Last week, Ian explored and opened up Chapter 1 of Paul’s letter that speaks of all that God has done for us – our Christian inheritance of eternal life. We are reminded that this inheritance comes to us because we are all members of Gods family. And it comes to us unconditionally. Yes, it seems too good to be true, but it is a free gift from God.
The pastor and biblical scholar, Eugene Petersen says of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians that it “brings together what has been torn apart in our sin-wrecked world. He begins with an exuberant explanation of what Christians believe about God and then, like a surgeon skilfully setting a compound fracture, ‘sets’ this belief in God into our behaviour before God so that the bones – belief and behaviour – knit together and heal”. Here, in Chapter 2 (v. 1-10) Paul reminds of the cause of those multiple fractures and begins to set out the health plan that allowed the healing process to begin in earnest. It was because of our disobedient nature that these ‘behavioural bones’ were broken. Because of this we could have no fellowship with God. Paul talks of it as death but by death he means ‘spiritual death’. This is separation from God because of our transgression. Of course, we know only too well that because of human frailty we often fail to be the people that God wants us to be.
But Paul links our behaviour or our pattern of sin with the “ways of the world”. In verse 2 we hear that we “followed the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient”. Satan is being referred to here as ‘a spirit’. Paul is using the same Greek word pneuma which is also used to refer to the Holy Spirit. But the word as it is used here, seems to have a wider meaning and refers to the attitude of the people. In this understanding, sin is equated with the adoption of a particular worldly outlook. We tend to think and talk of sin as a one-off failure or a series of them, rather than a pattern of thinking or practice in our lives.
Sin can be a problematic word, and pastorally its overuse can sometimes lead to much destructive guilt, for there are often complex emotional, social and psychological reasons why people transgress in the way that they do. But physical desires, for example, are not in themselves, sinful. We all have many of these – food, sleep, sex and so on. We are after all, created to want and enjoy these things. It is when our natural desires turn to unbalanced, irresponsible or excessive cravings that we alienate ourselves from God.
It might be helpful to remind ourselves that the ancient Greek word for sin actually means “missing the target”. The same Greek word for sin is used as a term in old English archery, so in that sense we are all ‘target-missers’. Rather than aiming carefully at God’s target, we turn our backs and shoot arrows everywhere else. Of course, this understanding does not quite go far enough, because it must also be true to say that our self-centredness and rebellious ways can – and do - lead us to be worshippers of ‘false targets’.
But Paul is saying that our spiritual battle is not against our fellow transgressors – that is the wrong battle. We should rather be working against the influence of evil in the world. For us here and now, this means a call to a deep self-examination. Where are we missing God’s target? What are our false targets? Our preoccupation with personal status perhaps? Seeking the esteem of others? Excessive commitment to leisure and entertainment?
Perhaps a preoccupation with acquisition of wealth and material things? What are the influences of our own lives on others, perhaps in our working lives or at home? Sometimes we are unaware of things that we say and do; things that may (perhaps quite unwittingly) be causing hurt or offence to others. How often do we truly look into our hearts and check our words and actions against our Christian bearings?
We have been empowered by God so that we have been raised up from a past life of spiritual death to a new life in Christ. It is Gods grace that has saved us. We are assured of God’s goodness and grace and we are assured of Gods forgiveness. Paul reminds us that we are all together as one body ‘in Christ’. Here he is once again trying to reconcile the deep-seated hostility that existed in the ancient world between Jew and Gentile (a theme further explored in the rest of the chapter). But by extension we are all embraced. Our nationality is of no consequence. It does not matter who we are or whether we are men or women. We are all now a part of Christ.
It has been said that a state of mind that sees God in everything is evidence of growth in grace and a thankful heart. So how are we growing in grace? Paul became a Christian as a result of God’s grace. And as a result of that grace, God’s grace saturates his life and letters. In searching our hearts and minds we may ask: Where are we extending the unconditional love we have been given? Has God’s grace made a difference in how we live and how we treat others? Do we see God in everything and everybody? Or is God just for Sundays and confined by us within the four walls of a church?
In verses 7-10, Paul affirms that we are saved by Gods grace by our faith in Christ. Everything, including faith is a gift from God. He is our spiritual wake-up call. But we have not been saved by good works, but for good works. Verse10 ends this part of the letter and we are told that we are “created in Christ Jesus” to do good things. In other words we are Gods workmanship and are co-workers or co-creators with Him. To be co-creators we have to reflect Gods workmanship in our own creativity. We reap what we sow. So children may reflect the workmanship of their parents – their attitudes and behaviour. The workmanship of good teachers may be to a great extent reflected in their students and how they apply their learning. We might extend this to our marriages, friendships, our working relationships and so on. In all kinds of human interactions we shape and craft the lives of others. Paul is clear that those who are shaped and completed by God are objects of righteousness created for service.
Paul is saying that once we were spiritually dead and living apart from God – we had no connection with God and no relationship. But now we have a new life. We are reconciled together in the body of Christ. We are reconciled to God and therefore we are reconciled to life. I cannot better the analogy of Eugene Petersen when he likens our division from God to a compound bone-fracture and we hear Paul in this passage beginning to set this belief in God into our behaviour before God so that the bones – belief and behaviour – knit together and heal.