sins here and in Col. 2: 13. This is precisely the same order that is found in Rom. 6:,

7:,  and  Gal. 2:  Rom. 6:,  like  Col. 2:, speaks of our burial, baptism, and

resurrection. It tells us that we who died to sin, now live to God; so Gal. 2: 19, "for I

through law am dead to law, that I might live unto God". Thus it appears that Eph. 2: 1

is not teaching us that we were all "dead in trespasses and sins", but that through the

mercy of God we are dead ones to trespasses and sins.

One further item before we close this paper. It will be noticed that in verse 1 we read

"you", while in verse 5 we read "we".  The apostle is linking Jewish and Gentile

believers together here, just as he does in the next section by the words, "the both", and

"twain". You died to sins; we also died to sins, and by grace He has made us alive

together with Christ.

Let us not give away blessed truth; what though evangelical doctrine be deprived of

the testimony of these verses to the depravity and corruption of sinners, it will be far

better than missing the mind of the Spirit in such an important passage.

In the preceding paper of this series we sought to show that Eph. 2: 1 did not teach

the doctrine of human depravity, but the believer's relation to trespasses and sins, "And

you being dead ones to trespasses and to sins". Let us now consider the relation of this

passage with that of Rom. 6:, and then with its context.

Rom. 6: while somewhat parallel deals with the root ­ sin; Eph. 2: deals with the

fruit ­ sins. Rom. 6: opens with the question, "What shall we say then? Shall we

continue in sin, that grace may abound?" There is no parleying, debating, or moralizing

in the apostle's answer. To him it is a matter of life and death. "Let it not be. How shall

we, who died to sin, live any longer in it?" The apostle calls the mind of his readers to

their baptism wherein union with Christ involved also union with His death, "baptized

into Jesus Christ, baptized into His death".

Baptism buried the believer also with the Lord into that death, that "like as Christ was

raised out of dead ones by the glory of the Father, even so, we also should walk in

newness of life". Not merely a new life, but a new kind of life, in fact, resurrection life.

The old man was crucified with Christ so that the body of sin might be rendered

inoperative. This body of sin is a most awful thing, for by it we are enslaved to sin. So it

is written that the old man was crucified, and the body of sin rendered powerless THAT

WE MAY NO LONGER BE ENSLAVED TO SIN. It is sin's dominion and sin's

service that are here in view. The reign of sin and death ends when the reign of grace

begins, "For sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under the law but under

grace" (verse 14).