Lazarus was dead. His heart had been motionless and his brain dead for four days. His body could neither move nor will to move. The supernatural power that raised him from the grave is the same omnipotent power that raises us from our spiritual deadness. If you are a Christian, you have been raised from the dead. You have been supernaturally quickened. This regeneration is an act of grace (Titus 3:5) 

India’s caste system is huge and complicated. It has many divisions and subdivisions. The caste system divides the people into unbreakable groups divided by occupation, money, and position. In the 1930s, the British discovered a previously unknown caste. This new caste was the lowest of the low. These poor people were assigned the job of washing clothes for the Untouchables. The Untouchables had been thought to be the lowest caste. They could not touch or be touched or they would contaminate those above them. However, the pitiful people of this even lower caste believed they would contaminate the higher castes just by looking at them. So they came out only at night when they would not see people of the higher castes.

Imagine that you were of that miserably loathsome caste and suddenly found yourself seated in a place of honor next to the wealthiest and most powerful leader in India as a friend, son, or daughter. You had been transported from the slums to the palace. That distance would be small compared to the transposition that Paul describes in Ephesians 2.

The chapter begins with the Christians of Ephesus being reminded of their past lives (Paul includes himself and all other Christians with them). He says they had been a people who in their love of sin were souls dead to God, passionate allies with the debauched of the world, and followers of Satan himself (Eph. 2:1–3). However, three verses later we find these same reprobates changed and seated with God in the very court of heaven (2:5–6). The apostle then explains this repositioning with one word: grace (v.8).

Grace is defined as an unmerited favor, an undeserved gift. Consider the following: A woman guilty of a crime stood before Queen Elizabeth I. The crime had been committed against the queen herself. Elizabeth asked her, “Would you be my loyal subject if I should exercise grace instead of justice and forgive your crime?” The woman surprised the queen with her answer: “That, Madam, would be no grace at all. To found your grace on the condition of my merit—that is not grace.” The queen responded, “Then I pardon you unconditionally.” Likewise, the salvation we have received from God is totally unmerited and unearned—it comes from His grace.

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