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Ephesians 2:1-22 (MSG)

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¹ It wasn't so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. ² You let the world, which doesn't know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. ³ We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It's a wonder God didn't lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. ⁴ Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, ⁵ he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! ⁶ Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah. ⁷ Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It's God's gift from start to finish! ⁹ We don't play the major role. If we did, we'd probably go around bragging that we'd done the whole thing! ¹⁰ No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing. ¹¹ But don't take any of this for granted. It was only yesterday that you outsiders to God's ways ¹² had no idea of any of this, didn't know the first thing about the way God works, hadn't the faintest idea of Christ. You knew nothing of that rich history of God's covenants and promises in Israel, hadn't a clue about what God was doing in the world at l ¹³ Now because of Christ--dying that death, shedding that blood--you who were once out of it altogether are in on everything. ¹⁴ The Messiah has made things up between us so that we're now together on this, both non-Jewish outsiders and Jewish insiders. He tore down the wall we used to keep each other at a distance. ¹⁵ He repealed the law code that had become so clogged with fine print and footnotes that it hindered more than it helped. Then he started over. Instead of continuing with two groups of people separated by centuries of animosity and suspicion, he created a ¹⁶ Christ brought us together through his death on the Cross. The Cross got us to embrace, and that was the end of the hostility. ¹⁷ Christ came and preached peace to you outsiders and peace to us insiders. ¹⁸ He treated us as equals, and so made us equals. Through him we both share the same Spirit and have equal access to the Father. ¹⁹ That's plain enough, isn't it? You're no longer wandering exiles. This kingdom of faith is now your home country. You're no longer strangers or outsiders. You belong here, with as much right to the name Christian as anyone. God is building a home. He's u ²⁰ He used the apostles and prophets for the foundation. Now he's using you, fitting you in brick by brick, stone by stone, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone ²¹ that holds all the parts together. We see it taking shape day after day--a holy temple built by God, ²² all of us built into it, a temple in which God is quite at home.


This passage relates to the following topic(s):
(v. 1) Sin / Wickedness / Satan - Dead in sin, alive in Christ
(v. 2) Sin / Wickedness / Satan - Dead in sin, alive in Christ
(v. 3) Sin / Wickedness / Satan - Dead in sin, alive in Christ
(v. 4) Sin / Wickedness / Satan - Dead in sin, alive in Christ
(v. 5) Sin / Wickedness / Satan - Dead in sin, alive in Christ
(v. 8) Grace - Saved by grace
(v. 9) Grace - Saved by grace
(v. 14) Peace - Jesus is our peace
(v. 19) Church - Christ Jesus is the chief cornerstone
(v. 20) Church - Christ Jesus is the chief cornerstone
(v. 21) Church - Christ Jesus is the chief cornerstone
(v. 22) Church - Christ Jesus is the chief cornerstone

This passage relates to the following question(s):
(v. 8) Can anyone be saved by his own works? Grace is not from works

This passage is referenced in the following quiet time(s):
(v. 1) Saved by Grace through Faith (part II) (2010-12-26)
(v. 1) Grace (part I) (2011-11-25)
(v. 1) Our worst, His best (2010-06-29)
(v. 2) Our worst, His best (2010-06-29)
(v. 2) Names of Satan (part V) (2011-05-18)
(v. 2) Saved by Grace through Faith (part II) (2010-12-26)
(v. 2) Grace (part I) (2011-11-25)
(v. 2) Names of Satan (part VI) (2011-05-19)
(v. 3) Fearing God - Turning Aside Wrath (2011-08-30)
(v. 3) Our worst, His best (2010-06-29)
(v. 3) Grace (part I) (2011-11-25)
(v. 3) Saved by Grace through Faith (part II) (2010-12-26)
(v. 4) Our worst, His best (2010-06-29)
(v. 4) Saved by Grace through Faith (part II) (2010-12-26)
(v. 4) Grace (part I) (2011-11-25)
(v. 5) Waking Dead - Life to the Full (2010-08-23)
(v. 5) Our worst, His best (2010-06-29)
(v. 5) Saved by Grace through Faith (part II) (2010-12-26)
(v. 5) Grace (part I) (2011-11-25)
(v. 6) Blessings In Christ (part V) (2012-03-09)
(v. 6) Saved by Grace through Faith (part II) (2010-12-26)
(v. 7) Saved by Grace through Faith (part II) (2010-12-26)
(v. 8) Saved by Grace through Faith (part II) (2010-12-26)
(v. 8) Man of Prayer - Experiencing Forgiveness (2008-10-28)
(v. 8) Blessings In Christ (part I) (2012-03-05)
(v. 8) Grace (part III) (2011-11-27)
(v. 9) Grace (part III) (2011-11-27)
(v. 9) Blessings In Christ (part I) (2012-03-05)
(v. 9) Saved by Grace through Faith (part II) (2010-12-26)
(v. 10) Grace (part III) (2011-11-27)
(v. 10) Day 12 - Doing Good Things (2011-12-15)
(v. 10) Purpose Driven Life - Shaped for Serving God (2008-06-27)
(v. 10) Blessings In Christ (part I) (2012-03-05)
(v. 10) Purpose Driven Life - Accepting Your Assignment (2008-06-24)
(v. 10) Saved by Grace through Faith (part II) (2010-12-26)
(v. 11) Blessings In Christ (part I) (2012-03-05)
(v. 12) Blessings In Christ (part I) (2012-03-05)
(v. 13) Blessings In Christ (part I) (2012-03-05)
(v. 14) One Another - Reconciling with One Another (part 1) (2010-02-21)
(v. 14) Blessings In Christ (part I) (2012-03-05)
(v. 14) The Church - Kansas City (part I) (2011-02-21)
(v. 14) Man of Prayer - YHWH-shalom (2008-10-13)
(v. 15) Blessings In Christ (part I) (2012-03-05)
(v. 15) The Church - Kansas City (part I) (2011-02-21)
(v. 16) The Church - Kansas City (part I) (2011-02-21)
(v. 16) Blessings In Christ (part I) (2012-03-05)
(v. 16) One Another - Reconciling with One Another (part 1) (2010-02-21)
(v. 17) The Church - Kansas City (part I) (2011-02-21)
(v. 17) Blessings In Christ (part I) (2012-03-05)
(v. 18) Blessings In Christ (part I) (2012-03-05)
(v. 18) The Church - Kansas City (part I) (2011-02-21)
(v. 19) The Church - Kansas City (part I) (2011-02-21)
(v. 19) Names of the Church (part IV) (2011-04-28)
(v. 19) Followup: Relationships in the Body (part I) (2011-09-14)
(v. 19) Names of the Believers (part VI) (2011-05-06)
(v. 19) Church (part II) (2011-01-08)
(v. 20) Church (part II) (2011-01-08)
(v. 20) Followup: Relationships in the Body (part I) (2011-09-14)
(v. 20) The Church - Kansas City (part I) (2011-02-21)
(v. 21) Followup: Relationships in the Body (part I) (2011-09-14)
(v. 21) Church (part II) (2011-01-08)
(v. 21) The Church - Kansas City (part I) (2011-02-21)
(v. 22) Names of the Church (part III) (2011-04-27)
(v. 22) Followup: Relationships in the Body (part I) (2011-09-14)

This passage is referenced in the following study note(s):
(v. 1) Bible Talk: Thankfulness (2011-11-17)
(v. 2) Bible Talk: Thankfulness (2011-11-17)
(v. 3) Bible Talk: Thankfulness (2011-11-17)
(v. 4) Sermon: Before and After (2015-09-13)
(v. 4) Bible Talk: Thankfulness (2011-11-17)
(v. 5) Bible Talk: Thankfulness (2011-11-17)
(v. 5) Sermon: Before and After (2015-09-13)
(v. 6) Sermon: Before and After (2015-09-13)
(v. 6) Bible Talk: Thankfulness (2011-11-17)
(v. 7) Bible Talk: Thankfulness (2011-11-17)
(v. 7) Sermon: Before and After (2015-09-13)
(v. 8) Bible Talk: Thankfulness (2011-11-17)
(v. 8) Devotional: Faith, Good Works and Grace - The Balance (2008-12-12)
(v. 8) Sermon: Before and After (2015-09-13)
(v. 9) Sermon: Before and After (2015-09-13)
(v. 9) Bible Talk: Thankfulness (2011-11-17)
(v. 9) Devotional: Faith, Good Works and Grace - The Balance (2008-12-12)
(v. 10) Devotional: Faith, Good Works and Grace - The Balance (2008-12-12)
(v. 10) Bible Talk: Thankfulness (2011-11-17)
(v. 10) Sermon: Before and After (2015-09-13)
(v. 11) Bible Talk: The First Thanksgiving (2014-11-21)
(v. 12) Bible Talk: The First Thanksgiving (2014-11-21)
(v. 13) Bible Talk: The First Thanksgiving (2014-11-21)
(v. 19) Sermon: Galatians Study #1 (2009-03-01)
(v. 20) Sermon: Galatians Study #1 (2009-03-01)

Definition(s):
Jesus (Jeez-us): savior; deliverer