1. You Were Dead in Your Transgressions and Sins

(2) You Were Dead in Your Transgressions and Sins (Ephesians 2: 1)

Prayer:  Dear heavenly Father, we thank you for seeking us in this vast universe.  Oh, the great true God, you have indeed found us, we are truly grateful.  Today, we are going to discuss the subject of “we were dead in our transgressions and sins”, oh Lord, we pray that the Holy Spirit will reveal your truth in our hearts, thank you Lord, in Jesus’ holy name we pray, amen.

Ephesians 2: 1-10 :  “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.  All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts.  Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.  But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved.  And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.  For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.  For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Last time, we have discussed that we are all sinners, regardless whether we are having outwardly visible immoral behaviors; or worshiping idols; or self-professing to be highly moral; or living by conscience, no matter what the circumstances are at the end there is only one conclusion: we are all sinners.  Why?  Because no one can abide by the law completely or live by his conscience forever; if you do then you will be justified, for it is written in Leviticus 18: 5 – “Keep my decrees and laws, for the man who obeys them will live by them.”

The scripture in Ephesians 2: 1-10 is at the heart of this lecture series – Since we were all sinners, dead in our transgressions and sins; but God loves us and wants to raise us from being dead in transgressions and sins to become newly created men.  He also wants us to take up our own cross daily and follow the Lord to experience being raised with him over and over again; so that the new men will gradually grow to maturity ready to do the good works which God prepared in advance for us to do.    

In this lesson we will discuss the scripture of Ephesians 2: 1 – “You were dead in your transgressions and sins.”

1.      Please explain Romans 5: 12 and Figure 1

Ephesians 2: 1 says: “You were dead in your transgressions and sins,” meaning we were all sinners.  Why is that so?

Brothers and sisters, if today we are preaching to a nonbeliever, there is no need for us to say this much; all we need to say is that we are sinners and we need the salvation of Jesus Christ.  However, for the sake of discussing the growth of our new life, we must understand God’s salvation plan for us.  Therefore, in order to know how we all have sinned and how we might resolve the issue of sin, we must start from this scripture so that we can understand how life grows.  Let’s use Romans 5: 12 in conjunction with Figure 1 to examine the root of our sins.

Romans 5: 12 says: “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned.”  From this passage we learn the answer to this question: why do we commit sins?  After God created Adam and put him in the Garden of Eden, God commanded Adam, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” (see Genesis 2: 16-17)  From Hosea 6: 7 we know that when God commanded Adam in the Garden of Eden he was in fact entering a covenant with Adam.  When Adam ate the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he knew he did wrong; so when God asked him about it, he said that it was all because of the woman God had given him.  Because Adam knew the seriousness of his transgression so he immediately blamed it on Eve.  Therefore, Adam not only broke his covenant with God he was also deceitful to Him, as recorded in Hosea 6: 7.  The nature of Adam’s transgression in eating the forbidden fruit was “breaking of covenant” and “disobedience.”  Romans 5: 19 says: “For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners ….”, here “disobedience” means being “self-centered” not “God-centered”; or altering God’s command at will.  Because of Adam’s act of disobedience he brought the “disobedience sin nature” into the world, thus making all his descendents sinners for they are all born with the nature of being self-centered.  In God’s eyes, men’s biggest sin is being “self-centered.”

Take a look at Figure 1 – “The Wages of Sin Is Death.”

I was controlled by the sin nature and became my “old-self” which in turn, turned my body into the “body of sin” that couldn’t help but commit sins resulting in death (separation from God).

The neutral “I” represents Adam before he sinned.  After he ate the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he became a man under the control of the sin nature which the Bible calls the “old-self.”  “Disobedience” entered into Adam as a king with power to rule over him.  This disobedience is the source of sin (also known as the root of sin, the sin nature, the power of sin, and sin reins); it is also the source of all our sins.

The “old-self” is enslaved to the sin nature.  Our sovereignty and inner life are controlled by sin, i.e. sin is the slave master of the “old-self”.  This “old-self” is being contrasted to the “new-self” that God wants to save and turn us into.  Under the control of the sin nature, our body becomes the sin body which can’t help but to commit sins.  The end result is death (separation from God).  This is not a matter of choice.  Once you are under the control of the sin nature, your sinful body will commit sinful deeds; and the wages of sin is death.  “Death” here means the end of the spiritual fellowship with God – the separation of men and God.

From Figure 1 we see that men are controlled by the sin nature and have no choice but to commit sins.  Before Adam disobeyed God, he had a choice; but he did not choose the tree of life instead he chose the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  Many Bible scholars believe that God created the tree of life with the hope that Adam would choose it, for it is written in the Bible that whoever eats from the tree of life shall have eternal life.  However, Adam chose to disobey God so that not only his relation with God is severed but the entire human race is also separated from God and becomes mortal.  God’s Son came to the world to die on the cross and with his precious blood he cleansed all our sins so that we sinners are saved by grace and may come before God to ask for forgiveness and to receive eternal life.  But if a person never chooses to believe in the Lord and rejects the grace of salvation then he will be forever separated from God and perish in hell.  When the end of the world comes, everyone must stand before God’s righteous court and be judged.  At that time, those children of God who truly repent will have eternal life; and those who reject the grace of salvation will be sentenced to death, separated from God and tossed into the sea of fire.  This separation from God is permanent and so is the death.

2.      Why is everyone in the world a sinner after our ancestor had sinned?  (Romans 7: 14)

Adam disobeyed God and became a sinner but why are we all sinners?  Because we are all born in Adam and we are all his descendants.  In Romans 7: 14 Paul said that he was “sold as a slave to sin”.  When was he sold to sin?  The moment Adam ate the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he sold all of us to sin.  He entered into a covenant with sin and death; and since the wages of sin is death thus we the descendants are all sinners controlled by sin and can’t help but to commit sins.

3.      What is the nature of Adam’s sin?  (Hosea 6: 7; Romans 5: 19)

The nature of Adam’s sin is “breaking the covenant and being disobedient to God.”  The consequence is just as stated in Isaiah 53: 6, “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way.”    What does it mean to “turn to one’s own way”?  It means we have departed from a set standard.  What is this standard?  It is the absolutely infallible God; the holy, righteous and loving God; and the God of truth.  If we deviate from Him, that’s disobedience and breaking the covenant.  In today’s lingo, the nature of Adam’s sin is “self-centeredness” and “humanism”.  The nature of the world is to exalt man and to make man the ultimate goal of the world.  When that happens, the world will be in a total chaos.  Today’s world is the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  Thinking they are so smart and full of wisdom, every country sets their own standard to judge what’s good and what’s evil, the end result is that there is no peace in the world.

4.      Why is it impossible for us not to sin?  Why can’t we save ourselves?

The reason we sin is because we are all controlled by the sin nature.  We often sigh like this, “It’s no use; I just can’t help it.”  That means we are totally incapable of controlling ourselves.  For instance, I tried so hard not to lose my temper but I just couldn’t hold it back.  It felt like there was a power forcing me to lose my temper.  This power is the sin nature.  Since the sin nature is in us and forcing us to commit sins so we have no freedom not to sin.  Thus we are unable to save ourselves for we are all controlled by the sin nature.  All religions teach self-saving through relying on one’s own efforts to do good deeds and to stay in good grace with the higher power in heaven.  However, we are unable to do that because under the control of the sin our human nature is to only look out for our own interest; we are always living in a state of self-centeredness and that can only lead to sins.

5.      Often time people would point out a certain individual and say although he is not a believer but his character is better than that of a Christian, doesn’t he deserve to go to heaven when he dies?  What do you think?         

      There is one fundamental problem, that is, whether one can go to heaven has nothing to do with his character or behavior.  Because we are all controlled by the sin nature so our characters or behaviors are all “self-centered” and fall short of God’s standard.

      When we talk about sin, it is from God’s perspective (judged against God’s standard); when we talk about somebody’s good character or behavior, it is measured by men’s standard.  Sure, we admit some nonbelievers have better behavior than Christians; but Christians (even those with excellent characters) can never go to heaven based on their own good behaviors.  It is only through Jesus Christ’s precious blood and the grace of salvation that we may go to heaven.  So we can draw the following conclusion:  Although a nonbeliever whose character and behavior are superior to those of a Christian but he will not go to heaven, because the only way to heaven is through the precious blood and the salvation of Jesus Christ and not by one’s good deeds.  However, this is not to say that Christians need not pursue better character and behavior.  A born again Christian who has been saved by the grace of God should pursue the growth of his or her new life (i.e. taking off the old-self and putting on the new-self) so that all may witness his or her good deeds which in turn brings glory to God.

6.      What is the relationship between God and men after Adam sinned?  Why?  (Ephesians 2: 1; Colossians 1: 21)

      As a result of Adam’s sin we were all dead in our transgressions and sins, i.e. we were alienated from God.  Why were we alienated from God?  That’s because the wages of sin is death.  Colossians 1: 21 says, “Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior.”  Therefore, it was because of our evil behavior we became enemies of God.  It is not necessarily that I have my mind set on being the enemy of God, but because of the self-centeredness in me that I am hostile to God.  Some people are anti-God on purpose, but some just don’t have a good understanding and have no desire to seek Him.  They are all enemies of God.

7.      What is the direct cause for men to be convicted before God?  (Romans 3: 24-26; 5: 12)

      Romans 3: 23-26:  We “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.  God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.  He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished – he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”  Even though we have no choice but to commit sins because we are all controlled by our sin nature, and Romans 3: 25 states, “in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished”,  the sins God convicts us of are the sinful acts of our own.  Romans 5: 12 also says,”… and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned”, though we all have sin nature in us that causes us to sin but the direct cause for us to be convicted before God is our sinful deeds.

8.      The relationship and differences between “Sin nature” and “sinful deeds” (Romans 5: 12)

      The “sin nature” and the “sinful deeds” are closely related but they are different.  The “sin nature” refers to the “disobedience” nature that reigns in us and controls us; the “sinful deeds” are the unavoidable actions carried out by a person who is under the control of the sin nature.  The sin nature is the source and the sinful deeds are the results.  Because of Adam’s disobedience we are all controlled by the sin nature so it’s impossible for anyone not to sin.  In short, the relationship between the “sin nature” and the “sinful deeds” is that our sin nature leads to our sinful deeds.

      In theology, the terms for the “sin nature” and the “sinful deed” are the “original sin” and the “actual sin”, respectively. 

      The “original sin” means our sin nature (or the root of sin, sin reigns, power of sin), it came to the world through Adam and was passed down from generation to generation thus we all have the original sin.  The “actual sin” refers to the sinful deed that each one of us committed.

Give thanks to the Lord!  In the last lecture we talked about we all have sins whether they are outwardly visible actions or our inner invisible thoughts, thus we are all sinners.  In this lecture we talked about the cause of our sinning.  When Adam sinned he was not under the control of the sin nature, rather he chose to commit the sin.  However, every one of us is his descendant and since we are sold to be slaves of sin so we are all controlled by the sin nature.  Consequently, we have no choice but to commit sins which lead to our being separated from God, i.e. death.  Therefore, it’s impossible for us not to sin and it’s also impossible for us to save ourselves.  When talking to friends who are either new believers or seekers, we just need to tell them that we are all sinners and we all need to receive Jesus as our savior.  But as to how to grow our new life, we must first understand the origin of sin and the role it played in the human history; otherwise we won’t have a clear understanding of many issues.