Ephesians 1:9-11
1:9 He did this when he revealed
to us the secret
of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth
in Christ,
1:10 toward the administration of the fullness of the times, to head up
all things in Christ – the things in heaven
and the things on earth.
1:11 In Christ
we too have been claimed as God’s own possession,
since we were predestined according to the one purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will
Ephesians 2:11-22
New Life Corporately
2:11 Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh – who are called “uncircumcision” by the so-called “circumcision” that is performed on the body by human hands –
2:12 that you were at that time without the Messiah, alienated from the citizenship of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
2:13 But now in Christ Jesus you who used to be far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
2:14 For he is our peace, the one who made both groups into one and who destroyed the middle wall of partition, the hostility,
2:15 when he nullified in his flesh the law of commandments in decrees. He did this to create in himself one new man out of two, thus making peace,
2:16 and to reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by which the hostility has been killed.
2:17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near,
2:18 so that through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.
2:19 So then you are no longer foreigners and noncitizens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household,
2:20 because you have been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.
2:21 In him the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord,
2:22 in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.