So excited to keep going. This is the second chapter in our study and the great stuff is still coming. Today, more explanation of what it means to be in Christ versus still dead. And oh my the gifts. Come and study with me.
Ephesians 2 – New International Version
Please read Ephesians 2:1-2
Made Alive in Christ
1As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2in 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.
With Jesus, we no longer belong to the dead. He brought us to life and gave us the Holy Spirit.
Please read Ephesians 2:3
3All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh[a] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.
See what we will escape because we belong to Christ.
Please read Ephesians 2:4-5
4But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.
Great love..Rich in Mercy…Made Alive…With Christ — it is by Grace you have been Saved. Thank You, Lord.
Please read Ephesians 2:6-10
6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
I can remember, several years ago, not exactly how many, because nothing with God expires in my memory. I actually felt like more of me was with Him than was here. It was an amazing and strange feeling. Yet, I knew it was real. Because I know I have been raised up and seated with Christ in the heavenly realms. And every day we have the chance to see the incomparable riches of His grace expressed in Kindness to us in Christ Jesus. Every day for ever and ever.
In faith, through faith and not by works. Yet God prepared in advance good works for us to do. Good works. Blessed be His Name.
Please read Ephesians 2:11-13
Jew and Gentile Reconciled Through Christ
11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)— 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. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
Yes, we can remember that without Jesus, we are excluded and foreigners and have no covenants or promises and without God. In fact, dead. But now, in Christ Jesus we have been brought near and all of that is now ours. Amazing Grace.
Please read Ephesians 2:14-18
14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
One Spirit. The Holy Spirit. Jesus did all this, our Prince of Peace. Faith is all we have to have. Just faith.
Please read Ephesians 2:19-22
19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
Oh thank Jesus. Everything He’s done for us is beyond our imagination and everything we’ve still got ahead of us is better than we can even imagine. What a delightful book this is. Amazing words, amazing gifts. Keep going with me. Keep growing your faith.
Footnotes
Ephesians 2:3 -gratifying the cravings of our flesh[a] and following its desires and thoughts- In contexts like this, the Greek word for flesh (sarx) refers to the sinful state of human beings, often presented as a power in opposition to the Spirit.
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