Sermon Notes: Ephesians 2:1-3 – Dead
These are the notes of the sermon preached by Andy Evans on the morning of the 3 January 2010. Click here to download or stream the sermon audio.
Ephesians 2:1-10
1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved— 6and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
1. EYES WIDE SHUT
a. Bad
Gideon Thomas, my two-and-a-half year-old son is a Star Wars nut.
Through Star Wars he is beginning to grasp the principle of goodies and baddies. He understands that Darth Vader is bad and Luke Skywalker is good. He understands that Darth Maul is bad and Yoda is good. When it comes to Anakin Skywalker (who is, through the prequels, corrupted and becomes Darth Vader), Gideon will oscillate between ‘Good’, ‘Bad’, ‘No, good‘, ‘No, baaaad‘.
As he grows older, he has now begun to apply these delineations to the real world. Mummy and Daddy are good (in his strange universe). With regards to baby Noah (my nine-week old son), however, he is altogether undecided. But when the attention turns to his own character and behaviour, he is both unequivocal and vociferous: Gideon is good, good, good and most certainly never bad.
This illustrates the problem with people (by which, I include you and I). We judge others in absolute terms. The thief is baaaad. The murderer is baaaad. The paedophile is baaaad. And yet, when it comes to our own behaviour (in comparison with the thief, murderer and paedophile) we are swift to minimise our faults and accentuate our virtues. The truth is, we do not believe that we are as bad as we truly are and we kid ourselves, telling ourselves that we are better than we actually are.
All of this is cancerous to the soul. Let me explain.
The Apostle Paul’s purpose in Ephesians Chapter 1 was to set forth the glory of God and, specifically, the glory of his grace displayed most perfectly in Christ Jesus and towards those who are his.
Consider,
In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. (Ephesians 1:4-6)
To present ourselves as essentially good diminishes the necessity of salvation and, in so doing, obscures the glory of the grace of God. Ultimately, such thinking will lead to self-reliance and self-righteousness both of which will dupe us into believing that we know better than Christ or, worse still, into believing that we have no need of Christ.
Ultimately, such poisonous thinking will kill us. Scripture, however, is the antidote to such self-deception. Scripture provides the much needed reality check.
Indeed, Paul specifically addresses such mis-thinking in his letter to the Romans (specifically chapters 1 through to 3) concluding that,
“None is righteous, no, not one;
no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.” (Romans 3:9-12)
Similarly, Paul bluntly and precisely addresses the human condition at the beginning of the second chapter of Ephesians. This reality check is necessary that we might grasp the magnitude of all Paul has addressed in chapter 1 and all he will address in chapter 2.
Moreover, this reality check is necessary that we might understand, receive and live in the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
b. Who?
i. You
Paul writes,
And you were dead… (Ephesians 2:1)
Before we consider Paul’s intention here, it is important that we ask the fundamental question as to who Paul is addressing. This is important because, in addition to minimising our manifold faults, we also are expert at deflecting. There is a tendency within all of us then to persuade ourselves that passages of this ilk are addressed to someone other than ourselves. This, we maintain, is for the irreligious, the drunk, the wife beater, and the drug addict. We must, therefore, begin by asking who it is Paul is addressing when he writes that ‘you were dead’.
It is clear that Paul, as he has done throughout chapter 1, is at least addressing the church in Ephesus. The letter is addressed to ‘the saints who are in Ephesus’ (Ephesians 1:1) and it is both consistent and reasonable to deduce that Paul is address the aforementioned saints here.
However, as we saw throughout chapter 1, it is clear that Paul’s address is universal and transhistorical in its scope. Chapter 1 was addressed to believers everywhere and, as we move into chapter 2, it is evident that Paul’s scope is similarly broad,
…we all [including at least Paul and the church in Ephesus] once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind… (Ephesians 2:3)
In verse 1, Paul begins by addressing ‘you’, by verse 3 this shifts to ‘we’. We can reasonably conclude, therefore, that this passage at least deals with the situation of both Paul and the believers in Ephesus. Paul, however, develops this further,
…and [we] were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind [including all people everywhere] (Ephesians 2:3)
And so when Paul writes that ‘you were dead’, he is addressing believers in Ephesus; he includes himself and then applies this to ‘the rest of mankind’. This an emphatically comprehensive answer to the question, ‘Does this passage apply to me?’. If you are a believer, this passage is for you as a member of the body of Christ). If you are an unbeliever, this passage addresses your situation as a member of the human race.
This passage is incredibly relevant for people everywhere and at every time and in every place.
ii. Were
But note the tense. Paul writes that ‘you were dead’.
Paul is addressing a people who were once dead and are now otherwise. We will deal with this more fully in the coming weeks as Paul expands on this in verses 4 and 5,
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ… (Ephesians 2:4-5)
If you are a believer in Christ, then this passage applies to you. You were once dead, but are now made alive together with Christ. If you are an unbeliever here this morning, then this passage applies to you: you are dead and yet Christ, this very morning, offers you life.
2. DEAD
a. In the trespasses and sins
i. The Walk
If you have been around church for a while, in all likelihood you will read Paul’s assertion that we were dead and barely raise an eyebrow. If you are an unbeliever and new to the Scriptures, you might want to challenge this assertion and point out, not unreasonably, that, at this very moment, your heart is beating, on average, 70 to 75 times each minute and, in the course of this very service, that your bone marrow will produce between 13,500 million red blood cells.
Given all the evidences of life, it is not unreasonable to ask what on earth Paul is talking about when he writes that believers were formerly dead and that unbelievers are currently dead.
Paul spends verses 1, 2 and 3 unpacking this.
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins
For Paul this deadness has a specific context and cause. We were/are (depending on whether you are a believer or not) dead in and because of our trespasses and sins.
In so writing Paul captures two aspects of our former walk: our trespasses were manifold and varied (hence plural). We were engaged in every kind of trespass. Anger, check. Lust, check. Greed, check. Envy, check. Need I go on?
There is, then, no advantage in pointing at the pervert or adulterer when we ourselves were (or, perhaps still are) consumed by lust and there is no advantage in pointing at the murderer when we ourselves are overwhelmed by anger and rage (Matthew 5:21-22 and 27-28). We were in trespasses (plural) and we were in sins (plural).
But also our involvement in trespasses and sins was immensely personal, this is something in which we once walked. Paul wants us to see that trespasses and sins were not something that simply happened to us. We were willing participants. And, likewise, Paul wants us to understand that these trespasses and sins were in no way exceptional. This was something we walked in, this was our habitual way of living.
This is why the notion of walking is significant in Paul’s writing. For us to walk in a particular way or according to a particular principle is to actively live out that thing. This is why, as we shall see in three weeks time, Paul contrasts this way of walking with the calling Christ places on our lives,
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10)
Similarly, Paul will later exhort believers,
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called (Ephesians 4:1)
And this exhortation is framed over and against their former way of life,
…you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. (Ephesians 4:17)
To walk in trespasses and sin is to live our entire lives in such a way as to pursue and indulge those things that God’s law prohibits and run contrary to his very nature.
When Paul later describes such people as ‘sons of disobedience’ (Ephesians 2:2) the implication is clear: such living is akin to rebellion against Almighty God.
ii. The Seriousness of Sin
The question which then follows is why does any of this matter? Why is it such a big deal to walk in trespasses and sins? Is Paul not over-reacting in equating this way of living with death?
Consider this, as Paul undoubtedly did, from God’s perspective:
At this very moment in time, millions of unbelievers are living their lives according to what seems right in their own eyes and in total disregard of the just and true commandments of a holy God. This is, in effect, the creature thumbing its nose at the Creator in its conviction that it does indeed know best.
At this very moment in time, millions of unbelievers are living ungrateful lives refusing to thank God for the food that he provides, the pleasure, company and health that he bestows, the oxygen that he replenishes and the sun that he makes shine on the righteous and unrighteous alike (Matthew 5:45). This is the ultimate act of ingratitude. God provides, not because he must, but because he chooses to do so and yet generation after generation of ingrates ignore him, belittle his good gifts and proceed to praise themselves for their own petty endeavours.
At this very moment in time, millions of unbelievers are engaging in elevating created things, grace gifts, above the Creator God. Attention, affection and praise is bestowed upon the creation and the creature and the Creator God is belittled, ignored and sidelined. This is idolatry (Romans 1:18f).
So it is and so it has always been since the Fall. In our day people continue with their lives in a way which is God-belittling and disobedient. Paul understands that this is rebellion and this trespass lies at the root of our deadness. Such was the depth of our depravity that we walk and live daily in our trespasses and sins. We were rebels by choice and we chose rebellion, wickedness, trespass and sin daily, hourly, each minute of the day.
Paul writes that we walked in our trespasses and sins, it was habitual and our very way of life. This is the cause of our deadness.
Paul unpacks what this walk in trespasses and sins looks like.
b. Following the course of this world
Paul writes,
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world […] (Ephesians 2:1-2)
This sinful walk is perfectly in tune with the age of this world (the word, aiona, translated in the ESV as ‘course’ is taken from the root word aion which translated literally, means age).
Firstly consider the truth of this. Our attitudes, likes and dislikes, habits and even our moral values are intrinsically bound up with this present age: the culture and society in which we live. This is why, as we see generational shifts in behaviour, our culture’s moral compass is adjusted accordingly. If you do not believe this to be true, then compare today’s television with programmes broadcasted in the 1960s, 1970s or even 1980s. Consider the way in which behaviour which is considered to be acceptable (or even mainstream today) would have provoked horror and outrage just a few decades ago.
This is why the church finds itself (and should find itself) increasingly out of step with the culture and the world in which we live. This is why the values, standards and ethics of the believer should be out of sync with the world in which we live.
But, if you are a believer, there was a time when you ran with the crowd. If you are an unbeliever, in all likelihood, you are energetically living your life in conformity with the world around you. Believers were and unbelievers are engage in pursuing worldly pleasure, worldly recognition, worldly success, worldly comfort and worldly acceptance.
In all of this, we may feel normal and even moral, but our sense of normality and morality has been shaped by the world in which we live.
It is important we are alive to this and it is important that we see the danger in this.
c. Following the prince of the power of the air
But the course of this present age is neither driven by gradual social evolution nor by sheer happenstance. In following the course of this world we are not embarked upon pursuing some abstract ideology or value system. Paul understands, and Christians are called to understand, that there is a dangerous dynamic operating beneath the value systems and worldly morality we find all around us,
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air… (Ephesians 2:1-2)
The title ‘prince of the power of the air’ may sound a little strange to our ears, but the believers in Ephesus would have immediately understood what Paul was saying. According to the ancient world view the air formed the intermediate sphere between earth and heaven in which evil spirits dwelt.[1] They believed that from this sphere, evil spirits would act and influence events in the world below.
Paul is not agreeing with the specifics of this particular world view, but is affirming (with the other New Testament writers) that there are demonic forces at work in the world and that these demonic forces have a ruler, Satan, the prince of the power of the air. Moreover, these demonic forces (and principally, Satan) have been permitted influence in this world.
Paul wants us to understand that any philosophy, world-view or moral system that runs contrary to Scripture is demonically inspired. The Zeitgeist of our age steeped in relativism and utterly opposed to the absolutes and truth claims of Scripture is demonically inspired.
Satan is at work distorting the truth and selling a lie in order to obscure the glory of God. Paul writes elsewhere,
And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (2 Corinthians 4:3-4)
Believers once walked, and unbelievers still walk, in thrall to a Satanically inspired lie that makes us believe that our sin is not that serious, that there will be no reckoning and that ultimately there is no God. This blinds us to the truth of who Christ is and prevents us from seeing the glory of Christ and the truth of the gospel.
Furthermore, this lie corrupts everything. Our attitudes, our thinking, our very bodies.
Indeed, the Apostle John affirms that this world, its values and standards, is controlled by Satan. For believers, however, there is a great encouragement.
We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.
We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. (1 John 5:18-19)
In this present age Satan, the evil one, the prince of the power of the air, is active and has been permitted a prescribed degree of authority and control. Until Christ returns, God permits him to remain in his office as ‘prince of the power of the air’. John’s encouragement in this is that God protects those who are his from such attacks.
Paul, understands, however, that for the unbeliever it is open season.
d. Sons of disobedience
You see, the lie is not just ‘out there’. The lie takes hold within us. Paul develops this truth further,
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind… (Ephesians 2:1-3)
This spirit, the Satanically inspired spirit abroad in the world informing the Zeitgeist, is also at work in unbelievers.
Note also that Paul is not preaching a reverse form of works-righteousness (sinful acts produce sinful people). Rather, Paul understands that when we were unbelievers we were sons (and daughters) of disobedience. Later he will add that we were ‘by nature children of wrath’ (Ephesians 2:3). Paul’s thinking here is clear, before Christ rescued us and before we believed in him, we were children of Satan and the spirit of Satan was at working in us further polluting everything. We were like the rest of the crowd, sons of disobedience living among sons of disobedience giving full reign to the spirit of disobedience. Rather than pursuing righteousness and living to please and honour God, we instead lived according to our own pleasures and passions governed by whether it felt good, seemed good or would result in our own further good.
This helps us understand what Paul means when he writes that we were dead. What seems like freedom is actually slavery, we are in thrall to the course of the world, to the prince of the power of the air and to our very passions and desires. What seems like life is, in fact, death. We have a limited capacity to choose, we have a limited capacity to enjoy and we are blind to the things of Christ.
This truth should help us think clearly about what it means to be an unbeliever and what it means to be a believer. This is why the exhortations and promises of Christ are so astonishing,
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. (John 10:10)
e. Children of Wrath
The false promises of this world are a Satanically inspired snare intended to trap us in our transgressions and sins and keep us from seeing the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus. This road leads to death and judgement. Paul addresses directly,
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. (Ephesians 2:1-3)
As sons of destruction, we were also children of wrath. This was our (and if you are an unbeliever, still is your) true nature. We do bad things because we are bad people. We choose to sin because we are sinful by nature. We choose to believe the lies of this world and the lies of Satan because we are rebels and God-haters by nature. As such, we fully deserve to receive the just and holy wrath of God.
We ‘were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind’.
Because Paul adds the clause, ‘by nature’, there is no opt out. We cannot chose to sit this out and hope that it will all work out in the end. Abstentions are not counted. And, lest we think the words of Paul to be disproportionately harsh, consider, if you will, the words of Jesus,
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. (John 3:16-18)
And, later,
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. (John 3:36)
If you are an unbeliever here this morning, the truth is that you are under the wrath of God and, should you die without repenting and receiving Christ, you will experience the full wrath of God. I implore you this morning to turn from sin and to Christ Jesus who died for you and, in so doing, satisfied the just wrath of a holy God.
3. THE IMMEASURABLE RICHES OF HIS GRACE
Paul wants us to see and respond.
Specifically, Paul wants us to see three things:
i. The world as it is
He wants us to see the world as it is that we (both believer and unbeliever) might flee from it, that we might flee from temptation and that we might flee from the coming wrath.
ii. Ourselves as we truly are
He wants us to see ourselves as we truly are that we might cling to Christ.
I intentionally overlooked the ‘And’ of verse 1. Although this passage is a new flow of thought, it looks back to the end of chapter 1 and explains why it is necessary that we see ‘the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe’ (Ephesians 1:19). Paul wants us to see our utter helplessness without Christ that we might run to him, throw ourselves upon him and depend upon him daily for his resurrection life and power at work towards us and in us.
iii. The immeasurable riches of his grace
Paul wants us to see the depth of our own depravity so that the glory of Christ and the grace of God might be seen as most beautiful, most compelling and most glorious.
If we fail to see that we most certainly deserve wrath along with the paedophile, murderer and thief, we will miss the glory of God’s grace as presented in verse 4 of Chapter 2. If we fail to grasp the depth of our fall, our wretchedness and utter helplessness without Christ, we will fail to be astounded as, next week, we allow verses 4 and 5 to settle on our soul,
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (Ephesians 2:4-5)
But for the richness of God’s mercy……but for the greatness of his love…..but for his resurrection power…. In all of this we see the immeasurable riches of his grace.
[1] Peter Thomas O’Brien, The Letter to the Ephesians, The Pillar New Testament commentary (Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1999). 160.