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Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
Ephesians 2:5 · King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
  • BSB made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our trespasses. It is by grace you have been saved!
  • NKJV even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
  • NASB even when we were dead in our wrongdoings, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
  • NLT that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!)

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

While we were spiritually dead, God made us alive together with Christ — by grace we are saved. It declares salvation as a sheer gift of resurrection grace.

Overview

Completing the thought begun in verse 1, Paul says God 'made us alive together with Christ' even in our deadness. Our new life is bound up with Christ's resurrection. The parenthesis 'by grace you have been saved' interrupts to underline the point: this salvation is entirely unearned, the gift of God's grace.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 18

  • Rom 3:24Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
  • Eph 2:8For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
  • Rom 5:10For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
  • Rom 5:8But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
  • Acts 15:11But we believe that through the grace of the LORD Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.
  • Eph 2:1And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
  • Rom 8:2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
  • Titus 2:11For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
  • Rom 4:16Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,
  • Eph 5:14Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.
  • Titus 3:5Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
  • Rom 5:6For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
  • John 5:21For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.
  • 2 Cor 13:14The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.
  • Rom 16:20And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.
  • Rom 11:5–6Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.
  • John 6:63It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
  • Rev 22:21The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (4)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Ephesians videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Ephesians 2:5YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on EphesiansMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

Every spiritual blessing is 'in Christ,' the head over all things for the church, in whom Jew and Gentile are made one new man by his blood.

How Ephesians 2:5 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.