Ephesians Series: Ephesians 2:1-The Recipients of the Ephesian Letter Were Spiritually Dead

Ephesians 2:1 Now, correspondingly, even though, each and every one of you as a corporate unit were spiritually dead ones because of your transgressions, in other words, because of your sins. (Lecturer’s translation)

Ephesians 2:1 marks not only a transition from the contents of Ephesians 1:15-23 to the contents of Ephesians 2:1-10 but is also marking the correspondence between the sections.

The former records Paul’s intercessory prayer to the Father on behalf of the recipients of the epistle while on the other hand, the latter contains a discussion of the identification of the recipients of this epistle with Jesus Christ in His resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father.

They correspond to each other because both speak of the Father exercising His omnipotence for the benefit of others.

In Ephesians 1:15-23, Paul speaks of the Father exercising His omnipotence by raising His Son from the dead and seating Him at His right hand.

On other hand in Ephesians 2:1-10, he speaks of the Father exercising His omnipotence by making the recipients of this letter alive with His Son by identifying them with His Son in His resurrection and session at His right hand at the moment of their justification through the baptism of the Spirit.

“Each and every one of you” is the accusative second personal plural form of the personal pronoun su (σύ), which not only refers to the recipients of the Ephesian epistle but also is used in a distributive sense emphasizing no exceptions.

Ephesians 2:11 identifies the recipients of this epistle as Gentile Christians.

Therefore, the word is emphasizing that “each and every one of” these Gentile Christians without exception were made alive together with Jesus Christ even though they were spiritually dead, enslaved to the sin nature and Satan and his cosmic system and under the wrath of God.

Here in Ephesians 2:1, the accusative second personal plural form of the personal pronoun su (σύ) is used for emphasis as well as contrast.

First, it is emphasizing that each one of these Gentile Christians whom Paul is describing in Ephesians 2:1-4 before their justification were made alive by the Father through faith in His Son even though they were existing in the state of being spiritually dead.

Secondly, it is marking a contrast between these Gentile Christians prior to their justification and the state they now exist in as those who possess eternal life and are identified with Jesus Christ in His resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father.

“Even though…were” is the accusative masculine plural present active participle conjugation of the verb eimi (εἰμί), which pertains to certain persons possessing particular inherent characteristics which identify them with a particular group.

The referent of the masculine plural form of this verb is the recipients of this epistle who are identified in Ephesians 2:11 as being Gentile Christians.

Therefore, this verb is expressing the idea that these Gentile Christians possessed particular inherent characteristics, which identified them with a particular group of people before their justification.

These characteristics and this group are identified in Ephesians 2:1 and 2:2-3.

Thus, the recipients of this epistle prior to their justification were spiritually dead in their transgressions and sins, they lived under the rulership of Satan as unregenerate people, and they were enslaved to the various lust patterns of their indwelling old Adamic sin nature and were thus under the wrath of God.

The participle conjugation of this verb eimi (εἰμί) functions as a concessive participle, which indicates that the participle conjugation of this verb implies that the recipients of the epistle being made alive together with Jesus Christ is true in spite of the fact that they were spiritually dead.

The action of the present participle conjugation of this verb eimi (εἰμί) here in Ephesians 2:1 is antecedent in time in relation to the action of the aorist tense of the main verb syzōopoieō (συζωοποιέω), “made alive together” in Ephesians 2:5.

Therefore, this indicates that prior to being made alive at the moment of justification through faith in Jesus Christ, the recipients of the Ephesian epistle were existing in the state of being spiritually dead.

“Spiritually dead ones” is the accusative masculine plural form of the adjective nekros (νεκρός), which is used metaphorically for the state of the unregenerate.

Specifically, it refers to the unregenerate state of the recipients of the Ephesian epistle as being spiritually dead prior to the Father giving them eternal life and declaring them justified through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ.

This word describes their unregenerate state as being dead to God in the sense that they possessed no relationship or fellowship with Him and had absolutely no capacity or desire to establish one with Him because they had absolutely no merit to do so anyway.

Thus, the word describes unregenerate humanity as separated from the Triune God.

In Ephesians 2:2-4, the apostle Paul defines for the recipients of this epistle what he means that they were spiritually dead prior to their justification.

Therefore, in these verses, Paul is describing a spiritually dead person as under the rulership of the devil and characterized as disobedient to God and living according to the desires of their indwelling old Adamic sin nature and under the wrath of God.

In Ephesians 4:18-19, Paul further describes the unregenerate who are spiritually dead.

Therefore, in these verses, Paul is describing a spiritually dead person as darkened in their understanding of God, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance in their souls which is the result of the hardness of their hearts.

These verses also say that they are spiritually dead because they have given themselves over to indecency for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness because they are callous in their hearts.

Now, this description of the recipients of the Ephesian epistle here in Ephesians 2:1, who we noted were Gentile Christians according to Ephesians 2:11, is not only true of these Gentile Christians but also true of each and every member of the human race-past, present and future.

Everyone born into this world is spiritually dead because of the imputation of Adam’s original sin in the Garden.

Now, in Ephesians 2:1, the articular construction of the noun paraptōma (παράπτωμα) functions as a dative of cause, which indicates the transgressions of these Gentile Christians was the reason why they existed in the state of being spiritually dead.

“In other words” is the conjunction kai (καί), which is epexegetical, which means that the articular dative feminine plural form of the noun hamartia (ἁμαρτία), which the word introduces, is explaining from another perspective the articular neuter plural form of the noun paraptōma (παράπτωμα), “transgressions.”

“Because of your sins” is the articular dative feminine plural form of the nounhamartia (ἁμαρτία), which is used with reference to mental, verbal and overt acts of personal sin from the perspective that these acts miss the mark of the absolute perfection of God’s character, i.e. His holiness.

This word speaks of any thought, word or action, which is in disobedience to God’s laws.

Like the noun paraptōma (παράπτωμα), the noun hamartia (ἁμαρτία) functions as a dative of cause, which indicates that the sins of these Gentile Christians was the reason why they existed in the state of being spiritually dead.

These two words are forming the figure of hendiadys, which means that the conjunction kai (καί) is used to connect together the nouns paraptōma (παράπτωμα) and hamartia (ἁμαρτία).

Therefore, this figure indicates that the nouns paraptōma (παράπτωμα) and hamartia (ἁμαρτία) are not referring to two different concepts but rather, they are referring to one.

This is indicated by the fact that both of these words speak of the thoughts, words and actions of the recipients of the Ephesian epistle were in disobedience to the Father’s will and contrary to His holy character and nature before the Father declared them justified through faith in His one and only Son, Jesus Christ.

This figure would indicate that hamartia (ἁμαρτία) is intensifying or advancing upon the idea expressed by paraptōma (παράπτωμα) in the sense that the noun hamartia (ἁμαρτία) is defining the meaning of the noun paraptōma (παράπτωμα).

Therefore, this indicates that when Paul asserts that the recipients of the Ephesian epistle were spiritually dead because of their paraptōmasin(παραπτώμασιν), “transgressions,” he means that they were spiritually dead because of their hamartiais (ἁμαρτίαις), “sins.”

This is indicated by the fact that sin is the transgression of God’s law.

Paul’s use of these two nouns paraptōma (παράπτωμα) and hamartia (ἁμαρτία) indicates that mental, verbal and overt acts which are in disobedience to the Law of God are evidence of a person being spiritually dead.

His assertion here in Ephesians 2:1 echoes his statement to the Colossian Christian community in Colossians 2:13 since he teaches the latter that prior to their conversion they were spiritually dead because of their transgressions.