Whether you look at a newspaper published in the late nineteenth century, a comic book from the 1950s, or news webpage on the Internet, you are likely to see an advertisement using the familiar “Before and After” format.
The ad might tout the effectiveness of a skin cream, a weight loss product, a muscle-building device sure to give you a physique attractive to girls, or a variety of other products. In each case an appeal is made to what was and what is (or what might be should you use the product).
Ephesians 2:1-10 uses this before and after motif to underscore the impact of Christ’s work in our lives.
While my focus will be on verse ten, I want you to recall how the passage begins. Before Christ worked in our lives we were “dead in our trespasses and sins…children of wrath.” This condition manifested itself in our selfishness and our disregard of God’s will. Here’s how The Voice paraphrase treats verse three:
…we were all guilty of falling headlong for the persuasive passions of this world; we all have had our fill of indulging the flesh and mind, obeying impulses to follow perverse thoughts motivated by dark powers.
Christianity presents a bleak picture of the human condition. This is why it is despised by human-centered philosophies that claim we humans are getting better and better everyday and everyway. We resist even the language that speaks of sin and evil. Yet, we inevitably face the empirical data pointing to the fact something is wrong with us. All the forces that disrupt our lives—injustice, racism, greed, sexism, whatever—are born in our own hearts.
Excising God from our efforts to cure human ills only compounds our problems. Communism promised the end economic inequities but let to tens of millions being killed, nations being oppressed, privation for many and privilege for the few. When the Soviet version of the experiment finally admitted failure, it was followed by civil wars and the rise of criminal kingdoms.
Our problems needed a solution from outside ourselves. That solution came from Christ. He made the “after” a reality. How does Paul describe our “after Christ” condition?
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Look first at the descriptive term Paul used. No longer are we “dead.” No longer are we “children of wrath.” We are God’s “workmanship.”
It’s a beautiful word, rich in implications.
Of course, it first of all implies that our new status it the work of God. Paul had already said that earlier when he told his readers how the gracious, loving God had “made us alive.” The new life we have is God’s doing, not the product of strenuous self-effort. We’ve no grounds for boasting. Without God’s intervention we would be spiritually lifeless.
But there’s another implication that demonstrates the spiritual contrast even more. Paul’s words could be translated “we are God’s work of art.” It’s the thought behind the International Standard Version’s “we are God’s masterpiece.” I am reminded of the words of Psalm 139:14, “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” Here in Ephesians it is clear God’s craftsmanship applies to us spiritually as well as physically.
The word Paul used is “poiema,” from which we get the word “poem.” I like this imagery as well; we are God’s poetry.
Ernest Hemingway wasn’t a poet but he said something relevant to the issue. He was addressing a group of students and commented that he had rewritten the end of The Old Man and the Sea dozens of times before he was satisfied. A student asked him what had taken so much effort. Hemingway replied, “Getting the words right.”
I know some poets and I’m sure they would say the same: They strive their hardest to get the words right.
Of course, God did not have to repeatedly rewrite his plan for remaking redeemed sinners. The scheme was in place “beforehand,” a term recalling chapter one’s reference to love us and call us to himself “even before he made the world.” What I am saying is that the Divine Poet does not produce doggerel.
Through his Spirit Gods making you a masterpiece of grace.
Paul also makes it clear God’s artwork is not intended merely to be looked at. He is creating functional art.
We are “created in Christ Jesus for good works.” Instead of the self-centered behavior that once characterized us, we will now be given to good works. One translation puts it this way: “We are born afresh in Christ…to do those good deeds which God planned for us to do.” We might say sin derailed God’s plans for humanity, through Christ the redeemed are now back on track.
Note this, these “good works” come after we have been remade in Christ, as beneficiaries of God’s grace. The good works are the product of our new character, not the means to achieve it. We are freed from the tedium of trying to win God’s favor. We are freed to serving in loving gratitude.
God’s great goal is not simply to make us ready for heaven; God wants us to be ready for this world. Remember, the theme of this letter: Through Christ, a gracious God created one new people to live for him and work for him in the real world.
God’s masterpieces are to adorn this world.
With that in mind we might ask what these good works look like. The real question is, Who do these good works look like?
In Romans 8:29, Paul puts God’s goal for salvation in simple terms, “God chose us to become like his Son.” Like a sculpture shapes the clay, God seeks to shape us to be more Christlike. We’re not left on our own to achieve this goal. The Spirit works in us to make us more and more Christlike. That’s the goal of what Paul calls “the fruit of the Spirit” in Galatians 5.
There’s an aspect to this we shouldn’t miss. To understand better, think about the pictures of Christ you’ve seen. There is the mid-twentieth-century “Head of Christ” by Warner Sallman; the classic portraits by Rembrandt, DaVinci, and Michelangelo; as well as pictures from such varied sources as Sunday school literature to icons gracing Orthodox cathedrals. Many of the most famous paintings of Jesus are criticized for making him into a white European. It’s a valid observation but Christians around the world have usually seen Jesus in a way that makes him look like one of them.
Here are three pictures of Jesus from different times and places. Each depicts the same event.
The first is a Korean[1] portrayal of Jesus’ baptism, the second portrays an African Jesus,[2] and the third is from a fifteenth-century painting by Piero della Francesca.
The tendency to make Jesus look like one of us is understandable. We just need to keep in mind that Jesus was a Semitic who looked like he belonged in the middle east. He wasn’t a blue-eyed Scandinavian. Philip Yancey suggests Jesus may have looked like Jamie Farr (MASH’s Corporal Klinger).
But this is not my point. As you look at these paintings, famous or not, Western, Asian, or African, you immediately recognize Jesus. They are in different styles but you know you’re looking at Jesus.
I think the Divine Artist does the same thing with the “masterpieces” he creates. He wants people to look at us—with our different personalities, cultural style, and physical characteristics—and see Jesus.
A Christian professor can make sure her most secular-minded students can “see Jesus” on her campus. The Christian construction worker can help co-workers “see Jesus” on the job site. The Christian police officer can help at-risk youth “see Jesus” at a time when they face life-changing decisions.
When this happens the most amazing “Before and After”—transformation has occurred. We couldn’t do it on our own. It could only be the work of God.
The contrast from the beginning of this passage to the end could not be greater. We have gone from being “dead” to being “alive.” Gone from being in rebellion against God to being clay for him to shape into a piece of art, from being agents of destruction to being positive change-agents in the world.
God puts the “new” in the one new people.
[1] From “If Jesus Had Been Korean: 20 Rare Paintings of the Life of Christ,” https://churchpop.com/2015/06/15/if-jesus-had-been-korean-20-rare-paintings-of-the-life-of-christ/.
[2] Painting by Dave Zelenka, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Baptism-of-Christ.jpg. Permission granted.
