Ephesians 1:6 to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the Beloved One. 7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace 8 that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. BSB
These verses are bracketed by grace with redemption and forgiveness in the middle. This grace is not limited as it is both freely given and lavished upon us. The verbs that are associated with grace (bestowed and lavished), are both past tense. The significance of this is that it has already happened so there is nothing we have to try and earn (or to hope happens in the future). This is a gift that has been given to us and as such, we have assurance that God isn’t going to suddenly change His mind and take it off the table. God is the source, Jesus is the agent.
Beloved is not only a reference to how God feels about Christ but also how He feels about us. Jesus is God’s beloved Son and thanks to our adoption into the family, we are beloved by God as well.
There are two actions in verse 7. The first is redemption through blood. While we are reluctant to talk about blood these days, Paul is talking in terms that his readers of the day will understand, especially those who are Jewish.
John 1:29 The next day, he saw Jesus coming to him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! WEB
The way John tells the story, the crucifixion of Jesus is taking place at the same time the Passover lambs are being sacrificed. In Exodus, the Passover story is one of redemption (as is being freed from 70 years of Babylonian captivity). The Greek word translated as “redemption” means a release caused by paying a ransom. (At the risk of overstating the obvious, it is good news when someone pays the ransom for us). Redemption is the skeletal structure of Biblical religion – we find ourselves enslaved to something and God sets us free. While this particular verse shares with us the good news that we have been redeemed, it doesn’t tell us what we have been redeemed from. Clearly if we have been redeemed then we must have been a captive of something previously.
Ephesians 2:1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you used to walk when you conformed to the ways of this world and of the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit who is now at work in the sons of disobedience. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, fulfilling the cravings of our flesh and indulging its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature children of wrath. BSB
Trespasses (Strong’s 3900) and sins (Strong’s 266) are two separate words in the Greek language. To sin is to miss the mark (think of shooting a basketball that misses hitting the rim). The Greek word translated as “trespasses” means a lapse or deviation from truth and uprightness or a willful transgression. When we trespass, we cross a line that we shouldn’t cross.
Traditionally the church has summarized the enemies of believers as being the world, the flesh and the devil. The word “flesh” can refer to the physical body but it also has a spiritual definition of human nature apart from God. When speaking of the world, we are not talking in terms of “For God so loved the world” but rather of the way the term is used in 1John:
1John 2:15 Do not love the world, neither the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, the Father’s love is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not the Father’s, but is the world’s. 17 The world is passing away with its lusts, but he who does God’s will remains forever. NHEB
In these terms, the world refers to the values of a dominant culture and how those values are antithetical to our Christian beliefs. (There are times the two may be in sync but for the most part they are separated by a wide margin).
James 1:13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each one is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desires. 15 Then when desire conceives, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is full grown, it gives birth to death. NET
These verses aren’t a discussion of the world but gives a hint of the external and internal factors that we face. Something that is external lures us. Think of this in terms of fishing where the fish has an appetite and we are trying to fool it into biting something that looks like food (but isn’t). If it doesn’t bite on the first cast, we just keep throwing the lure out there in an effort to entice the fish’s inner desire. The metaphor shifts to conception as once the lure has been swallowed, it grows up into sin which becomes a cause of death. We need liberation from an adversary that knows just what to place in front of us to make us bite because we are being enticed all day long. Without this liberation, we take a bite and it destroys us.
With all that said, it is not enough to be redeemed as we also have to deal with the damage that has been done. That is where forgiveness comes in. God makes moral demands and every violation (i.e., a trespass or sin) ignores what God has said to do.
In Matthew’s version of the Lord’s Prayer, he uses a different Greek word that is translated as “debts”. The problem with our sins and transgressions is that they create a debt that we aren’t able to pay. The only way to repay the deficit we have created is by the riches of God’s grace (which fortunately He has freely bestowed and lavished upon us).
Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. NET