence of sin, i.e. “for shalom to be broken and for humans to be denied wholeness is to experience death

At a bird’s eye view, the audience sees Paul’s letter as seemingly addressed to the Christians in Ephesus, where Paul “labored for well over two years.” Because the Ephesians as the addressee of the letters are absent from the early manuscripts, it suggests that “it is a letter generated not by the immediate circumstances of Paul or a specific community crisis, but by the desire to communicate the implications of his mission to a wider circle of Gentile churches.” Matera validates this by explaining that it was indeed “a circular letter to Gentile believers in Asia Minor” and that it “functions as a summary of Paul’s teaching for a new generation of Gentile believers.” Paul wanted to show his addressees how salvation is brought about by God’s divine