What does Ephesians 2:1-3 picture about a lost person before salvation?
Ephesians 2:1-3 pictures the lost person before salvation as spiritually dead in trespasses and sins, walking according to this world's course and under Satan, the prince of the power of the air. Scripture compares that condition to Israel's hopelessness in Egypt and at the Red Sea, unable to escape.
Les explains that Ephesians 2:1 has Paul writing to believers about how God quickened, or made alive, those who were dead in trespasses and sins. Verses 2 and 3 then describe the lost person's past walk: according to the course of this world and according to the prince of the power of the air, identified as Satan himself. Les connects this to Israel's hopelessness in Egypt and at the Red Sea—the enemy behind, locked in from both sides, and the sea in front—as the exact picture of you and me before we were saved.
And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
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:
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.
What does Ephesians 2:1 teach about the spiritual condition of believers before and after salvation?
Ephesians 2:1 says believers were dead in trespasses and sins, and God quickened or made them alive. Salvation comes by grace through faith, not works, as God’s gift. Before salvation they are spiritually dead; afterward they are made alive and are His workmanship.
Before they were saved, how did believers live according to Ephesians 2:3?
According to Ephesians 2:3, believers formerly lived in the lusts of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and mind. Their past lifestyle was according to this world and Satan, the prince of the power of the air, doing what comes naturally under the old nature.
What does Ephesians 2:2 say about our condition while dead in trespasses and sins?
Ephesians 2:2 describes people as having been dead in trespasses and sins while they were living in the flesh. That condition is universal, the lot of every human being, not caused by paganism, religion, or immorality, but because all are sons and daughters of Adam.