Ephesians 2:1

EPH. 2

Paul's theme in this chapter continues to be the glorious blessings of the saved "in Christ," as contrasted with their former state of being without any hope whatever. Those who were once "dead in sins" are now alive in Christ (Ephesians 2:1-10); and those who were once "aliens and strangers separated from God" are now members of God's family (Ephesians 2:11-22).

And you did he make alive, when ye were dead through your trespasses and sins. (Ephesians 2:1)

"To be dead in trespasses and sins does not mean unconsciousness or non-existence."[1] (1 Timothy 5:6; Revelation 3:1). In the Scriptural view, sin equals death; and there is no light or casual view of either in the Bible.

You did he make alive ... Beare pointed out that the various pronouns "you" (Ephesians 2:1,2), "we all" (Ephesians 2:3), and "us ... we" (Ephesians 2:4), "refer to the distinction between Jews and Gentiles only to nullify it. Both are shown to have been alike guilty and in need of God's mercy."[2]

Trespasses and sins ... Barry suggested a difference in the meaning of these terms, making "sins" to "denote universal and positive principles of evil doing, and trespasses, failure in visible and special acts of those not necessarily out of the right way."[3] However, such a distinction is not corroborated by other New Testament use of the terms. For example, the Matthew and Luke accounts of the Lord's Prayer use the words interchangeably; and, as Blaikie said, "The distinction cannot be carried out in all other passages.[4] The full thought would seem to be "all kinds of sin."

It is evident in this verse that the deadness of unregenerated people is a derivative, not of their birth, but of their sins. Death always implies a change from the state of being alive. Therefore, the thought of total human depravity as something inherited must be incorrect. Sinners in their pre-Christian state were "dead in sins"; but that deadness was not something they inherited, but came about through the guilt of sins committed.

There is a world of difference in being dead in sins, as here, and being dead to sin in Christ Jesus. Those in Christ are legally dead to sin, in the sense of being free of the penalty of it, through the death of Christ. They are in Christ; Christ died, and therefore they died. Neither in that blessed state in Christ, nor in the wretched condition mentioned here, is there any such thing as "being dead to sin" in the sense of exemption from the temptations to sin. Even Christ was tempted.

[1] John William Russell, Compact Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1964), p. 476.

[2] Francis W. Beare, The Interpreter's Bible (New York: Abingdon Press, 1953), Vol. X, p. 638.

[3] Alfred Barry, Ellicott's Commentary on the Holy Bible (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1959), Vol. VII, p. 23.

[4] W. G. Blaikie, The Pulpit Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1950), Vol. 20, Ephesians, p. 61.