Ephesians 2
New Life Individually
2:1 And although you were1 dead2 in your transgressions and sins, 2:2 in which3 you formerly lived4 according to this world’s present path,5 according to the ruler of the kingdom6 of the air, the ruler of7 the spirit8 that is now energizing9 the sons of disobedience,10 2:3 among whom11 all of us12 also13 formerly lived out our lives in the cravings of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath14 even as the rest…15
2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, 2:5 even though we were dead in transgressions, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you are saved!16 – 2:6 and he raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 2:7 to demonstrate in the coming ages17 the surpassing wealth of his grace in kindness toward18 us in Christ Jesus. 2:8 For by grace you are saved19 through faith,20 and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; 2:9 it is not from21 works, so that no one can boast.22 2:10 For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we may do them.23
New Life Corporately
2:11 Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh – who are called “uncircumcision” by the so-called “circumcision” that is performed on the body24 by human hands – 2:12 that you were at that time without the Messiah,25 alienated from the citizenship of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise,26 having no hope and without God in the world. 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus you who used to be far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.27 2:14 For he is our peace, the one who made both groups into one28 and who destroyed the middle wall of partition, the hostility, 2:15 when he nullified29 in his flesh the law of commandments in decrees. He did this to create in himself one new man30 out of two,31 thus making peace, 2:16 and to reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by which the hostility has been killed.32 2:17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near, 2:18 so that33 through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 2:19 So then you are no longer foreigners and noncitizens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household, 2:20 because you have been built34 on the foundation of the apostles and prophets,35 with Christ Jesus himself as36 the cornerstone.37 2:21 In him38 the whole building,39 being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 2:22 in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.