Ephesians 2:4
Ephesians 2:44But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,
— "but God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us" — is agreed language in JW usage. God's mercy is real; the question is how it is received. For JWs, mercy extended at the cross (covering Adamic sin corporately) is applied individually through compliance: baptism into the organisation, ongoing obedience, meeting attendance, field service, endurance to Armageddon.
Paul's grammar breaks that half-applied scheme. diagnoses every human — "dead in your transgressions and sins" — and then verse 4 supplies the pivot: but God. The two most powerful words in Pauline theology. Verses 4-5 complete the action: "God, being rich in mercy… made us alive together with the Christ — by undeserved kindness you have been saved." The agents are flipped. The dead do not qualify themselves back to life; the living-rich-in-mercy God raises them. Verse 8 then finalises: "By this undeserved kindness, indeed, you have been saved through faith; and this not owing to you, it is God's gift. No, it is not owing to works." "Have been saved" (Greek sesōsmenoi) is perfect passive — completed action with ongoing effect. Verse 10 supplies the true role of works: "created in union with Christ Jesus for good works… that we should walk in them." Saved for good works, not by them. is not a deposit toward future payment; it is the sufficient cause.