infidelitatis ). So in c. Eph. 5:6 (inserted by transcribers in Col. 3:6). Compare Matt. 8:12; 13:38 oiJ uiJoi; th'" basileiva" ; Matt. 9:15; Mk 2:19; Lk. 5:34 oiJ uiJoi; tou' numfw'no" , 20:36 th'" ajnastavsew" uiJoi; o[nte" , John 12:36; 1 Thess. 5:5 uiJoi; fwtov" ; 1 Thess. 5:5 uiJoi; hJmevra" . And note the special title oJ uiJo;" th'" ajpwleiva" John 17:12 (Judas); 2 Thess. 2:3 oJ a[nqrwpo" th'" ajnomiva" ( or aJmartiva" ).
Similar phrases are formed with tevknon ; see Eph. 2:3 tevkna fuvsei ojrgh'" and note.
Disobedience, conscious resistance to the will of GOD, lays men open to the working of Satan and his hosts (John 3:36).
3. At this point St Paul is constrained to recognise that the description which he has given of the moral condition of the Ephesians applied also to himself, a Jew by birth, and his fellow-believers. Before their conversion they were not separated from the sons of disobedience, among whom , he adds, we all also once lived...doing the will (lit. wills ) of the flesh and of the mind. The plurals ta; qelhvmata and tw'n dianoiw'n (v.l. consiliorum , V. cogitationum , Hieron. Comm. mentium ) do not admit of a simple translation. The thought is of the multiplicity of purposes suggested by the flesh and by the many thoughts of a discursive intelligence.
For ta; qelhvmata comp. Acts 13:22 and var. lect. Mk 3:35; and for tw'n dian . Heb. 10:16 var. lect. (LXX.).
For the general description compare 1 Cor. 6:9 ff.; Tit. 3:3; 1 Pet. 4:3. kai; h[meqa tevkna fuvsei ojrgh'" ...] Latt. et eramus ( fuimus ) natura (al. naturaliter , al. naturales ) filii iroe ( iracundioe filii ), and were children by nature as we followed our natural impulses of wrath even as the rest of men. The word fuvsei is in itself ambiguous. In other passages in the N.T. where it occurs it means by birth (Gal. 2:15 hJmei'" fuvsei jIoudai'oi ); by constitution (Gal. 4:8 toi'" fuvsei mh; ou\si qeoi'" ) and by the exercise of natural powers (Rom. 2:14 o{tan... fuvsei ta; tou' novmou poiw'sin ). In this place it describes the result of man's action so far as he is unaided by the Spirit of GOD. There is in his nature, as the Jew found in spite of GOD'S covenant with him, that which issues in sin. Actual Sin is in fact universal and this deserves GOD'S wrath till an atonement is found (John 3:36; comp. Deut. 25:2 a son of beating ). And more than this: mortality itself, as it is, is, according to the teaching of the Bible, the sign of sin, of man's fall from the divine ideal (Gen. 2:17; 3:19; James 1:15; comp. Heb. 2:14 f.). In this sense also, as sharers in a mortal nature, Jew and Gentile alike can be spoken of as objects of GOD'S displeasure. Origen, translated by Jerome, combines the two thoughts: hJmei'" oijovmeqa dia; to; sw'ma th'" tapeinwvsew" gegonevnai tevkna fuvsei ojrgh'", o{te (l. o{ti ) ejnevkeito hJmw'n hJ diavnoia ejpi; ta; ponhra; ejk neovthto" .
The record of Bp Butler's death offers an impressive commentary on the phrase: Bartlett's
Life
, pp. 221 f.
tevkna...ojrgh'"
] Compare
c.
Eph. 5:8,
tevkna fwtov"
, 1 Pet. 1:14
tevkna uJpakoh'"
, 2 Pet. 2:14
katavra" tevkna
(Gal. 4:28; Rom. 9:8
tevkna ejpaggeliva"
). The general difference which holds between
uiJoi; qeou'
and
tevkna qeou'
(see on 1 John 3:1, with Additional Note) appears to underlie these wider uses of
tevknon
and
uiJov"
(see Eph. 5:2 note).
Having shown the universality of spiritual need, St Paul cannot complete the sentence which he has begun. To say (and you...) He quickened would be to neglect the real scope of Christian work. So he merges the less in the greater and continues: but GOD being rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, quickened us us no less than