IN CHRIST (Ephesians 2:1-22)
IN CHRIST
ONCE FAR-AWAY, NOW NEAR
ONCE LIVING DEAD, NOW LIVING ALIVE
NOW
TOGETHER WITH CHRIST
SAVED AND RAISED
RECONCILED TO GOD
ACCORDING TO THE COURSE OF CHRIST
HE IS OUR PEACE
AND
WE ARE HIS WORK
CREATED IN CHRIST JESUS FOR GOOD WORKS
BEING BUILT TOGETHER — EDIFIED
BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD
INTO A DWELLING PLACE FOR GOD
NOW
HAVING ACCESS TO THE FATHER
BY GRACE, THROUGH FAITH
IN CHRIST
“And you were dead by reason of your trespasses and sins, in which you once lived according to the course of this world, according to the ruler of the realm of the air, of the spirit that is now energizing the sons of disobedience. Among them we also all once lived in the passions of our flesh, gratifying the desires and impulses of the flesh, and were by nature children of wrath, just like everyone else. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even though we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved — and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, to demonstrate in the ages to come the incomparable riches of his grace in kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; it is not of works, so that no one may boast.
For we are His work, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared in advance that we should do them. So remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called the uncircumcision by those called the circumcision — made in the flesh by hands — remember that at that time you were apart from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who were at that time far away have come near through the blood of Christ. For He is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down the dividing wall, having abolished in His flesh the hostility, the law of commandments and regulations, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and to reconcile both to God in one body through the cross, having put the hostility to death in Himself. And He came and preached the good news of peace to you who were far off and of peace to those who were near; for through Him we both have access by the one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, the cornerstone being Christ Jesus Himself, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”
(Ephesians 2:1-22 MOUNCE)
Photo Credit: The Narrow Road
