Charles Hodge on Ephesians 2:4

V. 4. The apostle having thus described the natural state of men, in this and the following verses, unfolds the manner in which those to whom he wrote had been delivered from that dreadful condition. It was by a spiritual resurrection. God, and not themselves, was the author of the change. It was not to be referred to any goodness in them, but to the abounding love of God. The objects of this love were not Jews in distinction from the Gentiles, nor the Gentiles as such, nor men in general, but us, i. e. Christians, the actual subjects of the life-giving power here spoken of. All this is included in this verse.

Ὁ δὲ Θεὸς, but God, i. e. notwithstanding our guilt and corruption, God, being rich in mercy, πλούσιος ὢν ἐν ἐλέει, i. e. because he is rich in mercy. Ἔλεος is, ipsum miseris succurrendi studium,’ the desire to succour the miserable;’ οἰκτιρμός is pity. Love is more than either. It was not merely mercy which has all the miserable for its object; but love which has definite individual persons for its objects, which constrained this intervention of God for our salvation. Therefore the apostle adds, διὰ τὴν πολλὴν ἀγάπην αὐτοῦ. Διά is not to be rendered through, but on account of. It was to satisfy his love, that he raised us from the death of sin.