John Calvin Commentary Ephesians 2:5

"even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace have ye been saved)," — Ephesians 2:5 (ASV)

Even when we were dead in sin. These words have the same emphasis as similar expressions in another Epistle.

For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. — But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:6, 8).

Whether the words, by grace ye are saved, were inserted by another hand, I do not know; but, as they are perfectly consistent with the context, I am quite willing to receive them as written by Paul. They show us that he always feels as if he had not sufficiently proclaimed the riches of Divine grace and, accordingly, expresses by various terms the same truth: that everything connected with our salvation ought to be ascribed to God as its author. And certainly, anyone who duly considers human ingratitude will not complain that this parenthesis is superfluous.