Ephesians 2

Goodspeed^{(i) 1} You also were dead because of the offenses and sins ² in the midst of which you once lived under the control of the present age of the world, and the master-spirit of the air, who is still at work among the disobedient. ³ We all lived among them once, indulging our physical cravings and obeying the impulses of our lower nature and its thoughts, and by nature we were doomed to God's wrath like other men. ⁴ But God is so rich in mercy that because of the great love he had for us, ⁵ he made us, dead as we were through our offenses, live again with the Christ. It is by his mercy that you have been saved. ⁶ And he raised us with Christ, and through our union with Christ Jesus made us sit down with him in heaven, ⁷ to show the incomparable wealth of his mercy throughout the ages to come by his goodness to us through Christ Jesus. ⁸ For it is by his mercy that you have been saved through faith. It is not by your own action, it is the gift of God. ⁹ It has not been earned, so that no one can boast of it. ¹⁰ For he has made us, creating us through our union with Christ Jesus for the life of goodness which God had predestined us to live. ¹¹ So remember that you were once physically heathen, and called uncircumcised by those who called themselves circumcised, though only physically, by human hands. ¹² At that time you had no connection with Christ, you were aliens to the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the agreements about God's promise; with no hope and no God in all the world. ¹³ But now through your union with Christ Jesus you who were once far away have through the blood of Christ been brought near. ¹⁴ For he is himself our peace. He has united the two divisions, and broken down the barrier that kept us apart, ¹⁵ and through his human nature put an end to the feud between us, and abolished the Law with its rules and regulations, in order to make peace and create out of the two parties one new man by uniting them with himself, ¹⁶ and to kill the feud between them with his cross and in one body reconcile them both to God with it. ¹⁷ He came with the good news of peace for you who were far away and for those who were near; ¹⁸ for it is through him that we both with one Spirit are now able to approach the Father. ¹⁹ So you are no longer foreigners or strangers, but you are fellow-citizens of God's people and members of his family. ²⁰ You are built upon the apostles and prophets as your foundation, and Christ Jesus himself is the cornerstone. ²¹ Through him every part of the building is closely united and grows into a temple sacred through its relation to the Lord, ²² and you are yourselves built up into a dwelling for God through the Spirit.