Ephesians 2:1-10 Former Destiny, Future Hope

Introduction

Paul has just written about the blessings associated with being in Messiah. He has spoken in general terms, referring to the entire Body of Messiah, and the richness of God’s grace and power that He has lavished upon us.

Now he writes about our original destination and how the Grace of Adonai has provided a way of escape. Let’s read Eph. 2:1-10

Ephesians 2:1–10 TLV

You were dead in your trespasses and sins. At that time, you walked in the way of this world, in conformity to the ruler of the domain of the air—the ruler of the spirit who is now operating in the sons of disobedience. We too all lived among them in the cravings of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind. By nature we were children of wrath, just like the others. But God was rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us. Even when we were dead in our trespasses, He made us alive together with Messiah. (By grace you have been saved!) And He raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Messiah Yeshua— to show in the olam ha-ba the measureless richness of His grace in kindness toward us in Messiah Yeshua. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not from yourselves—it is the gift of God. It is not based on deeds, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship—created in Messiah Yeshua for good deeds, which God prepared beforehand so we might walk in them.

Your Original Destiny

Paul goes through a great deal of detail to explain our state prior to coming to faith in Yeshua. He uses concepts such as being “dead”, or “walking in the way of this world” or being subject to the “ruler of the domain of the air”. All of these statements describe ideas that are used not just by Paul but by all the authors of the New Covenant writers, so let us have a look at each one.

Dead in Trespasses & Sins

We all understand the concept of being physically dead, but it is obvious from the context here and through the whole of Scripture, that there are two kinds of death, Physical and Spiritual.

We initially get this idea of Spiritual death from Gen 2:16-17

Genesis 2:16–17 TLV

Then Adonai Elohim commanded the man saying, “From all the trees of the garden you are most welcome to eat. But of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil you must not eat. For when you eat from it, you most assuredly will die!

We all know the rest of the story. Adam and Eve both ate the fruit, but they did not immediately physically die. However they were thrown out of the garden, banished from the presence of Adonai.

We also see that Yeshua talks about being born-again in John 3:1-21

John 3:1–21 TLV

Now there was a man, a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jewish people. He came to Yeshua at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that You, a teacher, have come from God. For no one can perform these signs which You do unless God is with Him!” Yeshua answered him, “Amen, amen I tell you, unless one is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” “How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus said to Him. “He cannot enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born, can he?” Yeshua answered, “Amen, amen I tell you, unless one is born of water and spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be surprised that I said to you, ‘You all must be born from above.’ The wind blows where it wishes and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” “How can these things happen?” Nicodemus said. Yeshua answered him, “You’re a teacher of Israel and you do not understand these things? Amen, amen I tell you, We speak about what We know and testify about what We have seen. Yet you all do not receive Our testimony! If you do not believe the earthly things I told you, how will you believe when I tell you about heavenly things? No one has gone up into heaven except the One who came down from heaven—the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life! “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. The one who believes in Him is not condemned; but whoever does not believe has been condemned already, because he has not put his trust in the name of the one and only Ben-Elohim. “Now this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world and men loved the darkness instead of the light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light, so that their deeds will not be exposed. But whoever practices the truth comes to the light, so that it may be made known that his deeds have been accomplished in God.”

Ways of the World

The term “World” has become synonymous with any governmental system that is antagonistic to the plans and purposes of Adonai. For instance we have talked about Babylon as being the capital city of the ungodly world empire. We should not be surprised when organisations such as the WEF or the WHO propose ideas that are contrary to the Scriptures. This should rather be expected.

An area where we can combat the World’s system is through Contentment. Paul says in 1 Tim. 6:6

1 Timothy 6:6 TLV

Now godliness with contentment is great gain.

The reality is that, when we are content we are not able to be enticed by the wares that the World offers. In the Pilgrims Progress we see that when Christian and Faithful get to the city of Vanity Fair, one of the actions was that they would not buy the things sold in the city.

Ruler of the Domain of the Air

Another translation puts it as, “The Prince of the Power of the Air.” This term has become synonymous with the Devil or ha Satan. One of the most potent weapons of the enemy is to speak lies to our mind. This battle-field of the mind is where we as Believers have authority to do as Jacob tells us in Jam. 4:7

James 4:7 TLV

Therefore submit to God. But resist the devil and he will flee from you.

In these first few verses of chapter 2, Paul addresses the primary 3 enemies that we have to face: Our own flesh, the World, and the Adversary (Satan).

Therefore we were the

Sons of Disobedience

The word for disobedience is the Greek word apeitheia and it is the word that is the basis of our English word Apathy.

According to wikipedia the ancient Greek Stoics and Gnostic treated apathy (being without feeling) as a virtue, but not so with the followers of Yeshua. Apathy was synonymous with Sloth and was seen as one of the seven deadly sins. We all were sinners, whether we cared about it or not.

We Also

Paul then changes the tone to include himself and all other believers by saying “We also.”.

We all have cravings and are led astray by our own desires (feelings)

our desires of the flesh and of the mind (thoughts)

We all need to submit our mind (what we think), our will (what we want) and our emotions (what we feel) to Adonai. We need to allow the Ruach Hakodesh to change our direction .

(Share what John Swails told me at the Jordan)

By Nature, Children of Wrath

We were all destined for wrath ,the wrath of God.

BUT

This is the biggest word of hope in this entire passage. Lets look at 1 Cor 6:9-11

1 Corinthians 6:9–11 TLV

Or don’t you know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Don’t be deceived! The sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, those who practice homosexuality, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, slanderers, swindlers—none of these will inherit the kingdom of God. That is what some of you were—but you were washed, you were made holy, you were set right in the name of the Lord Yeshua the Messiah and by the Ruach of our God.

In Ephesians we see that Adonai was:

Rich in Mercy

Romans 5:8 TLV

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Messiah died for us.

We see that Adonai then;

Raised Us Up

This refers not only to spiritually but also physical resurrection.

And we are now:

Seated in Heavenly Places

WHY?

The biggest question is, “Why would God do this?” Verse 7 tells us that it is because He wants to Ephesians 2:7“to show in the olam ha-ba the measureless richness of His grace in kindness toward us in Messiah Yeshua.”

What do we do now?

So what do we do now? The next verse (10) tell us.

To close I am going to read the next verse :Eph 2:11

Ephesians 2:11 TLV

Therefore, keep in mind that once you—Gentiles in the flesh—were called “uncircumcision” by those called “circumcision” (which is performed on flesh by hand).

From this we can see exactly who Paul is speaking to. He is addressing the Messianic Gentile Believers in and around Ephesus.