We are thinking in this lesson about how God gives new life to our souls through Christ. The Bible speaks of this as a new creation, a new birth, or a resurrection. What happens to our souls at conversion is certainly marvelous. It is a free gift from God --a gift from "the surpassing riches of his grace" (Eph 2:7) far beyond any price we could possibly pay. Our meditation in this lesson is focussed on the text below.

Ephesians 2:10
 
We are God's workmanship
created in Christ

When Paul says that we have been "created in Christ" he is thinking about us being "born again" as Jesus expressed it when he was talking to Nicodemus (Jhn 3:3-5). Paul also speaks of it figuratively, in our chapter for study, as a resurrection and ascension (Eph 2:6).

To appreciate the the new creation in Christ, we need to go back and look at the story of the human soul from the beginning. Our first four points in this lesson therefore introduce and lead up to Paul's statement that we are created anew in Christ. Then finally in our fifth point we study the statement itself.


NOTE If you want even more background, you might like to read States of the Soul and other lessons in the "Soul" series.

The Soul Is From God

In every person there is a soul or spirit created "in the image of God" (Gen 1:27). God "forms the spirit of man within him" (Zec 12:1). So the soul of man is a gift direct from God. James tells us that "every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights... he brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we might be, as it were, the first fruits among his creatures" (Jas 1:16-18). That's how we came into this world, and even though we may have lost our light through sin, we can have it restored through Christ as "the gift of God" (Eph 2:8).

There Is Glory In The Soul

Man is made "a little lower than the angels" (Heb 2:7), not a little higher than the beasts (Psa 8:4-8). Whilst this is a prophecy about Christ in a special sense, it also is applicable to humankind in a general sense. We must remember too, that the intent of the prophetic meaning is that Christ was to become a man. When God's Son became a human being, he was "made like unto his brethren in all things" (Heb 2:17). It follows that his brethren were therefore also like him. They also were made a little lower than the angels, and through him are "crowned with glory and honour" (Heb 2:7). Furthermore, the rightful destiny of mankind is to become "like the angels" after a little while (Mtt 22:29-30).

We are often reminded by humanists and evolutionists that our genes differ from the beasts by only a few percent. That takes account only of our bodies, and only of them in their mortal form. It takes no account of our souls or of the fact that "this mortal must put on immortality" (1Co 15:42-46,53). Scientists examining the human body are finding out very little about what mankind is..

The Soul is Priceless

Our souls are so precious that we cannot give anything in exchange for them. Though you owned the whole world it would be nothing compared to the value of your soul. "What shall it profit a man if he should gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? And what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Mtt 16:26).

On three occasions in Ephesians Paul uses the word exceeding [ huper, hyper]. It occurs here in our chapter for study and it occurs in the previous and following chapters:

When we consider, as best we can, the exceeding riches and power of Christ, and realise that from this, and through this, our souls derive their value, then we must acknowledge that the soul has “hyper-value”. It is indeed a priceless creation.

The Soul Who Sins Dies

Sin causes the soul to be "lost" (Eze 18:4 Rom 3:23-24) and so we become spiritually "dead" and doomed (Eph 2:5).

We sold ourselves for a fool's price, "the pleasures of sin for a season" (Heb 11:25). But we cannot buy ourselves back, because that requires an impossible price. As we have seen, we have no answer to the question, "What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Mtt 16:26). That is our predicament. We sold ourselves for a fool's price, yet to buy back our freedom requires an impossible price. So God tells us so kindly that he will pay the price that we cannot pay, and the price is the blood of his only begotten Son. You can read more on this in the lesson on Redemption.

Christ Can Renew The Soul

Thank God that, although we became dead in sin, God made it possible for us to be "raised up" created anew in Christ (Eph 2:5-6,10). This is the final and main point of our lesson: Paul later speaks of this as putting on a new self (Eph 4:22-24).

Here in our chapter for study (Ephesians 2), Paul makes three connected statements:

This is the "priceless creation" referred to in this lesson's title. Of course when God created our souls in the first place, they were a priceless creation. Yet we destroyed that priceless creation through sin. We have already considered all this. That has led us to see our need of the "washing of water with the word" which Paul elsewhere calls "the washing of regeneration (rebirth)" (Eph 5:26 Tit 3:5).

A Rebirth and Resurrection

It is in baptism that we are washed in the blood of Jesus because we are "baptised into his death.. buried with him through baptism into death" [meaning his death and death to sin] "so that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life" (Rom 6:3-8). How wonderful it is that we can be raised from death in sin and be made alive again with Christ! (Eph 2:5).

An Ascension to Heavenly Realms

Paul sees this new creation as "seated" with Christ "in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus" (Eph 2:6). This is a reference to Christ's ascension as our forerunner and present advocate and intercessor. We are not seated in heaven literally but have a guaranteed place reserved there, and are personally represented there by Christ our High Priest. We are "brought near" to the throne of grace "by the blood of Christ" (Eph 2:13). We have "access in one Spirit to the Father through [the Son]" (Eph 2:18).

NOTE I must caution you not to run away, as some have done, with what Paul says in Ephesians 2. Paul is not "spiritualising away" the fact that there is a real future resurrection of the dead and a rapture in which the saved ascend into heaven to dwell there for eternity. Paul teaches us that these things will happen on the day Jesus returns, and they certainly have not happened yet (1Th 4:14-18). You may like to read a full discussion of this in the lesson The Second Coming in Thessalonians.

A Wonderful Hope

Here in our chapter for study (Ephesians 2) Paul uses terms of resurrection and ascension to figuratively describe how we are presently "created in Christ". They are such appropriate terms, especially as they connect our present state to our future state. Paul elsewhere uses the same kind of expression where he says, "Whom he predestined, these he also called, and whom he called these he also justified, and whom he justified these he also glorified" (Rom 8:30). Certainly we are presently glorified and seated in the heavenly places, but we must understand this to be in a preliminary way, and not the very final, future, and eternal, state of glory in heaven.

Previously, dead in sin, we had "no hope" (Eph 2:12). That implies that now, "created in Christ", we do have hope which Paul calls the "one hope of your calling" (Eph 4:4). Paul is careful to distinguish between our present state of hope and the final state that we hope for. He uses the clear phrase, "in ages to come" (Eph 2:7) to show us that he has one eye on the present and the other eye on the future as he encourages us. Paul, in that Romans chapter we referred to above, speaks very plainly: "In hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope, for why does one also hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with patience we wait for it eagerly" (Rom 8:24-25).

God's work thus far in restoring our souls is a priceless creation, and yet this is only the downpayment of the even more wonderful creation to come (Eph 1:11-14).

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