Spiritually Dead

"And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 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--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" (Eph. 2:1-3, ESV).

Spiritually speaking, we were dead before the Holy Spirit regenerated us, by applying the gospel to our hearts, and brought us to faith.  Our trespasses and sins had us cut off from God's holy presence.  We had no access to him, nor any desire for such access.  We were dead.  Cold. Rotten. Stinking. Dead.  That is not to imply that we were without morals or scruples, for even the most ungodly live by some internal set of rules. Yet, human morality is little more than a tomb covered over by whitewash (see Matt. 23:27).

Apart from the gracious work of God, in our hearts and minds, through the Holy Spirit applying the gospel, we would continue to be incapable of coming to life.  The dead are unable to do anything about their situation, even though they want to do something about it (see Luke 16:19-31).  Once the human spirit has left the body, our fate is sealed.  There is no second chance in the grave.  James states, "As the body apart from the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead" (James 2:26, ESV).  Likewise, the author of Hebrews reminds us, "And just as it was appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment" (Heb. 9:27, ESV).

We are born into this world spiritually dead and slowly creeping our way toward physical death.  Those who are not born again from above, that is, through the Spirit's regenerating work, will suffer the second death.  However, Paul speaks to believers as those raised from the dead, and so they are.  Paul prayed for their hearts to be enlightened so that they may know "what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe" (Eph. 1:19, ESV).  He explains the "immeasurable greatness" in terms of the resurrection.  It seems that Paul understands the resurrection of Jesus Christ to be the greatest display of God's sovereign power.  That power Paul reminds us, is the very power that raised us from our deadness.

Where once we followed in the "course of this world" and "the prince of the power of the air," we now follow a different course and a different prince.  Where once we were filled with "the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience," now we are filled with the Spirit "who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it" (Eph. 1:14, ESV).  Formerly, we were children of wrath, now we are the children of God--chosen, adopted in love, forgiven, known, cherished, and kept (see Eph. 1:3-14).

The description of this death is that we willingly obeyed our dark master.  We served him with the "passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind."  We earned all of our bitter wages. We deserved every penny we were to be paid.   As it is written, "For the wages of sin is death . . ."(Rom. 6:23).  We were not only born corrupted by sin, but we willfully indulged ourselves in it.  The desire to sin is not something imposed on us from the outside.  If a person is forced to do something against their will, they are not guilty of that sin.  A woman who has been raped is not guilty of fornication.  Yet, a man who seduces and uses multiple women is a fornicator.  He willful does what is unlawful, because it is what he wants.  Paul states that obeyed the spirit that works in the disobedient to serve our passions and to carry out the desires of our mind and body.  Sin strikes from the inside (see Rom. 7:7-25, James 1:13-15).

Paul's description in Ephesians 2:1-3 would cause us to despair were it not for one word--were.  If we are in Christ, then we are no longer "dead in the trespasses and sins" in which we once walked.  If we are in Christ, then we are no longer "following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air."  If we are in Christ, we are no longer "by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind."  No, in Christ we are holy and blameless (Eph. 1:4).  We are the beloved children God has adopted (Eph. 1:5).  We have been redeemed through Christ's blood (Eph. 1:7).  We have been told the secret of God's plan (Eph. 1:9-10).  We have become his prized possession (Eph. 1:11).  We have been marked out as his people (Eph. 1:13-14).  Once we were dead--killed in cold blood by sin, but now we have been made alive in Christ.