Ephesians 2 starts with "And." Clearly Paul didn't have the same chapter breaks when he wrote his epistle. "And" is a conjunction. It joins two ideas. "But" is a conjunction that separates two ideas, but this "and" joins them. So ... to what does the "and" refer?
Paul didn't write with our chapter breaks, so here he is referring to what went before. The first chapter, after the introduction (Eph 1:1-3), is a listing of various blessing that God has already blessed us with (Eph 1:3-14). We're chosen for holiness, predestined for adoption, redeemed by His blood, privy to the mystery of all things summed up in Christ, an inheritance, and the seal of the Holy Spirit. Because of this, Paul prays for them (Eph 1:15-23).He wants them to know hope, and the riches of His inheritance, and the immeasurable greatness of His power. "And ..." Paul links all that wonderful stuff with the incredibly bad news: "You were dead in the trespasses and sins" (Eph 2:1-3). How does that make sense? Yes! When we see the bad news, the good news gets bigger. When we see how we were dead and are now blessed with those blessings, it gets bigger. When we understand that we were "following the prince of the power of the air" and then discover that His power is at work in us, it gets huge.
"And" is a conjunction that joins the blessings we've been given to the sin from which we've come. Together, it makes a massive picture of grace that we barely can even grasp. When, in verse 4, Paul writes, "But God," it becomes a really big "but." It's not merely contrasted with our sin condition. It also amplifies the blessings we've received. "When we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ" (Eph 2:5). In the first chapter, Paul pointed out that these blessings were "to the praise of His glorious grace" (Eph 1:6). Suddenly that unmerited favor becomes enormous, helped by a little conjunction.
2 comments:
I have a conjunction in Romans 8 I'm trying to makes sense of, when Paul says, "So then, brothers..." Because of how my Bibles give minor headings to sections, it separates this conjunction from the previous verses visually, but I'm struggling to understand the connection.
Yes, the chapter breaks can disrupt the flow of, in this case, a letter meant to be considered as a whole. Paul is building a very encouraging picture of the many blessings that come with the faith in Christ that has saved us. Zooming in on Paul’s writings and focusing on his message in very small doses as you are doing really helps us see the many riches we might have otherwise missed.
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