Eph. 2:3

2: 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts.

All of us were dead! Did Paul really mean that? All of us? Even himself? He was raised as a law-abiding Pharisee in the home of greatest strictness. He clearly stated that he grew up, in his Jewish religious home “according to the Law, blameless.” This does not sound like “dead in sins and transgressions.” In fact, as a young Pharisee himself, he gained high praise for his prestigious “holiness.”

All of what Paul is writing in this passage is to be seen against the background of Jewish concepts of righteousness - righteousness which comes by complete and unquestioned obedience to every word of the law. That sounds exemplary to me and I could wish that everyone on earth would live like that.

No Jew could find any disobedience in Paul. As far as they were concerned, Paul represented the highest level of obedience to the law that Jews attained, that is the law as interpreted by the Pharisees. None surpassed him in law-righteousness.

That very Paul, the person who meticulously obeyed the law from birth, as exemplary as he was, writes, “All of us were dead in trespasses and sin.” He went so far, in his writings, to proclaim that he is the greatest sinner, ever! That is a stretch for me.

Was Paul simply making a point, using hyperbole to drive a point home? Is he honest and sincere in what he believes? The answer to that is; he saw that his strict observance to the law was little more than great self-effort, centered, not in relating to God, but in proving that God’s law is perfect and should be obeyed.

He goes on to say that his strict observance of all aspects of the law was simply “gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature.” Alas, depending on self-effort to please God is sin!

I like Wesley’s lines. # 362

“Now, Jesus, let thy powerful death
Into my being come.
Slay the Old Adam with thy breath,
The man of sin consume.”

The Kingdom of God is bound together by the Blood - the complete atoning work - of Jesus Christ. All of us, no exceptions, are incorrigible sinners, hopeless but for the Blood of Christ.