And you hath He quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. Ephesians 2:1
Today’s text is a favourite verse of Calvinists. If we were dead, they say, we could not possibly respond to the Gospel. But that argument ignores a Bible filled with references to the free-will choice that we make for salvation. We are warned against neglecting salvation. We are warned of the wrath that abides on those who ‘believeth not’ (John 3:36). We are urged, over and over again, to believe in Christ (John 3:16 for example). When Nicodemus was told of his need for the new birth, Jesus did not inform the good Pharisee that He was going to impose the new birth on him, but that it was available to him if he believed. No, our text today is not denying our responsibility to respond to God’s grace. It is simply informing us about the great transformation that God’s grace has made in our souls and lives.
You will notice that the words ‘hath He quickened’ are in italics. That means the translators inserted those words, which did not appear in the original Greek. But the translators were correct to insert them, because they were linking this verse to the continuation of the same thought in verse 5. Without these words, the text still makes sense. In fact, it impresses on us just how useless we were to God before he saved us. The word ‘trespasses’ (paraptomasin in the Greek) means a deviation from the truth. It refers to believing and following something other than what God says. That’s what led our first parents to their great moral fall in Eden; they believed the deceiver’s lies. It is what Isaiah was speaking about when he declared ‘All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way’ (Isaiah 53:6). Trespasses prevent us from understanding and obeying God. The word ‘sin’ (hamartiais in the Greek) is defined as a failure to hit the target. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). The writer to the Hebrews reminds us that without faith it is impossible to please Him (Hebrews 11:6). That is the shape we were in before we were saved. But we are quickened.
This word, quickened, means to be made alive. Essentially it means that everything that our trespasses and sins prevented us from doing has been removed. We are now able to understand and obey the truth. The Bible is now an open book, which the Holy Spirit delights to teach us from. And we are now able to hit the target that God desires for our lives. Obedience is now not only possible, but is the normal behaviour for a Christian.
The trespasses and sins that once shackled us are gone. We now can, and should, display the new life that God has given us. -Jim MacIntosh