There are few statements in the New Testament that sound more contrary to our experience than what Paul says in Ephesians 2:1-3. He says that all of us were “dead” in our trespasses and sins. And by “all” Paul means all. In a fashion quite similar to what we find in Romans 1-3, Paul’s description of the sinful condition of humanity extends to everyone. No one is excluded. (1) “you” in 2:1-2 = Gentile believers in Ephesus; (2) “we all” in 2:3a = Jewish believers, including Paul; and (3) “the rest” in 2:3b = all remaining people, whether Jew or Gentile. Thus, Paul’s description is not restricted to some unusually depraved tribe or degraded segment of society or even the pagan world of his own day. Rather it is the realistic diagnosis of every human being in every age in every corner of the earth.

 John Piper has pointed out that Paul doesn’t describe us as if we were in the doghouse with God. No, we are in the morgue! The word “dead” here is striking and appears to make little sense. After all, lots of people who make no Christian profession whatever, people who openly repudiate Jesus Christ, appear to be very much alive. Think about the Olympic athlete whose body is capable of remarkable acts of strength and speed. It seems strange to describe him as “dead.” Or consider someone like Albert Einstein or famous atheist Richard Dawkins, men whose intellectual genius is beyond question. Or I could point to numerous film stars whose personalities have earned them multiple millions of dollars. Are people like this “dead”? Yes!

Paul is clearly speaking about spiritual death. Their minds and bodies may be vigorous and lively, they may consider themselves to be alive; they can breathe and think and eat and sleep and run and laugh, but their souls are dead and lifeless because of sin. Here is how John Stott describes them:

“They are blind to the glory of Jesus Christ, and deaf to the voice of the Holy Spirit. They have no love for God, no sensitive awareness of his personal reality, no leaping of their spirit towards him in the cry, ‘Abba, Father’, no longing for fellowship with his people. They are as unresponsive to him as a corpse. So we should not hesitate to affirm that a life without God (however physically fit and mentally alert the person may be) is a living death, and that those who live it are dead even while they are living” (Stott, 72).

Paul is not saying that people everywhere are born spiritually alive and over time slowly die, only to be made alive again when they come to faith in Jesus. In other words, he is not thinking of a point in time at which each person dies spiritually. People are born spiritually dead and remain in that condition until such time as the Holy Spirit regenerates them and makes them alive. I realize how strange that sounds. After all, to be “born” is to experience life. Paul wouldn’t disagree with that. His point is that all those who are physically and mentally alive are at the same time spiritually dead.

Paul says we were dead “in”, or because of transgressions and sins. But this word “in” points not simply to the instrument or cause of spiritual death but also to the state or condition of spiritual death “in” which people languish. It would seem that the unregenerate are “dead” in at least two senses: (1) insensibility – They lack any awareness of the beauty of Christ and the wonders of God’s grace; the gospel bores them; (2) incapability – Because of their fallen condition they are incapable of bringing themselves into spiritual life or even of exercising faith in Jesus.

Paul says that we “walked in” this state of spiritual death (2:2a), i.e., we lived in death! To “walk” is Paul’s way of referring to ethical conduct, how one lives one’s life (see Gal. 5:16; Rom. 6:4; 8:4; 14:15; 2 Cor. 4:2; Eph. 4:1; 5:2; Phil. 3:17; etc.). Transgressions and sins were the atmosphere in which we lived, in which our existence was enveloped. Lastly, note that twice in vv. 2-3 Paul uses the temporal adverb “once” or “formerly” (NASB) in order that the contrast between what we were by nature and what we are by grace might be seen.

When I was in seminary back in the 1970’s a friend of mine worked part time at Baylor hospital. For all I know he emptied bed pans to support himself. In any case, one day he escorted another seminary student to the hospital morgue. It was cold and grey and a little scary. As they stood there and looked on the numerous dead bodies, my friend suddenly said: “Preach to them!”

Needless to say, unless these corpses were resurrected to life, preaching to them was fruitless. So, too, it is with all of humanity. The only reason why any of us respond in faith to the gospel is because of what Paul says in v. 5 – “God made us alive together with Christ.” Before the Holy Spirit did his work in us, we were all spiritual corpses. Praise God for his gracious, life-giving power!