¹You were once dead because of your failures and sins. ²You followed the ways of this present world and its spiritual ruler. This ruler continues to work in people who refuse to obey God. ³All of us once lived among these people, and followed the desires of our corrupt nature. We did what our corrupt desires and thoughts wanted us to do. So, because of our nature, we deserved God’s anger just like everyone else.

⁴But God is rich in mercy because of his great love for us. ⁵We were dead because of our failures, but he made us alive together with Christ. (It is God’s kindness^athat saved you.) ⁶God has brought us back to life together with Christ Jesus and has given us a position in heaven with him. ⁷He did this through Christ Jesus out of his generosity to us in order to show his extremely rich kindness in the world to come. ⁸God saved you through faith as an act of kindness. You had nothing to do with it. Being saved is a gift from God. ⁹It’s not the result of anything you’ve done, so no one can brag about it. ¹⁰God has made us what we are. He has created us in Christ Jesus to live lives filled with good works that he has prepared for us to do.

Read in Logos

Ephesians 2:10: For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Footnotes

a 2:5 Or “grace.”