Ephesians 2:1-10
Transforming Grace

You were made alive when you were dead in transgressions and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the children of disobedience; among whom we also all once lived in the lust of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus; for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, that no one would boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them.

World English Bible

There are times in Paul's letters when his excitement was so great he could hardly express his thoughts. In this passage, we can witness an intense excitement in Paul as his dictation jumps from topic to topic in a sentence that never seems to stop. Paul even interrupts himself in several places, interjecting the truths that we are dead in our trespasses but we are saved by grace, in the discussion of the power of God's mercy. Reading this scripture aloud helps me appreciate Paul's intensity as he wove these thoughts together, and I can only imagine how furiously his scribe worked to capture those words. Clearly, Paul wanted us to appreciate the astounding nature of God's grace!

To do so, Paul expressed the extreme opposites of the natural human condition and the results of the transformation God makes. It is the difference between death and life, between being ruled by evil and ruled by good, between hate and love, and between destitution and immense wealth. Paul used all these contrasts to emphasize the dramatic nature of the transformation that grace brings about.

There's another larger opposite at work in this passage, that of our helplessness and God's power. In several different ways, Paul expressed a concept that is so difficult for us to accept, that our strength is completely inadequate to resist the evil around us or to bring about true goodness in our lives. In contrast, God's strength is more than enough, not only to break us free us from the forces of evil, but also to bring about in us the fullness of God's goodness in our lives. God's power takes us from a beggar's alley to the King's castle. God takes the wreck we make of our lives and forms us into a masterpiece of love and beauty.

Paul, the diligent, tireless missionary of the gospel, also tells us of the difference in our actions--our works. Before God, all our efforts are focused on satisfying our own sinful desires, no matter what destruction our actions cause to others or ourselves. It is no wonder that we cannot by our own methods or resolve achieve a holy goodness, for while we may do good, our motives are ultimately rebellious and evil. But with God's grace, works motivated by wickedness are replaced by works spawned by Love. Moreover, our very nature is transformed into faithful and joyful children that God always intended us to be.

God's grace is impossible because it brings wholeness from destruction. The worldly pattern decays from order into disorder, from structure into chaos, and from perfection to ruin. There is no power in us or around us can re-create perfect wholeness, except the transforming grace of God.