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Bible chapter guide
Ephesians 2
Once dead in trespasses, we are made alive with Christ: 'by grace you have been saved through faith… not of works.' Christ has broken down the dividing wall between Jew and Gentile, making one new humanity, a holy temple built on the apostles and prophets with Christ as the cornerstone.
Summary written for the Labs; read the chapter itself for the full text.
See it in the Labs
Also in this chapter
The letter: who wrote it, where and when
These questions are debated; the views are shown side by side with how sure each is, as in Paul's Roads.
- Plausible
Ephesians written from Rome
The traditional view: Acts 28:30–31 has Paul two years under guard in Rome, free to receive visitors, and the letters mention Caesar's household and the praetorian guard (Philippians 1:13; 4:22).
- Plausible
Paul's authorship of Ephesians is debated.
Many scholars think this letter was written after Paul's death in his name; others hold that Paul wrote it. The lab shows the setting the letter itself gives and takes no side.
- Speculative
Ephesians written from Ephesus
Paul speaks of many imprisonments and of deadly peril in Asia (2 Corinthians 1:8; 11:23), and Ephesus lies close to Colossae and Philippi for the many journeys the letters assume; but Acts records no imprisonment at Ephesus.
- Speculative
Ephesians written from Caesarea
Paul was held two years at Caesarea (Acts 24:27) with friends allowed to visit him (24:23); a minority reading places some prison letters there.