Ephesians 2:3

All of us also lived among them at one time, fulfilling the cravings of our flesh and indulging its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature children of wrath.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Paul writes to Gentile believers in Ephesus, shifting from "you" (v. 2) to "we" (v. 3) to place himself in the same former condition. The verse sits at the hinge between their past under fleshly desire and God's mercy in v. 4.

The words — ἀνεστράφημεν (anestraphēmen), "lived," carries the sense of being turned or oriented in a direction — here, oriented toward fleshly cravings. The verb implies a settled course, not a single lapse.

The thread — Titus 3:3 echoes the same "at one time" language of enslavement to desires and pleasures; Ephesians 4:22 names the "old self" as corrupted by deceitful desires; Galatians 5:16 sets walking by the Spirit against gratifying the flesh.

Why it lands — Paul includes himself in the "we," so the former state is not a distant theological category but a shared human reality. The reader is asked to stop minimizing their own past and to receive the mercy of v. 4 as unearned.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Greek words

King James Version

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.

Cross-references

Titus 3:3 For at one time we too were foolish, disobedient, misled, and enslaved to all sorts of desires and pleasures—living in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.
Galatians 5:16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
Ephesians 4:22 to put off your former way of life, your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;
1 Peter 1:14 As obedient children, do not conform to the passions of your former ignorance.
Romans 13:14 Instead, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the desires of the flesh.
Psalms 51:5 Surely I was brought forth in iniquity; I was sinful when my mother conceived me.
Romans 6:12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its desires.
1 Corinthians 6:9 Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who submit to or perform homosexual acts,
Romans 8:7 because the mind of the flesh is hostile to God: It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.
Ephesians 2:2 in which you used to walk when you conformed to the ways of this world and of the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit who is now at work in the sons of disobedience.