Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Eph 2, 1-3 All of us once lived in the desires of our flesh

Ephesians 2
(Eph 2, 1-3) All of us once lived in the desires of our flesh
[1] You were dead in your transgressions and sins [2] in which you once lived following the age of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the disobedient. [3] All of us once lived among them in the desires of our flesh, following the wishes of the flesh and the impulses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like the rest.
(CCC 2515) Etymologically, "concupiscence" can refer to any intense form of human desire. Christian theology has given it a particular meaning: the movement of the sensitive appetite contrary to the operation of the human reason. The apostle St. Paul identifies it with the rebellion of the "flesh" against the "spirit" (Cf. Gal 5:16, 17, 24; Eph 2:3). Concupiscence stems from the disobedience of the first sin. It unsettles man's moral faculties and, without being in itself an offense, inclines man to commit sins (Cf. Gen 3:11; Council of Trent: DS 1515).

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