1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;

2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

At the opening of Chapter 2, the Apostle descends again from the contemplation of those exalted heights of heavenly position and glory which are accorded to the Church, constituting her spiritual blessings in the heavenly association in Christ, to the level of that estate which all the unsaved now occupy and from which each and every child of God has been saved. No new theme is introduced. In the first Chapter it has been disclosed that God is Sovereign over all things and all that is wrought by Him is wrought after the counsel of His own will. Likewise it is revealed that His limitless power has had its demonstration in the resurrection and exaltation of Christ, and that the resurrection and exaltation of Christ is an assurance to all who believe that, because of the fact that His mighty power is now engaged in their behalf, no purpose of God for them can ever fail. At the beginning of Chapter 2, the sovereign, eternal purpose of God is still in view, though for the moment the text is concerned with but one detail of that purpose -- the manifestation of measureless grace in the salvation of men.

The Greatness of His Grace

The purpose of God incorporates vastly more than the mere rescue of sinners from their doom, as wonderful as that rescue is. God is the Designer and Creator of all things; His preservation is extended to all things; and His providence is guiding all things in order that, agreeable to His own sovereign will, all things may redound to the praise of His glory and grace. To this end sin is permitted its manifestation in the universe -- first in heaven, and then upon the earth; a race is allowed to fall; a Savior is provided who by His death and resurrection declares to an infinite degree the love and grace of God; and the individual sinner, according to divine election, is called and saved unto an eternal heavenly glory.

One all-inclusive decree extending in its scope from eternity to eternity and wrought throughout on the plane of Infinity must, of necessity, present unsolvable mysteries to a finite mind -- the permission and manifestation of evil, the advent and sacrifice of the Savior, and the choice of an elect company which through all eternity is to be a demonstration to all created intelligences of the marvels of divine grace. Nevertheless, the revelation of this divine program is made, and is to be believed, even though in all its parts it cannot be understood by the mind of man.

However free God may have been in the forming of His all-inclusive plan, we are assured that, having determined upon a plan, He is now bound by the laws of His own unchangeable character to execute that plan to infinite perfection. Thus necessities are confronted and limitations are imposed which are to be respected and observed both by God and man. On the divine side, a Savior must be provided; for there could be no salvation of the lost apart from the incarnation, death, and resurrection of the Son of God.

According to the original divine arrangement, a blood-shedding sacrifice is a necessity as immutable in its nature as the character of God. Man did not originate the situation expressed by the words, "Without shedding of blood, there is no remission" but God, having so decreed, could not, consistently, deviate from this demand. Again, by the divine arrangement it is originally decreed that there shall be no salvation for men apart from a personal faith in the saving power of God, and there could be no variation in the execution of this requirement. It is imperative, therefore, when descending in thought from the original, all-inclusive purpose of God to the detail of the salvation of a sinner, to recognize the immutability of every aspect of the divine purpose.

Of the many transforming blessings which are wrought of God for the sinner at the moment of believing, there is one which, according to its emphasis in the New Testament, is of primary importance. The second chapter of Ephesians opens with the words, "And you hath he quickened [made alive] who were dead in trespasses and sins." In the original Greek the construction is incomplete at this point, being more precisely re-stated in verse 5: "Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened [made alive] us together with Christ." The change from the use of "you" to "we" in these verses is significant, indicating, as it does, that this transforming blessing is for Jew and Gentile alike. Likewise, the fact that the verb is in a tense which denotes a transaction completed at some moment in the past, is of doctrinal importance; for by one act of sovereign, saving power, all who have believed were, at the moment of believing, made alive with Christ. No subsequent achievement is implied. This fundamental aspect of salvation is both instantaneous and complete in its character.

To have been "made alive with Christ" is an experience which is no less than the reception of and sharing in His resurrection life. The reception of Christ's resurrection life in conjunction with the baptism with the Spirit by which the believer is joined to the Lord, constitutes the entrance into the far-reaching realities of the New Creation. Though shrouded in mystery, the fact remains that to have partaken of the divine nature is to have been "joined to the Lord," and to have been "joined to the Lord" is to have partaken not only of the divine nature, but to have shared legitimately and eternally in all the fellowship, achievement, and glory of the Triune God. To Jew and Gentile alike the gospel invitation is now addressed, and, by those who believe, the saving power of God is experienced. Measureless, indeed, is this divine power! It is none other than "the working of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly"; and significant, indeed, in this connection, is the statement found in verse 6: "And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly in Christ Jesus."

The essential fact, then, that believers are now "made alive with Christ" involves no less a reality than that they are now sharing in the position and exaltation of the resurrected, glorified Christ. But of these heavenly blessings in Christ, more will be seen in later portions of this Epistle.

There are two aspects of the gospel appeal: the invitation is both away from the lost estate, and unto a heavenly position and glory. Christ emphasized this two-fold fact when He said that the one who believes on Him "should not perish, but have everlasting life" (Joh 3:16; Joh 10:28). Both of these aspects of truth are present in Eph 2:1-3; though, in this passage, the emphasis falls on that lost condition from which all who believe on Christ have been saved. In verse 12, record is given of the universal position of the Gentiles as being without God and without hope; but in verses 2 and 3, the present condition of all -- both Jew and Gentile -- who are out of Christ is disclosed. There are national promises for Israel which can never be broken, and there are prophecies of a coming, earthly glory for the Gentiles.

But in the present dispensation, in which God is dealing only with individuals on the basis of their faith in Christ, there is no difference between the unregenerate Jew and the unregenerate Gentile; both are now helpless and hopeless apart from the grace of God as it is in Christ (Rom 3:9; Rom 10:12). The present standing of the unregenerate -- both Jew and Gentile -- is precisely stated in Rom 1:18-32 ; Rom 3:10-20, which passages, along with Eph 4:17-19, may well be considered in connection with Eph 2:2-3; for it is of vital importance to those who would know God's saving grace that they comprehend, as well, the present condition of those who are lost.

As but one feature of the estate of the saved is mentioned in Eph 2:1-3, out of the many revealed elsewhere in the Scriptures, so, likewise, but four features of the estate of the lost, out of the many, are here recorded.

They are dead in trespasses and sins.

Just as the imparted life, mentioned in verse 1, is a life from God and therefore never to be confused with mere human life (much less a manner of living), so, in like manner, a deeper aspect of sin than that of a habit or practice of sinning is here declared. The charge brought forward in this passage is not that men commit sin, which accusation few would deny; it is rather the more serious charge that men are dead in sin. That is, they are in the state of spiritual death which is caused by sin, and, because they are in that state, they can produce nothing but sin.

The true relationship between sin and death will be discovered only from the Word of God. The fundamental character of sin may be defined as any transgression of, or want of conformity to, the character of God. All the present important classifications of sin -- imputed sin, imparted sin, personal sin, and the judicial reckoning under sin -- are traceable directly to the original act of sin on the part of the first sinner. Sin in its every form is exceedingly sinful, and that because of the fact that it is contrary to the character of God. His character is the touchstone for all motive and conduct whether in heaven or on the earth. The first sin, it is revealed, was committed as an act of willfulness on the part of the highest of all created intelligences in heaven. His moral degradation followed (Isa 14:12-14). The same angelic being imported sin into the earth at the time when he persuaded Adam and Eve to pursue a similar course of willful disobedience toward God. In the latter instance and according to the divine warning, death followed -- spiritual death on the same day, with both physical death and the second death following in unavoidable sequence.

Not only did these three forms of death become the inheritance of Adam, but they, of necessity, became the portion of his posterity; for Adam, whose nature and constitution had descended to the level of a fallen creature, was able, following his fall, to generate only "after his kind." His posterity, each and every individual, is born into a state of spiritual death from which there could be no rescue apart from the quickening, regenerating power of the Spirit of God. Adam, having died spiritually, generated a race that is spiritually dead, both because of the inflexible law of heredity, and because of their share in the sin of their federal head, being as they were, in the loins of their father Adam when he sinned (cf. Heb 7:9-10). Innocent infants need redemption, and those infants who die, we are assured, are redeemed, but not on the ground of their innocence; their redemption being on the ground of the grace of God which is exercised toward sinners for whom Christ has died. Every member of Adam's race, it is revealed, is born into the world in a state which is described as "dead in trespasses and sins."

They are walking according to the course of this world.

That spiritual death rather than physical death is in view is proven by the statement that those who are here said to be dead, are, nevertheless, "walking according to the course of this world." This world is their sphere since it answers every requirement of their fallen natures. No more illuminating description of the walk, which is according to this world, is found than that recorded in verse three: "Among whom also we all had our conversation [manner of life] in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind." Spiritual death is a separation of soul and spirit from God and is the common heritage of all, unless, through divine grace, they experience regeneration by the Spirit of God.

They are walking according to the prince of the power of the air.

Reference is made in this Scripture to Satan, who is also "the god of this world" (2Co 4:4), "the prince of this world" (Joh 16:11), and, according to this passage, the one who is in control over the lives of all who are unregenerate. The disobedience to which reference is made is not personal, but collective; for "by one man's disobedience many were made sinners." Similarly, the doctrinal designation, "children of obedience," does not imply personal obedience, but refers rather to the fact that "by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous" (Rom 5:19). Thus it is declared that each unregenerate person is a "child of disobedience" and is therefore one in whom Satan is now "working" (literally, energizing). Satan is not said to be energizing a limited class who are notoriously evil; he is energizing each and every unregenerate person. In like manner, each and every regenerate person is now energized by God (Php 2:13).

They are by nature the children of wrath.

The Apostle, a Jew, while addressing Gentiles, includes himself by the words "we all" (verse 3). Fallen humanity in its vanity desires ever to "make a fair show in the flesh," and they "comparing themselves with themselves are not wise." Regardless of the opinion of men, it is true that all -- the most zealous legalist, along with the meritless, whether Jew or Gentile -- are "under sin," "dead in trespasses and sins," and "the children of wrath." Hope is never discovered within the range of human virtue or merit. All such confidence is excluded. The fruit cannot be accepted when the tree and its roots are condemned. Only a merciful God can save those who are otherwise so hopelessly lost, and to the mercy of God the Apostle now turns with boundless confidence.