Ephesians 2:7
to demonstrate in the coming ages the surpassing wealth of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
to demonstrate in the coming ages the surpassing wealth of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
We cannot see God, but He does things to show who He is, putting it without question. Hence the word "demonstrate" in the focus verse.
There are things you cannot see. For example, you cannot see oxygen, but there are experiments that you can do that would reveal its presence, that would show its nature, as this short youtube video below shows.
That is a demonstration. Something that would disclose what is hidden, and make it plain, impress it on people's minds.
There is a coming age, and in a way this age is a preparation for the coming age.
At the beginning of this present age, the serpent was able to deceive Eve that God was not kind, that He was actually an evil monster, that He was a pretender (Genesis 3). How else can we explain Eve buying the devil's narrative that God is a liar, that what God said was not true? Maybe Eve did not have a counter-narrative to lean on, and we have been dealing with the effect of that since then.
So while we groan, burdened with death (judgment over sin), God has, according to the focus verse, worked something that would make His kindness towards us in Christ Jesus without question.
The serpent questioned the kindness of God, the character of God. That will be no more. His kindness, nay, the surpassing wealth of His grace in kindness towards us have been displayed.
We may not fully understand it now, because as it is written, we know in part (1 Corinthians 13:9), but as it is also written we would soon know as we are known (1 Corinthians 13:12).
Let's put together the last four verses (Ephesians 2:4-7)
But God, being rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us, even though we were dead in offenses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you are saved!— and he raised us up together with him and seated us together with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, to demonstrate in the coming ages the surpassing wealth of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
Like I said before, this is a long-running sentence that encompasses four-verses. It is full of what God has done, after Paul unveiled what we have done from verse 1-3.
And although you were dead in your offenses and sins, in which you formerly lived according to this world’s present path, according to the ruler of the domain of the air, the ruler of the spirit that is now energizing the sons of disobedience, among whom all of us also formerly lived out our lives in the cravings of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath even as the rest…
It's almost like opposites.
| Before Christ (Ephesians 2:1–3) | After Christ (Ephesians 2:4–7) |
|---|---|
| Dead in our offenses and sins | Made alive with Christ |
| Lived according to this world’s present path | Given a “counter-past” in Christ |
| Under the ruler of the domain of the air | Christ becomes our path and ruler |
| Energized by the spirit now at work in the sons of disobedience | Seated with Christ in the heavenly realms |
| Lived in the cravings of the flesh and of the mind | Raised up from that life; now living by the grace of Christ |
| By nature children of wrath | Used by God to demonstrate His kindness and the wealth of His grace |
- Verse one tells us we are dead in our offenses and sins; verse four says God is rich in mercy because of His great love; We were identified with our offenses and sins; God is identified by His rich mercy and great love; Our sin is great but his love is greater.
- All we can do is sin and offenses, but God did something to counteract them. He made us alive with Christ. Our being alive was achieved in Christ Jesus.
- We formerly lived according to this world's present path, according to the ruler of the domain of the air; the ruler of the spirit that is now energizing the sons of disobedience. That is our lived past; But God created a counter past for us in Christ. He made us alive in Christ.
- Christ becomes our path, we are no longer in this world's path, rather we are in Christ, who becomes our ruler. We are seated with Christ, we are no longer living our lives, we have died and the life we now live we live by the grace of Christ who died for us (Galatians 2:20).
- We are not swallowed up by the spirit that is now energizing the children of disobedience; We are energized by the Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead Hallelujah!
- We indulged in the desires of the flesh and mind, but we have been raised up from such life. We cannot fully explain what happened to us, except to say God touched us.
- We were by nature children of wrath, but the opposite of that is that He is using what happened to us to demonstrate His kindness towards us. Kindness is the opposite of wrath. Glory to God.
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