Ephesians 2:3

Holy Bible: Easy-to-Read Version

In the past all of us lived like that, trying to please our sinful selves. We did all the things our bodies and minds wanted. Like everyone else in the world, we deserved to suffer God’s anger just because of the way we were.

Cross References

Titus 3:3

In the past we were foolish too. We did not obey, we were wrong, and we were slaves to the many things our bodies wanted and enjoyed. We lived doing evil and being jealous. People hated us and we hated each other.

1 Peter 1:14

In the past you did not have the understanding you have now, so you did the evil things you wanted to do. But now you are children of God, so you should obey him and not live the way you did before.

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 gets worse and worse, because people are fooled by the evil they want to do.

Romans 13:14

But be like the Lord Jesus Christ, so that when people see what you do, they will see Christ. Don’t think about how to satisfy the desires of your sinful self.

Romans 6:12

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

Psalm 51:5

I was born to do wrong, a sinner before I left my mother’s womb.

1 John 2:16

This is all there is in the world: wanting to please our sinful selves, wanting the sinful things we see, and being too proud of what we have. But none of these comes from the Father. They come from the world.

Ephesians 2:2

Yes, in the past your lives were full of those sins. You lived the way the world lives, following the ruler of the evil powers that are above the earth. That same spirit is now working in those who refuse to obey God.

John 8:44

Your father is the devil. You belong to him. You want to do what he wants. He 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.

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. Our respect for God should make us try to be completely holy in the way we live.

1 Corinthians 4:7

Who do you think you are? Everything you have was given to you. So, if everything you have was given to you, why do you act as if you got it all by your own power?

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 what is good, but I don’t do it.

Mark 4:19

but their lives become full of other things: the worries of this life, the love of money, and everything else they want. This keeps the teaching from growing, and it does not produce a crop in their lives.

Genesis 6:5

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

Romans 11:30

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

Romans 9:22

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

John 1:13

They became God’s children, but not in the way babies are usually born. It was not because of any human desire or plan. They were born from God himself.

Isaiah 53:6

We had all wandered away like sheep. We had gone our own way. And yet the Lord put all our guilt on him.

Job 25:4

How can anyone claim to be right before God? No human being can really be pure.

Job 14:4

“No one can make something clean from something so dirty.

Genesis 8:21

The Lord smelled these sacrifices, and it pleased him. The Lord said to himself, “I will never again curse the earth as a way to punish people. People are evil from the time they are young, but I will never again destroy every living thing on the earth as I did this time.

2 Peter 2:18

They boast with words that mean nothing. They lead people into the trap of sin. They find people who have just escaped from a wrong way of life and lead them back into sin. They do this by using the evil things people want to do in their human weakness.

2 Peter 2:14

Every time they look at a woman, they want her. They are always sinning this way. And they lead weaker people into the trap of sin. They have taught themselves well to be greedy. They are under a curse.

1 Timothy 6:9

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

Galatians 3:22

But this is not possible. The Scriptures put the whole world in prison under the control of sin, so that the only way for people to get what God promised would be through faith in Jesus Christ. It is given to those who believe in him.

Romans 1:24

People wanted only to do evil. So God left them and let them go their sinful way. And so they became completely immoral and used their bodies in shameful ways with each other.

1 John 2:8

But what I write is also a new command. It is a true one; you can see its truth in Jesus and in yourselves. The darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining.

Acts 14:16

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

Genesis 5:3

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

Romans 2:14

Those who are not Jews don’t have the law. But when they naturally do what 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 5:9

We have been made right with God by the blood sacrifice of Christ. So through Christ we will surely be saved from God’s anger.

Romans 5:10

I mean that while we were God’s enemies, he made friends with us through his Son’s death. And the fact that we are now God’s friends makes it even more certain that he will save us through his Son’s life.

Colossians 1:21

At one time you were separated from God. You were his enemies in your minds, because the evil you did was against him.

1 Thessalonians 4:13

Brothers and sisters, we want you to know about those who have died. We don’t want you to be sad like other people—those 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.