1 A t one time you were dead because of your sins.

You were made alive when you were dead in transgressions and sins,

2 Y ou followed the sinful ways of the world and obeyed the leader of the power of darkness. He is the devil who is now working in the people who do not obey God.

in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the children of disobedience;

3 A t one time all of us lived to please our old selves. We gave in to what our bodies and minds wanted. We were sinful from birth like all other people and would suffer from the anger of God.

among whom we also all once lived in the lust of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

4 B ut God had so much loving-kindness. He loved us with such a great love.

But God, being rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us,

5 E ven when we were dead because of our sins, He made us alive by what Christ did for us. You have been saved from the punishment of sin by His loving-favor.

even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

6 G od raised us up from death when He raised up Christ Jesus. He has given us a place with Christ in the heavens.

and raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

7 H e did this to show us through all the time to come the great riches of His loving-favor. He has shown us His kindness through Christ Jesus.

that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus;

8 F or by His loving-favor you have been saved from the punishment of sin through faith. It is not by anything you have done. It is a gift of God.

for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,

9 I t is not given to you because you worked for it. If you could work for it, you would be proud.

not of works, that no one would boast.

10 W e are His work. He has made us to belong to Christ Jesus so we can work for Him. He planned that we should do this. Followers Now Become the Body of Christ

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them.

11 D o not forget that at one time you did not know God. The Jews, who had gone through the religious act of becoming a Jew by man’s hands, said you were people who do not know God.

Therefore remember that once you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “uncircumcision” by that which is called “circumcision”, (in the flesh, made by hands);

12 Y ou were living without Christ then. The Jewish people who belonged to God had nothing to do with you. The promises He gave to them were not for you. You had nothing in this world to hope for. You were without God.

that you were at that time separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

13 B ut now you belong to Christ Jesus. At one time you were far away from God. Now you have been brought close to Him. Christ did this for you when He gave His blood on the cross.

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off are made near in the blood of Christ.

14 W e have peace because of Christ. He has made the Jews and those who are not Jews one people. He broke down the wall that divided them.

For he is our peace, who made both one, and broke down the middle wall of partition,

15 H e stopped the fighting between them by His death on the cross. He put an end to the Law. Then He made of the two people one new kind of people like Himself. In this way, He made peace.

having abolished in the flesh the hostility, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man of the two, making peace;

16 H e brought both groups together to God. Christ finished the fighting between them by His death on the cross.

and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, having killed the hostility thereby.

17 T hen Christ came and preached the Good News of peace to you who were far away from God. And He preached it to us who were near God.

He came and preached peace to you who were far off and to those who were near.

18 N ow all of us can go to the Father through Christ by way of the one Holy Spirit.

For through him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.

19 F rom now on you are not strangers and people who are not citizens. You are citizens together with those who belong to God. You belong in God’s family.

So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God,

20 T his family is built on the teachings of the missionaries and the early preachers. Jesus Christ Himself is the cornerstone, which is the most important part of the building.

being built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief cornerstone;

21 C hrist keeps this building together and it is growing into a holy building for the Lord.

in whom the whole building, fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord;

22 Y ou are also being put together as a part of this building because God lives in you by His Spirit.

in whom you also are built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit.