The pagans’ basic problem is that they do not know the true God

For those of us who have grown up thinking that the ancient world was a marvelous place that produced wonders like the Great Pyramids and the hanging gardens of Babylon, Paul’s words to the believers in Ephesus remind us that there was another, darker side to the story.

In the second chapter of his letter, Paul paints another perspective of life in the pagan world that served as a reminder that they had lost nothing in becoming Christians. Whatever they were in their past life – cultured, intelligent, or artistic – he says that they were nevertheless separate from Christ and devoid of the life of God. No matter how impressive pagan life may be – and pagans are capable of amazing feats – they nevertheless are cut off from Christ and remain slaves to their passions and under the power of the evil one.

The pagans’ basic problem is that they do not know the true God. Instead, they see themselves as the playthings of the gods who are as two-faced and undependable as men. Pagans never knew a God of love, nor did they think of themselves as loving God. They reached out to their deities, but never felt that their gods loved them in return. Their gods certainly never made any promises to them like the God of the Bible, nor did they show them any favours. This explains why many Roman philosophers felt that existence was meaningless and that God was dead.

We see this sense of despair and hopelessness reflected in Pilate’s approach to Jesus. At Jesus’ trial, he asked Him, with more than a hint of cynicism, “What is truth?” Although Pilate was an educated Roman, he had obviously given up any hope of discovering spiritual reality. Again, Sergius Paulus, the proconsul on the island of Cyprus, was also aware of the hopelessness that lay at the heart of the Roman way of life. This explains why he was so keen to talk to Paul and Barnabas about the Christian faith.

When Paul says that the Gentiles were “without hope and without God” he put his finger on the religious problem of the ancient world. Pagans didn’t believe in a God of grace who lovingly made man in His own image. Instead, they were filled with deep foreboding and had no appreciation of the value of human life. This explains why suicide was so popular in ancient Rome and why Seneca, the Stoic philosopher, recommended it. It also explains the comments by the Alexandrian bishop, Dionysius, about how pagans often treated their sick: “At the first onset of disease, they push the sufferers away and flee from their dearest, throwing them into the roads before they were dead and treating unburied corpses as dirt.”

Paul was painting a graphic picture of pagan life. False religion always leaves us “without hope and without God”.

“Remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth…were separate from Christ…without hope and without God in the world.” (Ephesians 2:12)
For those of us who have grown up thinking that the ancient world was a marvelous place that produced wonders like the Great Pyramids and the hanging gardens of Babylon, Paul’s words to the believers in Ephesus remind us that there was another, darker side to the story.

In the second chapter of his letter, Paul paints another perspective of life in the pagan world that served as a reminder that they had lost nothing in becoming Christians. Whatever they were in their past life – cultured, intelligent, or artistic – he says that they were nevertheless separate from Christ and devoid of the life of God. No matter how impressive pagan life may be – and pagans are capable of amazing feats – they nevertheless are cut off from Christ and remain slaves to their passions and under the power of the evil one.

The pagans’ basic problem is that they do not know the true God. Instead, they see themselves as the playthings of the gods who are as two-faced and undependable as men. Pagans never knew a God of love, nor did they think of themselves as loving God. They reached out to their deities, but never felt that their gods loved them in return. Their gods certainly never made any promises to them like the God of the Bible, nor did they show them any favours. This explains why many Roman philosophers felt that existence was meaningless and that God was dead.

We see this sense of despair and hopelessness reflected in Pilate’s approach to Jesus. At Jesus’ trial, he asked Him, with more than a hint of cynicism, “What is truth?” Although Pilate was an educated Roman, he had obviously given up any hope of discovering spiritual reality. Again, Sergius Paulus, the proconsul on the island of Cyprus, was also aware of the hopelessness that lay at the heart of the Roman way of life. This explains why he was so keen to talk to Paul and Barnabas about the Christian faith.

When Paul says that the Gentiles were “without hope and without God” he put his finger on the religious problem of the ancient world. Pagans didn’t believe in a God of grace who lovingly made man in His own image. Instead, they were filled with deep foreboding and had no appreciation of the value of human life. This explains why suicide was so popular in ancient Rome and why Seneca, the Stoic philosopher, recommended it. It also explains the comments by the Alexandrian bishop, Dionysius, about how pagans often treated their sick: “At the first onset of disease, they push the sufferers away and flee from their dearest, throwing them into the roads before they were dead and treating unburied corpses as dirt.”

Paul was painting a graphic picture of pagan life. False religion always leaves us “without hope and without God”.