Before we were saved, we were dead in trespasses and sins. According to Rom 5:12, death came as a result of Adam’s transgression against Gen 2:17. When Adam and Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, everything about them was affected by death. And so, everything about us was also affected by death. We refer to this as our spiritual death.
Before we were saved, we had the breath of life in us but we were dead. In Lk 9:59-60, Jesus told a prospective disciple, “Let the dead bury the dead.” Being dead in trespasses and sins is a spiritual condition that results in physical death [Rom 6:23] and ultimately eternal death in the lake of fire [Rev 21:8], for those who aren’t saved.
This death in us affected three main areas of our being. Our spiritual death:
Affected our walk – Eph 2:2.
- We walked according to the course of this world – the course of this world is contrary to God Jn 1:10; Jn 15:18. Gal 1:4 says, “Who gave himself for out sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world.” This world is heading to its terrible end in Matt 24. Therefore, when we are saved, we must not love the world or befriend the world, 1 Jn 2:15-17, Jas 4:4. Notice our walk was “in time past.” We shouldn’t be walking that way anymore. We are no longer of the world, Jn 15:19. We overcome the world by faith, 1 Jn 5:4. Faith is the victory, as the hymn goes.
- We walked according to the prince of the power of the air – in Jn 14:30, Jesus said, “the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.” He is the god of this world and is opposed to the gospel of Jesus Christ, 2 Cor 4:3-4. After we are saved, he is our adversary Eph 6:11-12. He is the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. So there is a spirit in this world that will not obey God. This explains why you see so much wickedness in the world and why we must be saved, 1 Jn 5:18-19. Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world, 1 Jn 4:4. You shouldn’t be living like the devil now, as you did “in time past.”
Affected our conversation – Eph 2:3. Our conversation was in the lusts of our flesh. Our conversation is our behavior, not just our communication, Eph 4:22. Our old man is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts. Now that we’re saved, our conversation should be in heaven, Phil 3:20.
- We fulfilled the desires of the flesh – we did what our flesh wanted us to do. There is nothing good about our flesh [Rom 7:18]. The evil you are seeing in politics right now is simply an expression of “them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness,” [2 Pet 2:10]. When you are saved, you must be careful to avoid those “who allure through the lusts of the flesh,” [2 Pet 2:18] because you are still in flesh. Follow Paul’s instructions, “Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh,” [Gal 5:16].
- We fulfilled the desires of the mind – sin often starts in the mind Eph 4:17-19. Prov 23:6-7 says, “as he thinketh in his heart so is he.” Men of corrupt minds resist the truth, 2 Tim 3:8. Thus, we must war against our imaginations, 2 Cor 10:4. Thankfully, we now have the mind of Christ, 1 Cor 2:16.
Affected our nature – Eph 2:3 – we were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. David said, “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me,” [Ps 51:5]. We are sinners at the very core of our being, Mk 7:21-23. Thus, our old man must die Rom 6:6, and we must live unto God through Jesus Christ and walk in newness of life, Rom 6:5, 11. We must be transformed.