BUT GOD
Ehesians 2:1-10 ESV
But God’s Love (2:4)
But God’s Heavenly Blessings (2:6)
But God’s Grace (2:8-9)
Let me begin by confessing that I love the Book of Ephesians. I know we all have love for some books of the Bible. I hear a lot of people say that they love the book of Philippians. I fell in love with this book quite later in my life. It was when I studied under a Cambridge University Ph.D. graduate. He really did a great job in helping us all to really understand the depth of the Book of Ephesians.
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ Summary of Ephesian.
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones considered Ephesians one of the greatest books in the Bible and preached 232 sermons on it over approximately eight years at Westminster Chapel. The sermons were later published in multiple volumes and remain one of the most extensive expositions of the letter ever produced. Lloyd-Jones taught that Ephesians reveals God’s eternal purpose in Christ.
The letter begins with God, not humanity, showing that salvation originates in God’s sovereign plan before the foundation of the world. Humanity is spiritually dead and helpless because of sin, but God, in His mercy and grace, intervenes to save.
For Lloyd-Jones, the two great phrases of Ephesians are “in Christ” and “But God.”
The central message of the book is the believer’s union with Christ. Every spiritual blessing, every aspect of salvation, and every hope for the future comes through being united to Him. Ephesians also reveals the church as God’s new humanity, where people from every nation and background are brought together into one body to display God’s wisdom and glory.
Lloyd jones often highlighted the structure of the letter:
Chapters 1–3: What God has done for us (doctrine)
Chapters 4–6: How we should live in response (practice).
In one sentence: Ephesians is God’s Grand Revelation of His eternal plan to save sinners through Christ, unite them into His church, transform them by His Spirit, and display His glory forever, a truth so rich that Lloyd-Jones devoted 232 sermons to unfolding it.
Now we see Paul opens the definition of our status: sinful, corrupted, and chaotic because of our disobedient flesh and the spiritual darkness of this world. Not just one person, but each one of us is corrupted with sinful desires.
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
What would that lead to? The wrath of God. Anyone and everyone who will not turn away from their wicked ways and will not accept Christ will face God’s wrath. However, the good news is that there’s a BUT in the story for all humankind who choose to believe in three things:
God’s love (v. 4),
God’s heavenly blessings (v. 6),
and God’s grace (vv. 8–9).
We will investigate these verses quickly.
But first, let’s do the BUT thing here. It’s so good. I loved it. Dr. Jones loved it. So, let’s do the BUT thing.
In this verse, “BUT” is a contrastive coordinating conjunction that introduce God’s intervention against the background of human sin and helplessness, and it also functions in an elliptical construction, where the implied action (such as “God acted” or “God intervened” is understood but not explicitly stated.
Coordinating Conjunction:
A conjunction that joins two equal parts of a sentence while expressing contrast.
Contrastive Coordination Conjunction:
Example: I wanted to go, but I was sick. We were dead in sin, but God made us alive.
The conjunction but coordinates two clauses and highlights the contrast between them.
Adversative Particle:
A word that signals contrast or a shift in thought.
First Doctrinal Truth: God is Love.
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us.” 2:4 ESV
Now let’s unpack the first doctrinal truth about the Christian faith. We all need to keep learning about the love of God. That is an attribute of God. God is love. He won’t change. God’s love is unconditional; that is the reason God is rich in mercy. His love is not a fake scam. His love was poured out on the cross. We do have the evidence of the historical Jesus being crucified under Pontius Pilate.
How about this truth? We experience God’s love experientially through the deposit of the Holy Spirit. We experience forgiveness from our old sinful nature. See, our lives should change because God loves us. His love for you is deep, wide, long, and high. I pray that you will open your spirit man and say yes to Jesus so that you may experience His love.
One simple principle is to spend time with God. Read His Word, pray, and worship. Simple as it is, but a very powerful truth.
Second Doctrinal Truth: Spiritual Blessings
“and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” 2:6 ESV
Second doctrinal truth: we are seated in the heavenly places. Now only a spiritually soaked author in the presence of the Lord can expound this well. I have read multiple interpretations on it, but I was not very satisfied. Again, Jones does a great job here. But here is my simple explanation. God has empowered you to crush the drama of evil. The influence of evil and the spiritual disturbances of this world are under your feet. Whatever chaos you see, you rule and reign above those things. Because you are not just flesh living here on earth, you have spiritual authority and power over the things around you when you live under the rulership of Christ. You live in victory.
Third Doctrinal Truth: Justified by Faith Alone
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 2:8 ESV
Third doctrinal truth: you are saved by grace. It is not your work. It is not your doing. The Word of God is so clear: “justified by faith alone.” I’m not sure, and I don’t understand, how evangelists can go and preach to big crowds a works-based salvation. It isn’t in the Bible.
The blessings in Christ come first before we become spiritual heroes. Yes, obedience opens favour and blessings from the Lord, and it will help us in our lives. At the same time, it is Christ, God, and His Spirit who first initiate spiritual blessings for us: God’s love, God’s heavenly blessings, and God’s grace.
We are rich in Christ. We are blessed in Christ. We are one body in Christ. We don’t sin against one another because we belong to Christ. We are one church of Christ, blessed beyond measure.
