Ephesians 2

¹You were once dead in your deviations and your sins, ²in which you formerly walked according to the Aeon of this world, according to the ruler of the authority of the air—the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. ³Among them, we all once conducted our lives in the cravings of our flesh, carrying out the impulses of the flesh and of our thoughts; we were, by our very nature, children of wrath, just like the rest of humanity.

⁴But God, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, ⁵even when we were dead in our deviations, made us alive together with the Christ—by grace you have been saved— ⁶and he raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus. ⁷He did this so that in the Aeons to come he might demonstrate the surpassing wealth of his grace in his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

⁸For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not from yourselves, it is God’s gift; ⁹it is not from works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰For we are his masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

¹¹Therefore, remember that formerly you—the nations in the flesh, who are called “the uncircumcision” by those called “the circumcision” (which is performed in the flesh by human hands)— ¹²remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world. ¹³But now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of the Christ.

¹⁴For he himself is our peace, who made both groups one and tore down the middle wall of the partition—the enmity—in his flesh. ¹⁵He abolished the law of commandments expressed in decrees, so that he might create the two in himself into one new humanity, making peace, ¹⁶and might reconcile both to God in one body through the cross, having killed the enmity by it. ¹⁷And he came and preached the glad tidings of peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; ¹⁸for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

¹⁹So then, you are no longer strangers and resident aliens, but you are fellow-citizens with the holy ones and members of God’s household, ²⁰built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself being the chief cornerstone. ²¹In him the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy sanctuary in the Lord; ²²in him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God in the Spirit.