1   Time was when you were dead in your sins and wickedness, when you followed the evil ways of this present age, 2   when you obeyed the commander of the spiritual powers of the air, the spirit now at work among God's rebel subjects. 3   We too were once of their number: we all lived our lives in sensuality, and obeyed the promptings of our own instincts and notions. In our natural condition we, like the rest, lay under the dreadful judgement of God. 4   But God, rich in mercy, 5   for the great love he bore us, brought us to life with Christ even when we were dead in our sins; it is by his grace you are saved. 6   And in union with Christ Jesus he raised us up and enthroned us with him in the heavenly realms, 7   so that he might display in the ages to come how immense are the resources of his grace, and how great his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8   For it is by his grace you are saved, through trusting him; it is not your own doing. 9   It is God's gift, not a reward for work done. There is nothing for anyone to boast of. 10   For we are God's handiwork, created in

The glory of Christ in the church Christ Jesus to devote ourselves to the good deeds for which God has designed us.

11   Remember then your former condition: you, Gentiles as you are outwardly, ^note you, ‘the uncircumcised’ so called by those who are called ‘the circumcised’ (but only with reference to an outward rite)—you were at that time separate from Christ, 12   strangers to the community of Israel, outside God's covenants and the promise that goes with them. Your world was a world without hope and without God. 13   But now in union with Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near through the shedding of Christ's blood. 14   For he is himself our peace. Gentiles and Jews, he has made the two one, and in his own body of flesh and blood has broken down the enmity which stood like a dividing wall between them; 15   for he annulled the law with its rules and regulations, so as to create out of the two a single new humanity in himself, thereby making peace. 16   This was his purpose, to reconcile the two in a single body to God through the cross, on which he killed the enmity. ^note

17   So he came and proclaimed the good news: peace to you who were far off, and peace to those who were near by; 18   for through him we both alike have access to the Father in the one Spirit. 19   Thus you are no longer aliens in a foreign land, but fellow-citizens with God's people, members of God's household. 20   You are built upon the foundation laid by the apostles and prophets, and Christ Jesus himself is the foundation-stone. ^note 21   In him the whole building ^note is bonded together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22   In him you too are being built with all the rest into a spiritual dwelling for God.

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