Ephesians 2:1-10
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in 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. 3 All 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. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in 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.
Bitesize Study
1. How do v1-3 paint the stark reality of a Christian’s former state? Compare this with the way we tend to think of ourselves by nature.
2. What is the transformation described in v4-10? Why is this such good news in light of what’s come before?
3. How does this section show us God’s “incomparably great power for us who believe” (1:19)? How might our lives look different if we really grasped v8-10?
We’ve got a whole range of resources to help us get stuck into Ephesians this term.
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