What is the context?
After describing God’s power in raising Christ, Paul turns to the condition of those who now belong to Him. He says they were dead in their trespasses and sins. The people he addresses were physically alive, yet lacked the life with God that the next verses will describe.
The Greek word for dead is νεκρός, nekros (neh-KROSS). Thayer’s lexicon recognizes its use here for spiritual deadness: a life given over to sin rather than devoted to God. The picture explains why the coming change must be a gift of life from Him.
Paul describes how they used to walk: following the ways of this world and the ruler of the power of the air, whose influence is at work among the disobedient. The language connects human wrongdoing with a spiritual power opposed to God.
He includes himself and others in the same condition. All of us once lived in the desires and thoughts of the flesh and were by nature children of wrath. The paragraph leaves no room for the believers to imagine they had always stood above those around them.
The sentence continues into the announcement of God’s mercy in verses 4–5. Remembering their former condition prepares the way for understanding what He has done through Christ.
How is this passage commonly understood?
Christians commonly understand these verses as describing humanity’s need for God’s saving grace. Wesley’s notes on verses 1–3 and the USCCB notes on verses 1–10 connect the former condition with the life God gives through Christ. Traditions differ in how they describe the inherited condition behind verse 3.
The Reformed Westminster Confession, chapter 6, teaches that Adam’s guilt and a corrupted nature are passed to his descendants. Actual sins arise from that inherited corruption.
The Catholic Catechism, paragraphs 404–405, describes original sin as an inherited state of deprivation of original holiness, rather than a personal act committed by each descendant. It teaches that human nature is wounded and inclined to sin, while maintaining that it has not been totally corrupted.
The Methodist Articles of Religion, articles VII–VIII, describe human nature as fallen and continually inclined toward evil. They also teach that people cannot turn to faith by their own natural strength; God’s grace must enable their response. These explanations differ, while all recognize the need for God’s work of grace.
Where does this fit in God's plan?
Romans 5:12–19 places humanity’s condition within the larger account of Adam and Christ. Sin and death entered through one man’s disobedience; God’s gift through Jesus Christ brings the contrasting hope of righteousness and life.
That connection gives a wider setting for the condition Paul recalls here. The story reaches back to humanity’s fall, and God’s answer comes through His Son. The next verses of Ephesians will announce that answer in terms of mercy and being made alive with Christ.
What is our position?
We don't have a position on this passage yet. When our study reaches a conclusion the text supports, it will appear here.