Key Thought: Here Paul contrasts our sinful existence with the blessings of God’s solution and celebrates the basis of salvation in the grace and creative work of God.
July 22, 2023

1. Have a volunteer read Ephesians 2:1-3.

1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the most important point is in this passage.
2. What is the main idea about what Paul says Jesus has done for us?
3. Personal Application: How can we draw comfort in knowing that Jesus has the victory and we can share in that victory now? Share your thoughts
4. Case Study: One of your friends states, “What do these verses teach about the reality of the warfare between Christ and Satan? How can we draw hope that Christ has won when we seem to be caught up in the midst of the battle?”

2. Have a volunteer read Ephesians 2:6,7.

1. Ask class members to share a thought on what the most important point in this text is.
2. In what sense do we participate in Christ’s resurrection, ascension, and exaltation? How would you respond to your friend?
3. Personal Application: How can we today have power, love, and a sound mind, and not be in fear? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: One of your friends states, “Why does Paul recall so frequently the sinful past of his audience, inviting them to reflect on their pre-conversion lives?” How would you respond to your friend?

3. Have a volunteer read Ephesians 1:3,4; Ephesians 2:7..

1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the most important point in this text is.
2. What are the essential elements and goals of God’s plan of salvation?
3. Personal Application: How do you explain your experience in being made alive in Christ? How can you keep that experience fresh? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: One of your neighbors states: “How do you explain the wrath of God to your children, your non-Christian friends, and your Christian neighbors?” How would you respond to your relative?

4. Have a volunteer read Ephesians 2:8-10.

1. Ask class members to share a thought on what the most important point in this text is.
2. Why is it important to understand that salvation is from God and is not rooted in our worth or efforts?
3. Personal Application: What important part do good works play in God’s plan for believers? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: Think of one person who needs to hear a message from this week’s lesson. Tell the class what you plan to do this week to share with them.

(Truth that is not lived, that is not imparted, loses its life-giving power, its healing virtue. Its blessings can be retained only as it is shared.”Ministry of Healing, p. 148).

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Read Ephesians 2:1-10. What is the main idea that Paul is giving us here about what Jesus has done for us?

Paul has already described the salvation given to Christians (Ephesians 1:3-14, Ephesians 1:15-23) and told, in brief, the story of the believers in Ephesus (Ephesians 1:13). In Ephesians 2:1-10, Paul will now tell their conversion story in more detail, with a more personal focus. He contrasts their past, sinful existence (Ephesians 2:1-3) with the blessings of God’s salvation, which he portrays as a participation in the resurrection, ascension, and exaltation of Christ (Ephesians 2:4-7), and he celebrates the basis of that salvation in the grace and creative work of God (Ephesians 2:8-10).

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These three sections of the passage are summarized neatly in the phrases of Ephesians 2:5: (1) “we were dead in our trespasses”; (2) God “made us alive together with Christ”; (3) “by grace you have been saved” (ESV).

In Ephesians 2:1-2, Paul underlines the sad reality of the pre-conversion existence of his audience by noting that they were spiritually dead, practicing trespasses and sins as their regular pattern of life (Ephesians 2:1) and were dominated by Satan (Ephesians 2:2). Since Paul writes to living people, he refers to them as once “dead” in a metaphorical sense (compare Ephesians 5:14). However, their plight was very real and dire since they were once separated from God, the Source of life (compare Colossians 2:13, Romans 5:17, Romans 6:23).

Reflecting on the past lives of his hearers, Paul identifies two external forces that dominated them. The first of these is “the course of this world” (Ephesians 2:2, NKJV) — the customs and behavior in the wider society of Ephesus that misshaped human life into rebellion against God.

Satan is described in two ways as the second external force that dominated their prior existence. He is “the prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2, NKJV) since “the air” (or “the heavenly places”) is identified as the location of supernatural powers, including evil ones (compare Ephesians 1:3, Ephesians 3:10, Ephesians 6:12). Also, he is active on earth since he is “the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:2, NKJV).

<–Sabbath Monday–>

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Sabbath Afternoon

Read  for This Week’s Study: Ephesians 2:1-10; Ephesians 5:14; Romans 5:17; Ephesians 5:6; 2 Timothy 1:7.

Memory Text: “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ” (Ephesians 2:4-5, ESV).

On October 14, 1987, eighteen-month-old Jessica McClure was playing in her aunt’s backyard when she fell twenty-two feet into an abandoned well. Her plight attracted media from around the world to Midland, Texas. A global audience watched “Baby Jessica” sleeping, crying, singing, and calling out for her mother. They watched as emergency workers piped fresh air down the well.

Finally, fifty-eight hours after Jessica’s fall, the worldwide audience watched as Jessica was released from the eight-inch well casing that had trapped her for more than two days. Photographer Scott Shaw’s Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph captured the moment: a rescue cable bisects the worried faces of Jessica’s rescuers looking down at the bandaged bundle at the heart of the drama, Baby Jessica.

There’s nothing quite as gripping as a good rescue story, and Paul, in Ephesians 2:1-10, gives us an up-close-and-personal view of the grandest, most sweeping rescue mission of all time — God’s efforts to redeem humankind. The drama of the story is heightened by knowing that we are not mere spectators of someone else’s rescue but witnesses of our own.

Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, July 22.

Sunday–>

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The Mission program of the Seventh-day Adventist Church is an opportunity for us to understand the needs of others and share in supporting them. Please click on the image below to watch the Mission Spotlight presentation for this week:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ky73DlnLSW0&w=560&h=315]

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This week’s keyword makes all the difference in how a believer navigates life. Join us as we discuss Lesson 3, The Power of the Exalted Jesus. 

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