In Ephesians 2:1, no one takes Paul’s description of the Ephesians as having been “dead” literally. That would have meant they were previously corpses. Instead, different sides have taken different approaches. The verse, short and sweet, tells us the following about Paul’s readers (and Christians in general, by extension):
And you were dead in your offenses and sins.
There are three main interpretations of this view that seek to make sense of this death language. The third, as will be broken down shortly below, is our focus today.