Ephesians 2

1You also were dead through your trespasses and sins,

2in which you once walked, in step with the age of this world, in step with the ruler who holds authority over the air, the spirit that is now active among those who are disobedient.

3Among them all of us too once conducted our lives in the cravings of our flesh, doing what the flesh and our thoughts willed, and by nature we were children of wrath, just as the others were.

4But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love he had for us,

5brought us to life together with Christ, even when we were dead through our trespasses—by grace you have been saved—

6and he raised us up together with him and gave us a seat with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

7so that in the ages that are coming he could display the overflowing wealth of his grace through his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

8For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this does not come from you; it is God’s gift,

9not from works, so that nobody can boast.

10For we are what he has made, created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared in advance, so that we would walk in them.

11So keep in mind that you were once Gentiles in the flesh—called “uncircumcision” by those called “circumcision,” a circumcision performed in the flesh by human hands—

12keep in mind that at that time you were apart from Christ, shut out of the commonwealth of Israel, outsiders to the covenants of the promise, with no hope and no God in the world.

13But now, in Christ Jesus, you who used to be far off have come near through the blood of Christ.

14For he himself is our peace. He made the two one, and he demolished the wall that stood in the middle as a barrier,

15that is, the hostility. In his flesh he put an end to the law of commandments with its decrees, so that in himself he might create one new human being from the two, making peace,

16and might reconcile both of them to God in a single body through the cross, killing the hostility by it.

17And he came and proclaimed the good news of peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.

18For it is through him that we both can approach the Father, in one Spirit.

19So you are no longer outsiders and resident aliens. Rather, you are citizens together with the saints and belong to God’s household,

20having been built up on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, where the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself.

21In him the entire building is fitted together and is growing into a temple that is holy in the Lord.

22In him you too are being built up together into a home where God dwells by the Spirit.