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Happy Tuesday, {{first_name| everyone}}!
Today, it’s trivia day and time to look at the whole chapter of Ephesians 2. If you missed Monday’s email or need a refresher on the background, you can read it here.
In today’s email…
📖 The surrounding context of Ephesians 2:8-9
🙏 Reflection, action, and a prayer
📊 Trivia about our verse…
☕ A community poll (please give us your input!)
MEMORIZE 🧠
For by _______ you have been saved through _____.
______ this is not your own ______; it is the _______ of God, not a ________ of works, so that _____ one may ________.
Ephesians 2:8-9
Want to memorize in your favorite translation? Try our new iPhone app here.
TOGETHER WITH TYNDALE CHRISTIAN RESOURCES
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Featuring trusted teachers and biblically grounded content, many resources include companion video sessions that can be streamed directly from the site.
Whether for personal study or group learning, these resources are designed to help you engage with Scripture, strengthen your faith, and live it out every day.
CONTEXT 📕
In Ephesians chapter 2, Paul shows us who we were apart from Christ, what God has done to save us, and who we have become because of Jesus.
The chapter begins with a pretty bleak but sobering picture of humanity's condition apart from God. Paul reminds believers that, outside of Christ, we were spiritually dead because of our sin and completely unable to rescue ourselves.
Theologian D.A. Carson famously said (one of my favorite quotes of all time):
“If God had perceived that our greatest need was economic, he would have sent an economist. If he had perceived that our greatest need was entertainment, he would have sent us a comedian or an artist. If God had perceived that our greatest need was political stability, he would have sent us a politician. If he had perceived that our greatest need was health, he would have sent us a doctor. But he perceived that our greatest need involved our sin, our alienation from him, our profound rebellion, our death; and he sent us a Savior.”
Paul says it this way:
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience.
Notice that Paul doesn't describe people as spiritually sick or struggling — he says we were dead. This begins to highlight our complete dependence on God's grace. After all, dead people cannot make themselves alive.
Yet after that ugly picture of our past lives, everything changes with some of the most hope-filled words in the Bible:
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved.
The focus immediately shifts away from what we have done to what God did.
His mercy, love, and grace are the reason anyone is saved.
This is the foundation that leads directly into our memory verses, Ephesians 2:8–9, where Paul explains that salvation is God's gift, received through faith and not earned by works.
However, that’s not the end of the chapter. It’s more than about individual salvation.
Paul expands the picture by showing that Christ has also created a new people. Jews and Gentiles, once divided by hostility, have been united through the cross into one family.
So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone…
Note the progression of the chapter.
We move from death to life, from separation to reconciliation, and from being strangers to becoming members of God's family.
Praise God for that good news!
APPLY AND RESPOND 🏃♂
Ephesians 2 reminds us of the gospel's story where we go from dead in sin to alive, saved by grace, and welcomed into his family. Today, take a few moments to reflect on that journey in your own life.
Remember: Read Ephesians 2:1–3 and reflect on who you were apart from Christ. Thank God for rescuing you from the power and penalty of sin.
Rejoice: Thank God that your salvation is a gift of grace, received through faith, and that you aren’t expected to perform perfect to earn this gift.
Pray 🙏
Lord, thank you for your rich mercy and great love. When I was dead in my sin, you made me alive together with Christ. Help me to live each day with humility, gratitude, and confidence in what you have done for me. Teach me to walk in a manner worthy of the calling I have received and to love your people as members of one family in Christ. Amen.
TRIVIA 📊
Click one of the options below to choose your answer. Let’s see how you do…
Ephesus, the city receiving this letter, is known for what ancient world wonder?
COMMUNITY POLL ☕
We may or may not (we do) have an exciting project in the works…On a completely unrelated note, please answer the below question for us by tapping one of the options 🙃
How do you like your coffee? ☕
ANSWER KEY ✅
For by grace you have been saved through faith.
And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Ephesians 2:8-9
Best,
The Malachi Daily team 🙏
Today’s Contributors
Jake holds two degrees in Biblical Studies and has a passion for making Scripture accessible. He helps Christians focus on Jesus alone through his podcast Christianity Without Compromise.
Kieran is a husband and father living in NJ. In addition to Malachi Daily, he writes a personal newsletter about the intersection of faith, fatherhood and entrepreneurship.
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Want to go even deeper with memorizing Scripture and learning its context?
Our iPhone app, Within allows you to:
Memorize 1 verse every single week and learn its context through daily devotionals you can read (or listen to)
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And much more!
What are the differences between Within and Malachi Daily?
Malachi Daily 📧 | Within 📱 | |
|---|---|---|
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Cost | Free | 7-day free trial, then $5.99/mo or $49.99/year |
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Who chooses the verse | We choose | We choose AND you can memorize any verse you want, anytime |
Bible translation(s) | ESV | ESV, NIV, NLT, KJV, and NASB |
Reviewing previously memorized verses | You do this on your own | Use the built-in memory bank |
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