Ephesians 2:3

New Century Version

In the past all of us lived like them, trying to please our sinful selves and doing all the things our bodies and minds wanted. We should have suffered God’s anger because we were sinful by nature. We were the same as all other people.

Cross References

Genesis 5:3

When Adam was 130 years old, he became the father of another son in his likeness and image, and Adam named him Seth.

Genesis 6:5

The Lord saw that the human beings on the earth were very wicked and that everything they thought about was evil.

Genesis 8:21

The Lord was pleased with these sacrifices and said to himself, “I will never again curse the ground because of human beings. Their thoughts are evil even when they are young, but I will never again destroy every living thing on the earth as I did this time.

Job 14:4

No one can bring something clean from something dirty.

Job 25:4

So no one can be good in the presence of God, and no one born to a woman can be pure.

Psalm 51:5

I was brought into this world in sin. In sin my mother gave birth to me.

Isaiah 53:6

We all have wandered away like sheep; each of us has gone his own way. But the Lord has put on him the punishment for all the evil we have done.

Mark 4:19

but the worries of this life, the temptation of wealth, and many other evil desires keep the teaching from growing and producing fruit in their lives.

John 1:13

They did not become his children in any human way—by any human parents or human desire. They were born of God.

John 8:44

You belong to your father the devil, and you want to do what he wants. He was a murderer from the beginning and was against the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he shows what he is really like, because he is a liar and the father of lies.

Acts 14:16

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

Romans 1:24

Because they did these things, God left them and let them go their sinful way, wanting only to do evil. As a result, they became full of sexual sin, 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 refused to obey.

Romans 13:14

But clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ and forget about satisfying your sinful self.

Romans 2:14

(Those who are not Jews do not have the law, but when they freely do what the law commands, they are the law for themselves. This is true even though they do not have the law.

Romans 5:10

While we were God’s enemies, he made us his friends through the death of his Son. Surely, now that we are his friends, he will save us through his Son’s life.

Romans 5:9

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

Romans 6:12

So, do not let sin control your life here on earth so that you do what your sinful self wants 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 earthly and sinful. I want to do the things that are good, but I do not do them.

Romans 9:22

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

1 Corinthians 4:7

Who says you are better than others? What do you have that was not given to you? And if it was given to you, why do you brag as if you did not receive it as a gift?

2 Corinthians 7:1

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

Galatians 3:22

Instead, the Scriptures showed that the whole world is bound by sin. This was so the promise would be given through faith to people who believe in Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 2:2

Yes, in the past 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.

Ephesians 4:22

You were taught to leave your old self—to stop living the evil way you lived before. That old self becomes 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 his enemies in your minds, and the evil things you did were against God.

1 Thessalonians 4:13

Brothers and sisters, we want you to know about those Christians who have died so you will not be sad, as others who have no hope.

1 Thessalonians 5:6

So we should not be like other people who are sleeping, but we should be alert and have self-control.

1 Timothy 6:9

Those who want to become rich bring temptation to themselves and are caught in a trap. They want many foolish and harmful things that ruin and destroy people.

Titus 3:3

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

1 Peter 1:14

Now that you are obedient children of God do not live as you did in the past. You did not understand, so you did the evil things you wanted.

2 Peter 2:14

Every time they look at a woman they want her, and their desire for sin is never satisfied. They lead weak people into the trap of sin, and they have taught their hearts to be greedy. God will punish them!

2 Peter 2:18

They brag with words that mean nothing. By their evil desires they lead people into the trap of sin—people who are just beginning to escape from others who live in error.

1 John 2:16

These are the ways of the world: wanting to please our sinful selves, wanting the sinful things we see, and being too proud of what we have. None of these come from the Father, but all of them come from the world.

1 John 2:8

But also I am writing a new command to you, and you can see its truth in Jesus and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining.