“And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world…” Ephesians 2:1,2
Christianity is a radical thing, not because it is politically, socially, or religiously on the fringe of reason, logic, and normalcy, but because it deals with a radical situation, and certain absolutes of this creation and life which cannot be changed by any work or device of man. When the Bible tells us that, “…all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God,” and that as a result, the state of men born in this world is one where all are “dead in trespasses and sins,” we are faced with an absolute reality from heaven’s standpoint. That which is absolute is that just as real and certain as one being born into this world is a reality, so is physical death. But the truth goes even farther, because there is a spiritual aspect of man’s existence that has to do with God his Maker. Man who is born into this world is born dead, absolutely without capacity or means of living spiritually, being at peace with God, and also, living by His saving Life. There is nothing a man can do to save himself from such a state. He is helpless, hopeless, totally deprived of every resource to awaken himself to the reality of God, but also, and perhaps even more so, to turn to God, to seek and find Him. The word “death” means exactly what we understand by it, being life-less. But here again, the Biblical perspective goes very much farther, for it carries with it the thought not of just this creation, but an eternity where there is an Eternal God, who has created man to reveal His glory in him. Man was not created to live “dead” to God, and to the things of God. He was born to truly Live by the Spirit of God because of Jesus Christ.
In the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Corinthian believers, he illustrates this by writing that God had made them “alive,” who once were dead. Their trespasses and sins towards God testified to the fact that they were hopelessly and helplessly lost, in and of themselves. He then would add to this lost state, that those believers, “…once walked according to the course of this world.” They were prisoners of the “god of this world,” Satan, and the powers of darkness. This was very manifest because, in their lost state, they lived as the lost people of the world, independently of God, in quiet or active rebellion against God, deprived of the life and goodness of God. Paul would describe the lives of these people before they became believers in Christ by declaring, “…Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, will inherit the kingdom of God.” (1 Cor. 6:9,10) This list of people, and the lifestyles which they lived, revealed what their spiritual state was before God. They were lost, and without hope in the world, for in and of themselves, they could not change, and certainly do anything which would make them right, or reconciled to God their Maker, except by one thing, or should we say, one Person, the Lord Jesus Christ. When Paul wrote to the Ephesian believers, he spoke of their past life, lived “…dead in trespasses and sins.” He then came to the moment of revealing the one Person, who could change the downward spiral of sin and death. That answer was summed up in his words: “…But God.” (2:4) To the Corinthian believers, he would write, “And such were some of you. But, you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Cor. 6:11) Paul is declaring by such a message that the impossibility of a soul being saved, and delivered, from the “course of this world,” has its certain remedy, and sure answer in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Dear Father, Manifest Your salvation today. In Jesus’ name, Amen.