Our Redemption “in Christ” Detailed to the Ephesians Volume 16

Paul reminds the Ephesians of what God the Father prepared for them “in Christ”

Ephesians 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. KJV

We human beings over the centuries have admired and even highly esteemed great human artist in the past such as Picasso, Van Gouge, and others for the great works of art they created, so much so that many of their works are worth millions of U S dollars today. Paul is not concerned with the greatness or supposed greatness of any men, but he now concludes his great essay analyzing the greatest of all artist God the Father the Creator of Heaven and Earth by declaring to these Ephesian believers and every one of us today who have been made alive from spiritual death (Ephesians 2:1) to be God’s greatest work of art. Paul declares us to be His “workmanship” and this English word is translated by the Greek word poiema which means to make or to do; a product or literally and figuratively the thing that is made. In other words, when these Ephesians and every one of us today were made alive from being dead in trespasses and sins, we were re-created (created anew) internally or in our inner man and inner woman by the Greatest Artist of all our Father in Heaven.

Paul declares these Ephesians and every one of us today to be “created in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:10). The English word created is translated by the Greek word ktizo which means to form, shape, i.e. to completely change or transform; through the idea of proprietorship of the manufacturer (God the Father in this case). In other words, God the Father has changed us making us different in nature “in Christ Jesus”. Paul affirms also the previous two verses Ephesians 2:8-9 that salvation is all of God and that both the grace and the faith is a part of the free gift or the Greek word for gift doran meaning a present or specifically a sacrifice and that sacrifice is the Blood of Christ Jesus who we are created anew in and by.

These Ephesians and every one of us today are the handiwork of God the Father through the sacrificial death of our Lord Jesus Christ, He has fashioned and forged us into the “new creations” (2 Corinthians 5:17) that we are. This new creation or workmanship/poiema is completely spiritual for we still live inside our decaying, deteriorating, and dying earthly bodies, but as Paul declared to the Corinthian believers our focus is on the eternally re-created real man or real woman inside of us, “Therefore we do not become discouraged (utterly spiritless, exhausted, and wearied out through fear). Though our outer man is [progressively] decaying {and} wasting away, yet our inner self is being [progressively] renewed day after day. For our light, momentary affliction (this slight distress of the passing hour) is ever more and more abundantly preparing {and} producing {and} achieving for us an everlasting weight of glory [beyond all measure, excessively surpassing all comparisons and all calculations, a vast and transcendent glory and blessedness never to cease!], Since we consider {and} look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are visible are temporal (brief and fleeting), but the things that are invisible are deathless {and} everlasting.” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18). It is only by the Power of God that we have become these new creatures and our moral and spiritual renewal is not of anything which we have done or will ever do and this fact is the cause for Paul saying “lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:9).

Finally, Paul declares that these Ephesians and every one of us today have been made new by God “unto good works” (Ephesians 2:10). The English word good Paul uses here is translated by the Greek word agathos meaning beautiful or figuratively of moral excellence and morally valuable or virtuous; honest and upright. In other words, when God the Father re-creates us, it is in His own image we are re-made and consequently we should bear the likeness of God in our inner man or inner woman as Paul explained to these very same Ephesians latter on in this same letter with these words, “So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.” (Ephesians 4:17-24).

God the Father “hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10). The English phrase “hath before ordained” Paul uses here is translated by one Greek word proetoimazo which means to fit up or make ready in advance or prepare beforehand or to prepare in advance. Our Heavenly Father has already prepared a new pathway of spiritual life for us to live by that is in accordance with His Eternal Will that is for our benefit and that will allow us to reap harvest of good and not of evil, and He gives us His Power to overcome sin in our hearts and in this world that when acted upon brings about destruction in our souls/psuche which means the seat of the feelings, desires, affections, aversions (our heart) as the Apostle Peter pleaded with the Jewish converts to Christ to do when he said, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a dedicated nation, [God’s] own purchased, special people, that you may set forth the wonderful deeds {and} display the virtues and perfections of Him Who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Once you were not a people [at all], but now you are God’s people; once you were unpitied, but now you are pitied {and} have received mercy. Beloved, I implore you as aliens and strangers {and} exiles [in this world] to abstain from the sensual urges (the evil desires, the passions of the flesh, your lower nature) that wage war against the soul. Conduct yourselves properly (honorably, righteously) among the Gentiles, so that, although they may slander you as evildoers, [yet] they may by witnessing your good deeds [come to] glorify God in the day of inspection [when God shall look upon you wanderers as a pastor or shepherd looks over his flock].” (1 Peter 2:9-12).

My own Personal Note: 2 Corinthians 3:17 (AMP): “Now the Lord is the Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” What does this word “liberty” actually mean? Well this English word liberty comes from the Greek word eleutheria, which means “freedom; moral or ceremonial freedom.” What does this moral freedom produce? Christ is the Spirit who takes away that covering by working in hearts. The Law itself also works in hearts, though in vain because the Law speaks to the spiritually dead (those who are dead in trespasses and sin). The Holy Spirit makes alive or brings life (as I stated in chapter 9). The Lord Jesus Christ is represented as the Spirit. Christ is the end of the law for justification and righteousness to all who believe. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ, and He is the dispenser of all gifts, graces, and influences. When I received the Gospel, the Spirit of the Lord was given to me. The Spirit of the Lord lives and works in me to bring this liberty or freedom from the slavery of sin and sin’s power. The Spirit of God gives light and clearness of view. This is a general truth. The Spirit of God removes obscurity and enables me to see truth plainly and clearly. This truth cannot be denied. Under the influence of the Spirit of the Lord, therefore, the Apostle Paul proclaims that he was able to speak with openness, and boldness. He had a clear view of truth and thus the Gospel that he preached was open, plain, and clear. The word “freedom” perhaps better conveys the idea. 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 Apostle having before ascribed this change to Divine Grace in exclusion of works, lest he should seem thereby to discourage good works, he here observes that though the change is to be ascribed to nothing of that nature (for we are the workmanship of God), yet God, in His new creation, has designed and prepared us for good works: Created unto good works, with a design that we should be fruitful in them. Wherever God by His Grace implants good principles, they are intended to be for good works. Which God hath before ordained, that is, decreed and appointed. Or, the words may be read, To which God hath before prepared us, that is, by blessing us with the knowledge of His Will, and with the assistance of His Holy Spirit; and by producing such a change in us. That we should walk in them, or glorify God by an exemplary conversation and by our perseverance in holiness.” Matthew Henry

“The metal is molten as it runs out of the blast furnace, but it soon cools and hardens. Paul’s teaching about salvation by grace and by faith came in a hot stream from his heart, but to this generation his words are apt to sound coldly, and hardly theological. But they only need to be reflected upon in connection with our own experience, to become vivid and vital again. The belief that a man may work towards salvation is a universal heresy. And the Apostle, in the context, summons all his force to destroy that error, and to substitute the great truth that we have to begin with an act of God’s, and only after that can think about our acts. To work up towards salvation is, in the strict sense of the words, preposterous; it is inverting the order of things. It is beginning at the wrong end. It is saying X Y Z before you have learnt to say A B C. We are to work downwards from salvation because we have it, not that we may get it. And whatever ‘good works’ may mean, they are the consequences, not the causes, of ‘salvation,’ whatever that may mean. But they are consequences, and they are the very purpose of it.” Alexander MacLaren

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…