As we begin this lesson, we have combined two questions into one.

The Bible teaches, by painting a very clear picture, that before we come to know God's grace, we are "dead" in our sins. Based on what we have already studied in previous lessons, we know that we are not physically dead, but spiritually dead. This describes us as people without hope and without the ability to help or save ourselves. Consider what Paul wrote in the first few verses of Ephesians chapter 2.

Ephesians 2:1-3 - "And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest." -(New American Standard Bible).

Paul makes it clear that we were without spiritual hope and without spiritual life because of our sin. Paul writes that we "walked," or lived, sinfully. In the next two verses he begins to explain the depth, power, and life-giving mercy of God.

Ephesians 2:4-5 - "But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)" -(New American Standard Bible).

Even while we were dead (without hope of spiritual life), because of God's great mercy and love, Paul writes that He "made us alive together with Christ." God saved us! Paul writes to the Ephesians that by God's grace they have been saved.

Are we dead in our sins without Jesus Christ? Does God's grace, through Christ, make us alive?

Davie Bible Study – Getting to Know God’s Grace