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).

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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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Three Books, One Answer

By John Bradshaw

As a child, I had a lot of questions for which I couldn’t find answers. Why did I have to confess my sins to a priest? Why should I pray to saints when Jesus could surely hear my prayer? Would God burn people in hell forever?

I enjoyed going to church, and I was happy to believe in Jesus. But attending church didn’t clear up the questions. I attended many churches. Every church claimed to believe the Bible, but none could answer my questions.

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When I was 16, an older brother gave me a book. He had joined another church that did strange things — church on Saturdays? — but the change was obviously good for him. He was happy, which led me to think the book might just be worth reading. I promised to read the book, which he said was about history and prophecy, but I didn’t get beyond the introduction.

Several years later he asked me if I had read it, and when I told him I had not, he gave me another copy. I assured him I would read this one. This time I started on page one. I read most of it. Most of page one, that is. I put the book down intending to read it later, but I never got back to it.

More years passed. I left New Zealand, my home country, and was living in England. On a trip to Ireland, desperate to find a meaningful relationship with God, I went to church. But as I left it, I told God I was never going to church again “until You show me the truth!”

When I returned to London, a package was waiting for me. I had asked my brother if he had any idea where I might be able to find the book that he twice had given me. I had looked in several bookstores but hadn’t been able to locate it. And here in the mail was the third copy of the book that would change my life, The Great Controversy. This time I started reading in the middle of the book, and when I got to the end I went back to the beginning and read what I had missed. I encountered the power of God’s word in a book that not only explained the deep prophecies of the Bible but also connected me with Jesus. A call to the operator connected me with a church in London, and thus began in earnest my walk with Jesus.

I still read The Great Controversy, having found that I continue to find new blessings and insights into the plan of salvation. Outside of the Bible, no book has had a greater impact on my life.

Join the global church in 2023 and 2024 in the mass promotion and distribution of The Great Controversy. Visit greatcontroversyproject[dot]com for more information or ask your pastor.

John Bradshaw is speaker and director of It Is Written, an Adventist television ministry.

Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission. Find more mission stories at adventistmission[dot]org

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