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 flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.

Ephesians 2:1 – 3

After that heart-warming explanation about the place of the redeemed men and women as time moves on, Paul now moves into the mystery of living the kind of life that affirms God’s grand design for the followers of Jesus Christ.

He begins by reminding us of our lost condition, before giving our lives to Jesus. First, we were dead, unable to do anything to please God as we wallowed in sin.  We were ruled by the spirit of Satan, always pushing people to reject God.  That sounds rather startling from the pen of a man who was a dedicated Pharisee, obeying the Law to perfection, at least that is what he thought.

It is amazing that Paul included himself as one who, like others, gratified the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.

Paul is not advising believers to live like the Pharisees with their rules that governed all aspects of life.  The new way to live in the Kingdom of Jesus Christ is to make him and his saving, keeping, enabling grace the center of all our thinking and acting.  That does not say we are to live a lawless, profligate life as followers of Jesus, in fact the standards of living for the followers of Jesus are much higher for they appealed to a relationship with Jesus Christ, not adherence to a huge catalogue of laws and many more do’s and don’ts.

The way of Christ focuses on life, not on earning God’s pleasure by some legal terms. Paul, who was committed to obeying all the laws as practiced by the Pharisees concluded that he was just as lost, so to speak, as the pagan who knows little of God. Paul, the strict Jew and the Gentile believers in Ephesus, all of us, were alike using different means but both gratifying their evil desires.

Lord Jesus, help us to fully comprehend what that means for us today.