Eph.2.1

It wasn't so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin.

Eph.2.1

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,

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And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,

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Once you were dead, doomed forever because of your many sins.

Eph.2.2

You let the world, which doesn't know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience.

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in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.

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in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,

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You used to live just like the rest of the world, full of sin, obeying Satan, the mighty prince of the power of the air. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God.

Eph.2.3

We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It's a wonder God didn't lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us.

Eph.2.3

All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.

Eph.2.3

among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

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All of us used to live that way, following the passions and desires of our evil nature. We were born with an evil nature, and we were under God's anger just like everyone else.

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Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love,

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But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,

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But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,

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But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so very much,

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he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us!

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made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved.

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even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

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that even while we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God's special favor that you have been saved!)

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Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah.

Eph.2.6

And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,

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and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

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For he raised us from the dead along with Christ, and we are seated with him in the heavenly realms--all because we are one with Christ Jesus.

Eph.2.7

Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus.

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in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

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that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

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And so God can always point to us as examples of the incredible wealth of his favor and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us through Christ Jesus.

Eph.2.8

Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It's God's gift from start to finish!

Eph.2.8

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--

Eph.2.8

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,

Eph.2.8

God saved you by his special favor when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God.

Eph.2.9

We don't play the major role. If we did, we'd probably go around bragging that we'd done the whole thing!

Eph.2.9

not by works, so that no one can boast.

Eph.2.9

not of works, lest anyone should boast.

Eph.2.9

Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.

Eph.2.10

No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.

Eph.2.10

For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

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For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

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For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

Eph.2.11

But don't take any of this for granted. It was only yesterday that you outsiders to God's ways

Eph.2.11

Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision" (that done in the body by the hands of men)--

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Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh--who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands--

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Don't forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders by birth. You were called "the uncircumcised ones" by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts.

Eph.2.12

had no idea of any of this, didn't know the first thing about the way God works, hadn't the faintest idea of Christ. You knew nothing of that rich history of God's covenants and promises in Israel, hadn't a clue about what God was doing in the world at large.

Eph.2.12

remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.

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that at that time you 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.

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In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from God's people, Israel, and you did not know the promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope.

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Now because of Christ--dying that death, shedding that blood--you who were once out of it altogether are in on everything.

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But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.

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But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

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But now you belong to Christ Jesus. Though you once were far away from God, now you have been brought near to him because of the blood of Christ.

Eph.2.14

The Messiah has made things up between us so that we're now together on this, both non-Jewish outsiders and Jewish insiders. He tore down the wall we used to keep each other at a distance.

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For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility,

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For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation,

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For Christ himself has made peace between us Jews and you Gentiles by making us all one people. He has broken down the wall of hostility that used to separate us.

Eph.2.15

He repealed the law code that had become so clogged with fine print and footnotes that it hindered more than it helped. Then he started over. Instead of continuing with two groups of people separated by centuries of animosity and suspicion, he created a new kind of human being, a fresh start for everybody.

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by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace,

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having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace,

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By his death he ended the whole system of Jewish law that excluded the Gentiles. His purpose was to make peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new person from the two groups.

Eph.2.16

Christ brought us together through his death on the Cross. The Cross got us to embrace, and that was the end of the hostility.

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and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.

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and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.

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Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death, and our hostility toward each other was put to death.

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Christ came and preached peace to you outsiders and peace to us insiders.

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He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.

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And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near.

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He has brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and to us Jews who were near.

Eph.2.18

He treated us as equals, and so made us equals. Through him we both share the same Spirit and have equal access to the Father.

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For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

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For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.

Eph.2.18

Now all of us, both Jews and Gentiles, may come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us.

Eph.2.19

That's plain enough, isn't it? You're no longer wandering exiles. This kingdom of faith is now your home country. You're no longer strangers or outsiders. You belong here, with as much right to the name Christian as anyone. God is building a home. He's using us all--irrespective of how we got here--in what he is building.

Eph.2.19

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household,

Eph.2.19

Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,

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So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God's holy people. You are members of God's family.

Eph.2.20

He used the apostles and prophets for the foundation. Now he's using you, fitting you in brick by brick, stone by stone, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone

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built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.

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having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone,

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We are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself.

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that holds all the parts together. We see it taking shape day after day--a holy temple built by God,

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In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.

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in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord,

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We who believe are carefully joined together, becoming a holy temple for the Lord.

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all of us built into it, a temple in which God is quite at home.

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And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

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in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

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Through him you Gentiles are also joined together as part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.