From the Morgue to the Throne Room Text: Ephesians 2:1-10
Introduction: The Great Diagnosis
We live in an age of profound theological confusion, and nowhere is this confusion more apparent than in our understanding of salvation. The modern evangelical project, for all its good intentions, often presents the gospel as a self-help program for the spiritually discouraged. The sinner is presented as a drowning man who needs to grab the life preserver God has thrown him. He is sick and needs to take the medicine. He is down on his luck and needs a helping hand. But the apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, does not begin with such a gentle diagnosis. He does not bring a get-well-soon card to our hospital bed. He brings a coroner's report. He walks into the morgue of humanity, pulls back the sheet, and declares the patient to be well and truly dead.
This passage is one of the most potent and concentrated summaries of the gospel in all of Scripture. It is a panoramic view of our damnation and our salvation. It takes us from the graveyard of our sin to the throne room of heaven. It answers the most fundamental questions of our existence: What is wrong with us? What has God done about it? And why did He do it?
If we get this passage wrong, we get the gospel wrong. If we soften the diagnosis, we cheapen the cure. If we imagine that we contributed anything at all to our own resurrection, we steal glory from God and build our eternal hope on a foundation of sand. Paul's purpose here is to demolish every last vestige of human pride and to erect in its place a monument to the staggering, unilateral, sovereign grace of God. This is not a message for the well-intentioned, but for the dead. And the good news is that God specializes in resurrections.
The Text
And you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all also formerly conducted ourselves in the lusts 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 because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ, by grace you have been saved, and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
(Ephesians 2:1-10 LSB)
Our Condition in Adam: The Morgue (vv. 1-3)
Paul begins with the grim reality of our state apart from Christ. He uses three descriptions to paint a complete picture of our spiritual death.
"And you were dead in your transgressions and sins..." (Ephesians 2:1)
The first and most important word here is "dead." Not sick, not injured, not in a coma, but dead. A corpse cannot respond. It cannot cooperate with the mortician. It cannot decide to get up and walk out of the morgue. It is utterly and completely passive. This is the state of every human being born into this world. Spiritually, we are stillborn. This single word demolishes any theology that makes man's free will the decisive factor in his salvation. A dead man has no free will to exercise. He is dead in his sins. He is not a victim of his environment; his environment is the sin that he loves and in which he is entombed.
"...in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience..." (Ephesians 2:2)
Though we were dead, we were not inactive. We were zombies. We "walked." But this walk was not a walk of freedom. It was a lockstep march, following the drumbeat of two malevolent forces. First, "the course of this world." This is the spirit of the age, the prevailing cultural consensus that is arrayed against God. To be a non-Christian is simply to float downstream with the rest of the dead fish. Second, we walked according to "the ruler of the power of the air," who is Satan. We were not free agents; we were slaves in a kingdom of darkness, breathing his toxic air, animated by his rebellious spirit. This is the spirit that works in the "sons of disobedience." Disobedience is not just an action; it is a nature. It is a family trait inherited from our father, the devil.
"...among whom we all also formerly conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest." (Ephesians 2:3)
Paul includes himself and all believers: "we all." There are no exceptions. The religious Jew and the pagan Gentile are in the same graveyard. Our conduct was driven by "the lusts of our flesh." And this is not just about base, bodily appetites. Paul adds, "the desires of the flesh and of the mind." This includes the sophisticated sins of the intellect: pride, envy, self-righteousness, and the idolatry of human reason. The philosophy department is just as fallen as the strip club. The devastating conclusion is that we "were by nature children of wrath." Our very nature, from birth, made us objects of God's holy and just anger. We were not sinners because we sinned; we sinned because we were sinners by nature. This is the doctrine of original sin, and it is the necessary backdrop for the gospel.
God's Intervention: The Resurrection (vv. 4-7)
Just as the diagnosis reaches its bleakest point, Paul introduces the two greatest words in the Bible.
"But God, being rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us..." (Ephesians 2:4)
"But God." This is the great hinge upon which all of history and all of our salvation turns. The story changes not because we did something, but because God intervened. The initiative is entirely His. And what motivated Him? Not our worthiness, not our potential, not our cry for help from the grave. His motivation was entirely within Himself: His own character. He is "rich in mercy." His mercy is not a finite resource; it is an overflowing treasury. And this mercy flows from His "great love." The love of God for His elect is not a generic, sentimental benevolence. It is a particular, powerful, and effective love.
"...even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ, by grace you have been saved, " (Ephesians 2:5)
Paul repeats the diagnosis to emphasize the point: God acted "even when we were dead." He did not wait for a sign of life. He created it. Regeneration is a resurrection. He "made us alive together with Christ." Our new life is not our own; it is Christ's life given to us. We are spiritually united to Him in His resurrection. This is a unilateral, sovereign act of God. Paul cannot contain himself and inserts the central theme of the entire letter: "by grace you have been saved." It is all a gift, unearned and undeserved.
"...and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus..." (Ephesians 2:6)
The miracle does not stop at resurrection. We have also been enthroned. In our union with Christ, His ascension and session are ours. Right now, positionally, every believer is seated with Christ in the heavenly places. This is a statement of accomplished fact. We are not fighting for victory; we are fighting from victory. We are not just pardoned criminals; we are enthroned royalty. This reality should shape our entire perspective on life, suffering, and spiritual warfare.
"...so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus." (Ephesians 2:7)
Here is the ultimate purpose of our salvation. It is not, in the final analysis, about us. It is about the glory of God. We are the eternal trophies of His grace. For all of eternity, God will point to the church, the collection of formerly dead, rebellious sinners now glorified and enthroned, as Exhibit A of the "surpassing riches of His grace." We are the masterpiece that will be on display in the museum of eternity to showcase the genius and kindness of the Artist.
The Method and The Goal: The Summary (vv. 8-10)
Paul now summarizes this glorious reality with a statement that has been the bedrock of the Reformation and the comfort of believers for centuries.
"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, so that no one may boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9)
Grace is the source of our salvation. Faith is the instrument. It is not grace plus our faith. It is salvation by grace, received through faith. Faith is the empty, open hand that receives the gift. But where does this faith come from? Paul answers immediately: "and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God." The "this" refers to the entire process of salvation by grace through faith. Even the faith to believe is a gift from God. He does not just provide the gift of salvation; He provides the very ability to receive it. This leaves no room for human pride. If we contributed nothing, we can boast in nothing. As verse 9 says, it is "not of works, so that no one may boast." God has designed salvation in such a way that He alone gets all the glory.
"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them." (Ephesians 2:10)
This final verse is crucial. It protects the doctrine of grace from the charge of promoting licentiousness. We are not saved by good works, but we are absolutely saved for good works. We are God's "workmanship," His poiema, His poem or masterpiece. We have been re-created in Christ Jesus with a purpose. That purpose is to do the good works that God Himself has predestined for us to do. Our Christian life is not a series of frantic, ad-libbed attempts to please God. It is a pathway of good works that God has already paved for us. Our task is simply to walk in them by faith. Good works are not the cause of our salvation, but they are the necessary and inevitable evidence of it. A resurrected man does not stay in the tomb; he gets up and walks.
Conclusion: The Only Proper Response
So what do we do with such a doctrine? First, we rest. Our salvation is not a fragile thing that depends on our performance. It is an accomplished fact, secured by God's power and grounded in His character. This brings profound assurance.
Second, we repent of our pride. We contributed nothing to our salvation but the sin that made it necessary. This truth should demolish our self-righteousness and make us humble and gracious toward others.
Third, we worship. The only sane response to this kind of lavish, unmerited grace is a life of grateful, joyful worship. Our obedience is not the reluctant payment of a debt but the glad response of a beloved son.
Finally, we work. We get up and walk in the good works God has prepared for us. We were raised from the dead for a purpose. We have been moved from the morgue to the throne room, not to sit idle, but to reign with Christ, exercising His dominion in every area of life, all for the praise of His glorious grace.