Our Nature Apart from Christ

“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” – Ephesians 2:1–3

What is our nature apart from Christ? In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul addresses believers and here in chapter two, he is telling his readers who they were before coming to Christ. Paul says that before we were in Christ, we were dead in our trespasses and sins. What does Paul mean when he says this? He is saying that apart from Christ, we are spiritually dead.

Paul is pointing us back to Genesis 2:17 when God told Adam that in the day that he ate of the tree he would surely die. Did Adam physically die the day he ate the fruit? No. Did God lie by telling Adam he would die? No. Adam died spiritually – he knew he was naked, he became scared of God, and he hid from him. So, when he sinned, Adam became dead in sin.

What do spiritually dead people do?

In Ephesians 2:2-3, Paul describes spiritually dead people as those who follow the course of this world. This means doing what the world approves of. Next, Paul says spiritually dead people follow the prince of the power of the air, who is Satan, as well as the sons of disobedience who are the children of Satan – those who habitually live in disobedient sin without repentance. Finally, he says spiritually dead people live in the passions of their flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind. This means doing sinful things with little to no remorse.

Even more serious is the fact that this verse ends by telling us that we are by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind. By saying this is what we were by nature, Paul is making the point that being dead in sin is our native condition – how we are at birth. In other words, we did not become this way; we are born this way. As offspring of Adam, we inherited his nature (Romans 5:12).

This way of thinking is not unique to Paul or the New Testament:

Job 15:14: “What is man, that he can be pure? Or he who is born of a woman, that he can be righteous?”

Psalm 51:5: “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.”

John 3:19: “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

Paul makes this point in a more colorful way in Titus:

Titus 3:3: For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.

Paul is not painting a pretty picture of humanity. This does not line up with the common belief that people are “basically good”.

Perhaps you are not convinced that you were spiritually dead and that you were basically a "good" person. What does a person who is not spiritually dead look like? That person is one who is not influenced by the world, who always tames the passions of their flesh, always says no to the desires of their body and mind and is free from sin. Do you still think you were not dead in trespasses and before sin before being saved by Jesus?

Let us praise God for His mercy and great love that He chose us while we were spiritually dead and made us alive through Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:4-5)!