¹When you were living in your sins and the wrong things you were doing, you were actually dead.

²You were following the ways of this world and serving the one who rules over the spiritual forces of evil. That’s the spirit who’s still at work in those who aren’t obeying God.

³At one time we all lived among those things. We followed our wrong desires and thoughts, and we tried to satisfy what they wanted us to do. God was angry with us, as he was with everyone else, because of the kind of people we all were.

⁴But God loves us deeply, and he is full of mercy.

⁵So he gave us new life because of what Christ has done, even when we were dead in our sins. God’s grace has saved you.

⁶God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in his heavenly kingdom, because we belong to Christ Jesus.

⁷He did that to show for all time the riches of his grace, which can’t be compared with anything else. He demonstrated his grace by being kind to us because of what Christ Jesus has done.

⁸God’s grace has saved you because of your faith in Christ. It’s not from you; it’s God’s gift.

⁹It’s not based on anything you’ve done. No one can brag about earning it.

¹⁰God made us with his own hands through Christ Jesus for good works, and long ago he prepared them for us as a way of life.

¹¹Some of you are Gentiles, not Jews, by birth. You’re called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “circumcised.” But they’ve only been circumcised in their bodies by human hands.

¹²Remember that you used to be separated from Christ. You weren’t considered to be citizens of Israel, and so you didn’t have a share in what the covenants promised. You were without hope and without God in the world.

¹³But now, in Christ Jesus, you who were far away have been brought near to God by the blood of Christ.

¹⁴Christ himself is our peace. He has brought Jews and Gentiles together into one group of people. He has destroyed the hatred that was like a wall between us.

¹⁵Through his body on the cross, Christ set aside the law with all its commands and rules. He did this so he could create one new people out of both Jews and Gentiles. He wanted to make peace between them

¹⁶and bring them back to God as one body. On the cross, Christ put to death the hatred that Jews and Gentiles felt toward one another.

¹⁷He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.

¹⁸Through Christ we both come to the Father by one Holy Spirit.

¹⁹So you’re no longer outsiders and strangers. Instead, you’re citizens together with God’s people, and you’re members of God’s family.

²⁰You’re a building that’s being built on the apostles and prophets as its foundation. Christ Jesus himself is the cornerstone that has been laid down first

²¹to make sure all the other stones are properly placed and lined up right. Now the building is rising to become a holy temple.

²²And because you belong to Christ, you too are being built together to become a place where God can live through his Spirit.