The big picture
Death, mercy, grace, workmanship, peace, citizenship, household, temple: the Book of Ephesians keeps changing images because one picture is not enough for what chapter 2 is doing. It begins with people dead in sins yet actively walking in them, then lets "But God" reverse the direction. Salvation is gift rather than a platform for boasting, and good works return only after they have been removed from the role of earning it. The second half makes the same grace social. Gentiles once outside Israel's covenant privileges are brought near through Christ's blood, but reconciliation does not produce a favored host and a tolerated guest. Christ makes "both one" and reconciles both to God. By the end, those once called strangers are fellow citizens, members of God's household, and part of a living structure being built into a habitation of God through the Spirit.
Central truth
Ephesians 2:1–10 moves from death in sins to life with Christ by grace, excluding boasting while creating a people meant to walk in good works. Ephesians 2:11–22 says Christ brings the far off near, kills the hostility dividing Jew and Gentile, and builds both together into one household and holy temple.
The study notes have a page of their own
The movement by movement analysis, the words to trace, the verse by verse notes and where readers differ are written for someone studying alone. They are on the Deep Personal Reflections page for this chapter. This page is the lesson.
A chapter-specific teaching brief
These anchors come from this chapter itself. They help a teacher use the Level 1 overview, the Level 2 study, and the Scripture text as one lesson.
Open with the chapter’s first image
Ephesians 2:1: “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;”
Slow down at the turning point
Ephesians 2:13: “But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.”
Keep this word trail visible
Christ, flesh, Jesus, both, grace, past
What to explain, in order
Teach the passage in this order. Each step names the verses it rests on, so every point can be shown in the text before it is applied.
Ephesians 2:1–10
Ephesians 2:1-3
Dead, not merely weak
Begin with the diagnosis, because grace means little to people who think they were only unwell. Paul says "dead in trespasses and sins", and "quickened" means made alive. Name the three forces from verses 2 and 3: the world's course, the prince of the power of the air, and the desires of flesh and mind. Explain "conversation" in verse 3 as way of life. Then underline "we all" and "even as others": Paul puts Jew and Gentile, himself included, under the same verdict, "by nature the children of wrath". Do not rush this; the next step depends on it.
Ephesians 2:4-6
But God: three verbs and one word, together
Pause on "But God" and let the room feel the turn. Paul gives the reason before the result: God is "rich in mercy" and acts "for his great love wherewith he loved us", while we were still dead. Then list the three verbs, made alive, raised up, made to sit, and circle "together" each time. Read 1:20 beside them so the class sees the believer's history copied from Christ's: what God did for him at Easter and the ascension, he did for them in him. Teach the parenthesis "by grace ye are saved" here as a preview of verse 8.
Ephesians 2:7
Why God did it: a display for the ages
Verse 7 gives God's purpose, and it is easy to skip. He saved people so that "in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us". The redeemed are a permanent exhibit, and what is on show is God's kindness, not their merit. Teach this before verses 8 and 9 because it explains why boasting is excluded: an exhibit of grace cannot also be a trophy of achievement. It also ties back to the refrains of chapter 1, "To the praise of the glory of his grace".
Ephesians 2:8-9
By grace, through faith, not of works
Take the words one at a time. Grace is the source: God's undeserved favour. Faith is the means: the empty hand that receives. "not of yourselves" and "Not of works" close every other door. Explain that "are ye saved" describes something done with lasting effect, not a hope still pending. Mention briefly that interpreters differ over what "it is the gift of God" points back to, faith or the whole salvation, and show that both readings leave nothing to boast in. Do not let the grammar debate swallow the step.
Ephesians 2:10
God's workmanship and the prepared walk
Finish here, never at verse 9. "we are his workmanship" uses the language of making, and "created in Christ Jesus" calls salvation a new creation. Good works are the goal of that creation, "which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them". Put the two walks of this passage side by side: the walk of verse 2 followed the course of this world, the walk of verse 10 follows a road God laid down beforehand. This step opens the second half of the letter, where Paul will say what that walk looks like, beginning at 4:1.
Ephesians 2:11–22
Ephesians 2:11-12
Remember what you were
Begin with Paul's command, "Wherefore remember". Grace in 2:1-10 is now applied to a people, not only to persons. Explain the labels: Gentiles were called "Uncircumcision" by those who were circumcised, and Paul adds that this circumcision was "made by hands", hinting already that the old dividing mark is not the deepest thing. Then put the five losses of verse 12 on the board and explain "commonwealth of Israel" and "covenants of promise" as covenant terms going back to Abraham. Teach this first because the wonder of nearness depends on knowing the distance.
Ephesians 2:13
But now: far off made nigh
This verse is the hinge, and it echoes "But God" in 2:4. "But now in Christ Jesus" marks a new era. Draw a large gap on the board and write far off on one side and nigh on the other, then write "by the blood of Christ" across the gap. Read Isaiah 57:19, where the Lord speaks peace to the far and the near, because Paul quotes it in verse 17. Teach it alone and briefly, so that the class knows what closed the distance before they hear how the wall came down.
Ephesians 2:14-16
He is our peace: the wall, the enmity and the one new man
"For he is our peace": not a programme but a person. Explain "the middle wall of partition". It may recall the barrier in the Jerusalem temple that kept Gentiles out of the inner courts, but Paul names the real wall in verse 15, "the enmity". Treat "the law of commandments contained in ordinances" with care: Paul means the law as a code that fenced the two peoples apart, and traditions explain its abolition differently. Then land on the result, "one new man", and the means, "by the cross". Two reconciliations happen together here, toward God and toward each other.
Ephesians 2:17-18
Peace preached, and one access to the Father
Christ "came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh". Point out that the preaching follows the cross: the peace is announced because it has already been made. Then read verse 18 slowly and mark the three persons: "through him", "by one Spirit", "unto the Father". Explain "access" as the right of entry into a king's presence. Teach this before the building image so the class sees that unity is not first an achievement of the church but a shared approach to the same Father.
Ephesians 2:19-22
Citizens, household, temple
"Now therefore" gathers everything into new identities. Strangers become fellowcitizens, foreigners become family in "the household of God", and finally they become stones in a temple. Explain the foundation as the apostles' and prophets' teaching, and the chief corner stone as Christ himself, who aligns every other stone. Stress the verbs: "fitly framed together", "groweth", "builded together". The temple is living and still being built. End where Paul ends, "an habitation of God through the Spirit": the people once "without God" in verse 12 are now where God lives.
Where learners get stuck
The misreadings this passage tends to produce, and how to answer each from the text.
Ephesians 2:1–10
"Dead in sins just means we were spiritually weak and needed a little help."
Paul chose the word dead, and he repeats it in verse 5, "Even when we were dead in sins". His remedy matches the diagnosis: God "hath quickened us" and "hath raised us up", the language of resurrection, not of assistance. A weak person needs encouragement; a dead one needs life. Let the class feel how this raises the value of grace rather than lowering the dignity of people: the rescue is as great as the need.
"If we are saved by grace, it does not really matter how we live."
Verse 10 answers this before anyone can ask it. Believers are "created in Christ Jesus unto good works", and God prepared those works "that we should walk in them". Grace does not make holiness optional; it makes holiness possible and gives it a new motive. The rest of the letter spends three chapters on that walk (4:1, 5:2, 5:8). Works are excluded as the root of salvation and required as its fruit.
"Faith is my part, the good work I bring that earns God's grace."
Paul says the whole of it is "not of yourselves" and "the gift of God" (2:8), and that boasting is shut out (2:9). Faith is not a lesser work that God accepts in place of greater ones; it is trust that receives what God gives. Whatever view of the grammar of verse 8 the class holds, faith cannot be the ground of pride, because the passage's whole point is that the dead contribute nothing to being made alive.
"Children of wrath means God hates certain kinds of people."
Paul includes himself: "we all" lived this way and "were by nature the children of wrath, even as others" (2:3). The phrase describes everyone apart from Christ, not a group to look down on. And in the very next breath he speaks of "his great love wherewith he loved us" while we were in that state (2:4-5). Teach both truths: God's wrath against sin is real, and his love reached people who stood under it.
Ephesians 2:11–22
"Gentile believers really have to become Jewish, or Jewish believers have to stop being Jewish."
Paul says Christ made "of twain one new man" (2:15). Neither group is absorbed into the other; both are brought into something new, on the same terms and with the same access (2:18). The passage does not erase every cultural distinction; it removes the enmity and the dividing wall. Acts 15 shows the early church refusing to require Gentiles to be circumcised, while Jewish believers were not told to forsake their heritage.
"Christ abolished the law, so the Old Testament commandments no longer matter."
Paul says Christ abolished "the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances" (2:15), the law as a code that divided Jew from Gentile. Within a few chapters he quotes the fifth commandment, "Honour thy father and mother" (6:2), as binding on Christian children. Traditions explain the exact scope of verse 15 differently; present them fairly. But none can make Paul say that God's moral will has been set aside.
"This passage is about people getting along, not really about God."
Verse 16 says Christ came to "reconcile both unto God", and verse 18 says the result is "access by one Spirit unto the Father". The peace between peoples grows from peace with God; it is not a substitute for it. At the same time the passage will not let anyone keep peace with God while holding on to hostility toward other believers. Keep both directions of the cross in view.
"The temple Paul talks about is the church building where we meet."
The temple of verses 21 and 22 is made of people: "In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit". The stones are believers, Jew and Gentile together, laid on the apostles and prophets with Christ as corner stone. A room can host the church, but it is not the dwelling Paul describes. Compare 1 Corinthians 3:16 and 1 Peter 2:5.
Learning objectives
- Describe the former condition using the language of verses 1 to 3.
- Explain the force of the turn introduced by 'But God.'
- Trace God's actions with believers together with Christ in verses 5 and 6.
- State the relationship of grace, faith, gift, and boasting in verses 8 and 9.
- Explain why verse 10 prevents grace from becoming moral inactivity.
- Distinguish works as a cause of salvation from works as its intended fruit.
- List the losses attached to the Gentile past in verses 11 and 12.
- Explain what changes in verse 13 and what means the verse names.
- Trace the movement from two hostile groups to one new body.
- Identify the Father, Son, and Spirit together in verse 18.
- Explain the citizenship, household, and temple images in verses 19 to 22.
- State what Christ removes and what the passage does not say disappears.
Teacher preparation
- Read verses 1 to 3 without softening 'dead' into merely weak or confused.
- Clarify KJV 'conversation' in verse 3 as manner of life or conduct.
- Mark the divine actions in verses 4 to 7: loved, quickened, raised, seated, and showed.
- Keep verses 8 and 9 attached to verse 10 so grace and good works stay ordered correctly.
- Prepare to mention, without dominating the lesson, the debate over what 'the gift of God' grammatically names.
- Count the exclusions in verse 12 before class and let their weight remain visible.
- Clarify 'commonwealth of Israel' and 'covenants of promise' as covenant language, not mere social distance.
- Treat the 'middle wall of partition' cautiously; it may echo temple barriers, but Ephesians names the enmity itself.
- Mark every 'both,' 'twain,' and 'one' from verses 14 to 18.
- Sketch the final architecture: foundation, chief corner stone, building, holy temple, habitation.
Evidence and interpretation checks
Explicit
Verses 1 to 3 call the former condition death, while verses 4 to 6 say God made believers alive, raised them, and seated them with Christ. Verse 13 says the far off are made near by Christ's blood; verses 14 to 22 name peace, reconciliation, household, and temple.
Scripture-supported
Verse 10's workmanship and creation language fits the wider biblical pattern of salvation producing a renewed people. The cornerstone image fits wider biblical temple language while preserving Christ's unique position in the building.
Strong inference
Because boasting is excluded in verse 9 and good works appear in verse 10, works are fruit rather than grounds of salvation. The move from hostile labels to shared access and shared construction describes unity deeper than mere toleration.
Possible or traditional reading
Interpreters differ over whether 'gift of God' refers specifically to faith or to salvation by grace through faith as a whole. The middle wall is often connected to a literal Jerusalem temple barrier; that echo is plausible, but the passage stresses enmity.
Limit
The passage does not list the particular good works prepared for each believer or give a timetable for maturity. The passage does not erase every ethnic or cultural distinction, nor does peace require pretending hostility never existed.
Discussion with answer guidance
1. What three influences shape the former walk in verses 2 and 3?
What a good answer contains
The world, the devil and the flesh. They 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" (2:2), and "in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind" (2:3). A good answer notices that "walked" describes a settled way of life, and that Paul writes "we all", counting himself in. A weak answer lists only outward sins and leaves out the pressure from outside and the power above.
Show teacher guidance
Expect the world, the prince of the power of the air, and fleshly desires.
2. Which two words interrupt the darkness of verses 1 to 3?
What a good answer contains
"But God" (2:4). Everything before it is death, slavery and wrath; everything after it is God acting. The turn matters because the dead cannot begin their own rescue, so the change has to start entirely on God's side. Paul names the source as God "rich in mercy" and "his great love wherewith he loved us". A strong answer reads verse 5 with it: he loved us "Even when we were dead in sins". A weak answer treats the words as a mere change of subject.
Show teacher guidance
The answer is 'But God'; ask why that turn matters before moving on.
3. What does God do together with Christ in verses 5 and 6?
What a good answer contains
He "hath quickened us together with Christ" (2:5), "hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (2:6). Each verb carries "together": what God did for Christ in 1:20, raising and seating him, he has done for those joined to him. A good answer catches the echo of chapter 1 and the past tense. A weak answer moves it all into the future, when Paul speaks of it as already done.
Show teacher guidance
Look for made alive, raised up, and seated together in heavenly places.
4. What does verse 7 say God will display?
What a good answer contains
God will show "the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus", shown "in the ages to come" (2:7). God is making the rescued people a lasting display of his kindness. A good answer sees that the exhibit is grace, not the people's virtue, which prepares for the exclusion of boasting in verse 9. A weak answer turns verse 7 into a promise of reward for the saved, missing that the glory goes to the giver.
Show teacher guidance
Expect the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness through Christ Jesus.
5. What is ruled out as a basis for boasting in verses 8 and 9?
What a good answer contains
Every ground of human credit. Salvation is "not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast" (2:8-9). Interpreters differ over whether the gift is faith itself or the whole of being saved by grace through faith; either way nothing is left to boast in. A good answer keeps faith as the hand that receives, not a new achievement. A weak answer simply swaps works for faith as the thing that earns.
Show teacher guidance
Keep the answer close to 'not of yourselves' and 'not of works.'
6. How does verse 10 restore works without contradicting verse 9?
What a good answer contains
By giving works a new place. "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them" (2:10). Works follow salvation as its purpose; they do not purchase it. The word "walk" answers verse 2: the old walk followed the world, the new one follows paths God prepared. A strong answer holds verses 9 and 10 together. A weak answer either drops good works or sneaks them back in as payment.
Show teacher guidance
Works become the prepared walk of God's workmanship, not the price of salvation.
7. What five losses define the Gentile condition in verse 12?
What a good answer contains
Paul lists them in one breath: "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" (2:12). A good answer keeps the order, with Christ first and God last, and sees that these are losses of covenant standing, not just of social welcome. It also notices the command that frames them, "Wherefore remember" (2:11). A weak answer reduces the list to being unpopular or left out of a group.
Show teacher guidance
Expect without Christ, alienated, strangers, without hope, and without God in the world.
8. What changes for those once 'far off' in verse 13?
What a good answer contains
Paul says "ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ" (2:13). "Sometimes" means once, formerly. The distance was real and the means of closing it is named exactly: the blood of Christ, his death. Verse 17 picks up the same words from Isaiah 57:19, peace to the far and the near. A good answer names the change and its cost. A weak answer says the Gentiles became closer through goodwill or education, which leaves the cross out of a verse that puts it at the centre.
Show teacher guidance
They are made near by Christ's blood, not by social goodwill alone.
9. How do verses 14 to 18 move from two toward one?
What a good answer contains
By counting. He "hath made both one" (2:14); he makes "of twain one new man" (2:15); he reconciles "both unto God in one body" (2:16); and "we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father" (2:18). A good answer notices that the result is a new man, not one group absorbed into the other. A weak answer says Gentiles became Jews, or that Jews stopped mattering, when Paul describes something neither group was before.
Show teacher guidance
Mark both, twain, one new man, one body, one Spirit, and one Father.
10. What two reconciliations appear in verse 16?
What a good answer contains
He reconciles "both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby" (2:16). One reconciliation is toward God, the other is between the two peoples, and both happen at the same cross. A strong answer keeps them in that order and together: peace with each other grows out of peace with God, and the hostility is not managed but killed. A weak answer makes the verse only about human harmony, or only about individual salvation.
Show teacher guidance
Both groups are reconciled to God in one body, and the enmity is slain.
11. What identities replace 'strangers and foreigners' in verses 19 to 22?
What a good answer contains
Believers are now "fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God" (2:19), then stones in a building that "groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord" (2:21), and "an habitation of God through the Spirit" (2:22). Look for answers that notice the images move closer each time: from a city, to a family home, to the dwelling of God himself. A weak answer lists the titles without seeing that outsiders have become the place where God lives.
Show teacher guidance
Look for fellowcitizens, household members, and stones in a holy temple.
12. Who holds the decisive place in the building of verse 20?
What a good answer contains
"Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone" (2:20). The apostles and prophets are the foundation, but Christ is the stone that sets the line for the whole building. The word "himself" marks him out from the others. Read Psalm 118:22 and Isaiah 28:16 behind it. A good answer keeps that distinction clear. A weak answer either puts the apostles on the same level as Christ or forgets the foundation and makes each believer a building alone.
Show teacher guidance
Jesus Christ is the chief corner stone; keep that distinction clear.
Responsible application
Refuse résumé Christianity
Do not treat visible religious achievement as the basis for status before God or the church.
Make mercy visible
Shape ministry so belonging does not depend on who can impress the room most quickly.
Put works after grace
Frame service as walking in God's prepared work, not as earning standing, recognition, or leverage.
Stop rebuilding demolished walls
Review ministry habits that still treat some believers as permanent outsiders after Christ calls them fellowcitizens.
Practice shared access
Do not let any subgroup behave as if it owns better access to the Father.
Think like building material
Ask whether a church activity actually joins people together or merely places them in one room.
Session plans
Two timings of the same lesson. The shorter keeps the reading, the central discussion and one response; the longer gives the confusions and the application their own time.
Ephesians 2:1–10
45 minutes
The diagnosis
Read 2:1-3 slowly. Take question one and write the world, the prince of the power of the air and the flesh on the board.
But God
Read 2:4-7. Take questions two, three and four, circling every "together" and reading 1:20 beside verse 6.
Grace, faith and gift
Read 2:8-9 twice. Take question five, then confusions one and three, keeping faith as the hand that receives.
Workmanship
Read 2:10 and take question six. Use confusion two, and set the walk of verse 2 beside the walk of verse 10.
Handout and thanksgiving
Read the key verse together, give out the handout, and close with a prayer of thanks that begins with the words "But God".
90 minutes
Before and after
Draw two columns headed Before and But God. Read 2:1-10 straight through and let the group fill both columns from the text.
Dead, not sick
Teach 2:1-3. Take question one and confusion one, and explain "conversation" and "the prince of the power of the air".
We all
Work through confusion four with Romans 3:9-10 and 3:23, so no one in the room places the problem only in others.
Made alive, raised, seated
Read 1:19-20, then 2:4-6. Take questions two and three, and draw arrows from Christ's three events to the believer's.
The display
Read 2:7 and take question four. Ask what the ages to come will see when they look at the church.
By grace through faith
Read 2:8-9 with Romans 4:4-5. Take question five and confusion three, and mention the debate on "the gift of God" briefly.
Created for good works
Read 2:10 with Titus 3:5-8. Take question six and confusion two, then look ahead to 4:1 and the walk Paul describes there.
But God in my life
Invite each person to write one sentence beginning "But God" about their own life, share a few, give out the handout and pray.
Ephesians 2:11–22
45 minutes
Remember
Read 2:11-12. Take question one and write the five losses on the board, leaving them there for the rest of the session.
Made nigh
Read 2:13 and Isaiah 57:19. Take question two and draw the gap closed by the blood of Christ.
The wall comes down
Read 2:14-18. Take questions three and four, then confusion three. Touch confusion two only as far as verse 15 needs.
The building
Read 2:19-22. Take questions five and six and confusion four, setting each new identity beside a loss from verse 12.
One wall to take down
Ask the group to name one wall believers still rebuild. Read the key verse together, give out the handout and pray for unity.
90 minutes
Walls
Draw a wall on the board and ask what divides believers today. Then read 2:11-22 aloud without comment.
Remember what you were
Teach 2:11-12 with Genesis 12:3. Take question one and explain commonwealth and covenants of promise.
Far off and nigh
Read 2:13 and 2:17 with Isaiah 57:19. Take question two and ask what the blood of Christ has to do with distance.
Two into one
Teach 2:14-16. Take questions three and four and confusions one and two, reading Acts 10:28 to show the wall in practice.
Access
Read 2:17-18 and mark Son, Spirit and Father. Work through confusion three.
City, house, temple
Read 2:19-22 with Psalm 118:22 and 1 Peter 2:4-6. Take questions five and six and confusion four.
Walls we rebuild
Discuss where the group still treats some believers as outsiders, and agree on one concrete act of welcome for the coming month.
Prayer and handout
Read the key verse together, give out the handout, and pray for believers of another background by name.
Adapting the lesson
Ephesians 2:1–10
Children
Bring a wilted plant and a living one, or pictures of each, and ask what the dry one can do to make itself green again. Then read 2:4-5 and say that God gives life to people who could not give it to themselves. Teach "by grace" as a gift you do not pay for, and leave the details of wrath and the powers for later years.
Youth
Many young people believe either that they must earn God's approval or that how they live does not matter. Show them that verses 9 and 10 cut against both at once. Ask them to rewrite verses 1 to 3 in today's words, naming what "the course of this world" looks like for them, without making it a list of other people's sins.
Adults
Give time to the grammar and the theology of verses 8 and 9, but do not let it become a debate club. Compare Romans 4 and Titus 3. Then press verse 10: ask what good works God might have prepared for this congregation in its own place, and how grace would change the way those works are done.
One to one
Ask the person which part of verses 1 to 3 they recognise in their own past. Do not hurry them out of it. Then read "But God" and verses 4 to 6 slowly, and ask what it means for them that God loved them while they were still in that state. If they fear they have not done enough, stay with verses 8 and 9.
Ephesians 2:11–22
Children
Build a wall of blocks across the table with toy figures on each side. Read 2:14 and take the wall down, then use the blocks to build one house with all the figures inside. Explain that Jesus makes people who were far from God and from each other into one family. Keep away from naming any group of children as outsiders.
Youth
Ask them to map the groups in their school or online world and where the walls are. Then read verse 12 and verse 19 together and ask what changed for the Gentiles. Press them on whether church groups rebuild the same walls, and let them suggest one way their group could act as one household.
Adults
Give time to the Old Testament background: the covenants with Abraham, Isaiah 57:19, the temple courts, Psalm 118. Discuss carefully what "the law of commandments contained in ordinances" means and how traditions differ. Then ask hard questions about the congregation: who still feels like a stranger here, and why?
One to one
Ask whether the person has ever felt like an outsider in church. Read verse 12 and verse 19 side by side and let them hear the change in their own case. If they are the one holding a wall up against another believer, read verses 14 to 16 gently and ask what peace through the cross would require of them.
Song and video learning lab
A song or video may interpret, compress, or dramatize the text. Its value becomes clearer when its choices are compared with Scripture.
- Before the media: the exact passage and its central movement.
- During the media: the words, people, events, and emotions the artist emphasizes.
- After the media: what it clarifies, what it leaves out, and what belongs back in the biblical text.
Handout
One page for learners to take home. The print button prints this section alone.
Ephesians 2:1–10
The passage in brief
Ephesians 2:1-10 describes what we were without Christ: dead in sins, following the world, the devil and our own desires. Then come two words, But God. Because he is rich in mercy and loved us, God made us alive with Christ, raised us and seated us with him. Salvation is a gift received by faith, not something earned, so no one can boast. And God created us in Christ for good works he prepared for us to walk in.
A verse to keep
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Ephesians 2:8-9 · King James Version
Questions to take home
What three things shaped our old way of life in 2:2-3?
What did God do for us "together with Christ" in 2:5-6?
How do verses 9 and 10 fit together?
This week
Write one sentence about your life that begins "But God", and thank him for it every day this week.
Ephesians 2:11–22
The passage in brief
In Ephesians 2:11-22 Paul reminds Gentile believers that they were once far from God, outside Israel and without hope. Now, through the blood of Christ, they have been brought near. Christ himself is our peace. By his cross he broke down the wall of hostility between Jew and Gentile, made one new people, and reconciled both to God. Believers are no longer strangers but citizens, family, and a holy temple where God lives by his Spirit.
A verse to keep
But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
Ephesians 2:13 · King James Version
Questions to take home
What five things were the Gentiles without, according to 2:12?
What did Christ do with the wall between the two groups in 2:14-16?
What three pictures in 2:19-22 describe who believers are now?
This week
This week, welcome one believer who is different from you as family, with a meal, a visit or a conversation.
Music and video connected to the passage
Related media appears when its Scripture reference overlaps this study. Music and video can illuminate a theme while the biblical text remains the foundation.
