My Enemies Are Three – Part 3
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. 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 [Ephesians 2:1-3].
The first three verses of Ephesians 2 enumerated two types of Christians. There are those of Jewish ethnicity, and there are those of Gentile origins. By birth every Christian was a child of the devil. He had to be born again, born a second time, in order to die to the devil’s family and be adopted into God’s family.
As children of God we face three categories of enemies daily. These three were our one-time friends. While we ate and drank and partied with old Lucifer, we were the best of friends with these three rascals. But all that changed when we joined the family of God. Now the three rascals are our inveterate enemies.
So just who are these villains? Well, the usual epithets applied to them are,
1. the flesh
2. the world
3. the devil/Satan
Paul, you see, noted how the Christians consisted of both Jews and Gentiles by ethnicity. Simultaneously with this he identified the three enemies of Christians, thus making it evident that the three were enemies of all God’s children, whether Jew or Gentile.
You say you don’t see the flesh, the world, and the devil specified in verses 1-3 of Ephesians 2? I’m sorry. But they sure are there! Allow me to show them to you.
The first villain who Paul identified was the world. He wrote:
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world.
The Gentile Christians in the past used to conduct their lives according to who again? Answer: according to “this world”. They wallowed in the same sorts of sins as all unbelievers do. Only because they were born again did they cease engaging in such a lifestyle.
The second villain Paul identified was the devil. He wrote:
According to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.
The prince in question is the spirit of disobedience. Friends, that would be none other than the devil, or Satan for short.
The third villain—well, the process of elimination leaves only the flesh, so the flesh it is! Paul wrote:
We too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh.
And that makes a grand total of three enemies, the flesh, the world, and the devil. The three are inveterate enemies of every child of God, but they are BFFs for every child of the devil.
Oh, I almost forgot. Paul also made specific reference to the children of the devil in our three verses. Listen:
• the sons of disobedience
• children of wrath
I’m so glad I’m a part of the family of God. Aren’t you? I sure don’t look back with longing on my life of disobedience and wrath. Once escape from the grasp of sin by God’s grace, and we no longer find pleasure in such filth as we once did. Praise the Lord! Thank you, Jesus.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 2 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
The first three verses of Ephesians 2 enumerated two types of Christians. There are those of Jewish ethnicity, and there are those of Gentile origins. By birth every Christian was a child of the devil. He had to be born again, born a second time, in order to die to the devil’s family and be adopted into God’s family.
As children of God we face three categories of enemies daily. These three were our one-time friends. While we ate and drank and partied with old Lucifer, we were the best of friends with these three rascals. But all that changed when we joined the family of God. Now the three rascals are our inveterate enemies.
So just who are these villains? Well, the usual epithets applied to them are,
1. the flesh
2. the world
3. the devil/Satan
Paul, you see, noted how the Christians consisted of both Jews and Gentiles by ethnicity. Simultaneously with this he identified the three enemies of Christians, thus making it evident that the three were enemies of all God’s children, whether Jew or Gentile.
You say you don’t see the flesh, the world, and the devil specified in verses 1-3 of Ephesians 2? I’m sorry. But they sure are there! Allow me to show them to you.
The first villain who Paul identified was the world. He wrote:
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world.
The Gentile Christians in the past used to conduct their lives according to who again? Answer: according to “this world”. They wallowed in the same sorts of sins as all unbelievers do. Only because they were born again did they cease engaging in such a lifestyle.
The second villain Paul identified was the devil. He wrote:
According to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.
The prince in question is the spirit of disobedience. Friends, that would be none other than the devil, or Satan for short.
The third villain—well, the process of elimination leaves only the flesh, so the flesh it is! Paul wrote:
We too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh.
And that makes a grand total of three enemies, the flesh, the world, and the devil. The three are inveterate enemies of every child of God, but they are BFFs for every child of the devil.
Oh, I almost forgot. Paul also made specific reference to the children of the devil in our three verses. Listen:
• the sons of disobedience
• children of wrath
I’m so glad I’m a part of the family of God. Aren’t you? I sure don’t look back with longing on my life of disobedience and wrath. Once escape from the grasp of sin by God’s grace, and we no longer find pleasure in such filth as we once did. Praise the Lord! Thank you, Jesus.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 2 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
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