Ephesians 2:5Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

He said this with deep inward amazement, marveling at the ineffable gift of God. For you were saved, he says, not by labor and not by your own works, but by grace alone. As far as works are concerned, you were worthy of punishment and wrath.

How did He make them alive together? “And you, being dead in trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all trespasses” (Col 2:13). This is how He made us alive: by forgiving all trespasses, that is, through the remission of sins.

Sin killed the soul. Jesus Christ destroyed sin, and therefore we were made alive. “For if by the trespass of the one death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ” (Rom 5:17).

He did not say simply, “He made alive,” but “He made alive together.” He shows that when Christ rose from the dead and lived, then we, having received the complete remission of our transgressions, were made alive with the risen Christ.

For this reason he also said, “He raised us together with Him,” to confirm that after Jesus Christ rose from the dead, we also rose with Him. He rose from the tomb, and we from the depth of sin. He received life, and we salvation.

Not only did He make us alive together and raise us together, but He also “seated us together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” What is the meaning of these words? The whole human nature is contained both in the first Adam, who is of the earth, earthy, and in the second Lord, who is from heaven.

Since “as is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly” (1 Cor 15:48), and the heavenly One “sat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens” (Heb 8:1), it is clear from this that we too, considered in Christ, have sat together in the heavenly places, having become heirs of His Kingdom.

This, then, is the proof of God’s great love for us: He forgave our transgressions, made us alive together, raised us together, and seated us together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

Notice how, by the words “by grace you have been saved,” the divine Apostle taught that we received both salvation and heavenly glory not by our works, but freely. He wrote this same thing to Titus: “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us” (Tit 3:5).

The meaning of the present apostolic words will be clearer if expressed in this way: although because of our transgressions we were dead in our spiritual powers, God, having immeasurable mercy, made us alive with Jesus Christ according to His great love for us. By the grace of God, that is, by His mercy and love for mankind, you have been saved, O Ephesians. He also raised us together and seated us together in the heavenly places in Him, in Jesus Christ.

Why is the devil called the prince of the power of the air, or the ruling prince of the air (Eph 2:2)? Certainly not because the air is his native element. Popular imagination assigns the watery realm to some spirits, forests to others, and so forth. But the spiritual nature of devils, as such, has no commonality or essential bond with anything material.

The Holy Apostle takes the air, which surrounds and penetrates the earth inhabited by the human race, only as a vivid image. It shows the breadth and diffusion of the devil’s power. As there is no place on earth’s surface where air does not penetrate, so there is no place on earth where one can hide from diabolical influence. There is no place to which the devil’s power does not extend.

Thus the Apostle calls the devil’s realm “of the air” in the same sense, evidently, in which he later calls the devils themselves “the spirits of wickedness under heaven.” That is, they are scattered everywhere beneath heaven (Eph 6:12). Chrysostom says: “According to the prince of the power of the air: the Apostle says this to show that the devil dwells beneath heaven.”

In this brief but powerful depiction of the spiritual and moral transformation accomplished in Christians by Jesus Christ, the commentators especially note divine goodness. Thus St. John of Damascus writes: “You Gentiles, says the Apostle, were held in death because of sin, in which you lived under the evil devil, who ruled over you by evil thoughts. God deemed you worthy of mercy and grace, and changed your deadness in sin into life through communion with Christ.”

“What a dark end belongs to the condition of sin! The sinner is spiritually dead, under the tyranny of the devil, possessed by the spirit of the world, and dragged without restraint by the movements of the flesh. He is enslaved to passions of soul and tossed by sinful thoughts. For all this he is a son of sin and therefore liable to eternal punishment.

How can those delivered from such misery fail to glorify the sovereign might of the Deliverer? By His grace He raises the sinner from the death of sin and leads him into the bright life of pleasing God and holiness” (Bishop Theophan).

“All our deeds were worthy not of love, but of wrath and severe punishment. Therefore, if God loved us, it was solely according to His great mercy. Do you see the exceeding greatness of His power in us who believe? Do you see the hope of the calling: He raised us together with Him and seated us together? Do you see the glory of His inheritance?

Yes, you will say, it is clear that He raised us together. But by what does the Apostle prove that He seated us together in the heavens in Christ Jesus? By the same thing by which he proves that He raised us together. No one would ever have risen unless the Head had risen. And when our Head rose, we too were raised.

In exactly the same way He seated us together. When the Head sits, the body sits with Him. “If we endure with Him, we shall also reign with Him” (2 Tim 2:12). If we have died with Him for sin, we shall also live with Him. Truly, the gift of the Spirit and of revelation is needed to understand the depth of these mysteries.

“If we also wish to know how He seated us together, listen to what Christ Himself says to the disciples: ‘You shall sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel’ (Mt 19:28). To sit at the right hand is an honor higher than every honor, after which there is no further dignity.

To sit with Christ is truly ineffable wealth. It is truly the exceeding greatness of His glory. Consider with whom you will sit. But who are you? Dead, a child of wrath by nature. What right thing have you done? Nothing. Now it is truly fitting to cry out: ‘O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!’ (Rom 11:33)” (Chrysostom).

In this vivification through the Lord Jesus Christ, two moments must be distinguished. The first is when humanity was made alive in the person of the God-man. The second is when each believing person becomes a partaker of this vivification.

In the person of the Savior, humanity is shown as newly alive in the full force of the word, in His Resurrection and Ascension. In Him the foundation was laid for the vivification of all who would afterward cleave to the Lord Jesus Christ by faith and love.

In Him, potentially, all were made alive who afterward have been, are being, and will be personally made alive until the end of the age. These latter are nothing other than the realization of the first. That was the seed; these are the tree that has grown from it, or is growing from it, and shades the whole universe with its branches.

This personal vivification of each one, through faith and the rejection of all impious and corrupt life, takes place in Baptism. In this grace-filled mystery, a man dies to sinful life and comes alive for spiritual life. He receives zeal and strength, becomes a partaker of Christ's vivification, and continues to walk in newness of life (see Rom 6).

What vivification, then, does the Apostle mean here? Since he says, He made us alive together, he surely means vivification in the person of Christ the Lord. Yet since he says that He made us alive together when we were dead, pointing to himself and the Ephesians, real persons already partaking of Christ's vivification, there is no doubt that he indicates actual vivification. Its foundation was laid in Christ's own vivification, and by the latter he confirms the former.

The Apostle is not writing theory. He is portraying the divine economy of salvation, accomplished in deed and manifesting its power in deed. Therefore, in the words He made us alive together, one need not distinguish whether this is meant only in the person of Christ the Lord or in those who believe in Him.

Both are meant, for both had already taken place and were active. Though they could be distinguished in thought, they were united in action. The vivification of believers was Christ's vivification in application.

After He made us alive together, the order would have required He raised us together and made us sit together. This would describe the further movement of God's power in the economy of our salvation. But the Apostle interrupts his speech and fixes the Ephesians' attention on the contemplation of God's immeasurable grace toward them.

He says to them, as it were, in a parenthesis: take note, you have been saved by grace. The purpose of the first part of the epistle is to bring the Ephesians, and with them all the Gentiles, to the knowledge of God's great mercy toward them. This mercy is shown by the fact that they too have been admitted to participation in the blessings gathered for us in the person of the Savior, alongside the Jews. By the right of their people's ancient election, the Jews entered this participation as an inheritance.

When he has finished speaking about God's power in the ordering of salvation, he immediately reminds them of this (v. 11 and following). By grace you have been saved. Two verses later he repeats the same thing. Two verses after that he says it even more strongly: therefore remember. So greatly did he desire to implant this truth in their minds.

It may also be thought that, with this purpose, he himself was moved by contemplation of the greatness of God's grace. He spoke so because the feeling of wonder was irresistible: by grace you have been saved; by grace you have been saved. Therefore remember what you were and what you have now become.

Let us remind ourselves in passing that this word is addressed also to us Russians, for we too are from the Gentiles. Blessed Theophylact writes: "The Apostle inserted these words in the midst of his discourse out of deep wonder, struck by the ineffability of God's gift."

The meaning of the words is evident. You, says the Apostle, had nothing that could attract God's good pleasure toward you. He Himself, moved by His love, looked graciously upon you and brought you within the enclosure of salvation.

Judged by the fact that you were dead through sin, you ought to have been cast farther from His face, as dead corpses are cast away. "By grace, and not for your labors and uprightness, you have been saved" (Oecumenius). "As to works, you were worthy of every punishment. Grace saved you" (Theophylact).

Yet when the Apostle says you, he does not exclude the Jews from the same law of salvation by grace. He is only striving to impress this truth especially upon the Ephesians. He regards all as saved by grace, both Jews and Gentiles. Theodoret does not distinguish the persons, but understands this passage generally, saying: "We were called to salvation not because of our valiant life, but according to the love of Him who saved us."