EPHESIANS CHAPTER 2v1-3

What we were individually

Paul opens the chapter with the words "And you...." thus linking very clearly with the details of chapter 1.   A sweep of chapter 1 with chapter 2 reveals a most powerful truth, that in Christ we are as He.   Christ died, we were dead; Christ was resurrected, we have been resurrected; Christ is seated in the heavenlies, we are seated in the heavenlies.   Not that we will be, but we are already and all this by the power of God, as Paul said, "the exceeding greatness of His power."   What He wrought in Christ, he has wrought in us.   The inescapable conclusion of this is that we must live powerful, victorious lives.   There is no excuse for any believer to be morally deficient, no excuse for us to be socially divided, since we have become a new humanity in Christ, and the entire power of God has been made effective in our lives.   We have become positionally and powerfully united to Christ, such that the only response is newness of life!   That is the force of his argument   ".....which He wrought in Christ.......and you!"   To deny this in principle or in practice, is to deny that God's power can change things.

He begins by describing our condition pre-conversion.   This was true of every saint before salvation, it is true now of every unregenerate person.   There are three main facts brought before us:
Dead..............Dominated..........Doomed.  
None of the above may be palatable, nevertheless it is the truth, and it is as well we know the truth about ourselves.

• Dead to God because of sin         Our condition before God is one of spiritual death.   That which distinguishes human beings from animals, namely the possession of the human spirit, which was given to us that we might be inhabited by God's Spirit, has been separated from it's maker by the entrance of sin.   Everyone born into this world is physically alive, but spiritually dead even from the very point of birth.   Back in Eden, God decreed to the first man Adam, "of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."   In the event the man transgressed the commandment of God. but he did not die physically, he died that very moment (spiritually) to God.   Scripture makes it very clear that sin separates us from God (Isaiah 59v2).   That day God brought a judicial judgment on the entire race.   The results of this have been far reaching.   There is an interesting construction here in the Greek, which suggests the human race is dead to the trespasses and sins, that is we are totally insensitive to sins and trespasses, we are unaware of our condition because the spiritual lifeline has been cut off.   This construction is also found in verse 5, and the idea is expanded in chapter 4v18 "...having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart....."    Sins describe a coming short of a standard required, trespasses are a going beyond a line of demarcation.   In either case we are unaware of these because we were born out of communication with God.   Essentially we lived as though God did not exist, and were not subject to His guiding control.   Instead we came under three very powerful influences, which are now detailed, and which took us further away from God.
• Dominated by the world        All of us hate the idea of slavery, and we pride ourselves in our independence, yet the grim reality is that we are subservient to influences beyond our control.   The phrase "walking according to....." means that we are actually being controlled.   He calls it "the course of the world."   The word for course is aion which means trend, or fashion, cultural practices which characterize a certain time period.   Who decides these trends, who orchestrate the changes that come?.... big business, politicians, philosophers, academics etc.   No one likes to be left out, or left behind, or be called "not with it", so we conform, we go with the tide.   Few of us, if any, stop to question the direction the world is taking, as to it's destiny, we just follow, because it's the easiest way.   Whatever is the "in thing" we will do; yet the word of God says this world is on a collision course with God, and there is only one winner!   The course of the world is anti-God, indeed in rebellion against Him.   Paul is about to expose this "course", the direction the world is going, as a course of brainless conformity, a course of spiritual depravity, a course of disobedience, and a course leading to Divine wrath; dead to God now, leading to the second death which is separation from God forever.   That, says Paul is the destiny of the world.
• Dominated by the unseen spiritual power of the devil      People want laugh at it, but behind the world system in opposition to God, is an enemy of mankind controlling at will the trends of things, keeping mankind in the grip of his spell which he first cast on the race in Eden.  He is "the prince of the power(authority) of the air".... Jesus called him " The prince of this world" ( John 14v30 &16v11).   Paul, through the revelation of the Spirit of God described him as "the god of this world."   He commands untold numbers of demon spirits, and through them wages spiritual warfare against mankind (Ephesians 6v11-13).   His overriding vengeance is because of the decree of God(which he knows to be true) that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent's head.   So far he is free to move within limitations, but he knows he is doomed, and he will bring down as many with him as he can.   His final doom was proclaimed , first by God in Genesis 3v15, then by Christ in John 16v11, then by the Spirit through Paul in Colossians 2v15, and John in Revelation 20v10.   The Spirit of God is warning us of his intentions and his methods: he is blinding the minds of unbelievers (2 Corinthians 4v4); he is lulling the world to sleep (1 John 5v19); he is the spirit influencing people in the pathway of disobedience (Ephesians 2v2).   The words "now working" suggests constant and effective energy.   He is successful, he is good at what he does, he is far too strong, and far too clever for any of us, he is effective.   He is the arch-deceiver, and he is in the process of bringing us down.   The description "power of the air" may refer to his favourite use of mass media communication for his global propaganda. He is controlling the air waves, and therefore the trends and fashions of the world.   A reading of Revelation 20 v7-9 will reveal that even after the benign reign of Christ amidst the best conditions on earth, this one will be able to summon numberless rebels to destruction.   His power is immense, and will always succeed where men resist God.
• Dominated by the power of the flesh      Paul now uses "we" referring to Jews.   Just in case you think this applies only to heathen Gentiles, he says even the religious Jews are caught up in this spiritual tyranny.   We could conclude from this verse that the reason why the world system, as controlled by demon spirits is so successful, is, because it gives the people what they want, naturally.   Born in sin, living in sin, it's much easier to go with our natural instincts, and that is what the world gives, at least for a while.   The course of life, however proves it to be the opposite.   We come face to face with the reality that I am, by nature, corrupt, living in a corrupt world, controlled by corrupt spirits, and the trend is always downward.   We wrongly reason that we can control our nature only to find it is controlling us.   Says Paul, "in the lusts of our flesh. fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind."    The flesh can only produce sinful, selfish, rebellious desires.   This is so close to each of us, and so powerful, it can overcome any rational thinking.   We do what we want when we want even with the best of intentions, but we were created to live for God.   Notice, the desires (wills) of the flesh and of the mind.   It is not only sensual desires, but intellectual, and aesthetic, and cultural desires that can find us at odds with God.   The word for mind is in the plural, and refers to the multitude of anti-God things that can occupy us.
• Doomed to separation from God eternally      What will be the end game for us?   Still speaking to his Jewish countrymen, he says the end of such a pathway is the wrath of God.   There is no room for doubt here; some thinking only the future will declare it, the condemnation is now, God has passed sentence already, we are "children of wrath.....", we are under the condemnation of God, and this by nature.   We were born into a world which is condemned; as we were born, so we were doomed.   The entire world of human beings, apart from Jesus Christ, is lost forever; it is only a matter of time.   Jesus Himself made this clear, "...he that believeth not is condemned already.......and this is the condemnation that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil."   By means of the incarnation we have been given one chance of salvation, to ignore this is to perish, to remain in our sins in which we were born.   The world says different, the devil who controls it is blinding people to the truth, eternal doom hangs over our heads.   No amount of ceremonial religion will alter this position, since Paul is speaking to Jews, arguably the most outwardly religious people on earth, nevertheless, without Christ they are "children of wrath even as others" (that is their Gentile counterparts).   Religion does not save, only Christ.   The bible is clear, God will banish all Christ- rejectors in an act of irreversible condemnation.

                     Only Divine intervention can save us!