Ephesians 2:5

dead in sins Better, in respect of our trespasses. See on Ephesians 2:1 the construction is the same.

hath quickened Did quicken, i.e., bring from death to life; ideally, when our Lord and Head rose to life; actually, when we, by faith, were united to Him.

together with Christ As vitally and by covenant one with Him. For all His true "members," His Death of propitiation is as if theirs; His Life of acceptance before the Father, and of spiritual triumph and power, is as if theirs also. As it is to Himthe Divine pledge of the finished work of satisfaction, that pledge is theirs;as Heappears in it "in the power of indissoluble life" (Hebrews 7:16), they,"because He lives, live also" (John 14:19). For the phrase cp. Colossians 2:13, which fixes the main reference to Acceptance. See accordingly Romans 4:25; "He was raised again by reason of our justification." Another reading, but not well supported, gives, "He quickened us together inChrist."

(by grace ye are saved)] Lit. ye have been saved; and so Ephesians 2:8. The verb is perfect. More usually the present tense appears, "ye are being saved;" e.g.1 Corinthians 15:2; 2 Corinthians 2:15 ("them that are being saved; them that are perishing"); the Christian being viewed as under the process of preservationwhich is to terminate in glory. See 1 Peter 1:5. And again a frequent meaning of the noun "salvation" is that glory itself, as in the text just quoted and Romans 13:11. Here, where the whole context favours such a reference, the reference is to the completeness, in the Divine purpose and covenant, of the rescue of the members of the true Church. From the Divine point of view that is a fait accompliwhich from the human point of view is a thing in process, or in expectation. "By grace:" for commentary, see the Ep. to the Romans, esp. cch. 3, 4. and Romans 11:5-6. The emphatic statement here is due to the whole context, (so full of the thought of a salvation which the saved could not possibly have generated, deadas they were,) and, immediately, to the phrase "quickened with Christ," which involves the thought of the entire dependence of their "life" on Him.