The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Ephesians

⭑ Unlocked Dynamic Bible :: World English Bible Catholic ⭑

- Chapter 2 -

(Colossians 2:6–23)

Before you trusted Messiah you were powerless to obey God. You were as helpless as a person who is dead.

You were like most people in the world today, and you, too, did what Satan wants, Satan is the ruler of the evil spirits who have such power over the world. Satan is the evil spirit who is at work in the lives of people who disobey God.

We were at one time among those who disobeyed God; we did the evil things that we desired, things that would bring pleasure to our bodies and our minds. So God was very angry with us, just as with the others.

But God acts very mercifully, and he loves us very much.

We were like dead people, powerless to obey God, but then he made us live again by joining us to Messiah. God has saved us because he has been very, very kind to us.

He raised us up from among those who are like dead people, and he gave us seats of honor to rule with Messiah Jesus in heavenly places.

He did this to show in future times how kind he has been to us, for we are joined to Messiah Jesus.

For God has saved you from his punishment by his extreme kindness given to you because you trust Jesus. You have not saved yourselves; this is a gift from God,

a gift that no one can earn, so no one can boast and say that he has saved himself.

So God has created us as new people joined to Messiah Jesus, so we can do good things, things that God planned long ago for us to do.

One in Christ

(Philippians 2:1–4)

Do not forget that you non-Jewish believers were previously called Gentiles because you were not born as Jews. The Jews insulted you by calling you “uncircumcised pagans.” They call themselves “the circumcision”; by this they mean that they, not you, are God’s people, although circumcision is something that only humans do, not God.

At that time, you did not have any part of Messiah and you were not part of his people Israel. You did not know God’s promises and law. You did not have confidence in the future that God promised you, and as you lived your lives, you did not know God.

But now because of what Messiah Jesus has done, you have been able to trust in him because Messiah agreed to die on the cross.

Messiah has brought peace and unity between Jews and non-Jews by destroying the barrier between us, as if he had destroyed a wall of hate that separated our peoples from one another.

He made it no longer necessary for us to obey all the Jewish laws and commandments. He made Jews and non-Jews into one people instead of two because he made peace between us.

Jesus caused Jews and non-Jews together to both become friends with God in one new group of believers. By dying on the cross, Jesus made it possible for them to stop hating each other.

Jesus came and proclaimed the gospel that brings peace with God; he proclaimed it both to you non-Jews, who did not know about God, and to us Jews, who did know about God.

Through Jesus both Jews and non-Jews now can speak with the Father because God’s Spirit lives in all believers.

Christ Our Cornerstone

(Isaiah 28:14–22; 1 Corinthians 3:10–15; 1 Peter 2:1–8)

Therefore now you non-Jews are no longer strangers and foreigners to God’s people, but instead you are fellow members with those whom God has set apart for himself, and you belong to God’s family for whom God is the Father.

You are like stones that God has made to be part of his building, and the building is built on what the apostles and prophets taught. The most important stone, the cornerstone, of the building is Messiah Jesus himself.

Jesus is increasing his family of believers and fitting them together like a temple of stones is built and fit together, increasing as the Lord joins new believers to himself.

Jesus is building you up together, both Jews and non-Jews, into one family in which God lives by means of his Spirit.

(Colossians 2:6–23)

You were made alive when you were dead in transgressions and sins,

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 children of disobedience.

We also all once lived among them in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

But God, being rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us,

even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—

and raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus;

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

not of works, that no one would boast.

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them.

One in Christ

(Philippians 2:1–4)

Therefore remember that once you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “uncircumcision” by that which is called “circumcision” (in the flesh, made by hands),

that you were at that time separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off are made near in the blood of Christ.

For he is our peace, who made both one, and broke down the middle wall of separation,

having abolished in his flesh the hostility, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man of the two, making peace,

and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, having killed the hostility through it.

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

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

Christ Our Cornerstone

(Isaiah 28:14–22; 1 Corinthians 3:10–15; 1 Peter 2:1–8)

So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God,

being built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief cornerstone;

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

in whom you also are built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit.