1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in 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. 3 All 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. 4 But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our trespasses. It is by grace you have been saved! 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages He might display the surpassing riches of His grace, demonstrated by His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life. 11 Therefore 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)— 12 remember 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. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. 14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has torn down the dividing wall of hostility 15 by 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 16 and reconciling both of them to God in one body through the cross, by which He put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and to those who were near. 18 For through Him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. 19 Therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Jesus Christ Himself as the cornerstone. 21 In Him the whole building is fitted together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in Him you too are being built together into a dwelling place for God in His Spirit.
Ephesians · Majority Standard Bible
Ephesians 2 Majority Standard Bible
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)