Lesson for February 28, 2021

The Book of Ephesians

Chapter 2:1-3

Verses 1-3

“And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in 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. 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.” These three verses explain how God’s we were before we believed in Jesus Christ as Savior. Grace found us spiritually dead, grace found us under the control of Satan and grace found us under the control of the sin nature. Verse 4 begins with the phrase, “But God,” which goes on to explain what God did for us as a result of our faith.

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins refers to spiritual death. (Romans 5:12; 6:23; I Corinthians 15:22) Spiritual death is a judgment on the human race at the point of birth when the original sin of Adam is credited to us. Our inherent sin nature is passed down through the father to all members of the human race at birth. Therefore, we are born spiritually dead. Spiritual death is the penalty of sin. Physical death is not the penalty of sin. Physical death is however related to the penalty of sin in that since we are born spiritually dead it is inevitable that we will all die physically. The first use of spiritual death in the Bible is in Genesis 2:17, which says in Hebrew, “dying you will die.” This means spiritual death ultimately is the

cause for physical death. The Greek word for trespasses is “paraptoma,” which means a deviation or violation of the laws of God. The Greek word for sins is “harmatia,” which means to miss the mark of God’s righteousness. We all enter the human race as sinners because of Adam’s original sin and the sin nature which we receive at birth. And we commit personal sins because we are sinners. Both terms mean we have come short of the perfect character of God. (Romans 3:23)

We are born spiritually dead and part of Satan’s kingdom until we believe in Jesus Christ. Spiritual death is your “citizenship paper” showing that you are member of the devil’s kingdom. Unbelievers are under the domination and the control of Satan and his world system. This was the manner in which every unbeliever lives his life until faith in Christ and the execution of the Christian Way of Life. The Greek word for walk is “peripateo,” which means to walk around referring to a person’s lifestyle. (Colossians 3:5-7)

The spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience refer to unbelievers who are negative volition toward the Gospel. The devil’s false message works in the unbeliever to keep him from believing the Gospel by putting him under strong delusion so that he will not accept the truth. This is the principle found in II Corinthians 4:3,4. Satan (the spirit) has blinded the minds of the unbelievers (the sons of disobedience).

Formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh connotes a pattern of social life, it means to live in the sense of practicing certain principles, to have a pattern of behavior or conduct. This was the pattern of our life before we believed in Christ and began advancing in the Christian life. The unbeliever rejects the Gospel so that a vacuum is created in his soul into which goes the doctrine of demons causing him to reject God and the Gospel. In the lusts of our flesh refers to the sin nature’s lust pattern.

The sin nature is the source of the soul’s rebellion toward God. The essence of the sin nature is specified Romans 6:6. Basically it is fourfold. First, there is an area of weakness which produces all personal sins in Hebrews 12:1. The doctrine of hamartiology (sin) classifies three types of personal sins — mental, verbal, and overt. Second, the sin nature has an area of strength which produces human good in contrast to divine good. Human good is described in Isaiah 64:6 and the principle is mentioned in Romans 8:8. Third, there is a lust pattern in the sin nature according to Romans 7:7 and Ephesians 2:3. Approval lust is the basic concept, the basic motivator of life and is why people seek to get attention from others. Fourth, the sin nature has trends toward sensual desires and toward self-righteousness.

The biblical nomenclature for the sin nature is “the flesh” in Galatians 5:16 and Ephesians 2:3. It is called the “old man” in Ephesians 4:22 and Colossians 3:9. It is called being “carnal” in Romans 7:14 and I Corinthians 3:1-3. It is called “sin” (in the singular) in Romans 5:12, 7:14, I Corinthians 15:56 and I John 1:8. The sin nature is passed down at physical birth. (Psalm 51:5; I Timothy 2:13,14) The believer continues to have a sin nature after salvation. There is no such thing as sinless perfection. (I Corinthians 3:1; I John 1:8) The sin nature stops divine production. (Romans 7:15) The sin nature will not be found in the resurrection body of the believer, (I Corinthians 15:56; Philippians 3:21; Colossians 3:4; 1 Thessalonians 5:23)

Divine judgment solves the problem of the sin nature. Christ was judged for all categories of our sin on the Cross taking care of the penalty of sin. (II Corinthians 5:21; I Peter 2:24) After salvation, a believer’s personal sins are taken care of by confessing, naming, acknowledging or admitting your sins to God based on the judgment of Christ the Cross. (I Corinthians 11:31; 1 John 1:9) The judgment at the Judgment Seat of Christ is a judgment of divine good and human good in the believer’s life. Divine good remains and is rewarded and human good is burned up and is not rewarded.

Indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. This means that unbelievers operate based on how they feel and what they desire to have in live. They are thinking human viewpoint which often says, “if it feels good then do it.” It is the mind of the unbeliever that Satan influences to reject God and the Gospel. This is the state of all unbelievers even if they have reached God-consciousness. Reaching God-consciousness means a person must make a decision to either want to know God or to reject Him. So, in the mind the unbeliever uses his free will to think the thoughts of Satan’s world system which we call Human Viewpoint Thinking and by default he is rejecting Divine Viewpoint Thinking, which is God’s thinking.

The children of wrath is a designation for all unbelievers. By nature means it is something that we all inherit at the moment of physical birth. Wrath is the Greek word “orge,” which means anger, indignation, or punishment. In other words, as unbelievers we were under the authority of Satan’s world system and under the authority of our sin nature.

At birth, the justice of God imputes Adam’s original sin to the genetically formed sin nature. Since Adam was the head of the human race and deliberately chose to sin, we “inherit” the sin nature from our “father,” Adam. If this seems unfair or unjust on the part of God, think about what would happen if you were not condemned at birth by the imputation of Adam’s original sin. There would be no opportunity for you to be saved. You would simply live out your life and then go straight to Hell to pay the penalty for your personal sins. (Romans 5:12-14; I Corinthians 15:21-22; I Timothy 2:13-14)

But God, in His magnificent grace, provided a way for us to be condemned so that we could ultimately have the opportunity to be saved. His plan called for the imputation of Adam’s original sin to the sin nature of every human being. As we will see, He also provided the plan of salvation for the entire human race. (Romans 5:18-19; 6:23) If a person had to commit a personal sin before being condemned, no child would go to Heaven that died before committing his first sin. Since God is always fair, He has provided for these children to go to Heaven as well as anyone that is unable to make a responsible decision (i.e., mentally handicapped). Because they are already condemned at birth, (and our personal sins contribute nothing to our spiritual death), they qualify for God’s saving grace. We do not earn the wages of sin by committing sin – Adam did. Saving these people is a matter of God’s grace and is still non-meritorious, totally apart from human works. Remember: condemnation must precede salvation. (II Samuel 12:23)

When Adam’s sin is united with the sin nature, the result is spiritual death. Spiritual death means that we are separated from God without the ability to have a relationship with Him. We must be extremely clear here in pointing out that God is not the author of sin, Adam is. God condemns sin wherever He finds it, therefore, not only is He not the author of sin, He does not tempt anyone to sin and He does not sponsor sin.

Since we are born spiritually dead (before we have the opportunity to commit personal sin), it is not our personal sins that condemn us. As a matter of fact, the entire human race was condemned when Adam was condemned, at the Fall. It is, therefore, Adam’s sin that condemns us. We sin personally as a result of being spiritually dead. Hence the phrase, “we sin because we are sinners, we are not sinners because we sin.” (Romans 5:13; II Corinthians 5:19)

“Next to the lie itself, the greatest delusion Satan imposes — reaching to all unsaved and to a large proportion of Christians — is the supposition that only such things as society considers evil could originate with the devil — if, indeed, there be any devil to originate anything. It is not the reason of man, but the revelation of God, which points out that governments, morals, education, art, commercialism, vast enterprises and organizations, and much of religious activity are included in the cosmos diabolicus. That is, the system which Satan has constructed includes all the good which he can incorporate into it and be consistent in the thing he aims to accomplish. A serious question arises whether the presence of gross evil in the world is due to Satan’s intention to have it so, or whether it indicates Satan’s inability to execute all he has designed. The probability is great that Satan’s ambition has led him to undertake more than any creature could ever administer. Revelation declares that the whole cosmos-system must be annihilated — not its evil alone, but all that is in it, both good and bad. God will incorporate nothing of Satan’s failure into that kingdom which He will set up in the earth.” (Lewis Sperry Chafer, Systematic Theology, volume 2, pp 100-101)