A True Testimony
Ephesians 2:1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
This testimony describes the condition we were in before Christ and the condition we are in after coming to Him.
We were once dead in our trespasses and sins. But Jesus made us alive. We've been born again and given eternal life in Jesus and abundant life at that.
While we were in our trespasses and sins, we walked according to the course (pattern) of this world. That simply means we lived life the same way others outside of Jesus did. We were no different than those who do not know God in how we made our plans and decisions, and what we took delight in.
We were influenced by the prince of the power of the air, just as those who are still lost and without Christ are before we were born again. Those without Christ are described here as sons of disobedience who have the wrong spirit at work in them. We were also once in company with them and given to many of the same motivations and practices in life. We fulfilled the desires of our flesh and answered to the lust of the flesh as they still do today.
When we were without Christ, we were as they are now, children of wrath. But we were rescued from that position. Why and how were we rescued?
God, who is rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses and sins, made us alive together with Christ. We did not go on the hunt for God and initiate this rescue we have experienced. God made Himself known to us; He drew us to Christ by the working of His mighty power, and then Christ gave us His life by grace through faith.
Now God is no longer angry with us; in fact, we are seated together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Why? So that in the ages to come, God can show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. God wants to demonstrate His grace by being kind to us through Christ. That is why this amazing blessing is not of us; it is not based on anything we did to merit it.
God created us anew in Christ with a purpose! That, with new motivation and through the power of the Holy Spirit, we would walk in the good works He has prepared for us beforehand. This is the testimony of all true believers in Christ Jesus.
