We looked yesterday at the fallenness of humanity and how mankind fell. We looked at some of the judgments that came because of that, but there is more to it than that. There is more than simply that women will have increased pain during childbirth, conflict in marriage, and hard labor that will be necessary to provide for just our sustenance in life. There is also a really important spiritual consequence to the fallenness of humanity. That is part of our biblical worldview.
Ephesians 2 talks about this a great deal and lays it out in Ephesians 2:1-3. Perhaps this is one of the clearest passages in all of Scripture on this subject. It says in Ephesians 2:1, “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins.” First of all, we are dead in our sins. This is the nature of every human being before salvation. We are dead. Not sick, weak, or anemic. We are dead! That is a horrible place to be. We are spiritually dead before Christ. That is true of every child born into this world because of our fallen human nature.
Ephesians continues, “in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world,” before Christ those who are dead in their sins live, in a spiritual sense, in such a way that they are following the course of this world. In other words, with our theme of biblical worldview, they are following a worldview that is not in line with Scripture. It is a worldview that is in line with the world and the culture. Ephesians goes on to say more about that, “according to the prince of the power of the air.” Who is it that controls the worldview and sets the agenda for how people think and act in our culture? If not Christ, then it’s Satan. If Christ is not leading you in that regard, if you are not living in such a way that you are following His precepts or living according to His ways because He saved you and redeemed you, then you are following Satan and Satan is your God in a real sense and you are following his worldview that he has put into this system. The verse continues, “of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.” All of humanity that do not know Christ have this worldview built in them by the devil himself.
Ephesians 2:3 says, “Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.” That is a mouthful, isn’t it? Let’s break it down. All of us live life, not only according to this worldview and the world system that is led by Satan, but also by our own fallen nature which is called here, “the flesh.” The desires or the “lust of our flesh,” determine how you and I live our lives. We indulge in those lusts and desires of the flesh and of the mind. The physical outward sins. The inward sins of the mind. We are by nature children of wrath; therefore, we are under the wrath of God. We are under the judgement of God because we are dead in our sins, and we live in rebellion against Him. We really want nothing to do with Him. That is the spiritual picture that we have here.
