Walking in the Spirit results in good works
Ephesians 2 is filled with the good news of grace for both our justification and sanctification. The chapter begins by describing our natural condition—trapped in sin and by sin, rebelling against God to pursue our own ends on the one hand and suffering as the victims of those ends on the other—and then moves to how God loved us and rescued us by His grace , His sheer goodwill. The first half of the chapter focuses on what happened in the past—how God took pity on us and rescued His people, delivering us from our sin and His wrath. But the story doesn’t end there. As Peter O’Brien notes, salvation has already been described by Paul as relief from something negative: “a resurrection from the dead, a liberation from slavery, and a rescue from condemnation.” The chapter continues to verse 10, which centers on how God’s deliverance means we are created anew for lives of righteousness. The theme of Ephesians 2:8-9 is clear: grace. This theme was already mentioned in 1:4, when Paul ...