In chapters 2 and 3, Paul continues to explain the mystery of the church, as he did in chapter 1. He describes how God selected the Jews to be His chosen people. But when they rejected Him as a nation, He opened up salvation to the Gentiles. Now the Jews and the Gentiles are merged as one church under God.
My favorite part of these chapters is 2:1-10. Paul explains that before salvation, we are spiritual corpses with no life. God drew us to Himself, and with His grace He makes us alive by putting His Spirit inside us. Paul also calls us “God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (2:10). This thought piggybacks on what I wrote about last week. Before creation, not only did God choose me to be His child, He also prepared good works for me to do. What good works am I doing for God?
Praise God for His salvation! I also love this description from our BSF lecture: Salvation spares us justice (receiving the punishment we deserve) and demonstrates God’s mercy (not receiving the punishment we deserve) and His grace (undeserved favor).
To illustrate this point, our teaching leader used the example of a speeding ticket. If in the future Avery is speeding and a police officer stops her and issues her a speeding ticket, that is justice — receiving the punishment she deserves for her sin. If the officer says she’s guilty of speeding and she deserves a ticket but he doesn’t issue one to her, that is mercy — not receiving the punishment she deserves. If the officer issues her a ticket but I pay it for her, that is grace — undeserved favor.
Have you experienced God’s mercy and grace? Have you thanked Him for them today?