The Bible calls us to faith in Jesus Christ. However, it also calls us to “do” things. That is, the Bible calls us to put God’s Word into practice. Jesus even says that only the man who “does” the Father’s “will” enters heaven (Matthew 7:21). It is the one who “does” God’s “will” who lives forever (1 John 2:17).
Of course, there was a time where even Christians did not do God’s will. We formerly walked in the ways of the world, as “sons of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:2), and “among them, we also all formerly lived in the desires of our flesh, doing the will of the flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children of wrath, like the rest” (Ephesians 2:3). (All translations in this article are the author’s.)
God calls us trust in the atoning sacrifice of Christ. And as an expression of such faith, we must turn from “doing the will” of the sinful mind (Ephesians 2:3) and instead “do the will” of the Father (Matthew 7:21). We do not do God’s will by our own efforts, but we do God’s will by His grace. He equips us “to do His will” (Hebrews 13:21) and makes us to “delight to do [His] will” (Psalm 40:8 [39:9, LXX, ποιῆσαι τὸ θέλημά]). God gives us a new heart and grants us faith that we may keep His law, albeit imperfectly. Faith is expressed in obedience and good works.
“Doing the Wills” (Ephesians 2:3 & Isaiah 58:13)
As I was reflecting on Ephesians 2:3, I noticed it literally says in Greek, “doing the wills of the flesh and the thoughts” (ποιοῦντες τὰ θελήματα τῆς σαρκὸς καὶ τῶν διανοιῶν). The word “wills” (thelemata) is plural, as is the word “thoughts/minds” (dianoion). Now the plural “wills” sounds odd, so most translations use the English “desires” and then keep “mind” singular (e.g., ESV, “the desires of the body and the mind”). (Ephesians 2:3 is the only plural use of διάνοια in the New Testament.)
However, the plural “wills” may be significant. While the plural matches the plurality “thoughts/mind” (διανοιῶν), the phrase “doing the wills” is a rare combination. The singular “doing the will” is used 10 other times in the New Testament and eight other times in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament). But the exact phrase with the plural (ποιέω + ὁ + plural θέλημα) is used only one other time outside Ephesians 2:3, and that is in the context of Sabbath-breaking:
If you turn your foot away from the Sabbaths, so as not to do your wills (ποιεῖν τὰ θελήματά) on the holy day, and you call the sabbaths delightful, holy to your God, not lift up your foot in work, nor speak a word in wrath from your mouth… (Isaiah 58:13 [LXX]).
Thus, God in Isaiah 58:13 was calling the Jews to turn from doing things their own own way—“doing their wills/desires” on the Sabbath—rather than keeping God’s command to keep the Sabbath day holy (Exodus 20:8). The Septuagint uses the language to not “do your wills” (ποιεῖν τὰ θελήματά) on the Sabbath, translating the Hebrew for “pleasure” (חֵפֶץ) in Isaiah 58:13 as “wills/desires” (θελήματά). So we must ask, is Paul alluding to Sabbath profanation in Ephesians 2:3? Is there any connection between Ephesians 2:3 and Isaiah 58:13?
Connections Between Isaiah 58:13 and Ephesians 2:3
To address whether there is a connection between Ephesians 2:3 and Isaiah 58:13, let us look at at Ephesians 2:1-3 for greater context:
1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked according to the age of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience, 3 among them we also all formerly lived in the desires of our flesh, doing the wills (ποιοῦντες τὰ θελήματα) of the flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children of wrath, like the rest.
As noted above, the phrase with “doing the wills” in the plural is only used in Isaiah 58:13. Maybe this is just a coincidence. Claiming something in the New Testament is an “allusion” is often hard to substantiate. And it is often hard to prove a New Testament author is intentionally referring to or using language from an Old Testament passage.
However, there are two other linguistic connections between Ephesians 2:3 and Isaiah 58:13. First, the word “wrath” is used in both passages—“children of wrath [ὀργῆς]” (Ephesians 2:3), and “a word in wrath [ὀργῇ] from your mouth” (Isaiah 58:13, LXX). Second, there are two verbs in these passages using the same root word (strepho)—“lived in/returned to” (ἀναστρέφω) fleshly desires (Ephesians 2:3) and “turn from” (ἀποστρέφω) doing your will (Isaiah 58:13, LXX).
Now this could just be three coincidences of similar language between Ephesians 2:3 and the Greek of Isaiah 58:13—“doing the wills,” “wrath,” and “[re]turning.” However, there is also a theological connection between the two verses. This is seen in that Isaiah 58:13 is God’s indictment of Israel for doing their “pleasure” (Hebrew MT) or their own “will” (Greek LXX) on the Sabbath. The Sabbath was the sign of the Mosaic covenant (Exodus 31:17), so Sabbath-breaking was a sign of breaking God’s covenant in the Old Testament. The corporate breaking of the Sabbath would be a sign that Israel had apostatized from YHWH. This means an appeal to Isaiah 58:13 would be an appeal to Jewish covenant-breaking—and this fits the context of Ephesians 2:3.
Jews and Gentiles as “Sons of Disobedience” (Ephesians 2:3)
Looking at Ephesians 2, Paul says the “Gentiles” were “strangers” to the covenants (Ephesians 2:11-12). However, earlier in 2:3, he says “we also all ” formerly lived in sin. The words “also/too” and “all” would seem to include Paul (a Jew) and all Jews along with Gentiles. Paul also uses the phrase “like the rest” in Ephesians 2:3, a reference to the Gentiles, implying that even the Jews were like the rest of mankind. Some commentators recognize Paul includes Jews in this language, including Peter T. O’Brien, who summarizes the meaning as—“We Jews too… had followed a lifestyle that was in conformity with ‘the desires of the flesh’” (O’Brien, The Letter to the Ephesians, Pillar, 161).
So Paul in Ephesians 2:3 means Jews like himself—along with Gentiles—were “sons of disobedience” and “children of wrath” (Ephesians 2:2-3). Now how could this be? How could the Jews be lumped in together with the Gentiles? Because Jews were born in sin (“by nature”), just as the Gentiles were. Thus, “Paul and his fellow Jews were deserving of and liable to wrath just as much as Gentiles were” (O’Brien, The Letter to the Ephesians, 162).
However, we can add an additional point as to how the Jews were “sons of disobedience.” While the Gentiles were under God’s wrath as those outside the covenant, the Jews were under God’s wrath as those inside the covenant who broke it. To break the covenant brings covenant judgment (Deuteronomy 28). And one of the primary things tied with covenant breaking in the Old Testament was national Sabbath breaking, as God exiled Israel from the land to give it the rest Israel did not give (Leviticus 26:34-35). This description is explained by the background of Israel’s covenant-breaking. Israel’s Sabbath-breaking was a sign they were doing their “will” rather than the Lord’s (Isaiah 58:13).
We must acknowledge the allusion in Ephesians 2:3 to Isaiah 58:13 is not certain, as is often the case with allusions. However, the phrase “doing the wills” is only used in these two passages, and along with other linguistic similarities between the two verses, the theological point fits the context of Ephesians 2:3. Both Jews and Gentiles “formerly lived in the desires of [their] flesh, doing the wills of the flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children of wrath.” The Gentiles followed their corrupt wills, and the Jews followed their wills instead of God’s, exemplified by Sabbath-breaking. Both Jews and Gentiles were “sons of disobedience,” in rebellion against God. And thus both needed God’s mercy found only in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:4-5).