“Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest” (Eph. 2:3).
Paul is writing to believers who have been saved by grace but he wants to remind them of what life was like before Christ. Without Christ they formerly lived by the lust of the flesh. The word flesh sometimes means the physical body and thus is not inherently evil. The word of God became flesh (Jn. 1:14). In other instances it means the lower nature of man apart from the regenerating power of the Spirit. So here “lusts of our flesh” indicate a life dominated by self-centered desires and passions.
When one lives by the lusts of the flesh, he/she will indulge the desires of the flesh and of the mind. Evil will ultimately dominate one’s emotions and his intellect and reasoning process as well. I have counseled with unsaved persons who knew they were powerless to break the hold of the self-indulged life. This recognition can serve as the starting point from which one turns to Christ.
“By nature” refers to what is innate in man by virtue of his birth. Man has a sin nature and thus when left to himself he chooses to practice sin which brings him under the wrath of God (cf. Rom. 2:14). The sin of man, in thought and deed, places one under the just wrath of a holy God. We will consider verse 4 in our next devotional, but you might want to glance ahead to see that man’s dilemma was met with God’s great mercy.
Prayer: Father, thank You that the days of my lust and wrath are former days because of Your rich mercy. Amen