2
Alive with Christ
1 You were dead in the trespasses and sins
2 in which you once walked when you followed the ways of this world and the ruler of the realm of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience.
3 Among them we all once lived in the lusts of our flesh, carrying out the desires of our flesh and our impulses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
4 Yet God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,
5 made us alive together with Christ even when we were dead in our trespasses—by grace you have been saved.
6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
7 so that in the ages to come he might show the surpassing riches of his grace through his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
9 not by works, so that no one may boast.
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
Unity in Christ
11 Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “the uncircumcision” by those who call themselves “the circumcision,” which is made in the flesh by hands—
12 remember that you were apart from Christ at that time, excluded from the citizenship of Israel and strangers to the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
13 But now in Christ Jesus you who were once far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
14 For he is our peace, who has united both the Jews and Gentiles into one people and has broken down the wall of hostility that divided us.
15 He did this by abolishing the law with its commandments and ordinances in order to make peace between the two groups and create in himself one new people.
16 He reconciled both groups to God in one body through the cross, by which he put the hostility to death.
17 He came and preached the good news of peace to you who were far away and to those who were near.
18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.
19 So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,
20 built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone.
21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.
22 And in him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God in the Spirit.