Where chapter one firmly establishes our position in Christ, chapter two further builds the doctrine of salvation and its results. In doing so, Paul sets up a contrast between what we were without Christ, and what we now are by Him, in Him, and with Him. The significant action verbs throughout the chapter are all attributed to Christ, echoing the plain truth of verses eight and nine.
Specifically, Paul addresses salvation by faith apart from works. The results of that salvation include death to life, far off to nigh, spiritual uncircumcison to spiritual circumcision, dead to seated in the heavens with Christ, and unreconciled to reconciled.
1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; 2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
Paul rapidly advances his doctrinal explanation in the first three verses of chapter two. We should immediately notice the verb tenses used here: we are (present tense) quickened (specifically, made alive or resuscitate from death, according to Webster’s 1828 Dictionary), though we were (past tense) dead in trespasses and sins. While we typically think of “trespasses” and “sins” as synonymous, Scripture includes both terms for a reason; although they are closely related, each carries its own distinct nuance: a “trespass” is an injury against another, usually through violence, whereas a sin is a voluntary departure from any duty, either by omission or commission (Webster’s 1828 Dictionary). This is connected to our walk, which is important throughout Ephesians, as chapters 1-3 build the doctrine that informs and improves the Christian’s walk in Ephesians 4-6. The contrast here is what we were in opposition to what we should be, not in order to get saved, but because we are saved.
Devotionally, we should daily ask ourselves which “walk” we are displaying. Do we walk according to the course of this world, or do we walk according to the Spirit (Romans 8:1, Romans 8:4, Galatians 5:16, and Galatians 5:25)? Walking according the course of this world does not demand violence and debauchery; any reasonable person can see that most of the people we encounter are moral, modest, temperate, religious, and “nice.” The course of this world does not require open villainy; a man may be as “good” as he pleases in this world if only he lives a life that exalts the goodness of self above the grace of God, and thereby denies the truth of God’s word.
The walk that is according to the course of this world is associated with two parties here: “the prince of the power of the air” and “the children of disobedience.” The former is Satan, and the latter are the unsaved masses.
It is important that the course of this world is according to “the prince of the power of the air” as it sheds light on the walk of the unsaved man, as well as the warfare of the saved man (which is discussed in the sixth chapter of Ephesians). First, we know from Scripture that the prince mentioned here must be Satan based on Matthew 12:24, Mark 3:22, John 12:31, John 14:30, John 16:11, all of which use the term “prince” in relation to him. Furthermore, the Biblical sense of the word “prince” is “a sovereign in a certain territory; one who has the government of a particular state or territory, but holds of a superior to whom he owes certain services” (Webster). A second nuance is added which says, “The son of a king or emperor, or the issue of a royal family; as princes of the blood” (Webster).
What then is the significance of the course of this world being according to Satan? II Corinthians 4:4 calls Satan as the “god of this world” (in the sense of this world system, not in the sense that he is above God in actuality), so naturally this world acts according to its god.
How is it, then, that relatively decent people can be in league (ignorantly or not) with he who is the very antithesis of all that is good, he who “was a murderer from the beginning” (John 8:44)? We find the answer in Isaiah 14:12-19, where we get a brief account of the sin that brought Satan (called Lucifer) into confrontation with God Himself. That sin was pride. Satan desired to exalt himself above the Lord Almighty, to reject His reign and usurp His authority. While most of humanity stops short of an actual frontal assault on the physical throne of God, in our very thoughts, actions, and desires we reject the authority of the Lord. We wish to live independent of Him. We question His words, we ignore His commands, and we wish to justify ourselves rather than submit to His justice and mercy. It has been the nature of man since the third chapter of Genesis, and will remain so until the events of Revelation 21 come to pass. According to God, we need not be thieves, murderers, drunkards, fornicators, adulterers, or reprobates to follow the course of this world: we need only be guilty of pride. This is the disobedience. Which of us is not guilty of that, not to mention all the sin that stems from it? Who among the brethren does not need to wage daily warfare against that old nature? Who among the brethren can honestly claim to succeed in that warfare every moment of every day? If it is this difficult for those of us with the multitude of benefits and blessings in Christ, then how could any man or woman who is not in Christ being anything but a child of disobedience?
Why then is Satan associated with the “power of the air”? Scripture plainly reveals three heavens in II Corinthians 12:2. With this idea in mind, the three heavens in Scripture are what we would commonly refer to as the earth’s atmosphere (the first heaven), outer space, (the second heaven), and the location of God’s literal throne (the third heaven). Satan, along with the angels who followed him in insurrection against God, had their first estate in the third heaven with God (Jude 1:6). We can assume that they were cast down with Satan in the account provided in Isaiah 14. Added to this is Luke 10:18, where Christ tells us that He “beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.” However, it seems that Satan is still free to roam among the three heavens as he pleases (Genesis 3, Job 1-2, and I Peter 5:8). While Satan is not the god of the third heaven, it appears that his actual dominion is the second heaven based on the events described in Revelation 12. If that is the case, then Satan would have a sort of “air superiority” (in military terms) over this earth, in which case the titles “the prince of the power of the air” here and “the god of this world” in II Corinthians 4:4 are quite fitting.
The Christian’s warfare against his old nature’s tendencies toward the course of this world and the prince of the power of the air are addressed more fully in the sixth chapter of Ephesians, however for the time being it is worth noting how our understanding of Satan here in verse two connects perfectly to what we will see later in Ephesians 6:12: “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” A prince like Satan rules a principality, and it would seem that Satan dwells in places physically higher than us.
Verse three acknowledges that we all share the sinful nature that made us, at one point, willing participants in the course of this world. When verse three states “we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind,” it echoes the truth of Isaiah 64:6, Romans 3:10, Romans 3:23, Romans 5:12. Because of this, we all were the children of disobedience and so also children of wrath, but here Paul’s use of the past tense, combined with the phrase “even as others” makes it clear that both Paul and his audience are no longer children of disobedience. All children of disobedience, like Satan himself, are predestined for God’s wrath (Romans 1:18, Ephesians 5:6, and Colossians 3:6) unless they get in Christ by placing their faith in Him (Romans 5:9, I Thessalonians 1:10, and I Thessalonians 5:9)! Paul, the people of church at Ephesus, and any others who have placed their faith in Christ are free to enjoy the glorious contrast between what they were while in their sins and what they are now in Christ.
We should also note that “conversation” here is not referring to spoken words. Rather, the word references our “behavior, social intercourse, conduct, or engagement with things” (Vance), a definition further supported by Webster’s 1828 Dictionary. If we limit our understanding of “conversation” to merely the act of speaking, then many could weasel their way out of the cutting edge of this verse, claiming that they have never sinned in such a way. While any honest person would be unable to claim even that, the true sense of the word convicts us all: our conversation is every outworking – whether public or private, spoken or silent – of our desperately wicked hearts (Jeremiah 17:9).
Before leaving these verses, notice again that we were dead in trespasses and sins, which would make the Calvinist argument that we were already in Him before the foundation of the world (back in 1:4) awfully difficult. As demonstrated in chapter one, accurate doctrine based on Biblical cross-referencing makes both Ephesians 1:4 and 2:1 plain beyond any ability to argue.
NEXT IN THIS SERIES:
Ephesians 2:4-7
Sources Referenced:
Webster, Noah. Noah Webster’s First Edition of an American Dictionary of the English Language (1828). Foundation for American Christian Education, 1967.
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