In the passage before us, Paul explains how a person moves from wrath to grace to become a member of God's called-out community. The process involves making sinners alive, raising them up, seating them with Christ, and bestowing on them"the incomparable riches of his grace", the full appropriation of the promised blessings of the covenant. The means is God's love facilitated in Christ; "by grace you have been saved through faith ... not by works."

v1. In approaching the subject of salvation, Paul begins by explaining the human condition of sin, v1-3.

v2. In this sinful state, we followed the lead of "the prince of the power of the air", the devil, living in bondage to dark powers, daily manipulated by the powers of darkness.

v3. Having identified the sorry origins of his Gentile readers, Paul points out that he, along with all Israel, were in a similar state. Religious people can follow "the ways of this world" just as easily as pagans, cf. Matt.23:23. Thus, the Jew also faces the wrath of God.

v4. Yet, the wrath of God is only part of the picture. God is also a merciful and loving God, and it is because of this that believers are no longer under condemnation.

v5. Paul now picks up on where he began in v1. Once dead, but now, through our identification with ("in") Christ, we are "made.... alive". Notice it is " we" - both Jew and Gentile. "Made alive", in a moral as well as a spiritual sense. Paul adds, in parenthesis, his formula for justification. This he develops in v8.

v6. The effect of justification, of a person being set right with God, is to move the believer in reality, although not necessarily in experience, to move them out of the passing shadows of this age. As far as God is concerned, we are even now seated with Christ "at his right hand in the heavenly realms", 1:20. This state is ours already, cf. Col.2:12, 3:1-3. As far as our standing in the sight of God is concerned, both now and for eternity, we are already perfected in Christ.

v7. By this means, God in his grace, has made it possible for believers to appropriate, now and forever, "the incomparable riches of his grace" - new life in Christ.

v8. The doctrinal statement outlined in v5 is now repeated and developed. First, it is through faith, faith in the faithfulness of Christ. Second, it is apart from works of the Law.

v9. The perfection we possess, through our identification with Christ, enables us to stand before the throne of our God; once in bondage, now saved to eternal life. This salvation is not achieved, confirmed, maintained, or progressed by an effort of our will, it is totally a gift.

v10. Although our salvation is wholly a gift of grace, we are saved for a particular purpose, namely, service to God. God's good work is partly played out here in the gathering of a people to be with him, but reaches far beyond this age in the reconciliation of all things as part of God's setting all things right.

In our passage for study the apostle sets before us the doctrine of justification, the driving force of the Reformation - sola gratia, sole fide, soli Deo gloria, "by grace alone, through faith alone, to God alone be glory." Our eternal standing in the sight of God, which demands of us an impossible perfection, is ours as a gracious gift from a merciful and loving God, and is appropriated through the instrument of faith. It is important to note that the context of this doctrinal statement shows clearly that the salvation offered in Christ is unconditional and eternal in dimension. On the basis of the faithfulness of Christ appropriated through our faith in him, we now stand before God eternally perfected. Nothing we can do adds to this gift of God's grace.

The extent of God's gift of salvation is quite wondrous. In speaking of our standing before God, we correctly say we are "declared right." Yet, it is also true to say that what God declares so is so. Although we are anything but right until "the old Adam is planted in the ground" (Luther), we are none-the-less eternally right such that we are actually "raised up with Christ" and seated "with him in the heavenly realms." Our eternal possession is a present reality. As the old country chorus put it, "this world ain't my home, I'm just a passin through"

God's unlimited kindness toward us is triggered by the instrument of faith. When a person rests on the faithfulness of Christ they receive in full the abundance of new life in Christ.

Although our faithfulness has nothing to do with the gift of salvation, faithfulness remains a natural consequence of salvation. In fact, the apostle says that the creation of God's blessed community has as its purpose the doing of "good works." God even "prepared in advance for us to do" them. Love is the sum of the good work. For the here and now, the gathering and nurturing of a people of God realizes love, and in eternity, love beyond measure.

1. Discuss what is meant by the "spirit" of this age - the "ways of this world" manipulated by the "ruler of the kingdom of the air."

2. If we are now seated with Christ "in the heavenly realms", can you think of anything that might improve our standing in Christ?