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Ephesians 2
New International Version
Ephesians 2
New International Version
Made Alive in Christ
2 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,(A) 2 in which you used to live(B) when you followed the ways of this world(C) and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air,(D) the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.(E) 3 All of us also lived among them at one time,(F) gratifying the cravings of our flesh[a](G) and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us,(H) God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions(I)—it is by grace you have been saved.(J) 6 And God raised us up with Christ(K) and seated us with him(L) in the heavenly realms(M) in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace,(N) expressed in his kindness(O) to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace(P) you have been saved,(Q) through faith(R)—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works,(S) so that no one can boast.(T) 10 For we are God’s handiwork,(U) created(V) in Christ Jesus to do good works,(W) which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Jew and Gentile Reconciled Through Christ
11 Therefore, remember that formerly(X) you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)(Y)— 12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners(Z) to the covenants of the promise,(AA) without hope(AB) and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once(AC) were far away have been brought near(AD) by the blood of Christ.(AE)
14 For he himself is our peace,(AF) who has made the two groups one(AG) and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by setting aside in his flesh(AH) the law with its commands and regulations.(AI) His purpose was to create in himself one(AJ) new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross,(AK) by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace(AL) to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.(AM) 18 For through him we both have access(AN) to the Father(AO) by one Spirit.(AP)
19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers,(AQ) but fellow citizens(AR) with God’s people and also members of his household,(AS) 20 built(AT) on the foundation(AU) of the apostles and prophets,(AV) with Christ Jesus himself(AW) as the chief cornerstone.(AX) 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple(AY) in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.(AZ)
Footnotes
- Ephesians 2:3 In contexts like this, the Greek word for flesh (sarx) refers to the sinful state of human beings, often presented as a power in opposition to the Spirit.
Ephesians 2
The Message
Ephesians 2
The Message
He Tore Down the Wall
2 1-6 It wasn’t so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn’t know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It’s a wonder God didn’t lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah.
7-10 Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.
11-13 But don’t take any of this for granted. It was only yesterday that you outsiders to God’s ways had no idea of any of this, didn’t know the first thing about the way God works, hadn’t the faintest idea of Christ. You knew nothing of that rich history of God’s covenants and promises in Israel, hadn’t a clue about what God was doing in the world at large. Now because of Christ—dying that death, shedding that blood—you who were once out of it altogether are in on everything.
14-15 The Messiah has made things up between us so that we’re now together on this, both non-Jewish outsiders and Jewish insiders. He tore down the wall we used to keep each other at a distance. He repealed the law code that had become so clogged with fine print and footnotes that it hindered more than it helped. Then he started over. Instead of continuing with two groups of people separated by centuries of animosity and suspicion, he created a new kind of human being, a fresh start for everybody.
16-18 Christ brought us together through his death on the cross. The Cross got us to embrace, and that was the end of the hostility. Christ came and preached peace to you outsiders and peace to us insiders. He treated us as equals, and so made us equals. Through him we both share the same Spirit and have equal access to the Father.
19-22 That’s plain enough, isn’t it? You’re no longer wandering exiles. This kingdom of faith is now your home country. You’re no longer strangers or outsiders. You belong here, with as much right to the name Christian as anyone. God is building a home. He’s using us all—irrespective of how we got here—in what he is building. He used the apostles and prophets for the foundation. Now he’s using you, fitting you in brick by brick, stone by stone, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone that holds all the parts together. We see it taking shape day after day—a holy temple built by God, all of us built into it, a temple in which God is quite at home.
Ephesians 2
Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition
Ephesians 2
Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition
2 And you, when you were dead in your offences, and sins,
2 Wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of this air, of the spirit that now worketh on the children of unbelief:
3 In which also we all conversed in time past, in the desires of our flesh, fulfilling the will of the flesh and of our thoughts, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest:
4 But God, (who is rich in mercy,) for his exceeding charity wherewith he loved us,
5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together in Christ, (by whose grace you are saved,)
6 And hath raised us up together, and hath made us sit together in the heavenly places, through Christ Jesus.
7 That he might shew in the ages to come the abundant riches of his grace, in his bounty towards us in Christ Jesus.
8 For by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, for it is the gift of God;
9 Not of works, that no man may glory.
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus in good works, which God hath prepared that we should walk in them.
11 For which cause be mindful that you, being heretofore Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by that which is called circumcision in the flesh, made by hands;
12 That you were at that time without Christ, being aliens from the conversation of Israel, and strangers to the testament, having no hope of the promise, and without God in this world.
13 But now in Christ Jesus, you, who some time were afar off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
14 For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and breaking down the middle wall of partition, the enmities in his flesh:
15 Making void the law of commandments contained in decrees; that he might make the two in himself into one new man, making peace;
16 And might reconcile both to God in one body by the cross, killing the enmities in himself.
17 And coming, he preached peace to you that were afar off, and peace to them that were nigh.
18 For by him we have access both in one Spirit to the Father.
19 Now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners; but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and the domestics of God,
20 Built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone:
21 In whom all the building, being framed together, groweth up into an holy temple in the Lord.
22 In whom you also are built together into an habitation of God in the Spirit.
Ephesians 2
Expanded Bible
Ephesians 2
Expanded Bible
We Now Have Life
2 In the past you were ·spiritually dead [L dead] ·because of [or in] your sins and ·the things you did against God [transgressions]. 2 Yes, in the past you ·lived [walked] ·the way the world lives [L according to the course/ways/age of this world], following the ruler [C Satan] of the ·evil powers that are above the earth [L dominion/authority of the air; C probably demonic forces]. That same spirit is now working in ·those who refuse to obey God [L the children/sons of disobedience]. 3 In the past all of us lived ·like [or among] them, ·trying to please [or giving in to the cravings of] our ·sinful selves [sinful nature; flesh] and doing all the things our ·bodies [flesh] and minds wanted. We ·should have suffered God’s anger because we were sinful by nature [L were by nature children/sons of wrath]. ·We were the same as all other people [L …just like the rest; C of mankind].
4 But ·God’s mercy is great [L God is rich in mercy], and he loved us very much. 5 Though we were spiritually dead because of ·the things we did against God [our transgressions], he ·gave us new life [brought us to life] with Christ. You have been saved by God’s grace. 6 And he raised us up with Christ and gave us a seat with him in the ·heavens [heavenly places/realms]. He did this for those in Christ Jesus 7 so that ·for all future time [L in the ages to come] he could show the ·very great [exceeding; overwhelming] riches of his grace by being kind to us in Christ Jesus. 8 ·I mean that [or For; Because] you have been saved by grace through ·believing [faith]. You did not save yourselves; it was a gift from God. 9 It was not the result of ·your own efforts [works], so ·you cannot [no one can] ·brag about it [boast]. 10 ·God has made us what we are [L For we are his handiwork/workmanship/work of art]. In Christ Jesus, God ·made [created] us to do good works, which God planned in advance for us to live our lives doing.
One in Christ
11 [L Therefore] Remember that you ·were born as Gentiles [are Gentiles in the flesh], the ones called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “circumcised.” (·Their circumcision is only something they themselves do on their bodies […L performed in the flesh by hands].) 12 Remember that ·in the past [at that time/season] you were without ·Christ [the Messiah]. You were ·not citizens [L excluded from the citizenship] of Israel, and you ·had no part in [L were aliens/strangers to] the ·agreements with the promise that God made to his people [L covenants of promise; C the Abrahamic (Gen. 12:1–3), Mosaic (Ex. 19—24), and Davidic (2 Sam. 7) covenants.] You had no hope, and you did not know God. 13 But now in Christ Jesus, you who were far away from God are brought near through the blood of ·Christ’s death [L Christ; C blood symbolizing his sacrificial death]. 14 Christ himself is our peace. He made ·both Jews and Gentiles one people [L both one], and broke down the wall of ·hate [hostility; enmity] that divided them [C the wall beyond which Gentiles could not pass in the Jerusalem temple, or the law of Moses that distinguished Jew from Gentile (see v. 15)] ·by giving his own body [L in his flesh; C this phrase may go with the following sentence]. 15 He did this by ·ending [setting aside; nullifying] the law of commands and rules ·by giving his own body [L in his flesh; C this phrase may go with the previous sentence]. His purpose was to make the two groups of people become one new ·people [humanity; person; man] in him and in this way make peace. 16 It was also Christ’s purpose to ·end [L put to death; kill] the ·hatred [hostility; enmity] between the two groups, to make them into one body, and to ·bring them back [reconcile them] to God. ·Christ did all this with his death on the cross [L …through the cross]. 17 Christ came and ·preached [proclaimed the Good News of] peace [Is. 52:7] to you who were ·far away from God [L far away/off], and to those who were ·near to God [L near; Is. 57:19]. 18 ·Yes, it is [For; or So that] through Christ we all have ·the right to come [free access] to the Father ·in [by] one Spirit.
19 Now you Gentiles are not foreigners or strangers any longer, but are citizens together with ·God’s holy people [T the saints]. You belong to God’s ·family [household]. 20 ·You are like a building that was built […having been built] on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Christ Jesus himself is the ·most important stone [cornerstone; or capstone; Is. 28:16; 1 Cor. 3:11] in that building, 21 and that whole building is joined together in Christ. He makes it grow and become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in Christ you, too, are being ·built together with the Jews [L built together] into a place where God lives through the Spirit.
New International Version (NIV) 
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NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.
The Message (MSG)
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA)
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Expanded Bible (EXB)
The Expanded Bible, Copyright © 2011 Thomas Nelson Inc. All rights reserved.