Ephesians 2:5,6 - By grace you have been saved

2:5

The primary emphasis in chapter one has been on the sovereignty of God, here it is on the grace of God. Our human tendency is to want there to be emphasis on our goodness and what we do. This is a failed enterprise. Conversely when we put our emphasis where the Bible puts its emphasis then we actually become better and are more effective! God made us alive in Christ when we were “dead in our trespasses”. God saved us when we could do nothing to save ourselves. He made us alive in Christ. We have been saved by grace. So there are no grounds at all for any pride.

2:6

But “saving us” was not the end of it. At least not in the sense of “saving us from hell”. God’s plans were and are much greater. He raised us up with Christ and seated us with Christ in the heavenly places. In the realm of spiritual conflict we are seated with Christ. With Christ we are in a position of authority. Now this needs to be taken very carefully. We only occupy this position in Christ. If ever we start to imagine we are in this position on our own merits or for our own purposes we will quickly be in for a rude awakening.