Read Ephesians 2:1-10. It’s the greatest paragraph written on the subject of grace. Every time I read it, I find something new to lift me up. Here are a few items of interest I would like to share.

First, Ephesians 2:1-10 uses the word grace three times (vv. 5,7,8). Circle them in your Bible and watch them leap off the page when you read it. It’s amazing. Amazing grace!

Second, Ephesians 2:1-10 repeatedly directs our attention to Christ (vv. 5, 6, 7, 10) and to Jesus (vv. 6, 7, 10). Seven times combined.

• “Christ” (literally, “the one anointed”) is the one God anointed with the Holy Spirit to bless man (Acts 10:18-19; cf. Luke 4:18-19).
• “Jesus” (literally, “he who saves”) is also the one God sent by the Holy Spirit to save man (1 John 4:14; cf. Matthew 1:18-21).
• “Christ Jesus” (literally, “the one anointed as he who saves, Savior”) is the conduit of God’s compassion for man. We can be blessed by grace because of everything Jesus is to God and everything he is to us.

Third, Ephesians 2:1-10 contrasts “what we did” to “what God did.” We were spiritually dead because of our bad choices. But God made us alive with Christ (vv. 1,4-5).

Finally, the location of this wonderful passage is intriguing. The book of Ephesians was written to faithful Christians (1:1). It is also a book that employs the word church nine times (1:22; 3:10, 21; 5:23, 24, 25, 27, 29, 32) and the word body—as a reference to the spiritual body of Christ, the church—another nine times (1:23; 2:16; 3:6; 4:4, 12, 16, 16; 5:23, 30). This is a book about the church written to faithful members of the church. And, it is the book that includes this great “grace passage” of holy writ. I wonder what we are to make of that?