Bible / Ephesians
Ephesians 2
Douay-Rheims Bible, Challoner revision (1749–1752), the traditional Catholic English Bible, translated from the Latin Vulgate. If you read a modern Bible, this is the same Scripture in older English; some names are spelled differently (Cesarea for Caesarea, Apocalypse for Revelation). About this translation
1 And you, when you were dead in your offences and sins,
2 Wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of this air, of the spirit that now worketh on the children of unbelief: Fathers
3 In which also we all conversed in time past, in the desires of our flesh, fulfilling the will of the flesh and of our thoughts, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest: CCC
4 But God (who is rich in mercy) for his exceeding charity wherewith he loved us CCC
5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together in Christ (by whose grace you are saved) CCC
6 And hath raised us up together and hath made us sit together in the heavenly places, through Christ Jesus. CCC
7 That he might shew in the ages to come the abundant riches of his grace, in his bounty towards us in Christ Jesus. Fathers
8 For by grace you are saved through faith: and that not of yourselves, for it is the gift of God. 1 Fathers
9 Not of works, that no man may glory. Fathers
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus in good works, which God hath prepared that we should walk in them.
11 For which cause be mindful that you, being heretofore gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by that which is called circumcision in the flesh, made by hands:
12 That you were at that time without Christ, being aliens from the conversation of Israel and strangers to the testament, having no hope of the promise and without God in this world.
13 But now in Christ Jesus, you, who some time were afar off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ. Fathers
14 For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and breaking down the middle wall of partition, the enmities in his flesh: CCC
15 Making void the law of commandments contained in decrees: that he might make the two in himself into one new man, making peace. Fathers
16 And might reconcile both to God in one body by the cross, killing the enmities in himself. CCC
17 And coming, he preached peace to you that were afar off: and peace to them that were nigh. Fathers
18 For by him we have access both in one Spirit to the Father. CCC
19 Now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners: but you are fellow citizens with the saints and the domestics of God, CCC
20 Built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone: CCC · Fathers
21 In whom all the building, being framed together, groweth up into an holy temple in the Lord. CCC
22 In whom you also are built together into an habitation of God in the Spirit. CCC
Where our lessons quote this chapter
This chapter in the Catechism and the early Church
Where the Catechism of the Catholic Church cites these verses (from its footnotes on vatican.va), and where the earliest Church Fathers quote them (Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1, public domain). Short quotes only; follow the links for the full text.
Read the Fathers
“… himself the glory of a king among those ignorant of his apostasy and robbery; so likewise also the devil, being one among those angels who are placed over the spirit of the air, as the Apostle Paul has declared in his Epistle to the Ephesians,”
Quoted in Against Heresies, Book V, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XXIV. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
Read the Catechism
- CCC 2515 “Etymologically, "concupiscence" can refer to any intense form of human desire. Christian theology has given it a particular meaning: the movement of…”
Read the Catechism
- CCC 211 “The divine name, "I Am" or "He Is", expresses God's faithfulness: despite the faithlessness of men's sin and the punishment it deserves,…”
- CCC 654 “The Paschal mystery has two aspects: by his death, Christ liberates us from sin; by his Resurrection, he opens for us the…”
- CCC 1073 “The liturgy is also a participation in Christ's own prayer addressed to the Father in the Holy Spirit. In the liturgy, all…”
Read the Catechism
- CCC 654 “The Paschal mystery has two aspects: by his death, Christ liberates us from sin; by his Resurrection, he opens for us the…”
Read the Fathers
“… things of time for man, so that coming to maturity in them, he may produce the fruit of immortality; and who, through His kindness, also bestows [upon him] eternal things, "that in the ages to come He may show the exceeding riches of His grace;”
Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter V. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
Read the Fathers
“… dead, having loosed the bands of the grave." "In whom, though now ye see Him not, ye believe, and believing, rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory;" into which joy many desire to enter, knowing that "by grace ye are saved, not of works,”
Quoted in Letter to the Philippians, St. Polycarp of Smyrna (early 2nd century), Chapter I. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
Read the Fathers
“… dead, having loosed the bands of the grave." "In whom, though now ye see Him not, ye believe, and believing, rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory;" into which joy many desire to enter, knowing that "by grace ye are saved, not of works,”
Quoted in Letter to the Philippians, St. Polycarp of Smyrna (early 2nd century), Chapter I. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
Read the Fathers
“… and His subjection to death, he employs the name of Christ, as in that passage: "Destroy not him with thy meat for whom Christ died." And again: "But now, in Christ, ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.”
Quoted in Against Heresies, Book III, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XVIII. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
“have been brought near in the blood of Christ;”
Quoted in Against Heresies, Book V, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XIV. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
Read the Catechism
- CCC 2305 “Earthly peace is the image and fruit of the peace of Christ, the messianic "Prince of Peace." By the blood of his…”
Read the Fathers
“have been brought near in the blood of Christ;" and again, "Abolishing in His flesh the enmities, [even] the law of commandments [contained] in ordinances.”
Quoted in Against Heresies, Book V, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XIV. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
Read the Catechism
- CCC 2305 “Earthly peace is the image and fruit of the peace of Christ, the messianic "Prince of Peace." By the blood of his…”
Read the Fathers
“He, appearing in these last times, the chief cornerstone, has gathered into one, and united those that were far off and those that were near;”
Quoted in Against Heresies, Book III, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter V. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
Read the Catechism
- CCC 51 “It pleased God, in his goodness and wisdom, to reveal himself and to make known the mystery of his will. His will…”
Read the Catechism
- CCC 756 “Often, too, the Church is called the building of God. the Lord compared himself to the stone which the builders rejected, but…”
Read the Catechism and Fathers
- CCC 756 “Often, too, the Church is called the building of God. the Lord compared himself to the stone which the builders rejected, but…”
- CCC 857 “The Church is apostolic because she is founded on the apostles, in three ways: - she was and remains built on "the…”
“… he might be the father of all who follow the Word of God, and who sustain a life of pilgrimage in this world, that is, of those who from among the circumcision and of those from among the uncircumcision are faithful, even as also "Christ”
Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XXV. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
Read the Catechism
- CCC 756 “Often, too, the Church is called the building of God. the Lord compared himself to the stone which the builders rejected, but…”
A modern English Catholic translation will be added once its publisher grants permission.