Ephesians 1:15 - 2:10

by Alyce.

Ephesians 1:15-23 (The Contemporary English Version)

¹⁵I have heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all of God’s people. ¹⁶So I never stop being grateful for you, as I mention you in my prayers. ¹⁷I ask the glorious Father and God of our Lord Jesus Christ to give you his Spirit. The Spirit will make you wise and let you understand what it means to know God. ¹⁸My prayer is that light will flood your hearts and that you will understand the hope that was given to you when God chose you. Then you will discover the glorious blessings that will be yours together with all of God’s people.¹⁹I want you to know about the great and mighty power that God has for us followers. It is the same wonderful power he used ²⁰when he raised Christ from death and let him sit at his right side in heaven. ²¹There Christ rules over all forces, authorities, powers, and rulers. He rules over all beings in this world and will rule in the future world as well. ²²God has put all things under the power of Christ, and for the good of the church he has made him the head of everything. ²³The church is Christ’s body and is filled with Christ who completely fills everything.

Ephesians 2

¹In the past you were dead because you sinned and fought against God. ²You followed the ways of this world and obeyed the devil. He rules the world, and his spirit has power over everyone who doesn’t obey God. ³Once we were also ruled by the selfish desires of our bodies and minds. We had made God angry, and we were going to be punished like everyone else.^4-5But God was merciful! We were dead because of our sins, but God loved us so much that he made us alive with Christ, and God’s wonderful kindness is what saves you. ⁶God raised us from death to life with Christ Jesus, and he has given us a place beside Christ in heaven. ⁷God did this so that in the future world he could show how truly good and kind he is to us because of what Christ Jesus has done. ⁸You were saved by faith in God, who treats us much better than we deserve. This is God’s gift to you, and not anything you have done on your own. ⁹It isn’t something you have earned, so there is nothing you can brag about. ¹⁰God planned for us to do good things and to live as he has always wanted us to live. That’s why he sent Christ to make us what we are.

QUESTIONS (Here they are again, in case you forgot them):

• What is the verse that sums up this passage? (key verse)
• What is the main idea of this passage?
• Which verse or verses made you think?
• Which verse did you have to read twice to understand?
• Are there any words that you don’t understand? Did you look up the meaning?
• Is there a key WORD that repeats OR sums up the idea of the passage?
• Did anything take you by surprise?
• Do you believe God had a plan as described?
• What part does Jesus play?
• If you were to give this a title, what would it be?
• How does this apply to your life today? Can you use this in your every day life? Can you use it for a) personal encouragement; b) encouragement to others; c) as a guide on how to deal with a problem; or d) as a guideline for an area of your life?
• How would you share this with someone else? Can you summarize it in a sentence or two?

These are guideline questions. Next week I will share what I found, but you all should answer these questions first. — Alyce

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