Our Nature in Christ

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” – Ephesians 2:4-7

In the devotion Our Nature Apart from Christ from Ephesians 2:1-3, Paul told us how helpless we are when we are separated from Jesus. In verses 4-7, Paul can only transition from this reminder of who we were to who we are in one way – the words “but God” in verse four.

Why is “but God” such a powerful transition? It is because Paul tells us that God is rich in mercy towards us and has great love for us – despite what Ephesians 2:1-3 tells us about who we were. Nobody but God could save us, and nobody but God would want to save us.

When focusing on the truth that God “made us alive together with Christ”, there are two important truths to remember, and two applications to make.

The first thing to point out is that God “made us alive.” In other words, God initiates the rebirth. He not only diagnosed our condition, but He also healed us. Paul goes on to say in verse five that God did this “even when we were dead in our trespasses.” This is Paul’s way of making it clear that God did not see something good in us which caused Him to move in our lives. This also means that God did not wait for us to clean up our act first. He made us alive with Christ first!

The second thing is the phrase “with Christ.” God can only do the work of making us alive with Christ. I do not mean to say He is somehow limited in His power. But because of God’s character, He cannot tolerate sin, and He cannot overlook it. To make us alive, He cannot pretend our sin does not exist. We are made alive in Christ because He takes our sin on Him while we take His righteousness on us (2 Corinthians 5:21).

God initiates the rebirth, and it is done with Christ. What are the logical applications of this?

First is for us to offer praise to God. God is the one who made us alive through Jesus’ righteousness. What do we provide? Only our sin. In other words, we have no role in our rebirth. This is why we should continually praise God for our salvation.

It is like a person who continually makes irresponsible financial decisions and is about to become homeless but inherits a fortune when a relative dies. It would dishonor the one who died if the one who inherited the fortune boasted that his new financial status was because of his own hard work. If we continually praise God for making us alive through Christ, we are giving glory to God for our new status.

Second, this awareness provides assurance. For that hypothetical person who inherited a fortune, his status has been changed from poor to rich. But it is possible for him to lose this status because his status is conditional. He could spend it all. He could make bad investments. It could get stolen, and so on. He did not earn the fortune, but it is up to him to keep the fortune. Not so with our salvation. We did not earn it, and we cannot lose it. God gives it to us through Christ, who, as He breathed His last breath, said, “it is finished!” The Gospel of John is full of the assurance we have because of this (John 6:37, 44, 48)

Jesus says in John 10:29, "My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand." What comforting words of assurance. The phrase “it’s all in God’s hands” can seem sometimes like a fortune cookie saying, but when it comes to our assurance, it is true. Sin, the flesh and the devil cannot ultimately separate us from God when we are in his strong hands.

So let the assurance of our salvation through Christ be your support during the struggles against those things.