You were dead in your transgressions and sins 2 in which you once lived following the age of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the disobedient. 3 All of us once lived among them in the desires of our flesh, following the wishes of the flesh and the impulses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like the rest. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love he had for us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, brought us to life with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 raised us up with him, and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from you; it is the gift of God; 9 it is not from works, so no one may boast. 10 For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works that God has prepared in advance, that we should live in them.
Humanity, in its sinful condition, once lived under the power of evil but God had a plan for humanity. The “air” was thought to be the space between heaven and earth where the stars were, and various demonic powers existed that had control over man’s disordered desires. We do not attain salvation through our own efforts but in response to God’s love which he, on his own initiative, forgave our transgressions and freely bestowed upon us the gift of grace even though we did not merit it (Eph. 1:7-8).
Through God’s mercy and because of his great love for us, we have been brought to life through the grace of Christ Jesus (Eph. 1:18-20) Christ raised us with him and seated us in the heavens with him (Rom. 6:8). We share in Christ’s resurrected life. Although we are called to perform good works, it is not through works that we are saved. Grace is the gratuitous gift from God through which we can all have faith that leads to salvation. Therefore, no one can boast or should even think that they earned their salvation through their faith or their good works. We are created by God through Christ Jesus and gratuitously given the gift of grace through which our response is faith that allows us to do the good works God asks us to do.
Almighty God, we were born with the stain of sin which was washed away by the blood of your incarnate Son. Teach us to humbly depend on your grace to increase our faith which can lead us to our salvation through our good works. This we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen!
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
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