Ephesians 2 Footnotes

2:1-6 Being “dead” in sins does not imply that unbelievers can do no good or that they cannot respond to the message of salvation through God’s initiating grace. Rather, this describes their hopeless condition as separated from God (vv. 11-12). Salvation removes that separation (v. 13) and locates believers “in Christ Jesus.”

2:8-9 Faith is the means by which people acquire salvation: it is “through faith.” Salvation by grace through faith comes as God’s gift, not by works.

2:10 While good works cannot merit right standing with God, good works are the fruit produced in the lives of those whom God has saved. Good works are neither an afterthought nor optional in the lives of believers. God created and saved for the very purpose of accomplishing good works.

2:13-15 In securing peace through his death, Christ demolished all ethnic barriers in the church. The church should be the world’s most racially integrated community.