Ephesians
Chapter 2
Overview
Ephesians 2 begins with a stark picture: people trapped in destructive ways and cut off from God. Then the view opens onto God’s mercy, which gives life as a gift rather than a prize anyone can earn. The chapter turns especially to non-Jewish believers, who had once stood outside Israel’s story and promises. Through Jesus the Messiah—God’s Anointed One—the old hostility between Jews and non-Jews is broken down. Two separated groups become one new humanity, then one household, and finally a living temple: a building made not of stone, but of people.
1You too were dead because of your wrongdoings and sins.
2You once lived in those sins, following the ways of this world and the ruler of the spiritual forces in the air—the spirit now at work in people who refuse to obey God.
3All of us once lived among them too. We followed the cravings of our human nature, doing whatever our impulses and thoughts wanted. By nature, we were people under God’s anger, just like everyone else.
4But God is rich in mercy, and he loved us with a great love.
5Even while we were dead because of our wrongdoings, God made us alive together with the Messiah. You have been rescued by God’s generous kindness.
6God also raised us up with the Messiah and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Messiah Jesus.
7He did this so that in all the ages to come, he could show the boundless riches of his generosity through his kindness toward us in Messiah Jesus.
8For God’s generosity has rescued you through your trust in him. This rescue did not come from you; it is God’s gift.
9It does not come from anything you have done, so no one can brag.
10For we are God’s handiwork, created in union with Messiah Jesus to do good things. God prepared those deeds beforehand to be our way of life.
11So remember that you were once non-Jews by birth. People known as “the circumcised”—because their men had the foreskin removed by human hands—called you “the uncircumcised.”
12At that time you were without the Messiah, cut off from the community of Israel and outsiders to the agreements in which God made his promise. You had no hope and were without God in the world.
13But now, because you are united with Messiah Jesus, you who were once far away have been brought near to God through the Messiah’s blood—that is, through his death.
14For the Messiah himself is our peace. He made Jews and non-Jews one people. Through the death of his own body, he tore down the dividing wall—the hostility between them.
15He set aside the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity from the two groups, making peace.
16He also reconciled both groups to God as one body through his death on the cross. By the cross, he put their hostility to death.
17The Messiah came and announced the good news of peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near.
18For through him, both groups can come to God the Father by the same Spirit.
19So then, you are no longer foreigners or resident outsiders. You are fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household.
20You have been built on the foundation of the apostles, the commissioned messengers, and the prophets, who spoke for God. Messiah Jesus himself is the cornerstone, the key stone that aligns the building.
21Every part of the building is fitted together in him and grows into a temple set apart for the Lord.
22In union with him, you too are being built together into a place where God lives by his Spirit.