When we were dead in our offenses and sins, we were not only active in following the age of this world; we also walked “according to the ruler of the authority of the air, of the spirit who is now operating in the sons of disobedience.” The ruler here refers to Satan, the prince of the aerial authority mentioned in 6:12. The spirit, in apposition with “the authority of the air,” refers to the aggregate power, a personal aggregate of all the evil angelic authorities, over which Satan is the ruler. This aggregate spirit is now operating in the sons of disobedience. But we, who once were sons of disobedience, have been saved to be the church.
Above us there is the sphere ruled by Satan, the ruler of the authority of the air. Not many Christians have an adequate understanding of this evil power in the air. The entire earth is under the domination of this spirit in the air. This evil spirit, this evil atmosphere, is the cause of crimes, murders, and even suicides. It influences people to do evil things which, as humans, they would not normally do. The source of this evil is in the spirit, the atmosphere, which dominates them. This spirit is now operating in the sons of disobedience, in those who are disobedient to God.
We have considered two of the realms in which we were active when we were dead in our offenses and sins—the realm of the world and the realm of the aerial authority. Now we need to consider the third realm—the realm of the lusts of our flesh. Verse 3 says, “Among whom also we all behaved ourselves once in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the thoughts, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.” The word “whom” in this verse refers to the sons of disobedience, and the word “we” refers to all believers, both Jewish and Gentile. When we were dead in our offenses and sins, we also behaved according to the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires not only of the flesh but also of the thoughts. Three evil things, the age of this world outside of us, the ruler of the aerial authority above and within us, and the lusts of our flesh in our fallen nature, dominated our life. From these evil things we have been saved to become the Body of Christ.
Before we were saved, we all behaved ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, doing whatever the flesh and the thoughts liked to do. The word “desires” in verse 3 refers to our likes. In the past, we did certain things simply because we liked to do them. If we liked to go dancing, we went dancing. If we liked to attend sporting events, we attended them. If we liked window shopping, we went window shopping. Today’s young generation, probably more than any generation in history, does whatever it likes. If you ask the young people why they do certain things, many of them would answer that they simply like to do them. This is a sure sign of a dead person. In doing whatever they like, many of today’s young people are like cars without brakes. How dangerous this is!
The likes of the flesh in verse 3 refer to evil things, and the likes of the thoughts refer to things that may be somewhat better. But both are a sign of being deadened in the spirit, especially in the conscience. When someone is deadened in his spirit, he does whatever his flesh and his thoughts like to do.
In verse 3 Paul says that we were “by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.” We, as the sons of disobedience, were also the children of wrath. In the realm of death we were under God’s wrath because of our disobedience. But we have been saved both from our disobedience and from God’s wrath.
We have seen three realms in which we once were active: the age of the world, the evil atmosphere around the inhabited earth, and the lusts of our flesh, including the desires of the flesh and of the mind. The world is outside of us, the lusts are within us, and the evil spiritual atmosphere is both above us and within us. It is impossible for dead people to escape from these three realms. By nature, all men are sons of disobedience and children of wrath, under God’s judgment. When we were dead in offenses and sins, this was our condition as well. Praise the Lord that the church has been brought forth from such a realm of death! We have been saved to become the Body of Christ. Now we are no longer in these three realms; instead, we are in Christ, in the Spirit, and in the heavenlies.
Ephesians 2:1-3 gives a clear description of our condition according to our fallen nature. When we were in that condition, we were dead in offenses and sins, yet very active in the age of the world, under the domination of the atmosphere of the air, and in the desires of the flesh and of the thoughts. This is the black background over against which we see the church. The church has been brought forth out of such a miserable source. Hallelujah, although we were dead and in such a deplorable condition, we have been saved to become the Body of Christ! What a salvation!