Connect Ephesians 2:5 with Romans 5:8 on God's love for sinners. Life out of Death—Ephesians 2:5 “[God] made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our trespasses. It is by grace you have been saved!” • Dead means utterly powerless; no spark of spiritual life remained. • God moved first, taking the initiative while we lay in spiritual graves. • Grace stands front and center; salvation is an undeserved gift, not a negotiated reward. Love Proven—Romans 5:8 “But God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” • Love is demonstrated, not merely declared. • “Still sinners” echoes the “dead in trespasses” of Ephesians 2:5. • The cross is God’s open, undeniable evidence of affection for the unworthy. One Message, Two Angles • Ephesians shows love giving life; Romans shows love giving Christ’s death. • Death to life: Christ dies, we live. • Both stress the timing: before any moral improvement on our part. • Together they paint a complete picture—love intervenes when help is impossible and hope is gone. Grace Before Goodness • Titus 3:4-5—“But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not by works of righteousness that we had done, but according to His mercy.” • John 3:16—God “so loved the world” before the world loved Him back. • 1 John 4:9-10—“Not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son.” • 2 Corinthians 5:21—Christ became sin “so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” These passages reinforce the theme: love acts first, grace precedes any goodness in us. Made Alive Together with Christ • Union with Christ means His resurrection life now pulses in believers. • The same power that raised Jesus occupies the believer’s present reality (Ephesians 1:19-20). • Love does not merely forgive; it enlivens, seats us with Christ (Ephesians 2:6), and secures our future. Living in the Light of Such Love • Humility: boast only in grace, never in personal merit (Ephesians 2:9). • Assurance: if love reached us at our worst, it certainly keeps us now (Romans 8:32). • Gratitude: ongoing thanksgiving becomes the natural language of the rescued (Colossians 3:17). • Compassion: extend to others the grace God has lavished on us (Ephesians 4:32). |
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