1 At one time you were dead in your sins and evil actions, 2 living your lives according to the ways of the world, under the control of the devil, whose spirit is at work in those who disobey God. 3 All of us were once like that, our behavior determined by the desires of our sinful human nature and our evil way of thinking. Like everyone else, in our nature we were children of anger. 4 But God in his generous mercy, because of the amazing love he had for us 5 even while we were dead in our sins, has made us alive together with Christ. Trusting in him has saved you! 6 He raised us up with Christ, and in Christ Jesus seated us with him in heaven, 7 so that in all eternity to come he could demonstrate the amazing extent of his grace in showing us kindness through Christ Jesus. 8 For you've been saved by grace through trusting in him—it's not through yourselves, it's the gift of God! 9 This has nothing to do with human effort, so don't be proud of yourselves. 10 We're the product of what God does, created in Christ Jesus to do good, which God already planned that we should do. 11 So you who are “foreigners” humanly-speaking, called “uncircumcised” by those who are “circumcised” (which is only a procedure carried out by human beings), you need to remember 12 that once you had no relationship to Christ. You were barred as foreigners from being citizens of Israel, strangers to the agreement God had promised. You had no hope and you lived in the world without God. 13 But now, in Christ Jesus, you who were once a long way off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 Christ is our peace. Through his body he made the two into one, and broke down the separating wall of hostility that divided us, 15 freeing us from the law with its requirements and regulations. He did this so he could create in himself one new person out of the two and so make peace, 16 and completely reconcile both of them to God through the cross as if they were just one body, having destroyed our hostility towards each other. 17 He came and shared the good news of peace with those of you who were far away, and those who were nearby, 18 because through him we both gain access to the Father through the same Spirit. 19 That means you're no longer strangers and foreigners; you are fellow citizens of God's people and belong to God's family 20 that's being built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together, growing to form a holy temple for the Lord. 22 You too are being built together in him as a place for God to live by the Spirit.
Ephesians · Free Bible Version
Ephesians 2 Free Bible Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Cross references (22)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Colossians 2:13; Ephesians 2:5–6; Colossians 3:1–4; Romans 8:2; Ephesians 4:18
- 2 Ephesians 6:12; 1 John 5:19; Ephesians 2:3; John 12:31; Colossians 3:6–7
- 3 Titus 3:3; Galatians 5:16–24; Ephesians 4:22; 1 Peter 1:14; Romans 13:14
- 4 1 Peter 1:3; Ephesians 1:7; Titus 3:4–7; Psalm 86:15; Romans 5:8
- 5 Romans 3:24; Ephesians 2:8; Romans 5:10; Romans 5:8; Acts 15:11
- 6 Colossians 3:1–3; Ephesians 1:3; Colossians 2:12–13; Romans 6:4–5; John 17:21–26
- 7 1 Timothy 1:16–17; Titus 3:4; 2 Thessalonians 1:12; Ephesians 2:4; Isaiah 60:15
- 8 Romans 3:22–26; Ephesians 2:5; Romans 4:16; John 1:12–13; Romans 10:17
- 9 2 Timothy 1:9; Romans 11:6; Titus 3:3–5; Romans 9:16; 1 Corinthians 1:29–31
- 10 Philippians 2:13; Colossians 1:10; Hebrews 13:21; 2 Corinthians 5:17; 2 Corinthians 9:8
- 11 Colossians 2:11; Colossians 2:13; Colossians 3:11; Romans 2:28–29; Galatians 6:12
- 12 Galatians 4:8; Colossians 1:21; 1 Peter 1:3; Jeremiah 31:31–34; 1 Thessalonians 4:13
- 13 Acts 2:39; Colossians 1:20–22; Colossians 1:13–14; Ephesians 2:19–22; 1 Corinthians 6:11
- 14 Galatians 3:28; Colossians 3:15; Colossians 3:11; Ephesians 2:15; 1 Corinthians 12:12–13
- 15 Colossians 2:14; Galatians 3:10; Colossians 1:21–22; Hebrews 8:13; Galatians 6:15
- 16 Colossians 1:20–22; Romans 5:10; 2 Corinthians 5:18–21; Colossians 2:14; Galatians 2:20
- 17 Isaiah 57:19–21; Acts 10:36; Romans 5:1; Acts 2:39; Ephesians 2:13–14
- 18 Ephesians 3:12; 1 Corinthians 12:13; Romans 5:2; Ephesians 4:4; John 14:6
- 19 Philippians 3:20; 1 John 3:1; Galatians 6:10; Galatians 3:26–28; Ephesians 2:12
- 20 1 Peter 2:4–5; Isaiah 28:16; 1 Peter 2:7–8; Psalm 118:22; Ephesians 4:11–13
- 21 1 Corinthians 3:16–17; 1 Corinthians 3:9; 2 Corinthians 6:16; Ephesians 4:13–16; 1 Kings 6:7
- 22 1 Peter 2:4–5; 1 Corinthians 3:16; John 17:21–23; 1 John 4:16; John 14:17–23
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
… dead, having loosed the bands of the grave." "In whom, though now ye see Him not, ye believe, and believing, rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory;" into which joy many desire to enter, knowing that "by grace ye are saved, not of works," but by the will of God through Jesus Christ.
… and His subjection to death, he employs the name of Christ, as in that passage: "Destroy not him with thy meat for whom Christ died." And again: "But now, in Christ, ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ." And again: "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a …
In Thy Church, therefore, O our God, according to Thy grace which Thou hast accorded unto it, since we are Thy workmanship created in good works, there are not only those who are spiritually set over, but those also who are spiritually subjected to those placed over them; for in this manner hast Thou made man, male and female, in …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 1 (1886)
… a hedge; as the prophet saith: "Thou hast broken down her hedge, so that all they which pass by the way do pluck off her grapes:" and, "I have set a hedge about it:" and Paul, "Having broken down the middle wall of the hedge." But others say, that the saying, "Why was the hedge broken up for thee?" was …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)
For we are His workmanship, says the Apostle, created unto good works, which God afore prepared, that we should walk in them.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)