What Is Man's Natural Spiritual Condition?

As we study through Paul's letter to the Ephesians we come to chapter two, where Paul paints a very bleak picture of our condition before becoming a Christian by God's miraculous grace. Paul is not trying to depress his readers or make them/us lose hope. On the contrary! He wants us to recognize the truth of our condition so that we will join him in overflowing with praise to God for what he has done about it.

What follows is hard-core truth that we won't hear from anywhere but God's word.

1. You Were Dead (2:1-2a). “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked…”
Paul comes out swinging and gets right to the point: Before the Ephesians were ‘in Christ’ they were ‘dead’ in sin. And as we learn in verse 3, this is true of ‘all.’ It is our common human ‘nature’ (v3) inherited from our first forefather Adam.

God promised that the day Adam sinned he would surely die (Gen 2:17), and this is what happened. He was cut off from his prior communion with God, running and hiding from God instead (3:8-10). And his spiritual death resulted in physical death later (Gen 5:5), for the ‘wages of sin is death’ (Rom 6:23), and ‘the soul who sins shall die’ (Ezek 18:4), and ‘sin…leads to death’ (Rom 6:16).

Adam’s sin did not just affect himself; his fallen nature and depravity were passed to his children. His first son murdered his second! And afterward he ‘fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth’ (Gen 5:3). The sinful nature passed down the line, for ‘that which is born of the flesh is flesh’ (John 3:6). Adam plunged the entire human race, who was in him, and of which he was the representative, into sin and spiritual death:

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned…Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men… by a man came death…in Adam all die… Romans 5:12, 18; 1 Corinthians 15:21-22, ESV

So we see that sin has infected all mankind, with the result that we are all born spiritually dead. This means we are ‘in a state of spiritual alienation from God’ (Duncan), and ‘dead in the sense that we cannot see or feel the glory of Christ; we are unresponsive to God and Christ and this word’ (Piper).

John Stott describes this condition:

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.

Our deadness to God doesn’t mean inactivity. Paul says we ‘walked’ in our sins. Like a zombie we were the walking dead, and unaware of our pitiful condition.

2. You Were Enslaved (2:2b-3a).
Not only does Paul teach that we were DEAD in our sin, but that we were also ENSLAVED from without and within. The picture gets worse! Far from being free to live our own lives outside of Christ, Scripture teaches that we are dominated by evil influences (O’Brien).

We were enslaved to a three-fold enemy:

A. Enslaved To The World. “following the course of this world…” Following the crowd. Like everyone around us, simply walking single file down the ‘course’ or path that leads to destruction. Blindly going along with the worldview of this evil world system, which is ‘society organized without reference to God, in contrast to God’s kingdom; the social value system which is alien to God’ (Stott). The world’s agenda is our agenda. Enslaved by their ‘thought system’ (Boice). Controlled by their fashion, philosophies, values, and ideas. Current examples? Moral relativism, celebrated homosexuality and re-defined tolerance (tolerance no longer means to this culture that we can disagree in a civil fashion; now we cannot say that something is wrong. All things are tolerated...except intolerance). Such is our slavery to 'this world.'

B. Enslaved To The Devil. “following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience…” Scripture calls the Devil the ‘ruler of demons’ (Matt 9:34; 12:24; Mk 3:22; Lk 11:15), the ‘prince of the world’ (Jn 12:31; 14:30; 16:11) and even the ‘god of this age’ (2 Cor 4:4) [O’Brien]. O’Brien further describes the ‘power of the air’ as the ‘realm of the devil’s influence; the abode of the principalities and powers (Eph 3:10; Dan 10:13, 21).

This evil ‘spirit’ is ‘now at work in the sons of disobedience.’ He is working against us: ‘an evil, supernatural activity whereby he exercises a powerful, compelling influence over the lives of men and women’ (O’Brien). Those under his control are so given to sin they are called ‘sons of disobedience.’ Observe the power Satan wields over people:

God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will. 2 Timothy 2:25-26 (see also 1 John 5:19, 2 Cor 4:3-4)

C. Enslaved To The Flesh. “- among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind…” Not only are we enslaved outwardly by the devil and the evil world system, but we are also enslaved inwardly by our own passions and desires! We are our own enemy! We are selfish and pleasure-seeking, casting off restraint and refusing to bow to God. Rather, we live for pleasure and temporary happiness. “Gluttony, laziness, lust, greed; pride, malice, envy” (Boice). Paul says this slavery to the flesh is universal – ‘we all once lived’ this way.

Do you see the Scripture's description of man? Far from being free to choose God on our own, our natural state is one of slavery to the way of the world, the will of the devil and the works of the flesh. We cannot make neutral choices (O'Brien). What do you mean by ‘free will?’ If you mean that we are completely untouched by powerful, dominating, evil influences that compel us toward sin, then that is not consistent with Scripture. Our great need is not for better information, so that we can make a decision to come to God. We need someone to raise us from the dead and set us free from our slavery to the world, the devil and our sinful, fallen flesh! We need a Rescuer!

The Holy Spirit 'Outraged?!'

How do you view the Holy Spirit? What comes to mind when you hear those words? Some may have scary images of 'weird' people running laps around an auditorium or barking like a dog. Others may be filled with delight, thinking of things like a hunger for the presence of God.

Always remember, we aren't given the option of inventing our own view of God. Our view of God must be shaped by God's revelation of himself in Scripture. The Bible describes the Spirit of God as a Person - a 'he' rather than an 'it' (John 14:26; 15:26; 16:13-14). He is spoken of in Scripture as teaching (John 14:26), bearing witness (John 15:26; Romans 8:16), interceding or praying on behalf of others (Romans 8:26-27), forbidding or not allowing certain activities (Acts 16:6-7), speaking (Acts 8:29; 13:2), and being grieved by sin in the lives of Christians (Ephesians 4:30), among other personal activities (Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, p232-3).

There is another very interesting description of the Holy Spirit given in the book of Hebrews:

How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has spurned the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, 'Vengeance is mine; I will repay.' And again, 'The Lord will judge his people.' It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Hebrews 10:29-30, ESV

This passage is a warning against apostasy, or leaving the faith ("shrinking back" - vs 38-39). It is an encouragement for believers to endure in faith to the end. In this warning the author reminds us of the death penalty brought by disobedience to the old covenant law of Moses. And if the old covenant law brought death - 'how much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has' turned away from Christ? This turning away is described three ways: as spurning the Son of God (scornfully rejecting Christ), profaning the blood of the covenant (treating Jesus' blood as unholy), and finally, outraging the Spirit of grace.

That phrase is terrifying! The same Spirit of God who was hovering over the waters at creation, empowering prophets, priests and kings in the Old Testament, and anointing the Son of God for his redemptive work - THIS Holy Spirit personally OUTRAGED toward someone? Amazing.  The Spirit who so mercifully moves through the preaching of the gospel (God's pardon to repentant sinners who believe on Christ) is not unmoved when his gospel is tossed aside like something trivial, unnecessary, or even offensive. "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."

And what an interesting juxtaposition of terms! He is called here the Spirit of "grace" as he is described to be "outraged." God is filled with both grace and wrath. He is to be worshiped and glorified for both.

Perhaps our view of the Holy Spirit is too...weak? Perhaps we have thought of the Spirit as too sweet and precious to ever be righteously angry. Yes, we are to desire to be continuously filled with the Spirit (Eph 5:18), to walk in the Spirit (Gal 5:16), and to earnestly desire his empowering for spiritual gifts (14:1). Jesus spoke tenderly of the Father giving the Holy Spirit to those who ask him, as an amazing example of Fatherly love (Luke 11:13). We should have a growing relationship with the Person of the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ ("...the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all" 2 Cor 13:14). But Jesus also said that every sin and blasphemy would be forgiven...except for the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit (which he called an eternal sin, Mark 3:29).

Let us desire the Holy Spirit!
But let us not forget that the "Spirit of grace," like the Father and the Son, will not laugh at sin.
The Holy Spirit is "holy."

In The Bible God Is Praised For His Wrath

God has revealed himself to us in his word, the Bible. To know what God is like, we must read his word and believe it. We get into trouble when we rely on personal experience or our own ideas apart from Scripture. The deceitful heart of man (Jeremiah 17:9) will lead us to attempt to create a god in our own image - what WE think God should be like, rather than what God in his word has already told us he is like. Ever heard anyone say things like, "The God I worship would never (fill in the blank)"?

In the Bible God has revealed to us that he has many attributes, or characteristics. If we don't study God's attributes in the word, we will not know the true God. This will leave us prone to deception about the character of God. Many times people will choose one or two attributes (such as love or mercy)that they personally like or agree with, and construct their entire view of God around those attributes. Then, when someone else speaks of another biblical attribute of God, it doesn't fit their idea of God. This can cause someone to outright deny Scripture, because they cannot conceive of God being that way. In those cases, we have put ourselves above Scripture, and thus above God's own self-revelation. We have become idol makers and idol worshipers. How arrogant to think we, in our fallen state, know God better than God knows God!

God has shown us many attributes of his character in Scripture, and God desires and deserves glory in each of those attributes. For some of those traits we readily and more easily praise him. But some traits we find more difficult to praise. God's wrath is probably the most difficult for many people to give God praise and glory. But the wrath of God is clearly taught in Scripture, from cover to cover. It is not a childish, emotional outburst by a God with no self-control, but a conscious, deliberate and personal display of God's justice and holiness in reaction to sin.

In the Bible God is praised for his wrath. Shouldn't this teach us volumes? In our day God is put on trial during natural disasters and doctrinal discussions; as if God owes us an explanation! But the potter still reserves the right over the clay to do with it as he wills. It is not God who is on trial, but us. God is, and will be forever, praised - both for his amazing mercy, grace and love, and for his awesome holiness, justice and wrath. Heaven will forever exist as a monument to his indescribable love. Hell will forever exist as a solemn hymn to the one who is holy and will never tolerate sin.

This is a very difficult and mysterious thing. But it is clearly revealed in God's word. And as Paul said, "Who are you, O man, to answer back to God?" (Romans 9:20) Should not our attitude be the attitude of Scripture - humbling ourselves before a mighty and good God, who is above our understanding but has revealed himself to us for his glory and our good - instead of an attitude of rebellion, pride and arrogance, refusing to accept God's clear self-revelation?

In the Bible God is praised for his wrath. Rather than seeking for Scripture to change and bend itself in submission to our ideas and concept of God, let us repent and humbly line our view of God up with Scripture. Then, in faith, and with great humility and mystery, let us praise God for his wrath, and all his good attributes.

After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for his judgments are true and just; for he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality, and has avenged on her the blood of his servants.” Once more they cried out, “Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up forever and ever.” And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who was seated on the throne, saying, “Amen. Hallelujah!” Revelation 19:1-4