Power to Save

2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,

3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,

5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

Question

What does Paul mean or imply by the clauses in red?

Purpose: Deconstruct the Complexity of Meaning

Apostle Paul often uses complex constructions to convey critical ideas that are difficult to maintain in translation. For example, in the original Greek text, Ephesians 2:1–5 is essentially one long sentence that contains only one big idea but introduces a state of affairs in which the one main thought occurs.

The purpose of this Bible study is to deconstruct the complexity of meaning presented in Paul’s writing and introduce the relevance to us in our present time. In addition, we aim to examine the state of affairs Paul was alluding to.

To achieve this, an exegesis[1] of the text is performed by asking the question, “What does Paul mean or imply by the clauses in red?” We will take this text verse-by-verse to explore the inner truth and the hidden treasure of God.

[1] Exegesis: A critical explanation and interpretation of a text

v.1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins

In Ephesians 2:1-3, Paul presents the state of affairs in the spiritual life of the gentiles in Ephesus and that of himself.

Ephesians 2:1–2 describes the situation in which the Ephesian believers found themselves: dead in trespasses and walking according to the course of the world and its ruler.

To be dead means to be spiritually dead or lost, describing the condition as separated from God. Such a person possesses no spiritual life and can do nothing of himself/herself to please God.

Just as a person physically dead does not respond to physical stimuli, so a person spiritually dead is unable to respond to spiritual things.

A corpse does not hear the conversation going on in the funeral home. It has no appetite for food or drink; feels no pain.

So also with the spiritually devoid person. Their spiritual faculties are not functioning, and they cannot respond to God’s will until God gives them a new life.

In the Bible, Death means “separation” not only physically, as the spirit separated from the body (James 2:26), but also spiritually, as the spirit separated from God (Isa. 59:2).

Isaiah 59:2 NKJV

2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.

The cause of this spiritual death is “trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1).

The terms Trespasses and Sin are particularly significant in this text.

Trespass rendered as paraptoma (pa-rap-to-ma) in Greek, primarily means “a false step, a blunder” and

Sin rendered as hamartia, or hamartema (ha-mar-tia, or ha-mar-te-ma) in Greek primarily means “a missing of the mark”.

Commonly, they are considered “acts of disobedience to divine law” in scripture.

To understand the premise of Paul’s argument and its implications, one would have to go to the very beginning.

God’s design for us is a place where our effort is effortless, our pain is painless, and our powerlessness is powerful (an oxymoron) (Genesis 1:26, 28-29; 2:15-17; Genesis 3:16–17 explain the texts).

This is the ideal that God want us to re-attain hence the reason for sending Jesus to die for us subsequently redeeming us from death.

Genesis 1:26 NKJV

26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

Genesis 1:28–29 NKJV

28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29 And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food.

Genesis 2:15–17 NKJV

15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Genesis 3:16–17 NKJV

16 To the woman He said: “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.” 17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life.

v. 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience

Paul uses the phrase “Sons of Disobedience” as a metaphor for the state of our spiritual origin. Here again, we would have to go back to basics – Genesis.

The word Son – rendered as huios (hu-i-os) in Greek refers to a distant human descendant or a group of descendants and stresses the dignity and character of the relationship (the belief held back then in essence indicated if you are my son, you will have all my behavioural qualities, good and bad).

Thus, we all are sons of Adam and Eve and have inherited the very nature and cause of their fall, i.e. disobedience.

Disobedience is the refusal to comply and a form of resistance or defiance to a higher authority.

This is our very intrinsic and dominant behaviour expressed involuntarily (like children).

This was the beginning of man’s spiritual death—his disobedience to the will of God. God said, “for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:17). Satan said, “You will not surely die” (Genesis 3:4), and because they believed this lie, the first man and woman sinned and experienced immediate spiritual death and ultimately physical death.

One of Satan’s chief tools for getting people to disobey God is lies. He is a liar (John 8:44), and it was his lie at the beginning of human history, “You will not surely die,” that plunged the human race into sin.

v.3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

The discourse switches to Paul and those with him in Ephesians 2:3, indicating that they were in the same spiritual predicament.

Uniquely, Paul does not exonerate himself but admits his culpability. Consequently, they too were children of wrath—just like all other sinners.

In the text, Wrath (or anger) is rendered orgē (or-gē) and alludes to the rage or wrath of man or God, like several of its Hebrew counterparts.

The fall into sin described in Genesis 3 was not merely a moral lapse but a deliberate turning away from God in rejection of him, which made God really angry! Hence, this statement is a reminder of God’s anger at the fall of His creation, i.e. Adam and Eve, and by implication, you and I. In essence, we are children of the anger of God!

The spiritually devoid person is condemned already (John 3:18). The sentence has been passed, but God in His mercy is delaying the execution of the sentence (2 Peter 3:8–10). Man cannot save himself, but God, in His grace, makes salvation possible.

v. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,

v. 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

In Ephesians 2:4-5, Paul shifts to God’s state of affairs. He is rich in mercy because of His great love, even though we were dead in our transgressions.

Paul links back to being “dead in your trespasses” by repeating the same words just before the one main thought of Ephesians 2:1–5.

This repetition bookends the human and divine states of affairs. The one main idea in this section becomes clear at the end of Ephesians 2:5: we were made alive, together with Christ.

The focus of attention now is on God, not on sinful man, because “salvation is of the Lord” (Jonah 2:9).

God has two kinds of attributes: those that He possesses of Himself (intrinsic attributes, such as life, love, holiness), and those by which He relates to His creation, especially to man (relative attributes).

Love is one of God’s intrinsic attributes, but it becomes grace and mercy when this love is related to sinners.

God is “rich in mercy” (Eph. 2:4) and in “grace” (Eph. 2:7), and these riches make it possible for sinners (those who have missed the mark) to be saved (put back on track).

Thus, we are not saved “by God’s love,” but by God’s mercy and grace.

Because In His mercy, He does not give us what we do deserve (death), and in His grace, He gives us what we do not deserve (a new life and His love).

And all of this is made possible because of the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. It was at Calvary that God displayed His hatred for sin and His love for sinners (Rom. 5:8; John 3:16).

This complex state of affairs clarifies why Paul says, “by grace, you are saved” (Eph 2:8).

Our deadness in sin left God no other alternative but to pour out His rich mercy on us through His Son Jesus.

Conclusion

Paul writes to expand the horizons of his readers so that they might understand better the dimensions of God’s eternal purpose and grace and come to appreciate the high goals God has for his people. Paul emphasises that we have been saved for our personal benefit and to bring praise and glory to God. The climax of God’s purpose is to bring all things in the universe together under Christ (Ephesians 1:10) to the original design state that was in existence before the fall.

The whole letter emphasises the truth that all believers are united in Christ.

Through Jesus’ death, God reconciled sinful people to Himself. Jews and Gentiles who were customarily divided were reconciled to each other through Christ. So also is it with us who are indifferent to others and God are reconciled when we recognise Christ in the other person

So why does Paul use such a complex construction? The significance of being made alive with Christ is only entirely understandable when we recognise just how lost we were in our sin. We weren’t just dead; we were under Satan’s power and the world’s influence. God’s love is excellent, but it becomes even more remarkable as we consider the context in which He gave us new life. He loved us even when we were children of wrath—seemingly unlovable.