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No problem is greater than the problem of sin, for sin is responsible for all the awful things humans do against God, His commandments, and against each other, willfully as well as non-deliberately.
Ephesians 2:1-3 - 1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 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— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
What would you say if I ask, what is the greatest problem you are facing today and what is the greatest problem that our nation is facing today? Would you name the economy, immigration, crime, homelessness, hunger, poverty, war, terrorism, human trafficking, immorality, sexual perversion, or some other social problem?
What if I told you that the greatest of all problems is the problem of sin and that all other problems are mere symptoms of that?
The problem is that most people don’t see sin as the greatest problem of all. They think that people are bad because they do bad things. They need to know that people do bad things because, by nature, they are bad. They were born into this condition under the control of Satan.
In Ephesians 2:1-3, Paul wanted his readers to know that the power that raised Christ from the dead and seated Him at the right hand of God that we studied last time Ephesians 1:19-23 is the same power that brought believers to life who were otherwise dead in their sins.
The big idea is that we do bad things because we are bad, and without Christ, are under Satan’s control. The problem of sin makes us enemies of God and destined for God’s wrath.
What is the solution? Christ is the solution. For this, Christ was born, died, and rose again. In the original Greek text, there were no chapters and Ephesians 2:1-3 was the third sentence. So, Ephesians 2 was the continuity of the theme of the power of Christ in Ephesians 1:15-23.
In Ephesians 2:1-3 Paul contrasted the power of Christ with the power of sin to show the magnitude of the problem of sin.
What is Sin? (Ephesians 2:1)
Ephesians 2:1 says, “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins.” Paul uses two words to define and describe sin.
First is the word “trespass.” The root word in Greek for that is paraptoma, which means to fall away. The Old Testament word in Hebrew is pesha, which is often translated as rebelling, transgression, and trespass. It is used in the context of our relationship with God and our relationships with others. Pesha is to violate or break the trust of another. It is the betrayal of relationships.
If someone steals something from my home, that is a robbery but if a neighbor came and stole something from my home, that is phesha because he violated our trust. He betrayed our relationship. Since it is about relationships, pesha sin is not against others; it is with others. When Paul uses paraptoma in verse 1, that is what he is communicating.
Paraptoma can be a non-deliberate lapse from the truth and choosing the wrong path when you could have chosen the right path. The result of that would be not reaching the goal.
The second word in verse 1 for sin is sin, in Greek, hamartia, which is failure to hit a target. It is missing the mark. The idea is that an archer shoots an arrow but misses the target. When combined, then sin is both deliberate and non-deliberate deviation from God’s command that leads to missing the target to live life the way God designed it for us.
That is exactly what happened in the Garden of Eden. The first man and woman missed the mark. Their failure to obey God’s command brought a generational curse of death both spiritually and physically.
Genesis 2:16-17 says, “16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
In Romans 5:12 Paul explains, “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men [that is men and women] because all sinned” and Romans 3:23 says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” and Romans 6:23 says, “the wages of sin is death.”
Paul took the Old Testament understanding of sin and introduced the idea of the “paraptomoma of Adam” because he violated trust with God. He broke the relationship with God and therefore, our natural condition is deadness. Dead people cannot hear, see, and respond. This is where we get the theology of original sin, which is becoming extremely unpopular in modern times.
My wife was talking to a lady in our town who was mortified by the thought of original sin that we are born sinners. She simply could not believe that people are inherently bad. Perhaps you struggle with the idea of original sin, too. I have four children. I have never had to tell them how to be bad. Their mom and I struggle to teach and model for them how to be good and godly, yet their natural inclination is to be bad and do bad because they were born in sin. That is the power of original sin.
Application
Take sin seriously. Our natural tendency is to sin more— sometimes non-deliberately and at other times, consciously. So, pay attention because sin both causes death and is also the evidence of death.
Why Do We Sin? (Ephesians 2:2)
Ephesians 2:2 says “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.” In 2 Corinthian 4:4 and John 12:31, Satan is the prince of the air.
Verse 2 tells us that without Christ, in pre-conversion life, our natural condition forced us under the control of Satan and our conduct reflected that condition, control, and conduct. Before Christ came to set us free, we were slaves to the world systems because we were slaves to Satan. The problem of sin is that people love the world but hate God and, therefore, His commandments for life.
This past week, my four-year-old daughter, Zara, asked her mom why her school does not talk about Jesus. She even said that her friends hate Jesus. My wife answered that they do not hate Jesus, they just don’t know Him. And Zara asked why they don’t ask their pastor.
How do we tell this little girl that not all parents believe in the problem, presence, and power of sin? That they don’t think they need faith, God, Christ, or church? You see, people dead in their sins do not know that sin has cut them off from God, the source of life, and that they are completely separated from God and unable to have any relationship with Him. God is far, far, far away from their thoughts and life decisions.
Application
Show the world through your conduct that you are a Christian. No one has to work hard to sin. Sin is easy and pleasurable; it is following Jesus that takes effort.
What is the Consequence of Sin? (Ephesians 2:3)
Ephesians 2:3 says, “among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh.”
In verses 1-2, Paul used the second person plural pronoun “you” which refers to Gentiles. Here, in verse 3, he switches to “we” because this is a reference to the Jews. So, he starts by describing the Christless state and condition of all humans, whether Jews or Gentiles.
Gentiles were considered unpure, unclean, and unrighteous because God chose Jews and blessed them with the law. However, what the Jews could not understand was that the law only exposed their sinfulness. It showed them their inadequacy and it pointed them to the eternal promise of Christ.
In other words, the Jews were no better off with their religious rites, rituals, and sacrifices, than the Gentiles, who were deprived of God’s law. This truth may not hold much value for us today, but in the historical context of the letter, this was one of the key reasons why Paul wrote the letter to begin with.
There were racial tensions between Jewish converts and the Gentiles. They were walking in their former ways. The Jewish converts often separated themselves from their Gentile brethren and maintained the dietary laws to show their superiority.
On the one hand, Paul reminded them of their natural state and condition without faith before Christ, whether Jews or Gentiles, to bring unity in the church, and on the other hand, he reminded them of the consequence of sin, including the sin of treating other brothers and sisters in Christ differently.
So, he continues in verse 3, “carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” The consequence of sin is always God’s wrath. Sin produces death, but it also creates separation and enmity between God and man. When people live their lives for the world, they willfully or non-deliberately put themselves under the control of Satan, who influences them through his demonic spirits, in contrast to the Spirit of God that works among believers.
I heard an argument where a college student said how God in the Old Testament is wrathful and angry with sinners, but in the New Testament, He is loving and graceful. The speaker said God is always wrathful and angry toward sinners because of sin. There is no soft corner in God's heart when it comes to the problem of sin. Sin is deadly. It separates us from God and makes us His enemies.
Application
Dead in sin is the most helpless and hopeless condition in which sin operates from within to kill our will to the point that we have no desire to listen, obey, submit, and believe in God’s plan of salvation for us. This is why people need to hear the gospel first. For faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God. If you care about your loved one, do not think you are doing them a favor by not talking about their sinful state. Sin is a serious and fatal problem. I say sin is the only problem. People need to know what sin is, why they sin, and what its consequences are.
Imagine the sin that you have been struggling with and don’t say that you are not struggling with any sin. That is a lie of the devil to downplay the problem of sin, the power of sin, and the presence of sin. It undermines the power of Christ and your need to repent daily. Now imagine, what if there is someone in this room who has overcome that particular sin that you are struggling with. What would it look like if you and that person began to work together on the problem of sin that you are struggling with?
Vision 2025 and beyond is for our church to see all of us engaging in the maturing and mentoring process to multiply our church. That means we reach out to mature believers and seek help before it's too late because sin causes death and is the evidence of death.
First, sin kills innocence. This is what happened in the Garden of Eden.
Then sin kills the conscience, which means what you first regarded as awful and heinous you are tempted to do. When you do it once, you are bothered a little, but the second, third, and fourth time, it becomes easier until your conscience is gone.
After that, sin kills your will. The best way I can explain this is by borrowing a phrase I read somewhere that said, “At first, a man engages in some forbidden pleasure because he wants to do so; in the end, he engages in it because he cannot help doing so.”
Take sin seriously and do not toy with it. Otherwise, your casual relationship with sin will become your habit and before you know it, it will become a necessity, enslaving you all over again.
Action Step
Ask yourself, what sin am I struggling with the most? Who in your life you can talk with about your struggles? If you do not have a spiritual advisor or a mentor, I want to put you in contact with one. If you are not a believer, confess your sins before Jesus and ask Jesus to come into your life and if you do that, please let me know so that I can put you in contact with a mature believer to walk with you.
Appeal
Please do not forget that no problem is greater than the problem of sin, for sin is responsible for all the awful things humans do against God, His commandments, and against each other, willfully as well as non-deliberately. Sin is responsible for the rebellion against God and strife among humans. Sin is responsible for injustice, inequity, poverty, oppression, racism, subjugation, sex trafficking, human trafficking, redefining marriage and family, divorce and abuse, abortion, desire for power, sex, and money, lust after perversive immoral behavior, and pure demonic hate against God. So, don’t let sin sit in your heart and gain victory over your life.
Study Questions
1. What does Ephesians 2:1-3 describe?
2. What is the past condition of believers?
3. In what way are people dead in their trespasses and sins? In discussing Ephesians 2:1, define sin and differentiate between trespasses and sins.
Deeper Study Questions
1. What can you do practically to ensure that your conduct matches your faith in Jesus?
2. With what sin do you still struggle with which you also struggled before you were saved?
3. Please share how you gain victory over sin, if you feel comfortable sharing.
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