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Public-domain commentary
Matthew Henry
From his Commentary on the Whole Bible. Henry comments on passages, not single verses — this entry covers Ephesians 2:1–3.
The miserable condition of the Ephesians by nature is here in part described. Observed, 1. Unregenerate souls are dead in trespasses and sins. All those who are in their sins, are dead in sins; yea, in trespasses and sins, which may signify all sorts of sins, habitual and actual, sins of heart and of life. Sin is the death of the soul. Wherever that prevails there is a privation of all spiritual life. Sinners are dead in state, being destitute of the principles, and powers of spiritual life; and cut off from God, the fountain of life: and they are dead in law, as a condemned malefactor is said to be a dead man. 2. A state of sin is a state of conformity to this world, Eph 2:2. In the first verse he speaks of their internal state, in this of their outward conversation: Wherein, in which trespasses and sins, in time past you walked, you lived and behaved yourselves in such a manner as the men of the world are used to do. 3. We are by nature bond-slaves to sin and Satan. Those who walk in trespasses and sins, and according to the course of this world, walk according to the prince of the power of the air. The devil, or the prince of devils, is thus described. See Mat 12:24, Mat 12:26. The legions of apostate angels are as one power united under one chief; and therefore what is called the powers of darkness elsewhere is here spoken of in the singular number. The air is represented as the seat of his kingdom: and it was the opinion of both Jews and heathens that the air is full of spirits, and that there they exercise and exert themselves. The devil seems to have some power (by God's permission) in the lower region of the air; there he is at hand to tempt men, and to do as much mischief to the world as he can: but it is the comfort and joy of God's people that he who is head over all things to the church has conquered the devil and has him in his chain. But wicked men are slaves to Satan, for they walk according to him; they conform their lives and actions to the will and pleasure of this great usurper. The course and tenour of their lives are according to his suggestions, and in compliance with his temptations; they are subject to him, and are led captive by him at his will, whereupon he is called the god of this world, and the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. The children of disobedience are such as choose to disobey God, and to serve the devil; in these he works very powerfully and effectually. As the good Spirit works that which is good in obedient souls, so this evil spirit works that which is evil in wicked men; and he now works, not only heretofore, but even since the world has been blessed with the light of the glorious gospel. The apostle adds, Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past, which words refer to the Jews, whom he signifies here to have been in the like sad and miserable condition by nature, and to have been as vile and wicked as the unregenerate Gentiles themselves, and whose natural state he further describes in the next words. 4. We are by nature drudges to the flesh, and to our corrupt affections, Eph 2:3. By fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, men contract that filthiness of flesh and spirit from which the apostle exhorts Christians to cleanse themselves, Co2 7:1. The fulfilling of the desires of the flesh and of the mind includes all the sin and wickedness that are acted in and by both the inferior and the higher or nobler powers of the soul. We lived in the actual commission of all those sins to which corrupt nature inclined us. The carnal mind makes a man a perfect slave to his vicious appetite. - The fulfilling of the wills of the flesh, so the words may be rendered, denoting the efficacy of these lusts, and what power they have over those who yield themselves up unto them. 5. We are by nature the children of wrath, even as others. The Jews were so, as well as the Gentiles; and one man is as much so as another by nature, not only by custom and imitation, but from the time when we began to exist, and by reason of our natural inclinations and appetites. All men, being naturally children of disobedience, are also by nature children of wrath: God is angry with the wicked every day. Our state and course are such as deserve wrath, and would end in eternal wrath, if divine grace did not interpose. What reason have sinners then to be looking out for that grace that will make them, of children of wrath, children of God and heirs of glory! Thus far the apostle has described the misery of a natural state in these verses, which we shall find him pursuing again in some following ones.
Historical interpretation
Four Centuries of Reception
14 surviving comments on this verse. Each one is dated, so this reads as a timeline rather than a list.
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If any one confesses the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and praises the creation, but calls the incarnation merely an appearance, and is ashamed of the passion, such an one has denied the faith, not less than the Jews who killed Christ. If any one confesses these things, and that God the Word did dwell in a human body, being within it as the Word, even as the soul also is in the body, because it was God that inhabited it, and not a human soul, but affirms that unlawful unions are a good thing, and places the highest happiness in pleasure, as does the man who is falsely called a Nicolaitan, this person can neither be a lover of God, nor a lover of Christ, but is a corrupter of his own flesh, and therefore void of the Holy Spirit, and a stranger to Christ. All such persons are but monuments and sepulchres of the dead, upon which are written only the names of dead men. Flee, therefore, the wicked devices and snares of the spirit which now worketh in the children of this world, lest at any time being overcome, ye grow weak in your love.
They are ashamed of the cross; they mock at the passion; they make a jest of the resurrection. They are the offspring of that spirit who is the author of all evil, who led Adam, by means of his wife, to transgress the commandment, who slew Abel by the hands of Cain, who fought against Job, who was the accuser of Joshua the son of Josedech, who sought to "sift the faith" of the apostles, who stirred up the multitude of the Jews against the Lord, who also now "worketh in the children of disobedience; from whom the Lord Jesus Christ will deliver us, who prayed that the faith of the apostles might not fail, not because He was not able of Himself to preserve it, but because He rejoiced in the pre-eminence of the Father. It is fitting, therefore, that ye should keep aloof from such persons, and neither in private nor in public to talk with them; but to give heed to the law, and the prophets, and to those who have preached to you the word of salvation. But flee from all abominable heresies, and those that cause schisms, as the beginning of evils.
And indeed, before the cross was erected, he (Satan) was eager that it should be so; and he "wrought" [for this end] "in the children of disobedience." He wrought in Judas, in the Pharisees, in the Sadducees, in the old, in the young, and in the priests. But when it was just about to be erected, he was troubled, and infused repentance into the traitor, and pointed him to a rope to hang himself with, and taught him [to die by] strangulation. He terrified also the silly woman, disturbing her by dreams; and he, who had tried every means to have the cross prepared, now endeavoured to put a stop to its erection; not that he was influenced by repentance on account of the greatness of his crime (for in that case he would not be utterly depraved), but because he perceived his own destruction [to be at hand]. For the cross of Christ was the beginning of his condemnation the beginning of his death, the beginning of his destruction.
Just as if any one, being an apostate, and seizing in a hostile manner another man's territory, should harass the inhabitants of it, in order that he might claim for himself the glory of a king among those ignorant of his apostasy and robbery; so likewise also the devil, being one among those angels who are placed over the spirit of the air, as the Apostle Paul has declared in his Epistle to the Ephesians,
“Once you followed the course of this world.” World here is completely distinguishable from God. For the creature is unlike the Creator, the artifact unlike its Maker, the world unlike God. Similarly when Paul speaks of those who “follow the prince of the power of the air” he is referring not to the one God who holds sway over all the ages. For the one who presides over higher authorities is never classified by reference to one lower.
Light and dark are two things, as are truth and falsehood, goodness and wickedness. But they are not to be imagined as equal, for it is not pious to compare anything to God, even by contraries. So we are to understand that there are two spirits, one of faith and one of disobedience. Satan and his devils have their substance from air, that is, from material reality. They derive their power in that same way, over those who think materially. The prince of that power which is in the air works through matter. He is therefore that spirit now at work through material means among the children of disobedience. He possesses their minds and has dominion over them. Therefore the one who lives “according to the course of this world lives according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit who is now at work in the children of disobedience.”
He indicates that the prince of power, that is, the devil, has corrupted the understanding of the world to make it depart from the one God and conceive a belief in many gods. In this way the devil made them associates in his own conspiracy, seeing that they were found to exhibit the same impiety in their denial of the one God.
These, moreover, are like "the blind man who leads the blind man, and they both fall into the ditch." [Matthew 15:14] And they will receive judgment, because in their talkativeness and their frivolous teaching they teach natural wisdom and the "frivolous error of the plausible words of the wisdom of men," "according to the will of the prince of the dominion of the air, and of the spirit which works in those men who will not obey, according to the training of this world, and not according to the doctrine of Christ." But if you have received "the word of knowledge, or the word of instruction, or of prophecy," [1 Corinthians 12:8-10] blessed be God, "who helps every man without grudging — that God who gives to every man and does not upbraid him." [James 1:5]
There is, we know, a corporal, and there is also a spiritual, dying. Of the first it is no crime to partake, nor is there any peril in it, inasmuch as there is no blame attached to it, for it is a matter of nature, not of deliberate choice. It had its origin in the transgression of the first-created man, and thenceforward in its issue it passed into a nature, and, at all events, will quickly be brought to a termination; whereas this spiritual dying, being a matter of deliberate choice, has criminality, and has no termination.
You observe the gentleness of Paul, and how on all occasions he encourages the hearer, not bearing too hard upon him. For whereas he had said, Ye have arrived at the very last degree of wickedness, (for such is the meaning of becoming dead,) that he may not excessively distress them, (because men are put to shame when their former misdeeds are brought forward, cancelled though they be, and no longer attended with danger,) he gives them, as it were, an accomplice, that it may not be supposed that the work is all their own, and that accomplice a powerful one. And who then is this? The Devil.
Why does he call the Devil "the prince" of the world? Because nearly the whole human race has surrendered itself to him and all are willingly and of deliberate choice his slaves. And to Christ, though He promises unnumbered blessings, not any one so much as gives any heed; whilst to the Devil, though promising nothing of the sort, but sending them on to hell, all yield themselves. His kingdom then is in this world, and he has, with few exceptions, more subjects and more obedient subjects than God, in consequence of our indolence.
"That now worketh," he says, "in the sons of disobedience." You observe that it is not by force, nor by compulsion, but by persuasion, he wins us over; "disobedience" or "untractableness" is his word, as though one were to say, by guile and persuasion he draws all his votaries to himself.
"According to the power," saith he, "of the air, of the spirit." Here again he means, that Satan occupies the space under Heaven, and that the incorporeal powers are spirits of the air, under his operation. For that his kingdom is of this age, i. e., will cease with the present age, hear what he says at the end of the Epistle; "Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against powers, against the world rulers of this darkness;" where, lest when you hear of world-rulers you should therefore say that the Devil is uncreated, he elsewhere calls a perverse time, "an evil world," not of the creatures. For he seems to me, having had dominion beneath the sky, not to have fallen from his dominion, even after his transgression.
Long ago, before the Fall, a certain authority was primordially entrusted to the devil. But falling from this through wickedness he became a teacher of impiety and wickedness. Yet he does not have power over all but only over those who do not receive divine revelation. These Paul calls “sons of disobedience.”
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Summary
Ephesians 2:2 vividly describes the pre-conversion spiritual state of believers, characterizing their former lives as a continuous walk in conformity with the prevailing values and systems of a world alienated from God. This conduct was not merely a matter of personal choice but was actively influenced and energized by the "prince of the power of the air," identified as Satan, and the pervasive spirit of disobedience that defines those living apart from Christ. The verse sets the stage for Paul's profound declaration of God's transformative grace and the new life found in Christ.
Context
Literary Context
This verse is an integral part of Paul's powerful exposition on salvation by grace through faith, beginning in Ephesians 2:1. Paul has just reminded his readers that they were "dead in trespasses and sins," a state of spiritual lifelessness. Ephesians 2:2 then elaborates on the nature of this "walk" (a common biblical metaphor for one's way of life), detailing the external and internal forces that governed their existence before Christ. It serves as a stark background against which the glorious work of God's grace, introduced in Ephesians 2:4-7, shines even brighter, emphasizing the depth of their former depravity and the magnitude of their rescue.
Historical & Cultural Context
The Ephesian church was situated in a major Roman provincial capital, a bustling center of commerce, pagan worship (especially of Artemis), and diverse philosophical currents. The "course of this world" (Greek: aiōn) refers to the prevailing worldview, customs, and moral climate of such a society, which was deeply steeped in idolatry, immorality, and self-indulgence, often driven by fear of various spiritual powers. Paul's reference to the "prince of the power of the air" would have resonated with a culture that believed in a hierarchy of spiritual beings and unseen forces influencing human life. This context underscores that the Ephesians' former way of life was not unique but reflected the dominant spiritual and ethical landscape of their time, making their conversion a radical departure from societal norms.
Key Themes
Ephesians 2:2 contributes significantly to several overarching themes in Ephesians. Firstly, it highlights the universal human condition of spiritual death and slavery to sin prior to salvation, a theme powerfully introduced in Ephesians 2:1. Secondly, it underscores the reality and influence of demonic powers, particularly Satan, who orchestrates the "course of this world" and actively works in the lives of unbelievers, a concept further explored in Ephesians 6:12. Thirdly, the verse sets a crucial contrast, magnifying the transformative power of God's grace (as seen in Ephesians 2:5-8) by vividly portraying the dire state from which believers were rescued. This contrast emphasizes the divine initiative in salvation and the radical change from a life of disobedience to one of obedience and new life in Christ.
Exposition and Analysis
Key Word Analysis
This term refers not merely to a chronological period but to an "age," encompassing the prevailing spirit, system, or worldview that characterizes a particular epoch. In this context, it denotes the corrupt, godless moral and spiritual atmosphere of the world apart from God, which influences human thought and behavior. It signifies conformity to the unregenerate world's values and practices.
This word means "a first (in rank or power)," a "chief (ruler), magistrate, prince." It designates Satan as the supreme ruler or leader within the spiritual realm that governs the unredeemed world. This title emphasizes his authoritative position and pervasive influence over the "power of the air."
This word can mean a "current of air," "breath," or "breeze," but figuratively refers to a "spirit," "vital principle," or "mental disposition." Here, it refers to the active, animating influence or disposition of Satan that energizes and motivates the "children of disobedience," driving their rebellion against God.
Verse Breakdown
"Wherein in time past ye walked"
This phrase refers to the former manner of life of the Ephesian believers before their conversion. The verb "walked" (Greek: peripatéō) is a common biblical metaphor for one's habitual conduct, lifestyle, or moral behavior. "In time past" highlights a definitive break from their former way of living.
"according to the course of this world"
This specifies the pattern of their former walk. "According to" (Greek: katá) indicates conformity or alignment. The "course of this world" describes a lifestyle governed by the prevailing trends, values, and ethical standards of a society that is alienated from God and hostile to His ways. It signifies a life lived in accordance with the spirit of the age, characterized by self-interest, materialism, and moral decay.
"according to the prince of the power of the air"
This identifies the ultimate orchestrator and guiding force behind the "course of this world." The "prince" is Satan, who possesses "power" (Greek: exousía, meaning authority or jurisdiction) over the unseen spiritual realm, metaphorically referred to as "the air." This suggests his pervasive, unseen influence over the spiritual atmosphere and cultural currents that shape human thought and behavior, making him the unseen ruler of the unregenerate world system.
"the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience"
This clause further describes the active, internal influence of Satan. His "spirit" (Greek: pneûma) actively "worketh" (Greek: energéō, meaning to be active, efficient, or effectually work) within those who are defined as "children of disobedience." This is a Hebraic idiom (like "sons of Belial") indicating that disobedience is not just an occasional act but their inherent characteristic, defining nature, or spiritual lineage. It reveals a state of spiritual bondage where individuals are willingly or unwillingly instruments of Satan's will, leading lives of open defiance against divine authority.
Literary Devices
Ephesians 2:2 employs several powerful literary devices to convey its profound theological message. Metaphor is central, as "walked" serves as a pervasive metaphor for one's way of life or conduct, contrasting the former sinful lifestyle with the new life in Christ. The phrase "course of this world" uses Personification to describe the world as having a discernible path or system, while "children of disobedience" is a classic Hebraic Idiom, signifying that disobedience is an inherent characteristic or defining identity of those apart from God, rather than merely an action. The imagery of "the prince of the power of the air" is a form of Symbolism, depicting Satan's unseen, pervasive, and authoritative influence over the spiritual and cultural atmosphere that shapes human thought and behavior. This combination of devices powerfully communicates the deep spiritual bondage and pervasive evil that characterized humanity's state before redemption.
Theological and Thematic Connections
Ephesians 2:2 serves as a foundational theological statement regarding humanity's fallen condition and the pervasive influence of evil. It asserts that apart from divine intervention, humanity is not merely flawed but spiritually dead, enslaved to sin, and actively directed by cosmic evil forces. This verse underscores the radical nature of salvation, not as an improvement of an existing state, but as a resurrection from spiritual death and a deliverance from a powerful, unseen dominion. It highlights the absolute necessity of God's grace for salvation, as human beings, in their natural state, are incapable of freeing themselves from the grip of the world's system and the "prince of the power of the air." The theological implication is profound: salvation is entirely God's work, rescuing individuals from a state of utter helplessness and spiritual bondage.
Reflection and Application
Ephesians 2:2 is a sobering reminder of the spiritual reality that existed before we were brought into God's family. For believers, it should evoke profound gratitude for the immense grace that rescued us from a life dominated by the world's values and the influence of spiritual darkness. It calls us to a deeper appreciation of the freedom we now have in Christ, a freedom not to sin, but to live righteously. Understanding the pervasive influence of the "prince of the power of the air" should sharpen our spiritual discernment, helping us recognize and resist the subtle ways the world's system and demonic forces seek to draw us back into conformity. This verse challenges us to constantly examine our allegiances: are we still walking "according to the course of this world," or are we truly living out our new identity in Christ, empowered by the Holy Spirit? It compels us to live counter-culturally, reflecting God's kingdom values in a world still under the sway of disobedience, and to pray for those who remain enslaved to these spiritual forces.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
What does "the prince of the power of the air" mean?
This phrase refers to Satan, the chief adversary of God and humanity. "Prince" (Greek: archōn) denotes a ruler or chief. "Power" (Greek: exousía) signifies authority or jurisdiction. "Of the air" (Greek: aḗr) is likely a metaphorical expression referring to his unseen, pervasive influence over the spiritual atmosphere and cultural currents that shape human thought and behavior. It suggests that Satan holds a position of authority in the unseen spiritual realm, from which he orchestrates the spiritual rebellion and moral decay of the unregenerate world system. This concept is echoed in other Scriptures where Satan is called the ruler of this world.
Who are the "children of disobedience"?
"Children of disobedience" (Greek: huioi tēs apeitheias) is a Hebraic idiom, similar to "sons of Belial" or "sons of light." It does not mean biological offspring but rather indicates that disobedience is the defining characteristic, inherent nature, or spiritual lineage of these individuals. It describes those who are unregenerate, living in active rebellion against God's will and authority. Their lives are characterized by a fundamental unwillingness to believe or obey God, and this verse states that the "spirit" (influence) of the "prince of the power of the air" actively "worketh" (energizes) within them, driving their rebellious actions. This is contrasted with believers, who are called children of God.
Christ-Centered Fulfillment
Ephesians 2:2 powerfully sets the stage for the glorious Christ-centered fulfillment found in the subsequent verses. Humanity's former state, characterized by spiritual death and enslavement to the world's corrupt system and the "prince of the power of the air," is precisely the condition from which Christ came to deliver us. He is the ultimate victor over these dark forces, having disarmed principalities and powers on the cross, triumphing over them (as seen in Colossians 2:15). Where the "spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience" once held sway, the Spirit of Christ now indwells believers, empowering them to walk in newness of life (as described in Romans 8:9-11). Jesus, the true "Prince of Peace" (Isaiah/9-6), has broken the dominion of the "prince of the power of the air," offering freedom from sin's bondage and the world's corrupting influence. Through His death and resurrection, believers are no longer "children of disobedience" but have been made alive together with Christ, seated with Him in the heavenly places (Ephesians 2:5-6), demonstrating His supreme authority and the transformative power of His grace.