Transcript of HIGHLIGHT: Ephesians 2:1-10
Ephesians 2_1-10 Leader GuideLEADER GUIDE
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins 2in which you
previously walked according to the ways of this world, according to
the ruler who exercises authority over the lower heavens, the
spirit now working in the disobedient. 3We too all previously lived
among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of
our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath
as the others were also. 4But God, who is rich in mercy, because of
His great love that He had for us, 5made us alive with the Messiah
even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace!
6Together with Christ Jesus He also raised us up and seated us in
the heavens, 7so that in the coming ages He might display the
immeasurable riches of His grace through His kindness to us in
Christ Jesus. 8For you are saved by grace through faith, and this
is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift— 9not from works, so that
no one can boast. 10For we are His creation, created in Christ
Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we
should walk in them.
H
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EXPLAIN
Leaders: Feel free to use any of the “Explain” materials to guide
discussion as it is needed or to expound on a certain area of the
text as it comes up during your Life Group time, but the purpose of
this section is to deepen your own personal understanding of the
Word. Your members have access to all of this material as
well.
After expounding on the power of Christ in Chapter 1, Paul hones in
on the transformation that God, alone, accomplishes in the lives of
those who are born again. This passage, though short, is packed
with rich theology and application: the regenerating work of Christ
is nothing we could accomplish on our own and it fundamentally
changes everything about us, all for the purpose of bringing the
Father glory.
of 2 4 Spirit and Truth, November 22, 2020
LEADER GUIDE
v.1 Paul uses two words to describe the same
thing—“trespasses”(crossing a line) and “sins” (missing the mark).
They are two distinct Greek words (paraptoma and hamartia,
respectively). However, Paul probably didn’t use both of them to
highlight a distinction between a trespass and a sin, but combined
them to demonstrate just how dire the human condition is. We were,
in fact, dead.
One sense of the word “death” is the notion of a corpse—a body
without the spark of life that once made it move. Paul is using
this as a metaphor to illustrate a spiritual condition, which is
something other NT writers did, as well. James called faith without
works “dead” (2:17; 26); Jesus called the church of Sardis “dead”
in Revelation 3:1-2; the prodigal son was lost, but considered dead
in the eyes of the town and his father (Lk. 15:24, 32). In each of
these senses, “dead” refers to a separation of the gravest form:
separation from God. Paul uses the term combined with the twin
“trespasses” and “sins” to show just how hopeless and dreadful our
spiritual condition without Christ is.
vv.2-3 “World”(kosmos), like “dead” in the previous verse, has
different associations.
Paul used it in Ephesians 1:4 in a literal sense—the created world.
However, in verse 2, he uses it to refer more to a system—one which
is “hostile to God, i.e., lost in sin, wholly at odds with anything
divine, ruined and depraved” (William W. Klein). Such a world
controlled by Satan is referred to many times in the NT: John
12:31; 16:11; 1 John 3:13; 5:4-5,19; etc. Elsewhere, Paul tells
believers to avoid conforming to the pattern of this world (Romans
12:1-2).
Paul calls those who participate in favor of this world the
“disobedient” or, literally, the “sons of disobedience.” This word
carries a connotation of disbelief as well as deliberate rebellion,
all in relation to God. Therefore, we round out a picture of what
the “ways of this world” look like: they are diametrically,
staunchly opposed and disobedient to the ways of God (Paul goes as
far as to call those people “children of wrath.”)
vv.4-5 The grand shift in the passage comes with the word “but”.
Here, Paul resumes the train of thought he began in Chapter 1 with
the power of Christ, showing how He alone is capable of raising us
to life from our spiritual death.
There are some important words in these two verses: “mercy” and
“grace.” Mercy is not getting a punishment that we deserve; Grace
is a free gift that we don’t deserve. God showed us mercy by
sparing us from the punishment we should have received, and did so
in such a way that we could never even begin to deserve or merit
it.
v.7 “So that” is a phrase that indicates the reasoning behind
something, or the
ultimate end. All of this—us being dead, God showering us with
grace and making us alive with Christ—was for a specific purpose:
that He might “display the immeasurable riches of His grace through
His kindness to us in Christ Jesus.” Our individual salvation is a
miracle and is worth rejoicing over, but it is also a piece of a
grand picture that exists solely to display the glory, majesty, and
generosity of our Heavenly Father to a world that desperately needs
Him.
v.8 The Greek construction of this verse reveals that “grace
through faith” is “God’s gift”—both the grace and the faith through
which His grace comes. It is not that grace is God’s part of the
job and faith is ours; salvation in its entirety is God’s gift to
us.
of 3 4 Spirit and Truth, November 22, 2020
LEADER GUIDE
A APPLY Your Leader Guide will have material that the member guides
do not have. The bolded material is what the people in your group
will have, the other material is only for you to help guide
discussion.
This guide can be as strict a script or as general a resource as
the leader needs it to be.
1. What stuck out to you or challenged you in what you heard in the
sermon or read in the text?
2. How do you see the same “world” described in vv.2-3 today? How
does “the way of the world” oppose the way of God?
God is, of course, sovereign, but remember who is in charge of the
system of the world: the Adversary. We do not have to look far to
see the hateful, fearful, divided, bitter, prideful, vile kind of
world he stirs up. Galatians 5:22-23 tells us that the fruit of the
Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, and self- control. Reflect on each of
those words and then imagine their opposites. Then decide which you
see more prevalently in the world around us.
3. According to this passage, are Christians more holy than
non-believers? What is the difference between a believer and a
non-believer? How do you think Christians should behave around
non-believers?
One of the most remarkable men of God in history, Paul, was once a
murderous Pharisee. He lumps himself in with the rest of humanity
in verse 3, saying that we all once did the terrible things we
associate with an unbelieving world. The only thing that separates
a believer from a non-believer is the salvation given to them by
God’s grace which comes through faith—both of which are a gift from
Him! Paul set the record quite straight in v. 9: everything in the
salvation process is God’s work, so none of us can boast about
it.
If none of us is righteous on our own, if we can do nothing under
our individual strength to correct this, and we all once lived
under control of the passions of our flesh but still God decided to
make a way for us to be right with Him, that is certainly the best
news to ever come to mankind. How badly must we hate our neighbors
to pretend we are at all superior or to withhold this good news
from them?
4. What does Paul argue is God’s purpose in raising us from the
dead? How does seeing our salvation this way change how we view
ourselves and those around us?
Verse 7 tells us in no uncertain terms what the purpose of God’s
grace is. Notice how the NLT translates this verse: “So God can
point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth
of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done
for us who are united with Christ Jesus.” The point of our
salvation is not personal fire insurance, it is the thing God uses
to show a lost world how desperately they need Him. Pastor Robby
says this often, though it cannot be overstated: The Gospel came to
you because it was headed to someone else.
of 4 4 Spirit and Truth, November 22, 2020
LEADER GUIDE
R RESPOND Challenge your group to respond either privately or
corporately to this question:
• Examine the actions of your life. Are they the actions of someone
who is God’s workmanship?
• What can you do this week to act as someone who displays “the
immeasurable riches of His grace”?
Encourage one another through email, text messages, or coffee dates
throughout the week to build up and encourage each other.
5. Read verse 10. What role do you think works play in a believer’s
life? What reaction do you think an unbelieving world would have to
a Church full of people behaving as “His creation, created in
Christ Jesus for good works”?