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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - Ephesians 2:3 - 2:3
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3. ἐν οἷς καὶ ἡμεῖς πάντες ἀνεστράφημέν ποτε. The Jews, in spite of their outward separation from the ‘sinners of the Gentiles’ (Gal 2:15), were in heart one with them, cf. Rom 3:23.
ἐν ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις τῆς σαρκὸς ἡμῶν. Cf. 1Pe 1:14; 1Pe 2:11 with Hort’s notes: ‘The flesh according to St Paul includes far more than sensuality.’ It is in fact the self-regarding and self-assertive principle in human nature which claims satisfaction for every appetite or desire without regard to the claims either of God or our neighbour. St Paul regards being ‘in the flesh,’ i.e. subject to its dominion, as the ‘natural state’ of man (Rom 7:5; Rom 8:9). Deliverance from the tyranny of the flesh is found only in proportion as a man realizes his union with the Crucified (Gal 5:24) and so passes under the dominion of the Spirit. This identification with the Crucified is represented in Col 2:11 as the reality of which circumcision was the type.
ποιοῦντες τὰ θελήματα. Cf. Act 13:22, ‘the varying decisions.’
τῶν διανοιῶν, ‘quot homines tot sententiae.’ The intellectual faculty needs regeneration, cf. Eph 4:18; Col 1:21; 1Jn 5:20; Gen 8:21 ἡ διάνοια τ. ἀνθρώπου ἐπιμελῶς ἐπὶ τὰ πονηρά.
καὶ ἤμεθα τέκνα φύσει ὀργῆς. ὀργὴ in Eph 4:31; Col 3:8; Jam 1:19 f. = the wrath of man; here (cf. Col 3:6 and Eph 5:6) = the wrath of God. This is regarded partly as future, e.g. 1Th 1:10 (cf. Mat 3:7 = Luk 3:7), partly as present, see esp. Rom 1:18 ff. and Joh 3:36. According to St Paul’s argument in Romans 1-3 Jew and Gentile alike were ὑφʼ ἁμαρτίαν, and therefore, to use St John’s figure, ‘the wrath of God’ abode upon them. And it is possible that the phrase ‘children of wrath,’ like the parallel phrases in Isa 10:6 ‘The people of My wrath’; Jer 7:29 ‘The generation of His wrath,’ implies no more than exposed or liable to the wrath of God. The argument in Rom 1:18 ff. shows, however, that in St Paul’s view this exposure brings with it present consequences. Nor indeed can the attitude of God towards a man be a matter of indifference in the development of his life. Men who have grown up with no thought of God beyond that presented to them by their own guilty consciences cannot fail ‘to be moulded by it from within.’ It is therefore probable that St Paul uses the phrase τέκνα ὁργῆς, instead e.g. of ὑπʼ ὀργὴν, in view of this effect on character, the natural consequence of the consciousness of guilt unrelieved by any Gospel of forgiveness. He hastens to show in the next verse that ‘wrath’ is not a complete description of the attitude of God even to the sinner. φύσει, ‘when left to ourselves,’ as in Rom 2:14.
ὡς καὶ οἱ λοιποί. Cf. 1Th 4:13; 1Th 5:6. All outside the pale, in this case, of the covenant people.