Originally contributed on January 4, 2005.
From “The Practical Side of Heaven” by William C. Kiefert
“Eph 2:10: Live the good life as from the beginning He [God] has meant us to live it.”
I was curious about Gnostic Christianity but when I looked on your web site you made the quote above and I was wondering how you managed to interpret that. Do you have a different bible?
From King James Bible via Blue Letter Bible
“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”
Would like to hear more. ~ Emmanuella Grace, London
Dear Emmanuella,
The passage (Eph. 2:10) says pretty much the same thing. My King James Bible says exactly what you quoted. But what it means is that we are to live to good life which God has laid out for us to live, which is how the website puts it. Another translation puts it thus: “For we are what he [God] made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.” Pretty similar. The Greek more literally says: “For of him we are a product, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God previously prepared in order that we might walk in them.” Again, I think that the idea is similar, and it is simply a matter of leaving out a few words: we are created by God to walk in the way of good works. Doesn’t that make sense?
Sincerely, Dr. John Miller for GnosticChristianity.com