Ephesians 2.1-3 says...
Today's verses are Ephesians 2:1-3, which read,
v.1, 2 - And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, and which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.
Paul has completed talking about his prayers for the Christians in the Ephesus church. He is now going to tell them or remind them of what they used to be. He will follow it up tomorrow with what they are now. Let's go through the phrases to understand this transformation better.
"And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,..." You were already dead before your trespasses and sin because you and I have a sin nature given to us through the sin nature of Adam and Eve. We are playing out that sinful nature through our trespasses and sins and we are dead to God at this point. The word "dead" is a strong word but Paul uses it to demonstrate our very lost condition and the reinforcing of that condition through our sinful actions.
"...in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world,..." We are walking in our dead-ness and we have a lot of company on our journey. The direction of the world is headed in the way of more and more trespasses and sins and they become more and more debased. The word of hope that Paul gives them is "formerly."
"...according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience." The prince of the power of the air is another reference to Satan. There is a leader to this journey of being dead to God and living out a life of disobedience. He is a spirit that is working within us and we are of his family patterning ourselves after his ways.
v.3 - Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
By nature we are sinful and headed to God's wrath and we are living out this life gratifying our flesh and mind. "All" are doing this, not just the "really bad" people but us too as part of the "rest." Paul again gives the comfort word "formerly" in the midst of this bad news about our destiny with the sinful nature that we have.
We need at times to see how bad it was to see how good it is. We tend to see ourselves as better than that or at least better than others and therefore our fate would not be like that of those "really bad" people but Paul doesn't give the Christians in Ephesus that out or us either. No matter how "perfect" your life was or is with moral standards, no one escapes that sinful nature and the effects of it. The road is wide that leads to destruction and there is plenty of space for all even with our sophisticated system of making ourselves look like we are not on the road to hell.
Something needs to happen and we will leave that for tomorrow.
"Lord, may we not forget where we were. Even if our upbringing was great it didn't take away our sin nature. We were dead, all of us, the polished and the unpolished. Thank You that chapter two of Ephesians doesn't end here. Amen."
Pastor Adam
v.1, 2 - And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, and which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.
Paul has completed talking about his prayers for the Christians in the Ephesus church. He is now going to tell them or remind them of what they used to be. He will follow it up tomorrow with what they are now. Let's go through the phrases to understand this transformation better.
"And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,..." You were already dead before your trespasses and sin because you and I have a sin nature given to us through the sin nature of Adam and Eve. We are playing out that sinful nature through our trespasses and sins and we are dead to God at this point. The word "dead" is a strong word but Paul uses it to demonstrate our very lost condition and the reinforcing of that condition through our sinful actions.
"...in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world,..." We are walking in our dead-ness and we have a lot of company on our journey. The direction of the world is headed in the way of more and more trespasses and sins and they become more and more debased. The word of hope that Paul gives them is "formerly."
"...according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience." The prince of the power of the air is another reference to Satan. There is a leader to this journey of being dead to God and living out a life of disobedience. He is a spirit that is working within us and we are of his family patterning ourselves after his ways.
v.3 - Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
By nature we are sinful and headed to God's wrath and we are living out this life gratifying our flesh and mind. "All" are doing this, not just the "really bad" people but us too as part of the "rest." Paul again gives the comfort word "formerly" in the midst of this bad news about our destiny with the sinful nature that we have.
We need at times to see how bad it was to see how good it is. We tend to see ourselves as better than that or at least better than others and therefore our fate would not be like that of those "really bad" people but Paul doesn't give the Christians in Ephesus that out or us either. No matter how "perfect" your life was or is with moral standards, no one escapes that sinful nature and the effects of it. The road is wide that leads to destruction and there is plenty of space for all even with our sophisticated system of making ourselves look like we are not on the road to hell.
Something needs to happen and we will leave that for tomorrow.
"Lord, may we not forget where we were. Even if our upbringing was great it didn't take away our sin nature. We were dead, all of us, the polished and the unpolished. Thank You that chapter two of Ephesians doesn't end here. Amen."
Pastor Adam
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