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Ephesians 2:5,6
Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) …

Ephesians 1:19,20
And whatis the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, …

John 5:25
Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.

dead.

Ephesians 2:5
Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)

Ephesians 4:18
Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:

Ephesians 5:14
Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.

in your trespasses
"Trespasses" refers to specific acts of wrongdoing or deviations from the right path. The term implies a conscious crossing of boundaries set by God. In the cultural context of the time, laws and boundaries were well understood, and crossing them had serious consequences. This concept is echoed in the Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:12), where forgiveness of "trespasses" is sought. The use of "your" personalizes the message, indicating that these are individual acts for which each person is accountable. Theologically, this highlights the personal nature of sin and the need for personal repentance and forgiveness.

and sins
"Sins" is a broader term that encompasses both acts of commission and omission, as well as the inherent sinful nature of humanity. The Greek word for sin, "hamartia," means missing the mark, akin to an archer missing a target. This concept is prevalent throughout Scripture, as seen inRomans 5:12, which explains that sin entered the world through one man, Adam, and death through sin. The dual mention of "trespasses and sins" emphasizes the comprehensive nature of human wrongdoing, covering both specific actions and the general state of sinfulness. This underscores the totality of human depravity and the need for redemption through Jesus Christ, who is the fulfillment of the law and the prophets, as seen inMatthew 5:17.

Paul begins with a direct address—“And you.”

• This places the spotlight on every believer reading the letter; none are exempt.

• Earlier he had spoken of “us” (Ephesians 1:7), but now he turns the camera on “you,” making the message unmistakably personal.

•Romans 3:23 reminds us, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” so Paul’s words apply universally, yet they land individually.

Not sick, not struggling—dead.

• Spiritual death means separation from God, just as physical death separates body and soul (Genesis 2:17;Romans 6:23).

• No self-help plan can resuscitate a corpse; only divine intervention can.Colossians 2:13 echoes, “When you were dead in your trespasses… God made you alive with Christ.”

• This stark diagnosis exposes our absolute need for grace before any talk of good works (Ephesians 2:8-9).

A trespass is a willful stepping over a known boundary.

•Isaiah 53:6 pictures humanity “turning to his own way,” illustrating our deliberate departures from God’s path.

• Jesus ties forgiveness to these conscious offenses: “If you forgive men their trespasses…” (Matthew 6:14-15).

• Each deliberate line we cross shows how far gone we were—dead, not merely misguided.

While “trespasses” highlights known boundary-crossing, “sins” covers every missing of God’s mark, intentional or not.

•1 John 3:4 states, “sin is lawlessness,” capturing every act, word, or thought contrary to His holy character.

•James 4:17 widens the net to sins of omission: “Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do, yet fails to do it, is guilty of sin.”

• By pairing the terms, Paul proves no loophole remains; all facets of our rebellion rendered us spiritually lifeless.

Ephesians 2:1 declares that every believer’s story starts with personal, absolute spiritual death caused by our myriad trespasses and sins. Paul’s blunt diagnosis strips away self-reliance and sets the stage for the breathtaking “But God” of verse 4, where the miracle of new life in Christ bursts onto the scene.

Trespasses and sins.--These two words, more often used separately, are here brought together, to form a climax. The word rendered "trespass" signifies a "swerving aside and falling"; the word rendered "sins" is generally used by St. Paul in the singular to denote "sin" in the abstract, and signifies an entire "missing of the mark" of life. Hence, even in the plural, it denotes universal and positive principles of evil doing, while "trespass" rather points to failure in visible and special acts of those not necessarily out of the right way.

1. Chaos (vers. 1-3).

2. The dawn - the Spirit of God moving on the face of the waters (ver. 4).

3. The work of creation - in successive stages (vers. 4-10).Verse 1. -You also, who were dead in your trespasses and your sins. The apostle returns from his digression, in which he had shown the marvelous working of the Divine power on Christ, to show the working of the same power on the Ephesian converts themselves. Theὑμἀς is not governed by any verb going before; it manifestly depends on theσυνεζωοποίησεν of ver. 5, but it is separated from it by a new digression (vers. 2, 3), on which the apostle immediately starts. While the same quickening power of God was exerted on Christ and on the Ephesians, it was exerted to very different effects: in the case of Christ, raising him literally from the dead and exalting him to heavenly glory; in the case of the Ephesians, raising them from spiritual death and exalting them to high spiritual privileges. We may observe the change from the second to the first person, andvice versa, in this chapter as inEphesians 1. Second person (vers. 1, 8, 11); first (vers. 3, 10, 14); and the two streams brought together (ver. 18). The chapter closes beautifully with an emblem of the Church as the one temple of whichall believers are parts. Thedeath ascribed to the Ephesians in their natural state is evidentlyspiritual death, and "trespasses and sins," being in the dative (νεκροὺς τοῖςπαραπτώμασι καὶ ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις), seems to indicate the cause of death - "dead through your trespasses and your sins" (R.V.); "deadof your trespasses," etc., is suggested by Alford. It is not easy to assign a different meaning to the two nouns here; some suggestacts of transgression for the one, and sinful tendencies or principles for the other, but this distinction cannot be carried out in all other passages. The killing effect of sin is indicated. As sins of sensuality kill truthfulness, industry, integrity, and all virtue, so sin generally, affecting as it does our whole nature, kills, or does not suffer to live, the affections and movements of the spiritual life. A state of "death" implies previous life - therace lived before; it implies also a state of insensibility, of utter powerlessness and helplessness.

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