By Michael Andres
Read: Ephesians 2:4-10
“For by grace you have been saved . . . it is the gift of God.” (v. 8)
Imagine if one were to speak the gospel to the deceased, to preach in cemeteries and mausoleums.
Is that not what Christians are asked to do: preach to the spiritually dead? Because of his love and mercy, God “even when we were dead . . . made us alive together with Christ.” In a word, we need grace.
The apostle Paul rings the note of “grace” three times in Ephesians 2: “by grace you have been saved,” God shows the “immeasurable riches of his grace,” and “for by grace you have been saved.”
The Reformers called this sola gratia, by “grace alone” are we saved. Spiritual life is God’s extravagant, undeserved favor to the dead. We cannot save ourselves; humans cannot create life where there is death. Only God can. He “raised us up” out of the grave.
Our spiritual deadness makes necessary a gracious, God-centered rescue. No matter how self-absorbed, guilty, or lifeless we are, new birth is possible through the omnipotent, redemptive efforts of the Spirit of God.
Like the prophet Ezekiel, we stand before a valley of dry bones, waiting for God to make them alive (Ezekiel 37) and calling out like Jesus to Lazarus that the dead may rise (John 11). Praise God who makes sinners alive with Christ and breathes new life into the spiritually dead!
As you pray, confess your brokenness to God and thank God for the gift of renewing grace.
—————
Michael Andres is a professor of religion at Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa.
Read: Ephesians 2:4-10
“For by grace you have been saved . . . it is the gift of God.” (v. 8)
Imagine if one were to speak the gospel to the deceased, to preach in cemeteries and mausoleums.
Is that not what Christians are asked to do: preach to the spiritually dead? Because of his love and mercy, God “even when we were dead . . . made us alive together with Christ.” In a word, we need grace.
The apostle Paul rings the note of “grace” three times in Ephesians 2: “by grace you have been saved,” God shows the “immeasurable riches of his grace,” and “for by grace you have been saved.”
The Reformers called this sola gratia, by “grace alone” are we saved. Spiritual life is God’s extravagant, undeserved favor to the dead. We cannot save ourselves; humans cannot create life where there is death. Only God can. He “raised us up” out of the grave.
Our spiritual deadness makes necessary a gracious, God-centered rescue. No matter how self-absorbed, guilty, or lifeless we are, new birth is possible through the omnipotent, redemptive efforts of the Spirit of God.
Like the prophet Ezekiel, we stand before a valley of dry bones, waiting for God to make them alive (Ezekiel 37) and calling out like Jesus to Lazarus that the dead may rise (John 11). Praise God who makes sinners alive with Christ and breathes new life into the spiritually dead!
As you pray, confess your brokenness to God and thank God for the gift of renewing grace.
—————
Michael Andres is a professor of religion at Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa.
