“And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.” (Ephesians 2:1-2)
One of the most notable characteristics of our Savior’s earthly ministry was his power to bring healing to the sick and life to the dead. Not only were these healing and resurrecting miracles life-changing for those who experienced them, they also incorporated a significance even beyond the obvious in that they were representative of something greater.
Christ made his mission clearly known to all who would listen, “I am come that you might have life, and that you might have it more abundantly,” (John 10:10). He also said, “I am the resurrection and the life: he that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die,” (John 11:25-26). Why? Because he is “the way, the truth, and the life.”
Christ not only gives life, he IS life. And as pure, infinite life, he necessarily heals the physically sick and resurrects the physically dead back to an earthly wholeness. But the greater significance to this truth is that he also infuses spiritual, eternal life into those who are dead in sin.
To quicken, as the word is translated in Ephesians 2:1-12, means “to give life to the dead,” (Rom. 4:17), or to put the life of grace into a soul who is dead in trespasses and sins. So when one who is spiritually dead is made alive to God by faith, they are said to be “quickened.”
God often uses means to accomplish his ends. And the principle means he uses to quicken those who are spiritually dead is his word, the holy Scripture. As Hebrews 4:12 states, “the word of God is quick,” that is, it has the power to quicken, or bring to life, that which is spiritually dead through the working of the Spirit of God.
Further, Christ himself is called “the Word” (John 1:1; Rev. 19:13) because he is God communicated to man. God the Son was “made in the likeness of men” (Phil. 2:7) so that God the Father could be communicated to and understood by humanity.
So the “quick” word of God, exhibited through the quickening power of Christ and the Spirit, are the means God uses to create this new life of grace in us (James 1:18; John 17:17). Thomas Wilson notes, “It [the Word of God] directs and teaches us the way to eternal life.”
Christ gives life and breath to natural men for as long as he wills (John 1:3-4, Job 33:4), resurrected life to dead men (John 5:28), and grace to sinful men in order to quicken them to spiritual life and godliness. And at the consummation of all things, he will give an eternal life of glory to his own (John 10:28, 14:6, 17:2). For Christ IS life. So it follows that “of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory forever. Amen,” (Rom. 11:36).
Contemplations:
- Lord, inherent in my spiritual nature is the evidence of life and necessity for growth. If I claim to belong to the source of life such that I now participate in eternal life, I must necessarily show evidence of life, i.e., growth. Further, the more alive something is, the more growth it exhibits. Which means that the more of the Spirit of life I make room for in my heart, the more of your life I evidence.
- I see, Lord, that grace gives spiritual life now and the seed of eternal glory to come. This occurs because the source of all life who is Christ and the operation of his Holy Spirit is at work in me. The best of a man’s natural life is dull and dead in comparison to the supernatural life that comes from above. Union to the living God and communion with him in Christ through the Spirit is the only source of this supernatural life. As a result, the new creature that I have become must necessarily grow more and more like You.
- On searching, Lord, I find a lack of lively principles in me. I desire to evidence more spiritual aliveness. Many who profess to follow Christ wither and waste miserably away because they were never incorporated into your covenant intimately. They that have their life rooted in an earthly nature may flourish for a while but will eventually evidence destruction and death. By contrast, the life of the new man is unshakably rooted in God’s security, in the heart of Christ, supplied by his Spirit to safeguard him from all winter’s blasts of temptations and corruptions.
- It is impossible to think about life and not also consider death. And I know there are great terrors of conscience for those who are not quickened by your Spirit (Heb. 2:15). Such are even now under the power of death and the bondage of Satan (Eph. 2:2). They bear the curse of God even in their earthly blessings, by which they are fitted for destruction (Rom. 9:22).
Further references for Eph. 2:1-2:
Col. 2:13; Luke 15:24; Eph. 5:14; John 10:10
