in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—

Paul says that we once walked in this way. Again he’s speaking about the past. When we trust in Christ and believe on Him, this life pattern becomes our past pattern. But it’s important to realize what that condition was like, because for those of us who were saved early in our lives, we tend to become smug and judgmental toward those we consider to be worse sinners than we are.

So, what was our walk like? It was according to the course of this world. The word for course is age or eon. We lived the way the world has always lived. There is a course or pattern to the way human beings have lived since the fall, and we ourselves also were like that.

We followed the prince of the power of the air. Who is that? The spirit that now is at work in the sons of disobedience. He, of course, is referring to Satan or the devil. We followed his leadership in the way we ordered our lives.

This spirit is even now at work in the sons of disobedience. That is who we used to follow, but no more! Having been saved and rescued out of Satan’s grasp, we no longer follow him.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 10:43 AM October 22, 2020.