85: Spiritual Zombies? What Calvinism Gets Wrong in Ephesians 2:1

Some people read Ephesians 2:1 and imagine spiritual zombies. Paul never used that idea. In this episode, we explore what Paul meant when he called sinners “dead.” We look at the language of his world and the metaphors he used. We show why the Calvinist idea of total inability does not fit Paul’s argument. Paul pictured real people on a dangerous path, not lifeless bodies with no power to respond. You will see how his message brings clarity, urgency, and hope. This episode will help you read Paul’s words with fresh eyes and deeper confidence.

Read: https://ready4eternity.com/spiritual-zombies-what-calvinism-gets-wrong-in-ephesians-21/

Article exploring the idea of "spiritual death:" https://ready4eternity.com/dying-you-shall-die/

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
I'm Eddie Lawrence and this is the Ready
for Eternity podcast, a podcast and blog
exploring biblical truths
for inquisitive Bible students.
Is Ephesians chapter 2 verse 1 talking
about spiritual zombies?

(00:22):
Paul opens Ephesians 2
with a strong statement.
You were dead in your
trespasses and sins.
Some readers jump straight to
the idea of spiritual death.
I am of the opinion that the concept of
spiritual death is not found in the
scriptures and I explore this in one of

(00:44):
my blog articles which I'll
link to in the episode notes.
Regardless, Calvinists build an entire
doctrine of total
inability on this verse.
By total inability, they mean that people
are so corrupted by sin that they cannot,

(01:04):
they are unable to believe in God,
repent, or respond to the gospel unless
God first gives them new spiritual life.
So they are totally unable to choose to
follow God on their own.
God must first give them
the ability to turn to Him.

(01:25):
But Paul was not talking about spiritual
zombies who can't respond to God.
He was doing something far more grounded
in the language and imagery of his world.
Let's slow down and
follow Paul's flow of thought.
What did Paul mean by dead in this verse?

(01:46):
Paul connects this death with their walk
before they came to Christ in verse 2.
They walked according to
the course of this world.
They followed the ruler
of the power of the air.
Their path led toward destruction.
Paul speaks about their future fate as if

(02:06):
it already stood present before them.
Ernest Best describes this as a realized
picture of their end.
He said, "The idea is probably best
explained as a realized eschatological
conception of their death."
That's a fancy way of saying that Paul
describes the final reality of death and

(02:28):
judgment as if it were already true for
those walking in sin, seeing their future
fate in the present.
Paul uses the language of death because
their destination was the second death.
They were alive, yet marked for judgment.

(02:49):
We still speak this way today.
Some people call a condemned man on death
row a dead man walking.
Paul uses the same kind of figurative
language in Ephesians 2.1.
It's important that we understand how the
Jews and Gentiles of
Paul's day use this language.

(03:10):
Some people assume that Paul taught a new
concept when he said that
people were "dead in sins."
The evidence says otherwise.
Both Jewish and Greek writers use "dead"
as a metaphor or a figure of speech for
people who lived in
ignorance or rebellion.
Frank Thielmann points out that Greek

(03:32):
writers used "dead" this way.
Epictetus called
morally blind students dead.
Jesus did the same thing when he said,
"Let the dead bury their
own dead" in Luke 9.60.
The metaphor was used everywhere.

(03:53):
Best notes the same thing from later
Jewish rabbinical writings.
Paul said that rabbis spoke of the wicked
who even in their
lifetime are called dead.
To put it simply, Paul used
a common figure of speech.
His readers wouldn't
think of spiritual corpses.

(04:14):
They would think of people who lived in
rebellion and faced
judgment unless they turned to God.
Why does the
Calvinist interpretation fail?
Some builds an argument upon an
accumulation of assumptions.
It assumes the word "dead" means
spiritually dead, then assumes that

(04:37):
spiritual death means total inability,
and then assumes that total inability
means the sinner cannot believe unless
God gives faith to him first.
But none of these ideas appear in Paul's
argument or anywhere else in the Bible.
A literal reading of Ephesians 2.1
creates major problems.

(04:59):
If dead means spiritual zombies who are
unable to respond, then logic demands
they also can't sin, can't walk, can't
follow Satan, and can't
carry out their desires.
Yet Paul says they did all these things
before they turned to Christ.

(05:20):
Paul describes people walking a path
toward judgment, not
powerless spiritual zombies.
Jesus and the apostles used many images
to describe the lost, and none of them
support the Calvinist
claim of total inability.
What is some of the imagery that other
scriptures apply to the lost?

(05:43):
Second Corinthians 4, verses
3 and 4 says they are blind.
Romans 6, 17 says they are slaves to sin.
Mark 2, verse 17 says they are sick.
Luke 15 talks about them being lost.
Now Calvinists might object and say,
"Don't these metaphors prove our point?"

(06:06):
The blind cannot see, and slaves cannot
free themselves, and the sick cannot heal
themselves without outside help.
Well, these are true statements, but
notice what their objection assumes.
These metaphors don't describe spiritual
zombies, corpses with

(06:27):
zero capacity to respond.
It assumes these metaphors describe what
people cannot do on their own, not what
they cannot do at all.
A blind person cannot restore their own
sight, but they can certainly hear a
doctor's voice and
respond to an offer of healing.

(06:47):
A slave cannot break their own chains,
but they can accept
freedom when it is offered.
A sick person cannot cure themselves, but
they can seek out a physician.
In every case, scriptures show these
people are able to respond to help.
These are metaphors depicting real people

(07:08):
who live, choose, desire, rebel, and they
can respond when they hear the gospel.
The metaphors describe people who need
help, but who remain able to recognize
their need, hear an offer
of rescue, and respond to it.
That's exactly what we
see throughout scripture.

(07:28):
God calls, offers, invites, and pleads
with sinners to respond.
None of this makes sense if people are
wholly unable to respond
until God first regenerates them.
The problem is not their inability.
The problem in Ephesians
2.1 is their direction.

(07:50):
They're not spiritual zombies.
They're living people on the wrong path.
So what was Paul's point?
Paul's point is sharp and simple.
You once lived as
someone marked for death.
Now you live in Christ.
You once walked toward destruction.
Now you walk in good works.

(08:12):
You once served the ruler
of the power of the air.
Now you belong to Jesus.
Paul isn't giving a lecture on human
nature or constructing
a theological system.
He's explaining the difference between
two realms, two paths, and two outcomes.
He wants believers to feel gratitude and

(08:34):
understand what God rescued them from.
So the takeaway is this.
Paul's words lead us
to hope, not despair.
If Paul meant spiritually dead, then
unbelievers have no real responsibility
and no real accountability to God.

(08:54):
Why?
Because a dead person, a true corpse, has
no moral responsibility and no
accountability at all.
It would be as absurd as holding a rock
or a table accountable for wrongdoing.

(09:14):
But if Paul meant headed for death, then
his words carry urgency,
clarity, and compassion.
People walk the wrong path, but they can
turn when they hear the gospel.
God's grace does not
reanimate spiritual zombies.

(09:35):
It calls real, living people to leave the
path that leads to death
and receive life in Christ.
And that fits the heart of
the entire New Testament.