Ephesians 2

¹And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, ²in which you once walked according to the age of this world, according to the ruler of the authority of the air, the spirit now at work in the sons of disobedience. ³Among them we all once lived in the desires of our flesh, doing the wishes of the flesh and of our thoughts, and we were by nature children of wrath, like the rest. ⁴But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, ⁵even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—⁶and raised us together and seated us together in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, ⁷so that in the coming ages he might display the surpassing riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. ⁸For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God's gift, ⁹not from deeds, so that no one may boast. ¹⁰For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for good deeds, which God prepared beforehand so that we might walk in them.

¹¹Therefore remember that you were once Gentiles in the flesh, called “uncircumcision” by what is called “circumcision,” made in the flesh by human hands—¹²that at that time you were without Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world. ¹³But now in Christ Jesus you who were once far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. ¹⁴For he himself is our peace, who made both one and broke down the dividing wall, the hostility, in his flesh, ¹⁵abolishing the law of commandments expressed in decrees, so that he might create the two in himself into one new person, making peace, ¹⁶and reconcile both to God in one body through the cross, killing the hostility through it. ¹⁷And he came and announced the good news of peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near, ¹⁸because through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. ¹⁹So then you are no longer strangers and resident aliens, but fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of God's household, ²⁰built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone, ²¹in whom the whole building, fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, ²²in whom you too are being built together into a dwelling place for God in the Spirit.

Translation notes 6

2:1–5 — You and we. The Greek begins with “and you, being dead” and delays the main statement of being made alive until verse 5, where it speaks of “us.” The English supplies “were” in verse 1 while preserving that shift. “Walk” describes a way of life here and in verse 10, an image repeated throughout the letter.

2:2–3 — Air, flesh, and wrath. The ruler belongs to the letter's portrayal of hostile spiritual power; the expression is not about weather or human air travel. “Sons of disobedience” means people characterized by disobedience; “children of wrath” means people exposed to divine wrath, not merely angry people. “Flesh” includes embodied human desire, while the following reference to thoughts prevents reducing the problem to the body alone. “By nature” remains without an added account of how this condition is inherited or acquired.

2:8–10 — Gift and deeds. “This” most naturally looks back to being saved by grace through faith as a whole. It does not unambiguously isolate “faith” as its only referent. Deeds are excluded as the source of salvation in verse 9 and named as the purpose of the new creation in verse 10; the same Greek noun occurs in both.

2:11–12 — Israel and the promise. “Commonwealth” can also be understood as “citizenship.” The plural “covenants” and singular “promise” follow the Greek. The contrasting community labels are quoted as labels, and “in the flesh” is retained in both references to circumcision.

2:14–16 — The wall and one new person. The wall represents the hostility separating Jews and Gentiles; the Jerusalem temple barrier may be in view, but it is not explicitly named. “In his flesh” can attach to “abolishing” in verse 15 instead of “broke down.” The law is not narrowed in the text to ceremonial rules alone. “One new person” preserves the singular corporate human image; the Greek word here is the general word for a human being, not specifically a male. “Through it” at the end of verse 16 can also be “in him.”

2:20–22 — The shared building. The apostles and prophets are most naturally the messengers associated with the revelation in 3:5; the exact relation of these groups to the foundation is not spelled out. “The whole building” can also be “every building.” The singular temple and the repeated being-built-together language favor a unified community image. “Cornerstone” retains the building image without requiring a reconstruction of the stone's exact placement.