There were no chapter or verse divisions in this letter, as we have them today in our Bibles, when Paul wrote it by revelation, and so he continues teaching the people being holy and believing in Christ Jesus from "chapter one" where he has just written that God gave Christ who is head over all-things to the church which is his body which is the fullness of the one filling all-things in all-people.
Ephesians 2:1-3:
2:1Even you being dead to the falling-asides, and to your sins .2in which at-some-time you walked according to the age of this world, according to the ruler of the authority of the air, of the spirit, the (spirit) now in-working in the sons of the un-persuasion, .3among whom also we all behaved at-some-time in the intense-yearnings of our flesh, doing the intentions of the flesh and of the mind-processes, and we used-to-be children by nature of wrath as also the remaining-people,
Even you - referring emphatically to you holy-people, sanctified-people, Christians, saints, children of God, having previously received the spirit of Christ in you and so you have everything spiritually that Christ has accomplished. Even you are presently and actively being dead relative-to the falling-asides from the truth of what God says (therefore these falling-asides cannot affect you in the holy spirit category), and you are being dead to the sins that you committed (your aberrations from God's Word, missing the mark of what God says)….
In the Greek texts, the verb translated “being” is present and active. The words “the falling-asides” and "to...sins" are in the dative case. Therefore, this phrase could refer to the state of the Ephesians before they became holy-people, or at the present time having already become holy-people. If it refers to past time, it could be translated as: and/even you being dead with/by/in the falling-asides, and with/by/in your sins…. Or, if it refers to present time (these Ephesians having already become holy-people) it could read as written above – all holy-people have spiritually all that Christ has accomplished.
Paul writes: even you being dead to the falling-asides, and to your sins, the sins within the sphere of action of which, during a past time which was before you received holy spirit-life, you walked (literally: moved the feet around, went on foot; figuratively: walked around during the everyday living of life, behaved or conducted yourselves). During that past time you could not behave yourselves in accordance with holy spirit because you did not have it. You have previously walked in sins:
When the Bible refers to someone or something as being "sons" or "children" of such-and-such which is intangible, for example "sons of the un-persuasion," we must recognize that this is a figure of speech. The word "un-persuasion" denotes the quality of these "sons" and the phrase indicates their essence, making a distinction regarding them from those who are holy and believing in Christ Jesus. The essence of the sons of the un-persuasion is that they are unwilling to be convinced of what God says even though they have heard it.
Specifically here, when Paul by revelation writes of the "ruler of the authority of the air, of the spirit, the (spirit) now in-working in the sons of the un-persuasion" he is referring to satan. Satan has many different names for his entity: the devil, serpent, etc. The devil is the chief-spirit against the only true God and God's purposes because by the freedom of his own will he refused to be persuaded by what God said, and actively went against Him. The devil is the leader of all the un-holy spirits (the unclean and evil spirits, devil-spirits, those angels which rebelled against God and continue in evil and badness towards God and mankind). The devil energizes his evil among his devil-spirits and among those people who are willing to follow his direction instead of following the direction of the only true God and God's son, the Lord Jesus Christ. These spirits and people are "the sons of the un-persuasion."
Paul now changes back to "we" and "our" showing that all holy-people were in the same spiritual-standing and fellowship-state from God's viewpoint. It was among these sons of the un-persuasion that also we all behaved (you and I and those with me – everyone of us were turned up in our mode of living, way/manner of moving-about during everyday living) at some past time:
1. in/within the sphere of action of the intense-yearnings of our flesh (the strong-desires fixed or attached upon certain objects, other-than God and the things of God, that proceed-from our flesh, the lusts which belong-to, pertain-to, issue or proceed from the flesh which we still have in the natural/physical category),
2. doing or performing the intentions (wills, active volition and desires) of the flesh and of the mind-processes (the conscious thinking-through and reflecting on perceptions in the mind, meditations), and
3. we continuously were in the past children naturally of wrath (those who were physically born belonging-to or being the objects-of the lasting-angry-vengeance of God, like the heat of a burning-fire, not a spur-of-the-moment thing) as also the rest of the people.
All of us came from our mother's womb only with a fleshy body and its soul/breath-life but without permanent holy spirit-life within us and that is why we were children of wrath – naturally, physically. The words "children of wrath" have a similar usage to the words "sons of the un-persuasion" which we have read earlier. In effect, we were under satan's influence, we allowed the devil to rule our lives, and satan lives within wrath because he and all who follow him are and will be subject to God's righteous/just wrath.
[Reference: Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32, 2:5-8, and chapter 6; Ephesians 1:21, 5:6; Colossians 2:10-15, 3:1-11; I Thessalonians 1:10, 4:17, 5:9; the Book of Revelation.]
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Saved with Grace by means of Belief
Wrestling in the age of this world
God dwells in us via the gift of holy spirit
