Ephesians 2:12
Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
The one time the word atheist is used in the New Testament is here in this verse. It is translated here as "without God," and it is from the greek word "atheoi." An interesting thing about this verse is how Paul couples it with hopelessness. And not eternal hopelessness, but earthly hopelessness. You would think the connection would be: those without God have no hope in death. They have nothing but darkness awaiting them by their own admission. But Paul here says that they are without hope in the world. Their lives and livelihoods are hopeless. This is who all of us who are now Christians once were. We were without promise, without hope and without God in this world.
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