Our Redemption “in Christ” Detailed to the Ephesians Volume 10

Paul declares what the Power of God did for these Ephesians

Ephesians 2:1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins. KJV

Paul declares to these Ephesian believers that just as the Crucified Body of our Lord Jesus Christ that laid cold and dead in that new tomb belonging to Joseph of Arimathea was Resurrected from physical death, so were they resurrected from “spiritual death” by the very same Power of God as Paul prayed for them to know experimentally. Paul flows from his first great prayer for these believers to this theological explanation of what God’s Power has truly done for them and to them. Paul declares them to have been dead men and women even as they lived and breathed in their physical bodies before they heard the Gospel of Grace. Paul uses the English word trespasses in speaking of their death and this word is translated by the Greek word paraptoma meaning unintentional error or willful transgression. The English word sins is translated by the Greek word hamartia meaning to miss the mark or to err and morally offend. In other words, these Ephesians were dead spiritually to God the Father and could never please Him, but could only satisfy the sinful cravings and appetites of the corrupt nature they were born with from their Mother’s womb.

Paul explained it in this manner in writing to the Colossians, “In Him also you were circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, but in a [spiritual] circumcision [performed by] Christ by stripping off the body of the flesh (the whole corrupt, carnal nature with its passions and lusts). [Thus you were circumcised when] you were buried with Him in [your] baptism, in which you were also raised with Him [to a new life] through [your] faith in the working of God [as displayed] when He raised Him up from the dead. And you who were dead in trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh (your sensuality, your sinful carnal nature), [God] brought to life together with [Christ], having [freely] forgiven us all our transgressions” (Colossians 2:11-13). It is by God’s Power through Christ Sacrifice that turned these Ephesians from their pagan, satanic, and immoral worship at the temple of Diana as the Prophet Isaiah declared with these words, “The people who walk in darkness will see a great light; Those who live in a dark land, The light will shine on them.” (Isaiah 9:2) and also as Paul declared with these words to the Corinthian believers, “For God Who said, Let light shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts so as [to beam forth] the Light for the illumination of the knowledge of the majesty {and} glory of God [as it is manifest in the Person and is revealed] in the face of {Jesus} Christ (the Messiah).” (2 Corinthians 4:6).

The death of the soul of man is the wall of sin that separates him from the “life of God” (Ephesians 4:18) and this wall cannot be penetrated at all as the Prophet Isaiah declares with these words, “But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.” (Isaiah 59:2). God the Father cannot hear the sinner that is still not “in Christ” because He cannot look upon that which is impure and unclean “Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil” (Habakkuk 1:13). The cause of these Ephesians spiritual death was their wall of sin in their “inner man” and “inner woman” for this is the seat or the throne of man’s sin against God as our Lord Jesus Himself declared when He said, “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.” (Mark 7:21-23). The Gospel of Grace is the antidote or the remedy that controls the effects of the poison of sin that flows from the old nature by making the sinner alive spiritually to God the Father and giving a “new nature” to the sinner that is enabled, energized, and empowered by the Holy Spirit dwelling in the heart.

The true make up of man is that he is a spirit that has a unique soul and his spirit and soul live inside his body. The unseen part of man the spirit and soul are imprisoned inside a bubble that is completely sound proof to the voice of God because the bubble encasing it is sin, but it is the Gospel that burst this bubble and makes the sinner then alive spiritually to God as Paul declares with these words to the Roman believers, “For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the Power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” (Romans 1:16). Paul declares this resurrection from spiritual death to these Ephesian believers so that they can understand the great desire of his heart in his previous prayer for them to know and understand God’s Power working in them by virtue of them hearing and believing the Gospel. Paul wants them to understand the magnitude or the great importance of what happened to them when they believed the Gospel.

It was not them merely switching their object of worship from the goddess Diana to another god or gods, but it was them being resurrected from spiritual death in like manner and by the identical Divine Power that propelled Christ’s Body from that cold dark tomb, He also propelled their spirits from the cold dark tomb of trespasses and sins a hollow domain and dominion of darkness (Colossians 1:13) as the Apostle Matthew documented these words spoken to Joseph by the Angel Gabriel, “But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.’ Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the Prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,’ which translated means, ‘God with us.’” (Matthew 1:20-23).

My own Personal Note: God designed the first man Adam to be a completely spiritual being (who lives in a physical body) connected to Him for all eternity. When Adam sinned against God by disobeying God’s instruction, God removed Himself from Adam, and thus Adam’s nature instantly became corrupted. His corrupt nature was passed down to all of us who have come after him. When Adam disobeyed God’s command by choosing in his free will to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Adam died—not physically (for the Bible tells us that he lived to be 930 years old) but rather spiritually—as we stated above. Excerpt from my Book entitled, “Silent Assassins of the Soul: Finding Freedom from Sexual Impurity through the Lord Jesus Christ, A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs

“The unbeliever is not sick; he is dead! He does not need resuscitation; he needs resurrection. All lost sinners are dead, and the only difference between one sinner and another is the state of decay. The lost derelict on skid row may be more decayed outwardly than the unsaved society leader, but both are dead in sin, and one corpse cannot be more dead than another! This means that our world is one vast graveyard, filled with people who are dead while they live (1 Timothy 5:6).” Warren Wiersbe

“Those united with Christ are through Grace delivered from their state of death, not only in the sense that the resurrection and exaltation of Christ redound to their benefit as Divinely imputed to them; but by the life-giving energy of God they are brought out of their condition of death into a new and actual state of life. The act of Grace is an act of the Divine power and might, not a mere judicial declaration” (Beck).

“The entire history of the Son of Man is reproduced in the man who believes in Him, not by a simple moral analogy; but by a spiritual communication which is the true secret of our justification as well as of our sanctification, and indeed of our whole salvation.” Adolphe Monod

If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...


Sincerely in Christ,


Clifford D. Tate, Sr.

Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reade, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…