”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”. The Apostle Paul- Ephesians 2: 1-3 (NASB).
When it comes to the relationship between the church and the culture of our present day, so many times they tend to clash on many levels. The passage quoted above from Paul in the New Testament is an example of one of those situations in which the culture of today is in conflict with the truths taught in Biblical Scripture itself. This post is the first in a series of three articles where our focus will be on the topic of the wrath of God and those who are recipients of God’s wrath; Paul calls them, the “Children of wrath”.
In this passage Paul is talking to the Christians at the church in Ephesus, whom he recognizes as true believers in Christ. Paul mentions first how they were once dead in their sin and they walked according to the course of this world and even according to “the prince of the power of air, and this is the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience”. When Paul says they were dead in their sin, he is meaning spiritually they were dead. While physically alive, God’s judgment was upon them (John 3: 36) rendering them spiritually dead in sin.
So what? What could this possibly mean for anyone else since Paul was only talking to the Ephesians? It would do well for everyone to note that Paul is addressing them in the past tense in this situation. He says, “of which you formerly walked”. The Ephesians were once dead, but now are not. By stating this Paul is showing the state of all human beings before coming to salvation in Jesus. Consider Romans 5: 12 (NASB),
“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned”.
According to Paul in Romans chapter 5, all have sinned in Adam and therefore just as Ephesians chapter 2 says, before salvation in Christ, we are all dead spiritually. Not only dead spiritually, but a slave to sinfulness and cannot be free of that until God intervenes (John 8: 34). On this topic pastor John Piper says, “There are three S’s to remember when dealing with this passage”,
1. We are sick unto death with sin.
2. We are sabotaged by Satan.
3. We are sentenced to an eternal hell apart from the grace of Jesus Christ.
So as one can easily see, Paul provides no easy position for us to be in who are not true believers in Jesus. It is no wonder why the Bible clashes with our humanistic culture in so many ways. Just as everything in our culture is relative and we make it what we want, the Bible teaches otherwise and that there is something more than us out there. According to the Bible, you have it only two ways, either to be slave to sin or to be in submission to the God of the universe, Jesus Christ.
Friends, this is no easy topic to talk about and that is why it is ignored frequently in most churches (including evangelical churches as well) around America today. Though this is just an introduction to the topic that will be discussed more in detail in future posts to come, please consider my challenge to you. If you are not a believer in Jesus, this has eternal consequences for you. If you are already a believer in Jesus, take this time to reconsider the grace of God and join in with other believers in worshiping Him because He is worthy and has saved you. Remember just as John Piper says, “You will not find out about your true nature in the newspaper or TIME or NEWSWEEK”. You need to turn to God’s word to find out. Until next time…Grace and Peace in Christ Jesus!
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