Ephesians 1-2:13

Commentary by Gary Jones

¹ This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus.

Tradition maintains that this letter was indeed written by Paul from prison in Rome, around 63 AD.  The letters of Colossians and Philemon were also written about this same time.  This particular letter does not appear to be directed towards any specific problem in the church.  It is more of a doctrinal statement than the augments in letter to the Romans.  Luke records Paul’s visits to Ephesus during his Second (around 50 AD) and Third (around 55 AD) Missionary Journeys [Acts 18-20].  The timing tends to indicate that this letter is a follow up message to those who he knew and possibly had some indirect contact with through messages from various travelers and visitors to his prison.  The similarity in the doctrinal theology with that of the letters to the Romans and to the Galatians may indicate his sensitivity about how all Christians tend to ask questions concerning the common struggles experienced in the sanctification process.

God’s will is being done, in all matters, is a major theme in this letter.  This first verse opens with the emphasis that God acts and we react according to His purpose.

I am writing to God’s holy people in Ephesus, who are faithful followers of Christ Jesus.

The earliest and best-known manuscripts do not include the phrase “in Ephesus.”  Also, the 15^th verse of this chapter is considered by some a puzzling comment, “ever since I heard about your faith,” which causes a reader to wonder if this letter was really to those in Ephesus, since Paul had spent over three years living in  this city.  When there is a puzzle, there are all shorts of theories following close behind.  The Scriptures are not based upon theories, irrelevant to any consensus, and independent from academic efforts.  It should be remembered that The Spirit controls this document.  It is a waste of time to indulge our curiosity by speculating about what the gaps in our information might mean.  We should never try to add or subtract from His word.  As this verse so eloquently is telling us, we are to separate ourselves from worldly temptations, like unfounded speculation, and to follow faithfully the guidance of Christ’s Spirit.  The recipients of this letter should first appreciate what following The Spirit means before reading further.

² May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.

When we follow The Spirit then we will have peace in the grace that Christ has provided.  It is a good thing to hope that grace and peace will be felt in the life of all believers.  When the peace gives way into anxiety or fear, we should question the status of our condition.  This letter is a powerful source to search and to learn about God’s “will” for our lives.

³ All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.

“Count your blessings name them one by one” is the old refrain that goes too often neglected or ignored.  We accept readily the idea that God is the source of our “good” blessings, but we tend to resist the notion that God also gives us all of the other things as well.  Blessings are qualified here as “spiritual” and thus implies there are some blessings that are temporal in nature.  Such a differentiation of blessings can be confusing and controversial.  If we accept the fact that there is only spiritual blessing then such confusion goes away.  Since we do not live in the past, even if we try, and we do not live in the future, as in dreams, then it follows all of our life is in the moment, which is spiritual.  The moment is, therefore, not only our touch of the spiritual but also in such a moment we have everything we need.  This is made possible by Christ, God’s gift given without our consent or our submission.

The reason we ignore most of our blessings is because either they are not seen as blessings or they are not noticed.  We must make an effort to recognize that God’s plan is in motion.  The moments go by so fast and we assume most of these so-called blessings are natural occurrences or “lucky” breaks that we deserve due to our hard work.  We are in some way being rewarded for our “good” life.  We oppose the suggestion that we are being continuously guided towards a path that is not under our control.  The very word “blessing” connotes a happening in the present, not past or future, that we could perceive as transforming some future event into something better than if this blessing never occurred.  Such a definition would naturally include all those things we would normally classify as “bad” things if such things yielded “good” results.  The Hebrew language expands this wide definition even wider by including a curse as a possible blessing.  This verse includes “every” blessing that is a part of Christ’s plan for eternity.  This promise is compatible with “all things work together for good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose” [Romans 8:28].  “All things” have to include both the good and the bad things; this is not open to choice.

Some like to imply that this verse represents a promise that we can claim as asset, “name it and claim it”.  There is no contingency connected with this verse.  This verse is a statement of a fact and does not imply we can aspire to some greater blessing than we already have.  This verse relates to a state of “Position,” which is determined by God, and has nothing to do with our current “Condition.”  Confusing the subjects of “Salvation” and “Sanctification” so early in any study of this letter only makes the rest of this letter more difficult than it needs to be.  We need to praise God for what He has already done and not try to introduce complexities that are not here.  The born-again are alive in  the spiritual domain, a blessing, a moment-by-moment experience, which results in a continuously changing “Condition,” which is, in turn, managed by God’s Spirit.

⁴ Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.

This verse is an emphasis on the previous verse.  This whole matter was settled before time began.  All of these blessings were determined before anyone was born!  Consequently, all of these blessings are “good” and there are no “bad” blessings, regardless of what we might think.  David’s testifies that every day was written in God’s ledger before any of them came to be [Psalms 139: 16].  Before anything was created means this loving and choosing occurred before it was possible for any human participation.  This is a very difficult thought to comprehend.  The good news is we do not have to understand it or even accept it.  It is a fact that is independent of our minds and emotions.  The choosing is also independent of our faith.  This is a revolutionary concept stated here as a fact, in God’s word.

There is a pervasive attempt to project our temporal timelines into a timeless the domain.  Such an attempt is futile and the resulting conclusions derived from theses attempts are meaningless.  The confusing attempts to explain election and predestination are examples of this attempt.  One assumption is that the gift of faith is only applicable after Christ’s sacrifice, but Hebrews 11 presents a list of individuals who had faith before this specific act of grace.  There are strong beliefs held by many that only those who make a public stated declaration about their faith are eligible for Salvation.  This assumption theoretically limits God’s choice in the matter and confuses us about God’s Sovereignty.  Another deviation in doctrine brought about in this time and timeless confusion is the subject of the so-called belief in Universalism.  We need to calm down and take God’s word just the way it is and not try to invent confusion in the pursuit of some intellectual theory or try to fill in the gaps because we do not understand something.

⁵ God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ.  This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.  ⁶ So, we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son.

God decided things in a timeless domain because He wanted to do it all for His pleasure.  We cannot affect these plans in anyway.  He does not need to explain any of this to us because we would not understand it anyway.  He did not ask us to participate or approve of His actions  It is amazing when we stop to think about all of the theories and beliefs we humans hold dear in an attempt to claim some ownership over a piece of His plans.  He has given us a few clues about what He is doing [Romans 8:29], but He has told us we are sheep in His fold.  It is arrogant to assume or claim we are anything more.

⁷ He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins.  ⁸ He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.

We cannot understand what timeless means, but this is the easy part.  God’s kindness and grace is much harder to appreciate.  These things are a part of God’s nature, which must be taught to us through another of His attributes, His patience.  Because of these incomprehensible indicators of God’s nature, we are given faith so that we can learn from, gain some understanding through, and begin to appreciate God’s plan.  In the absence of this faith, we are totally helpless.  This faith was given to some long before, in the time domain, God allowed the planned shedding of His Son’s blood.  This sacrifice was planned before the creation and its affect was imparted to all those who have been given faith [Hebrews 11:3-40].  These saints’ faith provides to us a reason to appreciate God’s kindness and grace before anyone had a into God’s eternal plan of reconciliation.  We must conclude that God knows what He is doing all by Himself.

⁹ God has now revealed to us his mysterious plan regarding Christ, a plan to fulfill his own good pleasure.  ¹⁰ And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth. 

God’s revelation through His word has given to us a small peak into His plan.  He has given to us more than we will ever understand in this life, but with this revelation, we find when we search deeper into God’s word an inexhaustible source of information emerges about God’s ways, plans, and promises.  Just imagine what it means when it says, “everything together under the authority of Christ.”  This must mean everything in heaven and earth.  If we believe this, then why should be blame other forces for this event or that.  What could possibly qualify as being outside of the jurisdiction of “everything?”

¹¹ Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.

“In Christ” there is an unlimited authority, power, and relationship with God.  In this “Position” with Christ, the born-again Christian has no denominational differences with other born-again Christians.  All belong to the same family.  The temporal divisions we see in our Christian churches are a manifestation of the varying degree of influence coming from a collective “Conditioning.”  A person’s current condition is independent of a person’s position with Christ.  Appreciating this verse, without trying to create doctrine, helps us to soften disagreements concerning consensus beliefs.  We must try to understand the difference between “Position” and “Condition” and timelessness and temporal timelines.

¹² God’s purpose was that we Jews who were the first to trust in Christ would bring praise and glory to God.  ¹³ And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you.  And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago.  ¹⁴ The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people.  He did this so we would praise and glorify him.

Notice the phrase “first to trust,” which is “first to hope” in the NIV, is an accurate translation of the Greek, epainos doxa, tells us that there is something different here from having a saving faith.  This kind of trust or hope, as indicated by all of these phrases, comes after the giving of faith.  This aspect of growth is part of the sanctification process.  We should not jump to the conclusion that saving faith is the object of this sentence.  God’s purpose is to grow the saved child to a point where there is a natural praise and an acknowledgement that it is all for God’s glory.  This growth in the life of God’s child begins to be seen in all who have been given faith.  The reference here to The Spirit is to emphases The Spirit’s work in this sanctification process.  We are to look upon this work as our assurance that God is working in our lives and to encourage us to thank Him for all that He is doing. 

Keeping the concepts of “Position” and “Condition” separated is important in examining this verse.  We have to be given faith before we can come to a point where praise and glorifying Him is possible.  It is from this gift of faith that promises are fulfilled and God’s purposes of developing His children become possible.  The context of these verses is about sanctification, which we are calling the “Conditioning” process.  Confusing this passage with any level of self-determination is a disservice to the context, and this is an indication of mixing salvation and sanctification in our interpretation.

¹⁵ Ever since I first heard of your strong faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for God’s people everywhere, ¹⁶ I have not stopped thanking God for you.  I pray for you constantly, ¹⁷ asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. ¹⁸ I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance.

The time of Paul’s first hearing of the Ephesians’ is most likely from fellow travelers, such as Priscilla and Aquila, as he made his way from Corinth on his first visit to Ephesus [Acts 18:18-21].  On his return visit, he stayed long enough to know these people very well.  His prayer here out of a sincere love for them that had developed over time. 

This prayer is asking God to bring about a development in the lives of these people that affects both their minds and their emotions.  As their knowledge grows, they may develop a new insight into the truth, an uncovering of God’s ways, which is necessary for further growth.  In addition, that they may experience some God’s enlightenment so profound that it becomes visible to those around them, as this light shins in the darkness.  These developments in turn produce an appreciation for the riches and the glorious inheritance that God has given them.

¹⁹ I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him.  This is the same mighty power ²⁰ that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms.

Such understanding dwarfs human anxiety to an amazing smallness. 

⁴Rejoice in the Lord always.  I will say it again: Rejoice!  ⁵Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.  ⁶Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  ⁷And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  [Philippians 4:4-7]

Never assume this level of understanding comes quickly or easily.  This level of joy must be learned through The Spirit’s guidance.  There are no records about God ever answering the prayer for understanding with some mystical pronouncement.  God answers this prayer through the work of The Spirit, which typically entails a lot of pain and suffering.  No weekend seminar, some “How to” book, or a mountaintop experience will make it happen.  It is good to think about what Paul went through before he could write this passage or claim such understanding.

²¹ Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else—not only in this world but also in the world to come.  ²² God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made him head over all things for the benefit of the church.

We need to stop and read and re-read this verse when it seems everything that could go wrong is going wrong.  When it seems evil is winning on all fronts and injustice is running rampant, this is a good verse to consider.  This verse is telling us in unequivocal terms that everything is under His control and therefore according to His plan and is for the eternal good of His elect.

²³ And the church is his body; it is made full and complete by Christ, who fills all things everywhere with himself.

Being “in Christ” means being in the same body that Christ calls His body.  This is another one of those eternal statements; that applies to the timeless domain.  This is a “Position” statement where there is no condemnation [Romans 8:1].  The verbs are always in the present tense because its reality is always in the eternal “Now.”  This is not a constructed position, a contrived condition, or a craved choice.  This “Position” was established before the creation of heaven and earth.

Ephesians 2

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.

In our original “condition,” we began with our inherent nature plus our instincts.  This is a disastrous state of affairs, totally helpless in following God’s ways, like a dead person.  This life was filled with confusion, discontentment, and foolish pride.  We were taught from an early age that success and happiness were our goals, gained through cunning and hard work.  We were taught if we have a religious background, that this world was a proving ground, place where we are tested.  The better we performed according to authority figures and peers the better we would fair with God in the hereafter.  The world offered models and test exercises to equip us with the tools necessary to meet life’s challenges.  Some seemed to be “luckier” than others were and they served as role models to emulate.  Behind this testing, there were threats and stories about an evil force battling against all that was right and good.  The purpose given for this evil force was to cause us to suffer and to give us new challenges to make us stronger and more decisive in our testing. 

The very word “transgression” indicates to us that this condition is an alienation from the presence of God.  The Greek word, paraptoma, literary means to fall, to deviate from the truth.  This condition is humanly unserviceable, deserving of the garbage heap.  It would be like flying by without anything to lift us up.  The euphuistic thought about how we are here to advance ourselves through experiencing and overcoming life’s challenges is according to this verse pure nonsense.  The dead cannot resurrect themselves out of death.  Enemies of God cannot negotiate some settlement to heal this great divide.   This condition is independent from the knowledge or the acceptance of the law.  This is a natural state.

There is a clear separation between two environments here.  There is the inherent condition, “used to live” and an implied new condition.  The inherent condition is by its nature following an authority that is limited to “the air.”  This “air” authority must mean an authority in this temporal domain.  This “air” authority has the prototype nature or spirit that works “in those who are disobedient” or transgressors.  This prototype nature seems to advocate that disobedience of God’s commands is the “right” thing to do.  This defiant disobedience brings about the enviable death to the spirit to those who clutch such notions.

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.

The original condition processed information and acted according to only inherent instincts and the world’s influence promoted by the established actions originating from the prototype spirit.  The prototype spirit started, eons ago, with pride and selfish desires to advance its evil purpose in order to control everything within its domain.  This combination of inherent desires describes the nature of those who are condemned to eternal death, “objects of wrath.”

Two separate conditions are again cited here.  The inherent condition, which has passed, and the current condition, which is different from the “at one time,” is carefully contrasted for us.  These two states are compared for a very good reason.  Our residual and inherent sinful nature wants to deny that we are helpless in this matter.  There is in us a self-pride claiming loudly we can just say, no!  We need to understand that this is impossible in our self-control.  It is the contrast between the two natures, the old versus the new, that is the focus of this verse.  It is God’s will, which makes the difference.

Notice the center of the blame is placed on the “sinful nature.”  The distinction between the “objects of wrath” and the rest is the effect of the sinful nature.  This does not contradict the previous verse that references “the ruler of the kingdom of the air” rather we are given a priority about the center of the problem. 

Our environment does affect our thoughts and influence our desires, but it is our sinful nature, which causes these things to be dangerous.  We can breathe polluted air and not even notice it until we develop emphysema or lung cancer.  This “ruler of the kingdom of the air” has impact only relative to our inhaling habits.  If The Spirit is controlling our breathing then we are shielded through faith by God’s infinite power [1 Peter 1:5].  Many claim that this authority is “Satan,” but neither in context nor in the words is this assumption justified.  The Greek for this interpreted word “authority,” exousia, can mean a personal choice, or a physical and mental power; it certainly should not be assumed to mean a personal supernatural demon or a visitation from the created being we call the devil or Satan.  The context is pointing to the “sinful nature” as being the ruler of the spirit (singular) of disobedience.  The kingdom of the air is our total environment, our atmospheric region, our aer and nothing more.  The three rules in interpretation are always, context, context, and context.  The reason for this confusion among many is a desire to blame something, anything, outside of the personal self.  It is popular to discount our inherent sinful nature and elevate some supernatural being to a place of control and leadership, when all along we are our number one enemy.

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.

There is hope in the middle of this helpless condition.  Our inherent condition is not our destiny because God has arranged to alter this old nature, actually resurrect it from its death, and to make us alive, as God did with His Son, Jesus Christ.  This is a very personal promise directed towards those who have been given faith. 

There are here two humanly incomprehensible words used before the major verb -- love and mercy.  Love, agape, is an unnatural emotion because it is a charity without any concealed motive, completely free from the sinful nature.  This love is a gift coming from The Spirit with the wisdom, will, and control of God.  Only after significant and painful dying of the sinful nature can anyone approximate this kind of love.  This is a very serious and critical word and should never be use flippantly.  God’s agape is infinite in power because it is part of His nature.  The “great” love here is not just about the goodness of love; it is about the many to whom it is addressed.  Certainly, God’s love is good and it is given for the benefit of many, polus.

God’s attribute of mercy is different form His love.  Mercy is more of a clemency towards an undeserving transgressor or towards someone in need.  This is an action taken for a purpose to alleviate a distress or some level of suffering.  Mercy can be an expression of love, but it is not for eternity.  Mercy has limits and it has degree of application. 

The difference between love and mercy is love without purpose and mercy always has a purpose.  God’s nature is love and He is rich in mercy.  These attributes, God’s nature and God’s mercy, can be thought of as being similar to how a creative power is different from the product of the creation.  God’s mercy has been extended and used in various forms since the beginning in His dealings with humankind.  His love is His nature, which is eternal.  God’s mercy will end, but His love will never end.

These attributes are carefully place in this verse as precursors to the verb “made.”  This verb represents a powerful thought being communicated to us.  It literally means that God is assembling all the necessary parts in order to create something that is completely new, unlike the previous assembly.  The choice of this particular verb does not give justice to the thought that is conveyed in the Greek.  Suzopoieo is the Greek word that can be thought of as taking something inert and giving it life.  This is reminiscing of creating of Adam from the dust on the ground or the creation of the heaven and the earth from nothing.  Only God can do such a thing.  This action and this creation are free from any human participation.  He made us alive!  The reason is because of His love and mercy.

This new life starts in the presence of Christ, at the center of God’s will, love, and mercy.  This life is located where Christ is and is sharing this life with Christ.  This life is in a perfect “position.”  It does not matter what was the condition of the raw material used by God, which was full of corruption, decay, and death.  God created this new being because He wanted to out of His love and mercy.  He has a purpose for this life, which will require a lot of merciful and patience care before the holder of this life can become conformed into the image of the master template [Romans 8:29].  This is all done because of something the Bible calls grace.  It appears this grace is a combination of His love, His work, and His plan.  There are no adequate synonyms for this gift of grace, and God bestows this grace on anyone He chooses.  This verse indicates this grace is the source of eternal life, and it is a mystery to those who have it and an aggravation to anyone who does not have it.

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.

Possessing grace provides unimaginable benefits in the eternal domain.  Honors beyond anyone’s dreams or expectations are promised to those who are given this grace.  The only clues we are given on why God would do such things for those who are by their nature completely unworthy are given to us back in the first chapter [Ephesians 1:5, 6].  God wanted to give us this life so that we could thank Him for what He is doing. 

There are no human words to describe, even in a small way, this grace.  After all, how could we possibly grasp the meaning of grace when we cannot even define His love or His mercy?  Such concepts are outside of our limited understanding and knowledge.  We are required, by design, to yield all these matters over to God Spirit for His disposition.

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.

It seems, the way these two versed are stated, that grace represents a power, and since the product of this power is eternal life, it is evident that God is the source of this power.  Thus, this God given grace is the single criterion by which eternal life is secured.  After grace is given, apparently a state or a position in this state of grace is created to hold the “saved.”  The gift of grace flows into a human mind and emotion structure through a conduit called faith.  The eternal power of grace touches the temporal domain and initiates this human structure of faith.  This structure is a complex mixture being intellectually convinced and emotionally bond to a human impossibility [Hebrews 1:1] without any rational evidence.  This Scriptures tells us that this is possible because God makes it happen [John 6:29].  Therefore, we have this grace we cannot understand coming by a faith that is unnatural and illogical.

The explanation we are given here is that all of this is a gift from God.  We accept other things from God without understanding them, why not this grace and faith.  The rain is an example of God’s gift of life.  Meteorologists spend there lives studying and trying to understand the subject of rain and best they can do is make predictions, which are often wrong.  We accept the rain without even thinking very hard about it/.  It rains when it rains is good enough for most of us; The Spirit goes where The Spirit goes [John 3:8].

God is responsible for these gifts and we are not.  The point is driven home in the phrase, “it is not by works, so no can boast.”  In other words, this grace and faith is God’s business [John 6:29], outside of our purview, we cannot do anything about even if we wanted to. 

A criterion of such great importance and coming from God, without any human participation, has resulted in a wide range of controversies and confusions.  All of the energy and effort that have gone into “proving” one pet theory over another seems like a waist of time.  At one extreme, there are those who believe that humans play a necessary role in the gift of grace, and at the other extreme, there are those who hold to the literal meaning of this verse where it is the gift of God.  Others take a compromise position that there is truth in both extremes.  In the final analysis, it does not matter.  If you think you have grace, it does not matter where it came from.  If you think grace is a religious term then none of this makes any sense anyway.

¹⁰For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

In making us alive in Christ, God is developing a life long plan for each and every one of His children.  As David once wrote,

“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.  My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”  [Psalm 139:14-16]

This poetic impression gives us a feeling for the detail that goes into God planning for each of His children.  Such detail points to a complete plan that has been set into motion without any human approvable or negotiation.  This careful planning does not eliminate human error or the influence of the sinful nature.  Just as David deviated from a hypothetically efficient course, every one must go through rigorous training including good and evil appreciation training.  Most of this training is laboratory experimentation testing the principles of this world.  The pain and suffering resulting from all of this experimentation produces the necessary tools necessary in dealing with the troubles found in this life.

The classification of works as being “good” means that these works are according to The Father’s will and not necessarily something we might consider good or even pleasing.  In fact, the world looks upon most of the good things in this world as foolish [1 Corinthians 1:21-25].  God’s will is often considered foolishness in this world.  When we ask for God’s will to be done, we typically think about some grand and glorious event or some significant problem to be solved.  When in reality, God’s will is all about the individual moments that past by without us even noticing.  The pages of His book turn without our agreement or enforcement.  We learn our lessons that He is teaching us by looking back, to those past moments (gone and never to return) and comparing our recent performance with our past lessons, painfully learned.  This cycle of trial and error continues, as we grow, until we are at a place where we can appreciate God’s ways.  During this growing process, we are influencing others during their development, as they are influencing us.  Their trials are important lessons to us, as our trials are beneficial to them.  This exchange, or sometimes called witnessing or testimonies, are a part of these good works.  Most of our lessons are not even noticed by or by anyone else.  We are usually too busy looking at the spectacular and missing the real important things, which are being registered in our soul.

Being lead by The Spirit means that these good works may be, and often are, menial jobs, which are teaching important lessons in patience and humility.  Such tasking is important in God’s plan of things, sometimes more important than those high profile jobs that are sought after.  God prepares, arraigns, and secures the right task at the right time.  This is what makes a job good, and without The Spirit’s leadership our tasking is all wrong, which will become obvious in time.  God knows before we were born what we would be doing for Him.

¹¹Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision" (that done in the body by the hands of men)— ¹²remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.

Before God’s act of grace that made you alive, everyone is separated from Christ, which means you are a foreigner outside of God’s kingdom, without any claim to God’s promises and eternal hope.  This is a tough statement.  The contrast between this and the previous passages emphasizes the insignificances of the human role in God’s plan.  Those who thought they were contributing --- those circumcised by human hands --- are not counted as members of God’s family and are separated from Christ.  Without the gift of grace, there is no eternal hope.  It does not matter whether you are Gentile or Jew, if you are without the gift of grace there is no citizenship in the community of God’s chosen people, the real Israel.

¹³But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.

In the Greek, the preposition “in” is particularly significant.  It can be interpreted as by means of Christ.  In other words, Christ created this state, and this state is a permanent reality because Christ is eternal.  This is a new state, as compared to the former separated condition, existed before Christ’s creative action.  The means used to initiate this new condition was the shedding of His blood.  Therefore, the person who is moved from a distant foreign state is now placed in a new state that is in Christ’s domain.