Joy of Living bible study on Paul's letter to the Ephesians

3. Now we find ourselves in it, our feet
on the actual ground. We smell the
wild resins and blossom, touch the
textured tree bark, feel the rain on
our heads and the wind in our faces.
We are in the country of salvation, the
land of resurrection, in the company
of resurrection men and women.
Practice Resurrection
Eugene Peterson, pg. 88

5. Immediately after his prayer, Paul
reminds the Ephesians of the reality
of personal sin. Like them, we must
never forget our past, the condition
from which Jesus saved us. Those
memories are the best fuel for our
gratitude to Christ for all he has
done in our behalf.
LIFE Application Bible

9. And although you were dead in your
transgressions and sins, in which you
formerly lived according to this world’s
present path, according to the ruler of the
kingdom of the air, the ruler of the spirit
that is now energizing the sons of
disobedience, among whom all of us also
formerly lived out our lives in the cravings
of our flesh, indulging the desires of the
flesh and the mind, and were by nature
children of wrath even as the rest…
Ephesians 2:1-3

10. It wasn’t so long ago that you were mired in
that old stagnant life of sin. You let the
world, which doesn’t know the first thing
about living, tell you how to live. You filled
your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then
exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us
doing what we felt like doing, when we felt
like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It’s a
wonder God didn’t lose his temper and do
away with the whole lot of us.
Ephesians 2:1-3
The Message

13. Sexual Immorality – “Interpersonal activity
involving sex organs that does not conform to
God’s revealed laws governing sexuality. The
account of creation (Gen 1:1-28) includes
reproductive activity as an essential part of the
developmental scheme. This important
function is given special prominence in the
narrative describing the creation of woman
(Gen 2:21-24). In a process cloaked in mystery,
God takes an aspect of Adam and fashions it
into a genetic counterpart that is specifically
female, and which matches Adam’s maleness
for purposes of reproducing the species.

14. Adam and Eve are thus equal and
complementary to one another, of the same
physical and genetic composition apart from
the slight difference that governs the
characteristic nature of male and female
fetuses. God tells them to “Be fruitful and
increase in number; fill all the earth and
subdue it” (Gen 1:28).”
Christiany.com

16. And although you were dead in your
transgressions and sins, in which you
formerly lived according to this world’s
present path, according to the ruler of the
kingdom of the air, the ruler of the spirit
that is now energizing the sons of
disobedience, among whom all of us also
formerly lived out our lives in the cravings
of our flesh, indulging the desires of the
flesh and the mind, and were by nature
children of wrath even as the rest…
Ephesians 2:1-3

19. But God, being rich in mercy, because of his
great love with which he loved us, even
though we were dead in transgressions, made
us alive together with Christ—by grace you
are saved!–
Ephesians 2:4-5

20. But God, being rich in mercy, because of his
great love with which he loved us, even
though we were dead in transgressions, made
us alive together with Christ—by grace you
are saved!– and he raised us up with him and
seated us with him in the heavenly realms in
Christ Jesus,
Ephesians 2:4-6

22. What shall we say then? Are we to remain in
sin so that grace may increase? Absolutely
not! How can we who died to sin still live in it?
Or do you not know that as many as were
baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into
his death?
Romans 6:1-3

24. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also
live with him. We know that since Christ has been raised
from the dead, he is never going to die again; death no
longer has mastery over him. For the death he died, he
died to sin once for all, but the life he lives, he lives to
God. So you too consider yourselves dead to sin, but alive
to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in
your mortal body so that you obey its desires, and do not
present your members to sin as instruments to be used
for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as
those who are alive from the dead and your members to
God as instruments to be used for righteousness. For sin
will have no mastery over you, because you are not under
law but under grace.
Romans 6:8-14

25. Could it be any clearer? Our old way of life was nailed to
the Cross with Christ, a decisive end to that sin-miserable
life—no longer at sin’s every beck and call! What we
believe is this: If we get included in Christ’s sin-
conquering death, we also get included in his life-saving
resurrection. We know that when Jesus was raised from
the dead it was a signal of the end of death-as-the-end.
Never again will death have the last word. When Jesus
died, he took sin down with him, but alive he brings God
down to us. From now on, think of it this way: Sin speaks
a dead language that means nothing to you; God speaks
your mother tongue, and you hang on every word. You
are dead to sin and alive to God. That’s what Jesus did.
Romans 6:6-11, The Message