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Scott's Reference Library
Ephesians 2:1 through Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)
1As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2in which you used
to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom
of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3All of
us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful
nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature
objects of wrath. 4But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in
mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is
by grace you have been saved. 6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us
with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7in order that in the coming
ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his
kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8For it is by grace you have been saved, through
faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—9not by works, so that
no one can boast. 10For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do
good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
VERSES 1-10
Sin is the death of the soul. A man dead in trespasses and sins has no desire
for spiritual pleasures. When we look upon a corpse, it gives an awful feeling.
A never-dying spirit is now fled, and has left nothing but the ruins of a man.
But if we viewed things aright, we should be far more affected by the thought of
a dead soul, a lost, fallen spirit. A state of sin is a state of conformity to
this world. Wicked men are slaves to Satan. Satan is the author of that proud,
carnal disposition which there is in ungodly men; he rules in the hearts of men.
From Scripture it is clear, that whether men have been most prone to sensual or
to spiritual wickedness, all men, being naturally children of disobedience, are
also by nature children of wrath. What reason have sinners, then, to seek
earnestly for that grace which will make them, of children of wrath, children of
God and heirs of glory! God’s eternal love or good-will toward his creatures, is
the fountain whence all his mercies flow to us; and that love of God is great
love, and that mercy is rich mercy. And every converted sinner is a saved
sinner; delivered from sin and wrath. The grace that saves is the free,
undeserved goodness and favour of God; and he saves, not by the works of the
law, but through faith in Christ Jesus. Grace in the soul is a new life in the
soul. A regenerated sinner becomes a living soul; he lives a life of holiness,
being born of God: he lives, being delivered from the guilt of sin, by pardoning
and justifying grace. Sinners roll themselves in the dust; sanctified souls sit
in heavenly places, are raised above this world, by Christ’s grace. The goodness
of God in converting and saving sinners heretofore, encourages others in
after-time, to hope in his grace and mercy. Our faith, our conversion, and our
eternal salvation, are not of works, lest any man should boast. These things are
not brought to pass by any thing done by us, therefore all boasting is shut out.
All is the free gift of God, and the effect of being quickened by his power. It
was his purpose, to which he prepared us, by blessing us with the knowledge of
his will, and his Holy Spirit producing such a change in us, that we should
glorify God by our good conversation, and perseverance in holiness. None can
from Scripture abuse this doctrine, or accuse it of any tendency to evil. All
who do so, are without excuse.