Ephesians · Chapter 2
Ephesians 2
Berean Standard Bible · Public domain · Source credits
Alive with Christ
(Colossians 2:6–23)
1And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
2in which you used to walk when you conformed to the ways of this world and of the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit who is now at work in the sons of disobedience.
3All of us also lived among them at one time, fulfilling the cravings of our flesh and indulging its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature children of wrath.
4But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,
5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our trespasses. It is by grace you have been saved!
6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,
7in order that in the coming ages He might display the surpassing riches of His grace, demonstrated by His kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
8For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God,
9not by works, so that no one can boast.
10For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life.*
One in Christ
(Philippians 2:1–4)
11Therefore remember that formerly you who are Gentiles in the flesh and called uncircumcised by the so-called circumcision (that done in the body by human hands)—
12remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.
13But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.
14For He Himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has torn down the dividing wall of hostility
15by abolishing in His flesh the law of commandments and decrees. He did this to create in Himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace
16and reconciling both of them to God in one body through the cross, by which He extinguished their hostility.
17He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.
18For through Him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
Christ Our Cornerstone
(Isaiah 28:14–22; 1 Corinthians 3:10–15; 1 Peter 2:1–8)
19Therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household,
20built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone.
21In Him the whole building is fitted together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord.
22And in Him you too are being built together into a dwelling place for God in His Spirit.
Source notes
- 2:10 Literally which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Old Testament references
References from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. Text from the Berean Standard Bible.
Job 31:7If my steps have turned from the path, if my heart has followed my eyes, or if impurity has stuck to my hands,
Psalms 17:14from such men, O LORD, by Your hand— from men of the world whose portion is in this life. May You fill the bellies of Your treasured ones and satisfy their sons, so they leave their abundance to their children.
Jeremiah 23:10For the land is full of adulterers— because of the curse, the land mourns and the pastures of the wilderness have dried up— their course is evil and their power is misused.
Job 1:7“Where have you come from?” said the LORD to Satan. “From roaming through the earth,” he replied, “and walking back and forth in it.”
Job 1:16While he was still speaking, another messenger came and reported: “The fire of God fell from heaven. It burned and consumed the sheep and the servants, and I alone have escaped to tell you!”
Job 1:19when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on the young people and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you!”
Isaiah 30:1“Woe to the rebellious children,” declares the LORD, “to those who carry out a plan that is not Mine, who form an alliance, but against My will, heaping up sin upon sin.
Isaiah 57:4Whom are you mocking? At whom do you snarl and stick out your tongue? Are you not children of transgression, offspring of deceit,
Hosea 10:9Since the days of Gibeah you have sinned, O Israel, and there you have remained. Did not the battle in Gibeah overtake the sons of iniquity?
Isaiah 53:6We all like sheep have gone astray, each one has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all.
Isaiah 64:6Each of us has become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind.
Isaiah 64:7No one calls on Your name or strives to take hold of You. For You have hidden Your face from us and delivered us into the hand of our iniquity.