Ephesians 2
1 To you Gentiles also, who were dead through your offences and sins,
Formerly, because you were habitually sinning [DOU], you were ([spiritually] dead/[as unable to please God as a] corpse [MET] is).
2 which were once habitual to you while you walked in the ways of this world and obeyed the Prince of the powers of the air, the spirits that are now at work in the hearts of the sons of disobedience--to you God has given Life. (aiōn g165)
You were acting in the same [evil] way as those who oppose Christ [MTY] act. That is, you were behaving in the [evil] ways [that Satan wanted you to behave]. He rules over evil spiritual beings that no person can see [MTY]. He is the spirit who now powerfully controls the people who disobey God. (aiōn g165)
3 Among them all of us also formerly passed our lives, governed by the inclinations of our lower natures, indulging the cravings of those natures and of our own thoughts, and were in our original state deserving of anger like all others.
Formerly, we all used to disobey God as they do. We did the things that our self-centered nature wanted us to do. We habitually did those [evil] deeds that our bodies and our minds wanted to do. When we were acting like that, it was certain that [God] would punish [MTY] us, just like he will certainly punish all other [evil people].
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the intense love which He bestowed on us,
But God always acts very mercifully, and he loves us very much.
5 caused us, dead though we were through our offences, to live with Christ--it is by grace that you have been saved--
As a result, even when we were ([spiritually] dead/[as unable to please God as] a corpse [MET] is) because we were habitually sinning, he enabled us to receive [spiritual]/[eternal] life because of our relationship with Christ. [Do not forget this: It is only] because God has acted so kindly toward you, in a way that you did not deserve, that you are saved {that [he] saved you} [from the guilt of your sin]
6 raised us with Him from the dead, and enthroned us with Him in the heavenly realms as being in Christ Jesus,
And [it is as though] God gave us spiritual life when he caused Christ Jesus to be alive again after he died [MET]. And [it is as though] God caused us to sit [and rule] [MTY] with him in heaven,
7 in order that, by His goodness to us in Christ Jesus, He might display in the Ages to come the transcendent riches of His grace. (aiōn g165)
in order that he might show to everyone at all times in the future that he has acted toward us in an extremely kind way because of what Christ Jesus [did for us]. (aiōn g165)
8 For it is by grace that you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves. It is God's gift, and is not on the ground of merit--
It is [only] by [God] acting [PRS] [toward you] in a way that you did not deserve that you have been saved {that he has saved you} as a result of your trusting [in Christ]. You did not save yourselves. His saving you was his gift to you.
9 so that it may be impossible for any one to boast.
He did not save any of you because of anything you yourselves did. Because you have done nothing [to save yourselves], you cannot be proud of your efforts to save yourselves.
10 For we are God's own handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for good works which He has pre-destined us to practise.
It is God who has made us what we are now. Because of our relationship with Christ Jesus, he has enabled us to receive [spiritual/eternal] life in order that we should conduct our lives habitually doing the good deeds that God previously planned for us to do.
11 Therefore, do not forget that formerly you were Gentiles as to your bodily condition. You were called the Uncircumcision by those who style themselves the Circumcised--their circumcision being one which the knife has effected.
You [Ephesians] have been non-Jews from the time that you were born. The Jews ([insult you/say that you are not God’s people]) [by] calling you ‘those who are not circumcised’. They [proudly] call themselves ‘we [(exc)] who are circumcised’. [They have allowed people to] circumcise [them to indicate that they are God’s people, but] that has [only] changed their bodies, [not their] ([inner beings/hearts]).
12 At that time you were living apart from Christ, estranged from the Commonwealth of Israel, with no share by birth in the Covenants which are based on the Promises, and you had no hope and no God, in all the world.
You should constantly remember these things: Formerly you did not have any relationship with Christ. You did not belong to the people of Israel, [the people whom God chose]. You did not know about the things God promised in his agreements [with his people]. You did not confidently expect to go to heaven after you die (OR, [that God would save you]). You [lived] in this world without knowing God.
13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were so far away have been brought near through the death of Christ.
But now, because of your relationship with Christ Jesus, God has brought you, who had no relationship with him [MET], into his family [MET]. He did that because [you trusted in what Christ accomplished when] his blood [MTY] [flowed from his body when he died on the cross].
14 For He is our peace--He who has made Jews and Gentiles one, and in His own human nature has broken down the hostile dividing wall,
Christ himself [has caused us Jewish and non-Jewish believers] to have peace [with each other]. He has made both [of our groups] to become one [group]. [Just like people] (tear down/demolish) a wall that separates [groups of people] [MET], he has destroyed the hatred [between Jews and non-Jews].
15 by setting aside the Law with its commandments, expressed, as they were, in definite decrees. His design was to unite the two sections of humanity in Himself so as to form one new man,
By dying [MTY] [for us on the cross] he made it no longer [necessary for us to obey] all the [Jewish] laws and rituals [in order to be saved]. He did that in order to enable the two [groups] to become one new group because of our relationship with him. The result was that he has caused us to have peace [with each other].
16 thus effecting peace, and to reconcile Jews and Gentiles in one body to God, by means of His cross--slaying by it their mutual enmity.
By [dying on] the cross [MTY] he caused both Jews and non-Jews to have a peaceful relationship with God. That is how he caused us to no longer be [MET] enemies [with God] (OR, [with each other]).
17 So He came and proclaimed good news of peace to you who were so far away, and peace to those who were near;
He came [to earth] and proclaimed that you [non-Jews], who did not have a relationship with [MET] [God], and [us(exc) Jews], who [considered that we(exc) belonged to] [MET] God’s [family], can [all] now have peace [with God].
18 because it is through Him that Jews and Gentiles alike have access through one Spirit to the Father.
[We know that he has done that] because we both, [Jews and non-Jews], are [now] able to approach God the Father in prayer by the help of his Spirit, because of what Christ [has done].
19 You are therefore no longer mere foreigners or persons excluded from civil rights. On the contrary you share citizenship with God's people and are members of His family.
So [God no longer treats] you [non-Jews] as [people treat] [MET] foreigners and strangers [who live among them] [MET]. Instead, along with all God’s people, [it is as though] you have become citizens of a country that he rules over, and [as though you have become] members of the family [of which he is the father] [MET].
20 You are a building which has been reared on the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, the cornerstone being Christ Jesus Himself,
[Just like] a building is built {[as someone] builds a building} on a foundation, [God has joined you into one group that originated/began] from what the apostles and prophets [taught]. Christ Jesus is the [most important one in that group, just like a] cornerstone [is the most important part of a building]. And
21 in union with whom the whole fabric, fitted and closely joined together, is growing so as to form a holy sanctuary in the Lord;
just like [a builder might] join together all the parts of a building to make it a temple that [people will] dedicate to the Lord [MET], [Christ is continually causing all of] you who have a relationship with [him to be united, in order that you will become one holy group].
22 in whom you also are being built up together to become a fixed abode for God through the Spirit.
And because of your relationship with Christ, [God] is joining you [non-Jews] together with [Jewish believers] to be [like] one building [MET] in which his Spirit lives.
