In Psalm 51:5, David made one of the most declarative statements on the condition of every single person who was ever born into this world. He said,

In simpler terms, I was brought forth guilty and depraved and in sin was I conceived by my mother. He came into this world in a state of depravity, having a sin nature. This is truly the condition of every single person who was ever and who will be born from their mother's womb.

The fact is that we all came into this world with a sin nature. We were all spiritually DOA.

Paul, in the book of Romans, makes this point even clearer regarding the fact that we all were born into sin by stating that the sin of the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, was passed down throughout all of mankind and in fact is in our nature.

Romans 5:12, 14, 17(a), 18(a) 19(a) 21(a)
12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.

17 For if by one man's offence death reigned by one...
18 Therefore as by the offence of one [judgment came] upon all men to condemnation...
19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners...
21 That as sin hath reigned unto death...

 Romans 7:14 also states that mankind is a slave to sin.

Romans 7:14
For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.

The most characteristic feature of sin in all its aspects is that it is directed against God. Any conception of sin which does not have in the forefront the defiance which it offers to God is a deviation from the biblical representation. The common notion that sin is selfishness betrays a false assessment of its nature and gravity. Essentially, sin is directed against God, and this perspective alone accounts for the diversity of its form and activities. It is a violation of that which God's glory demands and is, therefore, in its essence the negation of God.

Sin never consists merely in a voluntary act of transgression. Every volition proceeds from something that is more deep-seated than the volition itself. A sinful act is the expression of a sinful heart (cf. Mk. 7:20-23; Pr. 4:23; 23:7). Sin must always include, therefore, the perversity of heart, mind, disposition and will. This was true, as in the case of the first sin, and it applies to all sin. The imputation to posterity of the sin of Adam must, therefore, carry with it involvement in the perversity apart from which Adam's sin would be meaningless and its imputation an impossible abstraction. Paul states that "by one man's disobedience many were made sinners" (Romans 5:19). The depravity which sin entails and with which all men come into the world is for this reason a direct implicate of our solidarity with Adam in his sin. We come to be as individuals by natural generation, and as individuals we never exist apart from the sin of Adam reckoned as ours.

Therefore the psalmist wrote, "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me" (Ps. 51:5)

And our Lord said, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh" (Jn. 3:6).

This is the true state of all mankind before salvation, full of sin and spiritually DOA, separated from God. He possesses no good in him and no good or righteousness that will save him for he, by nature, hates the one who alone can save.

As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

13 Their throat [is] an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps [is] under their lips:
14 Whose mouth [is] full of cursing and bitterness:
15 Their feet [are] swift to shed blood:
16 Destruction and misery [are] in their ways:
17 And the way of peace have they not known:
18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.

Romans 8:5-8
For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. 6 For to be carnally minded [is] death; but to be spiritually minded [is] life and peace.
7 Because the carnal mind [is] enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. 8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

From whatever angle man is viewed, there is the absence of that which is well-pleasing to God. Considered more positively, all have turned aside from God's way and become corrupted. In Romans 8:5-7 Paul refers to the mind of the flesh, and flesh, when used ethically as here, means human nature directed and governed by sin (John 3:6). Further, according to Romans 8:7, "The mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God".

No stronger condemnatory judgment could be arrived at, for it means that the thinking of the natural man is conditioned and governed by enmity directed against God.

Nothing less than a judgment of total depravity is the clear implication of these passages, i.e. there is no area or aspect of human life which is innocent from the somber effects of man's fallenness, and hence no area which might serve as a possible ground for man's justification of himself in the face of God and
his law.

The point that Paul has made, and that I am making has to do with moral goodness before God, not man. The facts are that no matter what human goodness and virtue can be mustered by humanity, it cannot be a saving agent that God will accept because mankind is a sinner and cannot offer up a perfect work to God to save himself.

Having said all of that as a prelude into our study, having established the fact that mankind is spiritually separated from God and DOA, let’s go into the text and examine this point even more in Ephesians 2:1-3.

1 And you [hath he quickened], who were dead in trespasses and sins;

The word, "and you", take up the closing thought of the preceding chapter, which is, the magnitude of God's power towards believers as exhibited in Christ resurrection. He now shows that this same power is applied to his readers. The connection being, when He raised Him from the dead, and you hath He quickened, even as He quickened Christ. The word quickened means to make alive. I am going to wait until I get into verse 5 to delve into this issue of being made alive by God.

Verses 1-3 depict the condition of unbelievers before God transformed them.
Again, the purpose is to show the magnitude of the grace of God experienced by believers in redemption.

The condition described.

Unregenerate persons are dead in trespasses and sins. What kind of death is Paul speaking of in this verse? This death is spiritual, not physical, for unsaved people are very much alive physically.

The unsaved individual is spiritually destitute of a life that recognizes and is devoted to God, because it is given over to trespasses and sins. It is inactive as concerning the respects of doing right. This Death signifies a person who has no communication with God; he, or she, is separated from God. Who then is spiritually dead? Every single person walking, breathing and born from a womb, that's who.

It is a death that has to do with trespasses and sins. They are linked together. "Trespasses" and "sins" though slightly different in their root meanings, are basically synonymous.

• Trespasses: A deviation from truth and uprightness.
• Sins: To miss or wander from the path of uprightness and honor, to do or go wrong.

Both suggest deliberate acts against God and His righteousness and thus failure to live as one should. The plural of these two nouns signifies people’s repetitious involvement in sin and hence their state of unregeneration.

2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

The believer, before his or her conversion to Christianity, formerly walked as unbelievers do in the present. How did we walk? In the same trespasses and sins as all other unsaved individuals. We were like they are. Let's examine this word, walk, because in this context it is most interesting. The word, walk, means, to walk about, or later it came to mean, to regulate one's life or to order one's behavior. Now with that in mind, let's see how this walk is applied to the unsaved person.

"The unsaved order their behavior and regulate their lives within the sphere of trespasses and sins. All of their thoughts, words and deeds are ensphered by sin. Not one of their acts ever gets outside of this circle of sin. That is what is meant by total depravity. The tense in which this word, walked, is used looks at a thing or an action in a panoramic view. The whole life of the unsaved person is nothing but sin."

We have to keep in mind that before our salvation, this is how we walked too, and how the unsaved person, no matter who they are, lives now. Paul goes on to describe the walk ever further. It was according to the course of this world or age.

The course of this world: The way of the world, the fashion of this world, it's values, it's standards, it's thinking. It is, as John said in 1^st John 2:15-16:

1. The lust of the flesh:
The desires of bodily passions. Sexual immorality of all kinds. It is to satisfy all physical passions and desires.

2. The lust of the eyes:
Materialism. The desire for things and money that is spent on oneself and on one's own desires.

3. The pride of life:
Humanism. That which places mankind above the true and living God. Man becomes the measure and end of all things. God is never considered in fact, just rejected.

This is how we all use to live before we became Christians, and it is the life of every single person on the face of this Earth this moment without salvation from Jesus Christ. It is a lifestyle that is motivated by satan himself. The world's thought's, actions, opinions, values, and standards are all controlled by satan.

It could be described as people manifesting their state of spiritual deadness by living lives of enslavement to the world's standards of values, values which are man-centered and not God-centered. That no matter what time or what age we live in or in other ages past or of that which is to follow, the prevailing thought, opinions, feelings, movements, goals, aspirations, etc, will all be full of trespasses and sins, and will be man-centered, and against God. This is how we were when we were born, these character traits were in us as we grew older, and they will see us to the grave. They are irrevocable, unchanging, unalterable by the hands of man. Only God can rescue such a sinner from such a horrible fate.

But the power that works behind this course of this world and the spirit of this age, and the one who rules in the hearts of fallen mankind is none other than satan, himself, described as the prince of the power of the lower atmosphere, which means that his realm of power is on earth. His spirit, or disposition is at work in his children, characterized by disobedience.

Unsaved people are characteristically disobedient to God,
whereas believers, are characteristically obedient to God.

The quality and character of the father will be seen in the quality and the character of the child. Those whose Father is God will indeed bear His quality and character in their lives, and those whose father is the devil will indeed bear his character as well. The entire world's system is directed and orchestrated by satan himself and against God. His followers of children will be known by the same hatred, not dislike, hatred of God, His word, and His people.

7 Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.

The truth is, a person who lives righteously as a habit of his or her life is righteous, just as Christ is righteous, the one who redeemed the believer. Words are meaningless, actions are genuine proof. God's salvation always produces a child of His and His children live in His righteousness.

8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

Now here is the other obvious truth that John wants his readers to understand. Instead of those living in sin as a habit of their life being children of God, John said that they are in truth, children of the devil! The bible is absolutely clear on this issue. If you are living in sin as a habit of your life, and this includes these fake momentary appearances of repentance that are peppered throughout your religious deception, you are a child of the devil, not a child of God. You and I live our lives according to the source of what empowers us. If we are God's then we will have His life produced through us. If our father is the devil, his lust will be produced through us.

9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

The lifestyle reveals everything and John is right in stating these two clear opposites of behavior so as to tell us who is a child of God and a child of the devil. John said that whosoever has been born of God, does not practice sin as a habit of life, because God's seed of divine energy of the Holy Spirit is operating within the soul of the one who is regenerated, and he cannot live in sin because he has been born again. That new life that's implanted in the life of the believer, remains in him, and because of that, the believer cannot go on living in the same sinful practices of the former life.

Remember, the person who is born again is a NEW creation. The former things are GONE, the new has come.

10 In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.

John said, by this the children of God and of the devil are manifest, i.e. to be plainly recognized or known. John said that no matter what people are saying, this is the way you can know who is a child of God and a child of the devil. The first of 2 test is the test of righteousness or the test of right living or Godly living. Believers are living righteous lives because we have been declared righteous by salvation in Christ. The relationship that exist between the believer and the Godhead produces right living. Salvation is a supernatural transaction from God which makes the recipient a new creation. The second test that determines whether one is a child of God or a child of the devil is supernatural love towards another believer or not. The children of disobedience knows neither love for Christ nor love for believers, but hatred for both and I might add an active hatred. The affection in the life of believers is God's love that is a part of the evidence of one having been born again. If a person is truly a Christian, the Love of God is in us and it will be demonstrated among one another if it is there. If God's love is NOT there, it cannot be faked of duplicated since it is not human or earthly.

But someone may say, pastor, you have not proven to me that the children or the offspring of disobedience are unbelievers. The word, disobedience, that Paul uses here is used a total of 7 times in scripture. 3 times it is used to describe children of disobedience. In this verse, in chapter 5:6, and in Colossians 3:6. The other 4 times, it is translated, unbelief, and describes the characteristics of those who are unbelievers. The word speaks of those who are obstinate and opposition to the divine will of God.

Now remember, this is how we ALL lived before we experienced God's grace. We were as all unbeliever are now, lost, God hating, Christ rejecting, walking about in darkness, trespasses and sins, under the power of the devil, and living our lives to the course of this age or world.

Without Christ, all of mankind is alive physically, but as far as a relationship to God is concerned, they are dead. This is the life of every individual whether they are our family members or not. Whether they are the friends and acquaintances on our jobs or not. Whether they are in the church or not. Educated in the highest degree or not. Rich or poor, black or white or any color in between. Financially successful or not. Well known or not known at all. All without salvation are completely dead to all spiritual matters of God. Now this may not really affect you and I the way that it should, unless we understand that all the sinful, evil, violent, selfish, hateful, perverted, vile, heinous, murderous, Christ rejecting actions of mankind are all a result of this one great truth in verse 1. The world that we live in is dominated by sin. The reason why we see the world conditions as they are is because the world is in bondage to sin.

3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

Notice again that Paul makes it clear that this sinful lifestyle that is characteristic of all those who live their lives without God controlling it, is not the lifestyle of Christians. Look at this description and tell me this is not applicable to today's society: Conducting ourselves in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh (body) and of the mind (will) and were by nature the children of wrath just as the others. Before we became Christians, this is how we use to live, fulfilling every and any desire that our spiritually dead mind told us to do. We were destined to experience the wrath of God just as all others who die without Christ have and will experience.