But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus – Ephesians 2:4-6
Remaining with the universal audience, Paul begins to lay out the eschatological realities of our current salvation. After assuring us of our participation “in Christ” throughout the first chapter, Paul here links every stage of our salvation to the experienced vindication and justification of Jesus Christ (Eph 1:19-20). This is not the only place the Paul stresses our salvation based upon the experience of Jesus Christ (Rom 6:1-11; 1 Cor 15:1-19).
We have been made “alive” with respect to sin in contrast to our death (Eph 2:1). Elsewhere Paul says we must now consider ourselves “dead to sin” (Rom 6:11). This is in its simplest form salvation or also deliverance. For when we carried out the “desires of the body” (Eph 2:3), we were in fact letting sin “reign” (Rom 6:12). And in letting sin reign we were slaves to sin (John 8:34; Rom 6:16-19).
What cannot be lost in this is the closing reality: we have been seated. We are seated with Christ in authority and power (Matt 28:18-20).
