And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.
Ephesians 2:1-51
Question. When’s the last time you saw a dead person stand up and walk around? Unless you’ve been in some extremely unusual circumstances, I would guess you haven’t. We don’t go to funerals expecting a resurrection—we know that death leaves us powerless and lifeless. Nekros is the Greek equivalent for death. It means “lifeless, deceased, departed, destitute of life.”2 Every time Scripture uses it to describe the deceased, it means someone who is actually and entirely dead.
In the New Testament, nekros is used both for those who are physically dead (e.g. Lazarus) and those who are spiritually dead (Eph. 2, Col. 2:13). And, just as it means an actual physical death, it means an actual spiritual death. When Paul says we are “dead in the trespasses and sins in which [we] once walked,” he means that, apart from Christ, we are lifeless and unable to resurrect our spiritual selves. We aren’t just spiritually sick in need of a doctor. We are spiritually deceased in need of a resurrection.
Every human is born with the same problem—spiritual death. You can dispute it or deny it, but the apostle Paul says all of us—even himself—are spiritually dead apart from Christ. “We all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath.” That’s a pretty dismal diagnosis.
What’s the cure? How can a dead man be brought to life? By divine grace. God “made us alive.” He “raised us up with Christ.” We don’t save ourselves; God grants us new life by his grace. This salvation, this new spiritual life, is God’s gift to us, a demonstration of his great love. Though we were dead in our trespasses and sins, we were made alive together with Christ, raised from the dead with him. Just as Christ resurrected from death to life, we too were spiritually resurrected, awakened from our spiritual death and given new life.
- The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2011.
- Nekros. Retrieved from https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?strongs=G3498