Ephesians 2:1-3

The Pulpit Commentary - Ephesians 2:2

Wherein aforetime ye walked according to the course of this world. The idea of a dead creature walking is not altogether incongruous. It implies that a kind of life remained sufficient for walking; but not the true, full, normal life; rather the life of a galvanized corpse, or of one walking in sleep. The figurative use of walking for living, or carrying on our life, is frequent in this Epistle ( Ephesians 4:1 ; Ephesians 5:2 , etc.). "The course of this world," elsewhere" the world,"... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ephesians 2:2

The walk of the dead. The expression is very significant, "In which ye walked." Superstition tells us that the dead walk in the shades of night. This is mere folly. Yet, day by day, we are really surrounded by the dead—not by spirits of the (lead, walking their hour in the darkness of night, but by living men like ourselves, pursuing their courses of worldly activity with all their wonted energy and zeal, yet "dead while they live," and unconscious of their death. The term "walking"... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ephesians 2:2

Three fatal guides in this walk. They are represented as the world, the flesh, and the devil. These are inextricably linked in the common death of men, for "the whole world lieth in the wicked one," and it includes, as its totality of possession, "the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life." There is no schism in this dread conspiracy against man's life. I. THE WORLD . Sinners walk "according to the course of this world." 1. The world is here to be... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ephesians 2:3

Among whom we also all once spent our life in the lusts of our flesh. The apostle here brings Jews and Gentiles together. "We also," as well as you—we were all in the same condemnation, all in a miserable plight, not merely occasionally dipping into sin, but spending our very lives in the lusts or desires of our flesh, living fro' no noble ends, but in an element of carnal desire, as if there were nothing higher than to please the carnal nature. Fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ephesians 2:3

The true fountain of spiritual death. "And were by nature children of wrath, even as others." The apostle traces the pedigree of all the elements that enter into this spiritual death up to our birth itself. He does not say that it is on account of "nature" or natural depravity that we are children of wrath, but "by nature;" that is, we are simply born in a state of condemnation. There is no express reference here to Adam or to our relation to his sin, though it is certainly implied that... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Ephesians 2:1

And you hath he quickened - The words “hath he quickened,” or “made to live,” are supplied, but not improperly, by our translators. The object of the apostle is to show the great power which God had evinced toward the people Ephesians 1:19; and to show that this was put forth in connection with the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and his exaltation to the right hand of God in heaven; see the notes at Romans 6:4-11; compare Colossians 2:12-13; Colossians 3:1. The words “hath he quickened” mean,... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Ephesians 2:2

Wherein - In which sins, or in the practice of which transgressions.Ye walked - You lived, life being often compared to a journey or a race. note, Romans 6:4.According to the course of this world - In conformity with the customs and manners of the world at large. The word rendered here as “world” - αἰων aiōn - means properly “age,” but is often used to denote the present world, with its cares, temptations, and desires; and here denotes particularly the people of this world. The meaning is,... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Ephesians 2:3

We all had our conversation - see the notes at 2 Corinthians 1:12; compare 1 Peter 4:3.In the lusts of our flesh - Living to gratify the flesh, or the propensities of a corrupt nature. It is observable here that the apostle changes the form of the address from “ye” to “we,” thus including himself with others, and saying that this was true of “all” before their conversion. He means undoubtedly to say, that whatever might have been the place of their birth, or the differences of religion under... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Ephesians 2:1-2

Ephesians 2:1-2. And you, &c. In the nineteenth and twentieth verses of the preceding chapter, the apostle had spoken of God’s working in the believers at Ephesus, in order to their conversion, and resurrection from spiritual death to spiritual life, by the same almighty power whereby he raised Christ from the dead. On the mention of this he runs on, in the fulness of his heart, into a flow of thought concerning the glory of Christ’s exaltation, in the three following verses. He here... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Ephesians 2:3

Ephesians 2:3. Among whom also we Jews, as well as you Gentiles; had our conversation That is, our course of life; in times past At least in some degree, whatever our education or religious profession might have been. Here the apostle speaks in the name of the generality of the converted Jews, as his changing the expression from ye Ephesians to we, plainly declares; including himself and all other Christians, whose former character and state he affirms to have been the same with... read more

Group of Brands