In 2:8 Paul tells us that “by grace you have been saved through faith.” Before we were saved, we could enjoy certain worldly entertainments. But after we were saved, our tastes spontaneously changed. If you go back to those things you enjoyed before you were saved, you will find them very different. What a tremendous difference God’s salvation makes!
Using a verbal form of the Greek word for grace, in 1:6 Paul says that God has “graced us in the Beloved.” He has put us into the position of grace that we may be the object of His grace and favor, that we may enjoy all that God is to us. Some versions say that God has favored us. We have been graced, favored, in the Beloved.
In 2:5 we see that God has made us alive together with Christ. As those who were God’s enemies, we needed to be reconciled. As those who were lost, we needed to be saved. Moreover, as those who were dead in trespasses and sins, we needed to be made alive. When we called on the name of the Lord Jesus, we were enlivened by receiving the Spirit of life. When Christ came into us, He came with the divine life. In this way, He made us alive. He enlivens us by being the life within us. The life with which we are enlivened includes the law of life, the sense of life, the fellowship of life, and every other aspect of the experience of life.
In 2:6 we see that we have been raised up together in Christ. We were not only dead, but also buried. Therefore, God not only made us alive; He also raised us up from among the dead. Praise Him, we have been raised up from the grave!
In 2:6 we also see that God has “seated us together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus.” Many Christians are waiting to go to heaven, but we are already in heaven. In Christ God has seated us all together, once for all, in the heavenlies. This was accomplished when Christ ascended to the heavens, and it is applied to us by the Spirit of Christ. Today we realize in experience this reality in our spirit through faith in the accomplished fact. If we exercise our spirit in a genuine way, we shall have the sense that we are sitting in the heavenlies looking down at the situation on earth. However, if we exercise our natural reason instead of our spirit, we shall have the sense that we are on earth. Nevertheless, according to the revelation of the Scriptures, we are seated with Christ in the heavenlies.
In 1:14 Paul speaks of the redemption of the acquired or purchased possession. The New Testament reveals that God has purchased us with a great price, the precious blood of Christ. In order to acquire us, God had to pay such a high price.
Ephesians 1:13 says that we “were sealed with the Holy Spirit of the promise.” This verse indicates that God has sealed us; He has put His seal upon us. This seal is the Holy Spirit Himself. After we were purchased with the blood of Christ, God sealed us. Because we have been sealed, we bear a mark, the image of God. Although we may fail and become unclean, this seal, this mark, cannot he removed.
In 1:14 Paul says that we have become God’s possession, His acquired possession. God possesses us. We should have the realization that we belong to Him.