There are some wonderful and very important truths in these verses. Briefly they are that :
In verses 1-3 we see the condition you are in as a non Christian and the condition you were once in Christian
- We see in verse 1. that you are "dead in trespasses and sins". Spiritually because of your sins you don't know God and are without any relationship with God.
- In verse 2. we are living according to the course of this world. Following its ungodly aims, principles and pleasures, just as the devil wants.
- Sinning against God in body and mind verse 3.
- As a result, we are children of wrath, living under the wrath of God that ultimately, we will eternally receive.
That describes you non Christian and was what you were once Christian. How is it that is no longer the case? The change is because of the mercy of God and the great love wherewith He has loved us, and the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus (verses 4 and 7). It's all because of God's grace, His unmerited favour to you in Christ.
So, by the grace of God through faith in Christ, the sinner is saved from the condition described in verses 1-3. We cannot boast of the fact that by faith we have believed on Christ, because our faith is a gift of God's grace, verse 8. It's not by works that we do that we can be saved but by faith in Christ alone, and faith is God's gift. It's not that God believes for us, but when a sinner believes on Christ, it is by God's grace.
Salvation then is of God from beginning to end. Christian's are a work of God's grace, verse 10. The sinner truly saved by God's grace through faith in Christ, will now seek to do all the good works God requires of them in His word. Why has God in Christ saved sinners from the terrible condition they were in, bringing into a glorious new condition? The answer is to reveal the glory of His grace in Christ, both now and for all eternity, verse 7.