In the first chapter of the book, Paul walked us through some basic Christian theological concepts regarding our salvation. However to fully embrace what God is offering as a solution we need to understand more thoroughly the problem we faced and of course the dire predicament we were in. Here in explanation, Paul doesn’t mince any of his words as he plainly states that we were essentially dead before accepting Jesus. We might have been able to breathe, eat and do things but our existence was of no use as we followed the way of the world. Paul reminds us that we once lived to only satisfy our own desires and lusts. Another disturbing aspect is that during that time we were following the prince of the power of the air, namely Satan, without knowing that was what we were doing.
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— 3 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.
Disobedience and sin are serious matters and carry significant consequences. Since we would not have been able to meet the requirements for salvation on our own, after we died we would then be separated from God and spend an eternity in hell. So we see that the situation would have been truly grim for us without Jesus. However, in our joy for what God has done for us we should also feel the need to help others find the salvation that can only be experienced through Jesus Christ.
This brings us to another common question, what is death and why must we die? The Bible teaches that death is a separation, the first, or physical death separates our soul from our bodies and the second death, also known as our spiritual death, separates our soul from God. The wages of sin is death, we die because we are sinners (see also Psalm 51:5; Romans 5:12; 6:23; Revelation 2:11; 20:14-15; 21:8). Paul identifies two reasons why we are considered dead, our trespasses and our sins. Trespasses (or paraptōma in the Greek) means to fall by the wayside, an error or mistake. Sin (or hamartia in the Greek) refers to an offense in relation to God, missing the proper way.
The “course of the world” or the direction the world is heading could easily be summed up with the words, “away from God.” Due to our sinful nature we pursue things that will grant us pleasure while minimizing accountability to God. Since Satan has already been condemned (see John 12:31 and Revelation 12:9) he is attempting to bring as many as he can with him to hell, yes he hates you hat much (read 1 Timothy 3:6).
The sons or children of disobedience refer to people who deliberately disobey God. The spirit Paul is referring to is one that not only disobeys God but they also deny God’s truth and any accountability to God. The Greek word translated here as ‘passions’ can also be translated as lusts, the longing or craving of things forbidden by God. Passions of the flesh would imply illicit sex. Paul says we were once “children of wrath, like the rest of mankind,” the wrath is the result of anger or indignation leading to punishment, violent reaction or judgment. The “children of wrath” are those whose disobedient hearts and sinful actions will lead them to destruction. Without Jesus we would have the same nature and would be like the rest of mankind.
Sin is indeed a serious problem and like most things that are serious it is also complex. The Bible teaches that there are essentially three types of sin. These are 1) inherited sin (from the original sin when Adam disobeyed), 2) imputed sin, and 3) personal sin. Inherited sin gives us our sinful nature, our less than stellar moral state and is the reason we all die (read Romans 6:23). Imputed sin is a little more complex, this legal term describes how we are all guilty of sin because of Adam’s original sin (read Romans 5:13-14) and finally, personal sin, which describes how our sinful nature manifests itself by being disobedient to God.
Our day-to-day struggle is with personal sin. Due to our sinful nature we commit personal sins. Jesus defined many of them in His Sermon on the Mount (see Matthew chapters 5-7). We can also be influenced by ideas such as humanism, which places man’s wisdom above God’s truth; materialism, which places high value on physical wealth and the possession of things; sexual perversion, that seeks only pleasure and of course idolatry where we regard something higher or more important than our love for God (in modern application this could be careers, family, savings account, membership, etc.) Sin is indeed both pervasive and complex!
The words translated as sin in both the Hebrew (chata’) and Greek (hamartia) imply “missing the mark,” the phrase means just that, if we are disobey we “miss the mark” of obedience. The Law requires absolute perfection (never missing the mark), if we disobey just once we would be considered a sinner. A well known theologian once said, “We are not sinners because we sin. We sin because we are sinners."[1] Often considered one of those, “which was first, the chicken or the egg” scenarios, the truth is we sin because we are sinners. Much in the same way we see because we have eyes or hear because we have ears.
Sin may seem like a dead-end for us, something we can never escape from on our own and that would be true without God. So Paul begins the next verse with an appropriate, “but God,” as he begins to explain how Jesus solved the predicament of sin for us. In the following verses, Paul will explore more fully the concept of grace (continued from Ephesians 1:6-7) and introduce us to God’s mercy. These two words are often used interchangeably but in reality they are very different. As discussed earlier in Chapter 4, regarding redemption, the term grace refers to unmerited favor, the receiving of something that is not deserved. Mercy on the other hand refers to NOT getting something we DO deserve. Because of what Jesus did for us, God grants us mercy by not condemning us to hell. We deserve condemnation and punishment however due to His mercy for us and His grace (undeserved gift), He grants us eternal life with Him in heaven. To explain this, Paul uses the phrase, “made us alive” with Christ. In a sense Jesus resuscitated us so that we can be alive again and live with Him for all of eternity!
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
God offers us salvation through His mercy because He loves us (read Romans 5:6-11). This level and intensity of love is beyond our comprehension. He began offering His mercy, “even when we were dead in our trespasses.” While we were still sinners. God may hate sin but He still loves the sinner, the human being.
Paul says that God, “made alive together with Christ,” how did God make us alive? (see also John 3:15-18; Romans 3:21-26 and 5:12-21) He sent His Son Jesus to life a sinless life, suffer, die and to rise again. His blood is used as a propitiation (a covering) for all our sins, we have been saved by God’s grace! You might ask who specifically have been saved? (see John 3:15-16; 20:31 and 1 John 5:13), the answer is simple, those that believe that Jesus is the Christ, our Lord and Savior (read John 20:31). The phrase, “coming ages” not only refers to our remaining time on earth it also points to our future time with Jesus in heaven. Since God’s resources are unlimited (truly immeasurable), His plans for us are beyond our comprehension (read Revelation 21:9-27).
Paul says these, “riches of grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus,” point to God’s kindness as seen in all that Jesus did for us (see also Romans 2:4 and Titus 3:4-5).
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[1] Quote by R.C. Sproul