Ephesians 2

From Death to Life

1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins
2 in which you previously walked according to this worldly age, according to the ruler of the atmospheric domain,[a] the spirit now working in the disobedient.[b]
3 We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and by nature we were children under wrath, as the others were also.
4 But God, who is abundant in mercy, because of His great love that He had for us,[c]
5 made us alive with the Messiah even though we were dead in trespasses. By grace you are saved!
6 He also raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavens,[d] in Christ Jesus,
7 so that in the coming ages He might display the immeasurable riches of His grace in [His] kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
8 For by grace[e] you are saved through faith,[f] and this is not from yourselves; it is God's gift-
9 not from works, so that no one can boast.
10 For we are His creation-created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them.

Unity in Christ

11 So then, remember that at one time you were Gentiles in the flesh-called "the uncircumcised" by those called "the circumcised," done by hand in the flesh.
12 At that time you were without the Messiah, excluded from the citizenship of Israel, and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, with no hope and without God in the world.
13 But now in Christ Jesus, you who were far away have been brought near by the blood of the Messiah.
14 For He is our peace, who made both groups one and tore down the dividing wall of hostility. In His flesh,
15 He did away with the law of the commandments in regulations, so that He might create in Himself one new man from the two, resulting in peace.
16 [He did this so] that He might reconcile both to God in one body through the cross and put the hostility to death by it.[g]
17 When [Christ] came, He proclaimed the good news of peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.
18 For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.
19 So then you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God's household,
20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone.
21 The whole building is being fitted together in Him and is growing into a holy sanctuary in the Lord,
22 in whom you also are being built together for God's dwelling in the Spirit.

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Footnotes 7

  • [a]. Lit ruler of the authority of the air
  • [b]. Lit sons of disobedience
  • [c]. Lit love with which He loved us
  • [d]. Eph 1:3,20; 3:10; 6:12
  • [e]. Rm 3:24; 6:14; 11:6; Gl 2:21; 2 Tm 1:9
  • [f]. Rm 3:28; 5:1
  • [g]. Or death in Himself

Ephesians 2 Commentaries

Holman Christian Standard Bible ® Copyright © 2003, 2002, 2000, 1999 by Holman Bible Publishers.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.