TOM · The Owner's Manual · New Testament

Ephesians 2

Chapter 2 in 30 seconds

You were dead in sin, following the ruler of the air. But God, who is rich in mercy, made you alive with Christ. You are saved by grace through faith, not by works. Jesus tore down the wall between Jews and Gentiles. Now you are one family, a temple built out of people.

Tap a color to hide it

In this chapterThe Big QuestionThe Church Is Not a Building · after verse 22 Field Notes · ArchaeologyThe Terrace Houses of Ephesus · after verse 22 Field Notes · ArchaeologyThe Dura Europos House Church · after verse 22 Field Notes · ArchaeologyThe Megiddo Prayer Hall · after verse 22 Field Notes · ArchaeologyThe Fish · after verse 22

Alive with Christ// Colossians 2:6–23

¹And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, ²in which you used to walk when you conformed to the ways of this world and of the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit who is now at work in the sons of disobedience. ³All of us also lived among them at one time, fulfilling the cravings of our flesh and indulging its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature children of wrath.

EPH 2:1[DEMONIC]The ruler of the power of the air

⁴But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our trespasses. It is by grace you have been saved! ⁶And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, ⁷in order that in the coming ages He might display the surpassing riches of His grace, demonstrated by His kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

⁸For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, ⁹not by works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life.

EPH 2:8[NOTABLE]The gospel in three verses. Grace means a gift you did not earn. Faith is how you receive it. Works do not save you, but you were saved to do good works, 2:10. The Greek word for workmanship is poiema, where we get poem. You are God's work of art.

One in Christ// Philippians 2:1–4

¹¹Therefore remember that formerly you who are Gentiles in the flesh and called uncircumcised by the so-called circumcision (that done in the body by human hands)— ¹²remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. ¹³But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.

¹⁴For He Himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has torn down the dividing wall of hostility ¹⁵by abolishing in His flesh the law of commandments and decrees. He did this to create in Himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace ¹⁶and reconciling both of them to God in one body through the cross, by which He put to death their hostility.

EPH 2:14[FULFILLS]The Ruler would shepherd His flock in the strength of Yahweh, His greatness would reach the ends of the earth, and He would be our peace ← MIC 5:4-5MEDIUM
EPH 2:14[FIELD NOTES]The dividing wall: see The Temple Warning Inscription page in Acts.

¹⁷He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. ¹⁸For through Him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

EPH 2:17[FULFILLS]'Peace to him that is far off and to him that is near' ← IS 57:19

Christ Our Cornerstone// Isaiah 28:14–22; 1 Corinthians 3:10–15; 1 Peter 2:1–8

¹⁹Therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household, ²⁰built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone. ²¹In Him the whole building is fitted together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord. ²²And in Him you too are being built together into a dwelling place for God in His Spirit.

EPH 2:19[FULFILLS]Many nations would join themselves to Yahweh and become His people ← ZECH 2:11MEDIUM
EPH 2:20[FULFILLS]The Cornerstone from Judah ← ZECH 10:4MEDIUM
EPH 2:20[THE BIG IDEA]See The Church Is Not a Building page.

The Big Question

The Church Is Not a Building

Ephesians 2:19 to 22 · 4:12 · Romans 16:5 · Acts 18:3

WHAT A CHURCH IS: The Greek word for church is ekklesia. It means people called out and gathered together. It never meant a building. Paul says you are being built together into a dwelling place for God, 2:22, and Peter calls believers living stones, 1 Peter 2:5. Jesus is the cornerstone, 2:20. The church is the people.
CHURCH IN THE HOUSE: The first Christians met in homes: the church that meets at their house, Romans 16:5. In Ephesus the church met in the home of Priscilla and Aquila, 1 Corinthians 16:19. Others met in the homes of Nympha, Colossians 4:15, and Philemon, Philemon 2. They also used rented halls, Acts 19:9, riverbanks and courtyards. For about 200 years there were no church buildings.
THE FIRST CHURCH BUILDINGS: The oldest ones ever found come from about AD 230 to 300: a prayer hall at Megiddo in Israel, about AD 230, though some date it later; a house turned into a church at Dura Europos in Syria, about AD 240; and a church at Aqaba in Jordan, about AD 300, maybe the first one built from the ground up. All are ruins now. Etchmiadzin Cathedral in Armenia was founded about AD 301, but the building standing today is from AD 483. Big church buildings came after Constantine.
A CRIME TO BELIEVE: For almost 300 years, Christianity had no legal standing in Rome, and persecution came in waves. Nero blamed Christians for the fire of Rome in AD 64. Decius demanded sacrifices to the gods in AD 250. Diocletian ordered churches torn down and Bibles burned in AD 303. Galerius gave tolerance in AD 311, and Constantine and Licinius made the faith legal with the Edict of Milan in AD 313.
WORK AND WORSHIP ARE ONE WORD: In Hebrew, avodah means work, worship and service all at once. Adam was put in the garden to work it, Genesis 2:15, and God freed Israel to serve and worship Him, Exodus 3:12. It is the same word. The Bible does not split life into holy jobs and regular jobs. Paul made tents to pay for his mission, Acts 18:3 and 20:34. Your business can be your ministry, Colossians 3:23.
EVERYONE IS IN MINISTRY: Leaders are given to equip the saints for works of ministry, 4:12. Ministry is not something the pastor does while you watch. It is what every believer does, at home, at work and on the street.
WHY IT MATTERS: A building can be a great tool. But if every church building burned down tomorrow, the church would still be standing, because the church is you.

Field Notes · Archaeology

The Terrace Houses of Ephesus

Ephesians 2:19 to 22 · 1 Corinthians 16:19

A room in Terrace House 2, Ephesus, with painted walls and a mosaic floor, under its modern roof. Photo Satirdan kahraman, CC BY SA 4.0.

WHAT IT IS: Rich family homes built in steps up the hillside on the main street of Ephesus. Terrace House 2 holds seven homes, some two stories tall, with courtyards, painted walls, marble floors, mosaics, running water and even heated floors.
HOW OLD IT IS: The first homes were built around the time of Augustus, just before Jesus was born. Families lived in them, remodeling again and again, for about 250 years, until earthquakes destroyed them in the AD 200s. So they were lived in when Paul was in Ephesus.
WHERE THE CHURCH MET: A house like this, with a big open courtyard, could hold maybe 30 to 50 people. That is how big many early churches were. In Ephesus the church met in the house of Priscilla and Aquila, 1 Corinthians 16:19. Wealthy believers opened their homes, and slaves and masters ate at the same table.
WHAT A HOUSE CHURCH WAS LIKE: They shared a meal, the Lord's Supper, sang psalms and hymns, 5:19, read letters from apostles out loud, prayed and used their gifts, 1 Corinthians 14:26. Everyone was family, members of God's household, 2:19.
WHERE IT IS TODAY: In the ruins of Ephesus, near Selçuk, Turkey, under a protective roof opened in 2000. Visitors walk on glass walkways above the rooms.
WHAT IT CONFIRMS: Ephesus had large homes like the ones the New Testament says churches met in.
WHAT IT DOES NOT PROVE: No one knows if a church ever met in these exact homes, or where Priscilla and Aquila lived.

CONFIDENCE: HIGH FOR THE HOUSES · NO CHURCH PROVEN HERE

Field Notes · Archaeology

The Dura Europos House Church

Ephesians 2:19 to 22 · Mark 2:1 to 12

Jesus heals a paralyzed man, who walks away carrying his bed. Wall painting from the baptism room of the Dura Europos church, now at Yale University Art Gallery.

WHAT IT IS: A normal house in a Roman border town on the Euphrates River in Syria that believers remodeled into a church. They knocked out a wall to make a meeting room for about 60 people and turned a small room into a baptism room with a pool. Its walls were painted with Bible stories: the Good Shepherd, Adam and Eve, Jesus healing a paralyzed man, Jesus and Peter walking on water, and the women coming to the tomb.
HOW OLD IT IS: A date scratched into the house says it was built about AD 232. It became a church soon after, about AD 240. About AD 256 the Persians attacked. The Romans filled the houses along the city wall with dirt to make the wall stronger, which buried the church and saved it.
HOW IT WAS FOUND: British soldiers digging trenches found painted walls in 1920. Yale University and French scholars dug there from 1928 to 1937. The baptism room was taken apart and rebuilt in a museum at Yale.
AN EARLY PICTURE OF JESUS: The painting of Jesus healing the paralyzed man, Mark 2, is one of the oldest pictures of Jesus anyone has found. He looks like a young man in a simple robe, not the long haired figure of later art.
WHERE IT IS TODAY: The baptism room is at the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven, Connecticut. The site in Syria was badly looted during the war that began in 2011.
WHAT IT CONFIRMS: The early church met in homes, and believers turned a home into a place to gather, baptize and remember Jesus.
WHAT IT DOES NOT PROVE: It was not the first church ever. It is just the oldest house church anyone has found.

CONFIDENCE: HIGH

Field Notes · Archaeology

The Megiddo Prayer Hall

Ephesians 2:19 to 22 · John 20:28

The Akeptous inscription in the floor of the Megiddo prayer hall: offered the table to God Jesus Christ. Photo Vesafis Tzferris, CC BY SA 4.0.

WHAT IT IS: The mosaic floor of an early Christian prayer hall, found in 2005 at Kefar Othnay near Megiddo, Israel, when prisoners dug for a new building at Megiddo Prison. The floor has geometric patterns, a picture of two fish and three Greek inscriptions.
HOW OLD IT IS: The archaeologist who dug it, Yotam Tepper, dated it about AD 230, which would make it one of the oldest Christian buildings ever found. Other scholars think it is a little later, late 200s or early 300s. The date is still debated.
TO GOD JESUS CHRIST: The most famous inscription says: The God loving Akeptous has offered the table to God Jesus Christ as a memorial. The table was probably for the Lord's Supper. It is one of the oldest inscriptions anywhere that calls Jesus God, just like Thomas did, My Lord and my God, John 20:28.
WOMEN AND A SOLDIER: Akeptous was a woman, and another inscription remembers four more women by name. A third says a Roman army officer named Gaianus paid for the mosaic. Soldiers and women, rich and poor, worshiped together, just like the one family of 2:19.
WHERE IT IS TODAY: It was found on the grounds of Megiddo Prison, where it has mostly stayed, covered for protection. Parts of it have been shown in museums abroad.
WHAT IT CONFIRMS: Long before Christianity was legal, believers worshiped Jesus as God and set aside a room to do it.
WHAT IT DOES NOT PROVE: Because the date is debated, no one can say for sure it is the very oldest church building.

CONFIDENCE: HIGH FOR THE FIND · DATE DEBATED

Field Notes · Archaeology

The Fish

Ephesians 2:19 to 22 · Mark 6:41 · Hebrews 6:19

Top left: the gravestone of Licinia Amias, Rome, early 200s. Top right: the fish and bread mosaic at Tabgha by the Sea of Galilee, about AD 480. Bottom: ICHTHYS and the fish wheel carved at Ephesus, lines traced in red for visitors. Bottom photo David Bjorgen, CC BY SA 3.0.

WHAT IT IS: Three real Christian fish from three different centuries. Top left: the marble gravestone of a woman named Licinia Amias, from a cemetery near the Vatican in Rome. It shows two fish facing an anchor and the Greek words ICHTHYS ZONTON, Fish of the living. Top right: a floor mosaic of two fish beside a basket of bread at the Church of the Multiplication at Tabgha, where tradition says Jesus fed the 5,000. Bottom: the word ICHTHYS carved into a marble slab in Ephesus, next to a wheel made by stacking its five letters on top of each other.
HOW OLD IT IS: The gravestone is from the early 200s, while the faith was still illegal, so it is one of the oldest Christian inscriptions anywhere. The Tabgha mosaic is from about AD 480, long after the faith became legal. The Ephesus carving has no exact date and is probably from the 300s or later. About AD 200, Clement of Alexandria told Christians to put a fish on their seal rings.
DETAILS TO LOOK FOR: The D M at the top of the gravestone is a pagan Roman phrase, to the spirits of the dead. Stone carvers put it on almost every grave, and some Christians kept it. The anchor is the Christian sign of hope, Hebrews 6:19. In the Tabgha basket there are only four loaves, because the fifth loaf is the altar stone right above it.
WHAT ICHTHYS MEANS: The five Greek letters stand for Iesous Christos Theou Huios Soter: Jesus Christ, God's Son, Savior. A whole creed in one word. It also recalled Jesus feeding the crowds with bread and fish, Mark 6:41.
THE SECRET CODE STORY: You may have heard that a Christian would draw one curve in the sand, and if the stranger drew the other curve, they knew they were both on Team Jesus. It is a great story, but no ancient writer tells it. It comes from a guess made in the 1800s and the 1951 movie Quo Vadis. The fish is real and very old. The secret handshake is probably a legend. And the simple two line fish on cars today only became popular in the 1970s. The first Christians carved real looking fish, like the ones on this page.

CONFIDENCE: HIGH FOR THE SYMBOL · LOW FOR THE SECRET CODE STORY

Ephesians 2

Alive with Christ// Colossians 2:6–23

One in Christ// Philippians 2:1–4

Christ Our Cornerstone// Isaiah 28:14–22; 1 Corinthians 3:10–15; 1 Peter 2:1–8

See the whole Bible light up in color.

Frequently asked questions