Ephesians 2:3
among whom all of us also formerly lived out our lives in the cravings of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath even as the rest…
among whom all of us also formerly lived out our lives in the cravings of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath even as the rest…
Let's combine the first three verses of this second chapter together:
And although you were dead in your offenses and sins, in which you formerly lived according to this world’s present path, according to the ruler of the domain of the air, the ruler of the spirit that is now energizing the sons of disobedience, among whom all of us also formerly lived out our lives in the cravings of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath even as the rest…
Paul, like I said, is helping us to gain a vision from the realm of the unseen.
What we see is that we are living in the cravings of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and mind, and were by nature children of wrath as the rest.
It's one blob under the control of the ruler of the spirit now energizing the sons of disobedience, both the slave and the free, the native and the foreigner, the religious and the irreligious; it does not matter the external differences, we are all puppets in the hands of the rulers of the domain of the air.
This is the way I see it: if you breath air, we are subject to that spirit, apart from those of us who Paul carefully laid out that we are in another league because of Jesus.
There is this world's present path, meaning everyone who is not in the boat of Christ, is swimming in that path.
We have those who are sons of disobedience and by nature children of wrath.
I think we need to pay attention to those phrases. To be a son of disobedience is about a bent we cannot change.
And to be by nature children of wrath also communicates the same thing. How ingrained? Down to the core. That's why no patchwork will do, no improvement program will suffice, it has to be a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17).
The cost is the death of Jesus, who mirrors us in our depravity, and took on the wrath of God in death, and we mirror Him in His resurrection.
Then we have the cravings of the flesh.
With that background:
- We can begin to understand when Jesus said come to me and drink and from within him will flow living water (John 7:37-38).
- We can begin to understand God's invitation to come and eat in Isaiah (Isaiah 55:1-3), which is a picture of salvation.
- We can begin to understand the words of Jesus about hungering and thirsting for righteousness (Matthew 5:6).
- We can begin to understand the words of Peter that we should desire the word of God (1 Peter 2:2).
For me desires and cravings are two words communicating similar things. Desire can be seen as the foundation, with cravings how it is expressed betimes.
And somewhere else Paul wrote about the desires of the flesh being opposed to the desires of the spirit (Galatians 5:17), while encouraging us to not sow into one's flesh so we do not reap corruption, but to sow into the Spirit for eternal life (Galatians 6:8).
This is the way I am seeing it: the fleshly desires and cravings are ways we mimic demonic spirits.
Being in the flesh (Romans 8:8), we are, unknown to us, ruled from the outer world, mirroring the insatiable desires of the demonic spirit which drive us into self destructive endeavors.
We were enslaved to do its will (John 8:34). It lives out its rebellion against God through us; we are pulled by their demonic strings to do that.
Just as Satan cannot do better than his nature, according to Jesus, calling him a liar and a murderer (John 8:44), this ruler animating/energizing the sons of disobedience is the same. It can only move you to do what it is in itself - disobedient to God as its core.
But what about desires of the mind. It seems to me that the desires of the mind was displayed in the garden of Eden with the appeal was for knowledge, which I call the seduction of knowing.
The desires of the flesh, to me, is about the deception of feeling, and the mind is about the deception of knowing.
Again, we actually see both the deception of knowing and the deception of feeling play out in the Garden.
When the woman saw that the tree produced fruit that was good for food, was attractive to the eye, and was desirable for making one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate it. She also gave some of it to her husband who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. (Genesis 3:6-7)
In my opinion, good for food and attractive to the eye is the trap of feelings (fleshly enjoyment); desirable for making one wise is the trap of knowing (curiosity).
And when we hear from John, he said we should not love the world (trap of knowing) or the things in the world (trap of feelings). He contrasted those to the love of the Father, where we are supposed to want to know Him (John 17:3) and please Him.
And look at the word "indulging." It communicates a life driven by pleasure rather than the will of God.
We may think all these are trivial, but they are at the core of what ails humanity.
Dead means limited, with narrow option. It means darkness. It means secured in a place of slavery, and being in unremitting bondage.
And what about "energizing"?
It seems to me like a pulsating experience, like the rhythm that James wrote about sin coming from the seeding of desire and would become sin later (James 1:14-15). The rhythm of desire cascading into sin. It is akin to an addiction, which regularly strikes you with demanding enslaving desire. It ebbs and wanes like a wave, tied to unpredictability, so you cannot prepare for it.
- As opposed to the seed of the word of God, which comes with a sense of abiding (1 Peter 1:23–25).
- As opposed to the water Jesus gives that springs up to eternal life and we do not thirst again (John 4:14).
- As opposed to the living seed of the divine desire and purpose constantly renewing in us (Titus 3:5).
- As opposed to the abiding presence of Christ who promises to never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5), and ever lives to intercede for us (Hebrews 7:25).
Hallelujah!
