Ephesians 2:3

among whom ¹  all of us ²  also ³  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 ⁴  even as the rest… ⁵ 

Ge 5:3; Ge 6:5; Ge 8:21; Job 14:4; Job 15:14-16; Job 25:4; Ps 51:5; Isa 53:6; Isa 64:6,7; Da 9:5-9; Mr 4:19; Mr 7:21,22; Joh 1:13; Joh 3:1-6; Joh 8:44; Ac 14:16; Ac 17:30,31; Ro 1:24; Ro 3:9-19; Ro 3:9,22,23; Ro 5:12-19; Ro 6:12; Ro 7:18; Ro 8:7,8; Ro 9:22; Ro 11:30; Ro 13:14; 1Co 4:7; 1Co 6:9-11; 2Co 7:1; Ga 2:15,16; Ga 3:22; Ga 5:16-24; Ga 5:19-21; Eph 2:2; Eph 4:17-19; Eph 4:22; 1Ti 6:9; Tit 3:3; Jas 4:1-3; 1Pe 1:14; 1Pe 2:10; 1Pe 2:11; 1Pe 4:2; 1Pe 4:3; 2Pe 2:18; 1Jo 1:8-10; 1Jo 2:8; 1Jo 2:16; Jude 1:16-18

¹ sn Among whom. The relative pronoun phrase that begins v. 3 is identical, except for gender, to the one that begins v. 2 (ἐν αἵς [en Jais], ἐν οἵς [en Jois]). By the structure, the author is building an argument for our hopeless condition: We lived in sin and we lived among sinful people. Our doom looked to be sealed as well in v. 2: Both the external environment (kingdom of the air) and our internal motivation and attitude (the spirit that is now energizing) were under the devil’s thumb (cf. 2 Cor 4:4).

² tn Grk “we all.”

³ tn Or “even.”

⁴ sn Children of wrath is a Semitic idiom which may mean either “people characterized by wrath” or “people destined for wrath.”

⁵ sn Eph 2:1-3. The translation of vv. 1-3 is very literal, even to the point of retaining the awkward syntax of the original. See note on the word dead in 2:1.