Lesson 3: Ephesians 2:1-10 (DUE FEB 2)

Hello All - Sorry for the delay since the last lesson.

READ
Read: Ephesians 2: 1–10.

WATCH
Session 3: Ephesians 2:1–10

Questions

Early in the video J.D. Greear talked about two “deeply ingrained myths our culture believes about evil:”
a. The main problem in the world is other people.
b. Deep down, we’re really not that bad.

1.  In what ways does our culture propagate the ideas J.D. mentioned?
2. Biblically speaking, what’s wrong with the ideas that our problem is people, or that all people are really good?
3. How does Ephesians 2 respond to or address those beliefs?

4. Vs 3 - Why would we be “deserving of wrath”?

5. There's a distinction made in vs 1-3 between "them" and "us". What is that difference? What changed for us?

6. According to verses 4–7, what has God done for us?

7. What is mercy? Is that different from grace?

Paul presents the following flow

PAST
You have been saved by grace through faith.
You have been created and prepared to do good works.

PRESENT
Faith continuing?
No boasting.

FUTURE
Good works that we do.

8. Why is the timing of each thing Paul described important? Why do we need to know that our good works come after our salvation and not before it?

CLOSING THOUGHT

Recall what JD said about salvation, means, effects, promise - keep this in mind

The cause of salvation is grace.
“God did it all…God woke us up. God restored us to our senses. God drew us to Himself and even gave us the ability to believe.”

The means of salvation is faith.
“Faith is not simply a religious feeling, or a virtue; faith is the belief that Christ has accomplished it all—just like He said He did—and
simply resting in that.”

The effects of salvation are good works.
“When God saves you, He makes you alive, which means He starts to change your desires. …Our faith is validated—proved—by good
works.”

The promise of salvation is that what God started, He will finish.
“God has started writing a poem with your life, composing your life into a beautiful song that glorifies Him. …Christianity is not about
you doing anything for God, but you letting Christ do everything through you. God does all the work in you. He is the one who started
this whole process in you, and what He started, He will take responsibility to finish.”

1. The world says, "The child was corrupted by his father's bad influence," while the child was just as wretched by virtue of his inborn sin-nature The world says, "Just be yourself," while "yourself" is a wretched creature that is at war with God.

2. The idea that our problem is other people is flawed because everyone, even a person who is separated from negative influences, sins. A child will lie, even if he is never taught to, even if he never sees an example of lying. The idea that we are inherently good is flawed because, deep down, we are truly horrible. For example, even the most simple, "innocent" baby is selfish and violent. A baby will cry when he does not get his way, only cares about his own needs, and will not hesitate to strike his own mother out of frustration. A baby is not morally culpable as we are because the baby can't help acting this way, this only goes to prove how deep and inborn our sin-nature is.

3. According to Ephesians 2, both of those beliefs are wrong on a foundational level. We, each and every person, is, without Christ, "dead in our transgressions." And we are not basically good; instead, we are "by nature children of wrath."

4. We are worthy of God's wrath because we have broken God's law and have sinned against Him.

5. We were dead in trespasses and sins, we "walked according to the course of this world," we "all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath." The difference between "us" and "them" is that we no longer do those things. God has set us free from that old pattern of life; being now freed from slavery to sin, we are now slaves of Christ.

6. God "made us alive together with Christ" and "raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus." God has given to us spiritual life and freed us from sin, both the bondage and condemnation of it, and has promised to glorify us, allowing us to reign alongside God's own Son.

7. Mercy and grace are often mentioned in connection with one another, and they may be considered to be synonyms. But they are, in a sense, opposites. We experience mercy when we do not receive a bad thing (punishment) that we deserve. We experience grace when we do receive a good thing (blessing) that we do not deserve. Mercy is the removal of punishment while grace is the bestowal of a gift.

8. If good works preceded salvation, the onus of accomplishing our salvation would be upon us, it would not be entirely a work accomplished by God. Also, if works came before salvation, we would have cause to boast of achieving a right standing with God.

1. In what ways does our culture propagate the ideas J.D. mentioned?
One way that I can think of is how the media highlights and focuses on people who commit terrible crimes by analyzing their life and behavior. People look at this and falsely reassure themselves that they are better than this individual and would never be as "bad" as them. In addition, many worldviews and religions focus on good works in order to overcome the bad and "bring out the good" in themselves. We know that these ideas are wrong and humans are inherently bad due to the sin that is within us.

2. Biblically speaking, what’s wrong with the ideas that our problem is people, or that all people are really good?
The main issue here is that if the problem is people, we can fix people or bring out the "inner goodness" within us. In this case, we would be deluded into thinking that we can essentially save ourselves and fix our own condition.

3. How does Ephesians 2 respond to or address those beliefs?
Paul is saying that these beliefs are wrong. We were dead in our sins and indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind. The only reason we were made alive is that God showed mercy to us and loved us enough to send Jesus to deliver us from our sins.

4. Vs 3 - Why would we be “deserving of wrath”?
We are deserving of wrath because of our blasphemy against God. We turned against God, the one who created the entire universe and all things in it. An infraction of this magnitude deserves the full wrath of God and no amount of good deeds we can do can make up for this.

5. There's a distinction made in vs 1-3 between "them" and "us". What is that difference? What changed for us?
The phrase "them" refers to the unbelievers who are still dead to sin. We were once the same but God saved us by grace by faith in Christ.

6. According to verses 4–7, what has God done for us?
God, being rich in mercy and love, made us alive in Christ and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in heaven.

7. What is mercy? Is that different from grace?
Mercy is God choosing not to punish us as we deserve while grace is giving us blessings that we don't deserve.

8. Why is the timing of each thing Paul described important? Why do we need to know that our good works come after our salvation and not before it?
The timing is important because many erroneously believe that they need to do good works first in order to attain salvation. This would mean that salvation is achievable by humans and that it isn't a free gift from God for those who believe. This goes against the core of the Gospel. Salvation brings about the desire for an outpouring of good works. Doing good works is a direct result of salvation and is evidence of it.

1. In what ways does our culture propagate the ideas J.D. mentioned?
We constantly look at the lives of others and are very quick to judge them and their actions, and we use that to justify our actions. We also tend to only look at people who are doing worse off than us and saying that they are bad and we are good.

2. Biblically speaking, what’s wrong with the ideas that our problem is people, or that all people are really good?
Biblically that idea is wrong because we are all sinners who were born in sin. Dr. Greear also mentions that sin is not an action, rather is a condition. We cannot change that fact and by thinking that people are good, we are basically trying to trick ourselves into thinking that we can change our sinful nature by choice.

3. How does Ephesians 2 respond to or address those beliefs?
Paul addresses these beliefs by further confirming that Christ loves us for who we are and that we are alive only because of his love and mercy for us that he sent Jesus to die for our sins and that we only need to have faith in him to be seated with him in heaven.

4. Vs 3 - Why would we be “deserving of wrath”?
We are deserving of wrath because of our sins against God like giving into the desires of the flesh and the world.

5. There's a distinction made in vs 1-3 between "them" and "us". What is that difference? What changed for us?
I think “them” refers to the sinful world who are not saved by God, and “us” refers to the ones that are saved by God’s grace and mercy because of our faith in him.

6. According to verses 4–7, what has God done for us?
God has shown us mercy through his grace and made us alive with Christ even thought we were dead in our sins. He raised us up with him in heaven and seated with us Christ so that we can witness the coming ages where he will show the incomparable riches of his grace.

7. What is mercy? Is that different from grace?
Mercy is God choosing not to unleash his wrath on us for our sins. Grace refers to God blessing us with his kindness when we didn’t deserve it.

8. Why is the timing of each thing Paul described important? Why do we need to know that our good works come after our salvation and not before it?
Paul make it clear that the only thing that we need to attain salvation in Christ is to have faith in him. This shows that good works don’t mean anything if you don’t have faith in God and that good works is a evidence of our salvation.

1.  In what ways does our culture propagate the ideas J.D. mentioned?
The ways are culture propagates the ideas J.D. mentioned are that we only see people who break human law as bad people, while everyone else is good, and that if you give people freedom, they will be good.

2. Biblically speaking, what’s wrong with the ideas that our problem is people, or that all people are really good?
What's wrong with the ideas that our problem is people, or that all people are really good is that it's not just certain people who are bad, all people are bad, and no one is good because sin is a "condition" that all people are born with and can't take away themselves.

3. How does Ephesians 2 respond to or address those beliefs?
Ephesians 2 verse 3 says,"we too...were by nature children of wrath." This shows that all people by nature are bad.

4. Vs 3 - Why would we be “deserving of wrath”?
Because we were born with sin, and because of our sin we act sinfully, deserving God's wrath.

5. There's a distinction made in vs 1-3 between "them" and "us". What is that difference? What changed for us?
"Them" are the unbelievers, "us" are the believers. The difference is that believers have been "saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God." What changed for believers is that "God...made us alive together with Christ."

6. According to verses 4–7, what has God done for us?
God has saved us by grace and has "seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus".

7. What is mercy? Is that different from grace?
Mercy is God not giving us what we deserve, which is wrath. It is different from grace. Grace is God doing for us what we couldn't do for ourselves, which is saving us.

8. Why is the timing of each thing Paul described important? Why do we need to know that our good works come after our salvation and not before it?
It is important that we need to know our good works come after our salvation and not before it because if our salvation came after our good works, that would mean our good works saved us, meaning that we saved ourselves. But the truth is in verse 8,  it is by grace we have been saved through faith; and that not of ourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.