Alive with Christ

1You were dead in the trespasses and sins

2in 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.

3Among 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.

4Yet God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,

5made us alive together with Christ even when we were dead in our trespasses—by grace you have been saved.

6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

7so that in the ages to come he might show the surpassing riches of his grace through his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

8For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,

9not by works, so that no one may boast.

10For 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

11Therefore remember that ⁵you, 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—

12remember 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.

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

14For 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.

15He 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.

16He reconciled both groups to God in one body through the cross, by which he put the hostility to death.

17He came and preached the good news of peace to ⁶you who were far away ⁷and 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 foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,

20built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with ⁸Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone.

21In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.

22And in him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God in the Spirit.