Ephesians 2:1

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 resumes the thread of his discourse. You hath he quickened — Or, (as these words are not in the original,) if we connect this verse with the last clause of the preceding chapter, we may read, you hath he filled, namely, with his gifts and graces, and thereby hath made you alive to himself; who were dead — Not only diseased, but dead; absolutely devoid of all spiritual life, and as incapable of quickening yourselves, as persons literally dead are of restoring their bodies to life.

In this sense Locke paraphrases the words: “Ye were so entirely under the power of sin, that ye had no more power, nor hope, nor ability, to get out of it, than men dead and buried have to get out of their graves.” The truth is, unawakened, impenitent, and unbelieving sinners, are dead in three respects; 1st, They are under condemnation, on account of their past depravity and various transgressions, to the second death, or to future wrath and punishment, like criminals under sentence of death for their crimes. 2d, They are destitute of all union with God, and in a state of separation from him, and alienation from his life, chap. Ephesians 4:18 ; Colossians 1:21 . 3d, They are carnally minded; that is, their thoughts and affections are set upon visible and temporal things, which is spiritual death, ( Romans 8:6 ,) implying deadness or aversion to spiritual and divine things. In trespasses and sins — Sins seem to be spoken chiefly of the Gentiles who knew not God; trespasses of the Jews, who had his law, and yet regarded it not. Or the expressions may be used indiscriminately, without any such distinction being intended; for all trespasses are sins, and all sins are trespasses, properly speaking. Wherein in time past ye walked — Περιεπατησατε , ye walked about, or walked continually. For, as Grotius observes, the word significat consuetudinem, implies custom, or habit.

And {1} you hath he quickened, who were {a} dead in {2} trespasses and sins; (1) He declares again the greatness of God's good will by comparing that miserable state in which we are born, with that dignity unto which we are advanced by God the Father in Christ. So he describes that condition in such a way that he says, that with regard to spiritual motions we are not only born half dead, but wholly and altogether dead. (a) See Ro 6:2. So then he calls those dead who are not regenerated: for as the immortality of those who are damned is not life, so this knitting together of body and soul is properly not life, but death in those who are not ruled by the Spirit of God. (2) He shows the cause of death, that is, sins.

And you Taking up the closing thought of the preceding chapter, the magnitude of God's power toward believers as exhibited in Christ's resurrection. He now shows that the same power is applied to his readers. Hence the connection is: "When He raised Him from the dead, etc., and you did He quicken, even as He quickened Christ." The structure of the passage is broken. Paul having prominently in mind the thought God quickened you as He did Christ, begins with you also. Then the connection is interrupted by Ephesians 2:2, Ephesians 2:3, which describe their previous condition. Then Ephesians 2:1 is taken up in Ephesians 2:4, by but God, God introducing a new sentence. Who were dead (ὄντας νεκροὺς) Better, Rev., when ye were dead, thus giving the sense of the continued state in the past expressed by the participle being. Trespasses - sins (παραπτώμασιν - ἁμαρτίαις) See on Matthew 1:21; see on Matthew 6:14. Trespasses, special acts. Sins, all forms and phases of sin: more general.

Ephesians 2:1 . Καὶ ὑμᾶς , and you ) This is very closely connected with He wrought in ch. Ephesians 1:20 . You is construed with hath quickened together ( συνεζωοποίησεν ), Ephesians 2:5 .— ὑμᾶς ὄντας , you when you were ) as there is found when we were , in Ephesians 2:5 . The former word, in both cases respectively, is emphatic;[19] as Php 2:7 , note.— νεκροὺς , dead ) What can be more wretched?— τοῖς παραπτώμασι ) Although the genuine ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις intervenes, we must refer to the παραπτώμασι the neuter οἷς , in which , Ephesians 2:3 : comp. [ τοῖς διωγμοῖς , τοῖς παθήμασιν ] οἷς , οἵους [ διωγμούς ], 2 Timothy 3:11 , where the gender is in like manner twofold.— ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις , in sins ) Refer to this word αἷς , in which , Ephesians 2:2 . Αἱ ἁμαρτίαι , sins , are chiefly applied to the Gentiles, who are ignorant of God: τὰ παραπτώματα , trespasses , to the Jews, who have the law,[20] and yet revolt from the light; Ephesians 2:5 . Moreover the latter obeyed the flesh; the former, the prince of the power of the air; see following verses. [19] In Ephesians 2:1 , ὑμᾶς precedes ὄντας , and is therefore the emphatic word. In Ephesians 2:5 , ὄντας precedes ἡμᾶς , and therefore the emphasis falls on the ὄντας .—ED. [20] παραπτωμα , from παραπίπτω , I fall away from the law, I transgress . For “sin is the transgression of the law.”—ED.

CHAPTER 2 Eph 2:1-22. God's Love and Grace in Quickening Us, Once Dead, through Christ. His Purpose in Doing So: Exhortation Based on Our Privileges as Built Together, an Holy Temple, in Christ, through the Spirit. 1. And you—"You also," among those who have experienced His mighty power in enabling them to believe (Eph 1:19-23). hath he quickened—supplied from the Greek (Eph 2:5). dead—spiritually. (Col 2:13). A living corpse: without the gracious presence of God's Spirit in the soul, and so unable to think, will, or do aught that is holy. in trespasses … sins—in them, as the element in which the unbeliever is, and through which he is dead to the true life. Sin is the death of the soul. Isa 9:2; Joh 5:25, "dead" (spiritually), 1Ti 5:6. "Alienated from the life of God" (Eph 4:18). Translate, as Greek, "in your trespasses," &c. "Trespass" in Greek, expresses a FALL or LAPSE, such as the transgression of Adam whereby he fell. "Sin." (Greek, "hamartia") implies innate corruption and ALIENATION from God (literally, erring of the mind from the rule of truth), exhibited in acts of sin (Greek, "hamartemata").

Bengel, refers "trespasses" to the Jews who had the law, and yet revolted from it; "sins," to the Gentiles who know not God.Ephesians 2:1-3 Paul setteth before the Ephesians their formercorrupt heathen state,Ephesians 2:4-7 and God’s rich mercy in their deliverance.Ephesians 2:8-10 We are saved by grace, not of works, yet so as to becreated in Christ unto good works.Ephesians 2:11-18 They who were once strangers, and far from God, arenow brought near by Christ’s blood; who havingabolished the ritual law, the ground of distinctionbetween Jew and Gentile, hath united both in onebody, and gained them equal access to the Father.Ephesians 2:19-22 So that the Gentiles are henceforth equally privilegedwith the Jews, and together with them constitute a holytemple for the habitation of God’s Spirit.And you hath he quickened; his verb quickened is not in the Greek, but the defect of it may be supplied from Ephesians 1:19, thus: The greatness of his power to us-ward, and to you that were dead in trespasses and sins; the remaining part of that chapter being included in a parenthesis, which, though long, yet is not unusual. Or rather, as our translators and others do, from Ephesians 2:5 of this chapter, where we have the word quickened. It imports a restoring of spiritual life by the infusion of a vital principle, (in the work of regeneration), whereby men are enabled to walk with God in newness of life.

Verses 1-10. - SPIRITUAL HISTORY OF THE EPHESIANS. This passage corresponds to Genesis 1 . It is a history of creation, and we note the same great stages. 1. Chaos (vers. 1-3). 2. The dawn - the Spirit of God moving on the face of the waters (ver. 4). 3. The work of creation - in successive stages (vers. 4-10). Verse 1. - You also, who were dead in your trespasses and your sins. The apostle returns from his digression, in which he had shown the marvelous working of the Divine power on Christ, to show the working of the same power on the Ephesian converts themselves. The ὑμἀς is not governed by any verb going before; it manifestly depends on the συνεζωοποίησεν of ver. 5, but it is separated from it by a new digression (vers. 2, 3), on which the apostle immediately starts. While the same quickening power of God was exerted on Christ and on the Ephesians, it was exerted to very different effects: in the case of Christ, raising him literally from the dead and exalting him to heavenly glory; in the case of the Ephesians, raising them from spiritual death and exalting them to high spiritual privileges. We may observe the change from the second to the first person, and vice versa , in this chapter as in Ephesians 1 . Second person (vers. 1, 8, 11); first (vers. 3, 10, 14); and the two streams brought together (ver. 18). The chapter closes beautifully with an emblem of the Church as the one temple of which all believers are parts.

The death ascribed to the Ephesians in their natural state is evidently spiritual death, and "trespasses and sins," being in the dative ( νεκροὺς τοῖς παραπτώμασι καὶ ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις ), seems to indicate the cause of death - "dead through your trespasses and your sins" (R.V.); "dead of your trespasses," etc., is suggested by Alford. It is not easy to assign a different meaning to the two nouns here; some suggest acts of transgression for the one, and sinful tendencies or principles for the other, but this distinction cannot be carried out in all other passages. The killing effect of sin is indicated. As sins of sensuality kill truthfulness, industry, integrity, and all virtue, so sin generally, affecting as it does our whole nature, kills, or does not suffer to live, the affections and movements of the spiritual life. A state of "death" implies previous life - the race lived before; it implies also a state of insensibility, of utter powerlessness and helplessness. Ephesians 2:1