One of my favorite passages in the entire Bible is Ephesians 2:1-5.  In this passage, Paul captures both, man’s great need and God’s great grace.  This marvelous passage begins with “and you” and goes on to explain man’s sinful condition and ends with, “but God” and explains what God has done for us in Christ.

First Paul says, “And you were dead in trespasses and sin.”  He says, “There was a time when you were spiritually dead—living for yourself, following the course of this world and following the prince of the power of the air.”  He says, “At one time, you lived by the passions of your flesh, and were carrying out the desires of your body and mind and were set against God and God’s wrath was set against you.”  He says, “You were by nature children of wrath.”

But in vv. 4-5 of Ephesians 2, Paul gives one of the best transitional statements in the entire Bible.  At the beginning of v. 4 he says, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.”  The bad news is that if left alone, we remain spiritually dead.  The good news, however, is that because of God’s extraordinary mercy and love, He has provided for us everything we need through His Son.  Even though we were dead because of sin, God made a way for us, when there seemed to be no way.  He has made a way for us to be made alive again through Christ.