The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Ephesians 2:1-7, “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
2 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.
3 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.
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus,
7 in order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

It is our custom to endeavor to make those who die appear as nearly life-like as possible. Death is by nature ugly. What is uglier still is for one to be physically alive and yet dead spiritually. That’s how Paul pictures those who physically live while giving way to the sinful wickedness of the course of this world.
Indeed, it’s the prince of this world –Satan himself—who works to produce sin within mankind. He worked successfully with Eve at the beginning, and has continued with his dispicable tactics ever since.

Such a life “lived in the lusts of (the) flesh” needs redemption. And God, who created mankind, possesses the love (????? agape) that in turn produces mercy (????? eleos, compassion), that results in redemption (??????????? apolutrosis, a release effected by payment of ransom). His redemption is granted to us when we believe in His Son for salvation. For it is Jesus, who died as the “ransom,” the buy-back from sin’s clutches; and it is Jesus who arose from the dead by the power of God the Father, thus proving His divine power to all Creation!

But, why would the Father do this? Why would He not simply wipe out mankind and start over? The answer is all wrapped up in one word: Love. He loves those whom He created and moves to buy them back through the sacrifice of His only begotten Son. What’s more, He will one day, in the ages to come, demonstrate the riches of His grace to all of His creation.

So much theology is revealed in the old hymns.
“Trials dark on every hand,
And we cannot understand
All the way that God would lead us
To that blessed promised land;
But He’ll guide us with His eye,
And we’ll follow till we die;
And we’ll understand it better by and by.”
Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.
Springdale, Arkansas 72764
United States of America

“We never know that Christ is all we need until He becomes all that we have.” – Corrie ten Boom