Ephesians 2:3

Easy To Read Version

In the past, all of us lived like those people. We lived trying to please our sinful selves. We did all the things our bodies and minds wanted. We were \{evil\} people. We should have suffered God’s anger because of the way we were. We were the same as all other people.

Cross References

Genesis 5:3

After Adam was 130 years old, he had another son. This son looked just like Adam. [34] Adam named his son Seth.

Genesis 6:5

The Lord saw that the people on the earth were very evil. The Lord saw that people thought only about evil things all the time.

Genesis 8:21

The Lord smelled these sacrifices, and it pleased him. The Lord said to himself, “I will never again curse the ground as a way to punish people. People are evil from the time that they are young. So I will never again destroy every living thing on the earth like I have just done.

Job 14:4

“But what does something clean\par have in common with something dirty?\par Nothing!\par

Job 25:4

Compared to God, no person is good.\par No human being {\cf2\super [45]} can really be pure.\par

Psalm 51:5

I was born in sin,\par and in sin my mother conceived me.\par

Isaiah 53:6

But \{even after he did this,\} all of us wandered away like sheep. We all went our own way. \{We did this after\} the Lord \{freed us from our guilt and\} put all our guilt on him.

Mark 4:19

But then these things come into their lives: the worries of this life, the love of money, and wanting all kinds of other things. These things stop the teaching from growing. So that teaching does not make fruit {\cf2\super [53]} \{in the lives of those people\}.

John 1:13

These children were not born like little babies are born. They were not born from the wish or plan of a \{mother and\} father. These children were born from God.

John 8:44

Your father is the devil. You belong to him. You want to do what he wants. The devil was a murderer from the beginning. He was always against the truth. There is no truth in him. He is like the lies he tells. Yes, the devil is a liar. He is the father of lies.

Acts 14:16

In the past, God let all the nations do what they wanted.

Romans 1:24

People were full of sin, wanting only to do evil things. So God left them and let them go their sinful way. And so they became full of sexual sins, using their bodies wrongly with each other.

Romans 11:30

At one time you refused to obey God. But now you have received mercy, because those people (the Jews) refused to obey.

Romans 13:14

But become like the Lord Jesus Christ, so when people see what you do, they will see Christ. Don’t think about how to satisfy your sinful self and the bad things you want to do.

Romans 2:14

(The non-Jews don’t have the law. But when they naturally do things that the law commands without even knowing the law, then they are their own law. This is true even though they don’t have the written law.

Romans 5:10

I mean that while we were God’s enemies, God made friends with us through the death of his Son. So surely, now that we are God’s friends, God will save us through his Son’s life.

Romans 5:9

We have been made right with God by Christ’s blood (death). So through Christ we will surely be saved from God’s anger.

Romans 6:12

But don’t let sin control you in your life here on earth. You must not be ruled by the things your sinful self makes you want to do.

Romans 7:18

Yes, I know that nothing good lives in me—I mean nothing good lives in the part of me that is not spiritual. I want to do the things that are good. But I don’t do those things.

Romans 9:22

It is the same way with what God has done. God wanted to show his anger and to let people see his power. But God endured patiently those people he was angry with—people that were ready to be destroyed.

1 Corinthians 4:7

Who says that you are better than other people? Everything you have was given to you. So, if everything you have was given to you, then why do you boast like you got those things by your own power?

2 Corinthians 7:1

Dear friends, we have these promises \{from God\}. So we should make ourselves pure—free from anything that makes our body or our soul unclean. We should try to become perfect in the way we live, because we respect God.

Galatians 3:22

But this is not true, because the Scriptures {\cf2\super [42]} showed that all people are bound by sin. Why did the Scriptures do this? So that the promise would be given to people through faith. The promise is given to people who believe in Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 2:2

Yes, in the past you lived doing those sins. You lived the way the world lives. You followed the ruler of the evil powers over the earth. That same spirit is now working in those people who refuse to obey God.

Ephesians 4:22

You were taught to leave your old self. This means that you must stop living the evil way you lived before. That old self becomes worse and worse, because people are fooled by the evil things they want to do.

Colossians 1:21

At one time you were separated from God. You were God’s enemies in your minds, because the evil things you did were against God.

1 Thessalonians 4:13

Brothers and sisters, we want you to know about those people who have died. We don’t want you to be sad like other people—people who have no hope.

1 Thessalonians 5:6

So we should not be like other people. We should not be sleeping. We should be awake and have self-control.

1 Timothy 6:9

People who want to become rich bring temptations to themselves. They are caught in a trap. They begin to want many foolish things that will hurt them. Those things ruin and destroy people.

Titus 3:3

Grace (kindness) and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 1:14

In the past you did not understand about these things, so you did the evil things you wanted. But now you are children \{of God\} who obey. So don’t live like you lived in the past.

2 Peter 2:14

Every time they look at a woman they want her. These false teachers are always sinning this way. They lead weaker people into the trap \{of sin\}. They have taught themselves well to be greedy. They are under a curse. {\cf2\super [9]}

2 Peter 2:18

Those false teachers boast with words that mean nothing. They lead people into the trap \{of sin\}. They lead away people who are just beginning to come away from other people who live wrong. Those false teachers do this by using the evil things people want to do in their sinful selves.

1 John 2:16

These are the \{evil\} things in the world:

1 John 2:8

But also I write this command to you as a new command. This command is true; you can see its truth in Jesus and in yourselves. The darkness (sin) is passing away and the true light is already shining.