Ephesians 2

1As for you, you were dead in your trespasses and sins. 2You once lived in them, following the way of this world in its present age and following the ruler of the realm of the air, the ruler of the spirit now at work in those who disobey. 3We all once lived among them too, following the desires of our flesh and doing whatever our flesh and our thoughts wanted. By nature we deserved God’s wrath, just like the rest of humanity. 4But God is rich in mercy. Because of the great love he had for us, 5even when we were dead in our trespasses, he made us alive together with Christ. You have been saved by grace. 6With him God raised us up, and with him seated us in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus, 7so that through the ages still to come he might put on display the wealth of his grace, which surpasses all measure, seen in the kindness he has shown us in Christ Jesus. 8For it is by this grace that you have been saved, through faith. None of this comes from you; it is God’s gift. 9It is not the result of what anyone has done, so there is no room for anyone to boast. 10For we are God’s own work. In Christ Jesus he created us for good works, which God made ready in advance so that we would live our lives doing them.

11So remember what you once were: Gentiles by birth, labeled “the uncircumcised” by those who are called “the circumcised”, a circumcision performed on the body by human hands. 12Remember that at that time you were without Christ. You were excluded from citizenship in Israel and were strangers to the covenants built on God’s promise. You had no hope, and you were without God in the world. 13But now you who were once far away are in Christ Jesus, and the blood of Christ has brought you near. 14For Christ himself is our peace. He has made the two groups into one, and has broken down the wall that divided them, the hostility between them. In his own body 15he set aside the law with its commandments and regulations. He did this to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, so making peace, 16and to reconcile both of them to God in one body through the cross, by which he put the hostility to death. 17He came with good news: peace for you who were far off, and peace for those who were near. 18It is through him that both of us can approach the Father, in the one Spirit. 19So you are no longer strangers and resident foreigners. You are citizens together with God’s holy people, and you belong to God’s household. 20You have been built on the apostles and prophets as your foundation, and the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. 21In him all the building, as it is fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord. 22And in him you also are being built up with the others into a home for God, who lives there by the Spirit.