ACC ~ Ephesians 2 v3a

THE IDOLATRY-PRONE PLEASURES OF THE FLESH. AMBROSIASTER: He is speaking of a great deception when he brings to mind the “passions of the flesh.” For the pleasure of the flesh means being delighted by the visible, so that it gives the name of gods to the elements that God appointed as his means of ordering the world. But this name [God] belongs rightly to the one and only God, from whom everything derives. … If anyone imagines that the “passions of the flesh” mean anything else, let him reflect on how the apostle led a pure life. He lived without blemish according to the righteousness of the law. But because he had persecuted the church he includes himself in the “we”—“we lived in the passions of our flesh.” For every sin, according to Paul, has something to do with the deception associated with living according to the flesh, which is the mother of all corruption. EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS 2.3.1-3.

PAUL INCLUDES HIMSELF. CHRYSOSTOM: Paul encourages them by including himself with them. “Among these,” he says, “we all once lived.” All are included. It is not possible to say that anyone is exempted. HOMILY ON EPHESIANS 2.3.

THE SINS IN WHICH WE ALL ONCE LIVED. JEROME: So that he would not appear to have exempted himself through pride when he said “your sins in which you walked,” he now adds “in which we also lived.” However, the one who says he has lived confesses past, not present, transgressions. EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS 1.2.1 SEQ.

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