Ephesians 2:5 – Undeserved Love
even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
Truth to Learn
God loves us instead of giving us what we deserve.
Behind the Words
The words “when we were” are translated from the verb eimi, which is the verb of being, meaning “I exist.” It is expressed here in the first person plural (we exist), but it is written as a present participle as well. Thus, the most literal translation of this is “we being.”
The words “dead in trespasses” are translated from the same two words (ontas nekrous) translated that way in verse one of this chapter. Though verse one refers to “you” and this verse refers to “we,” in both cases Paul is talking about Christians before we were saved.
“Made us alive together” is from an interesting Greek word. It is sudzōopoieō, a double compound word made up of sun, meaning “together,” dzōon, meaning “to give life to,” and poieō, meaning “to make.” Thus, this word literally means “to make alive together.”
“Grace” is translated from charis, meaning “favor, good will, or kindness, especially that which causes joy and gratification.” When used of God’s grace toward us, since we don’t deserve it, it is sometimes referred to as “unmerited favor.”
The word translated “saved” is sōdzō, which means “to deliver, to protect, or to save.”
Meaning Explained
To understand this verse we must combine it with the previous verse:
But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
There are three significant things expressed here: a main idea, a parenthetical idea, and a great theological truth.
Let’s start with the parenthetical idea. It is “because of His great love with which He loved us, we being dead in trespasses.” As we mentioned in yesterday’s verse study, the word translated “love” is God’s self-sacrificing agape love. The amazing truth that we are told here is that God loved us with this perfect love while we were sinners with a sentence of death on our heads, who were living in violent opposition to Him. We were so unlovable that only God could have loved us.
The main idea expressed in these two verses is: “But God, who is rich in mercy… made us alive together with Christ” In the previous verse we said “mercy” means to overlook personal offenses and to treat an offender better than he or she deserves. While we were sinners, dead in trespasses, in violent opposition to God, He overlooked our offenses and gave us eternal life in Jesus Christ!
The great theological truth expressed here is that we are saved by God’s grace. We will expand on that in the next few verses.
Application
Before you were saved you were a dead sinner, in violent opposition to God, not deserving anything but God’s wrath. But – God loved you anyway! Can you say, “Thank you, God!”?
In God’s service, for His glory,
Copyright © 2011 Will Krause. All rights reserved.
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