Ephesians Chapter 2
Showing all 22 verses for Ephesians Chapter 2.
The People's Bible is written by people, for the people. Each verse below shows:
"And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; "
"As for you - you used to be spiritually dead, trapped by the wrong things you did and the way you lived."
I don't ask you to pretend you were fine all along before we met. Naming how stuck you really were isn't shame - it's the honest starting point that makes the rescue meaningful.
"Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: "
"You used to live the way the world around you lives, following the direction of a destructive spiritual force at work in people who ignore God."
Notice what's shaping your choices before you assume they're entirely your own. Question the current you're swimming in - not everything 'everyone does' is actually good for you.
"Among whom also we all had our in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. "
💡 Highlighted words feature Jacobean 1611 tooltips to clarify shifted 17th-century English terms.
"In fact, all of us were once like that - living to satisfy our own cravings and impulses, doing whatever our bodies and minds wanted - heading for trouble by our very nature, just like everyone else."
I'm not interested in ranking people by how bad their particular struggles look from the outside. Every person starts from the same need - so put down the comparison game and the self-righteousness alike.
"But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, "
"But God, who is overflowing with mercy, because of the enormous love he has for us..."
Whatever bleak diagnosis fits your life right now, there's always a 'but' waiting - I'm not finished with the story at your worst moment. Mercy, not punishment, is my default response to human failure.
"Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) "
"Even while we were spiritually dead because of our wrongdoing, he made us alive together with Christ - it's by grace you've been saved."
Rescue doesn't wait for you to clean yourself up first - it happens precisely while you're still stuck. That's what real grace looks like: unearned help arriving in the middle of the mess, not after it's tidied.
"And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: "
"He raised us up together with Christ and seated us together with him in the heavenly realm."
You don't have to keep fighting to earn a secure place - it's already been given, described as done, not pending. Rest in that, rather than treating your standing as something perpetually up for renewal.
"That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. "
"He did all this so that in the ages to come he could display just how extraordinarily rich his grace is, shown through his kindness to us in Christ Jesus."
Your story of being rescued isn't just for you - it becomes part of a larger, ongoing demonstration of what real kindness looks like, an example others can look to long after your own struggles are behind you.
"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: "
"Because it's by grace that you've been saved, through faith - and even that isn't from you; it's a gift from God."
Stop trying to earn what's already been offered freely. The exhausting cycle of proving your worth through performance can end today - what's asked of you is trust, not a flawless track record.
"Not of works, lest any man should boast. "
"It's not the result of anything you've done - so nobody gets to boast about earning it."
There's no league table here, no ranking of who's 'earned' more favour than someone else. That should free you from both arrogance about your own achievements and despair about your own failures - neither one is the basis of your worth.
"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. "
"We are what he has made us - created in Christ Jesus to do good things, which he had already planned out in advance for us to do."
Good actions aren't a hoop to jump through to win my approval - they're what naturally flows out once you've stopped performing and started living from a secure identity. Let your good works be an overflow of freedom, not a scramble for acceptance.
"Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; "
"So remember: you who weren't born Jewish - called 'uncircumcised' by those who were, based on a physical mark made by human hands..."
Don't let labels and categories that others use to define you become the whole truth about who you are. There's a deeper identity available that isn't decided by birth, background, or the boxes other people put you in.
"That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: "
"Remember that at that time you were separated from Christ, excluded from the community of Israel, foreigners to the promises God had made, without hope, and without God, in the world."
I know what it feels like to be an outsider looking in, excluded from every promise that mattered. I'm telling you plainly: that exclusion is not the end of your story, whoever you are and wherever you've felt shut out.
"But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. "
"But now, because you belong to Christ Jesus, you who used to be far away have been brought close, through Christ's sacrificial death."
Distance from what feels sacred or good in your life isn't permanent. Whatever has kept you feeling like an outsider can be closed, not by you working harder to get closer, but by something already done on your behalf.
"For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; "
"Because he himself is our peace - he's the one who made the two groups into one, breaking down the wall that used to divide them."
Real peace between people who are different from each other isn't achieved by pretending the differences don't exist - it comes from tearing down the actual wall separating you, not just painting over it. I specialise in demolition of dividing walls.
"Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; "
"He did away with the hostility caused by the law, with all its specific rules and regulations, so that he could create one new humanity out of the two groups, making peace."
I'm not interested in making everyone the same, erasing what makes you distinct - I'm interested in creating something genuinely new out of your differences, a unity that includes rather than erases who you are.
"And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: "
"And so he could reconcile both groups to God, in one body, through the cross - putting the hostility to death there."
You can't fully fix a broken relationship with other people while ignoring what's broken in your relationship with what's ultimately good and true - the two are connected, and healing one tends to heal the other.
"And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. "
"He came and announced peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near."
I don't wait for you to come find peace on your own - I come and announce it directly to wherever you are, near or far, familiar or estranged. The message travels to you.
"For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. "
"Because through him, both groups now have access to the Father, by means of the one same Spirit."
You don't need a special connection, a middleman with better credentials than you, or an insider's advantage to approach what's ultimately good. The same open door is available to you as to anyone else.
"Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; "
"So you're no longer outsiders or strangers - you're fellow citizens with God's people, full members of God's own household."
Wherever you've felt like a permanent guest, tolerated but never quite belonging - that's not how I see you. You're family, with a home, not a visa that could be revoked.
"And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; "
"You're built on a foundation laid by the apostles and prophets, with Jesus Christ himself as the most important cornerstone holding it all together."
You don't have to be the load-bearing wall holding everything together by yourself. There's a foundation stone stronger than you, already set - build your life on that, not on your own precarious effort to hold everything up.
"In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: "
"In him, the whole building is joined together properly and keeps growing into a holy temple, belonging to the Lord."
You're not a finished product, and neither is the community you belong to - growth is expected, even built in. Don't panic at your own unfinished state; it's part of the design, not a failure of it.
"In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. "
"And you also, together with everyone else, are being built into a place where God lives, through the Spirit."
What's being built isn't just about your individual improvement - it's about becoming, together with others, somewhere I can genuinely be present. Community isn't optional decoration on your faith; it's the point.