1You used to be dead because of your offenses and sins, 2in which you once lived according to the ways of this present world and according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now active in those who are disobedient. 3Indeed, all of us once behaved like them in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of our flesh and senses. By nature we deserved wrath, just like everyone else. 4But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love for us 5even when we were dead because of our offenses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6raised us up with him, and seated us with him in the heavenly realm in Christ Jesus, 7so that in the coming ages he might display the limitless riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8For by such grace you have been saved through faith. This does not come from you; it is the gift of God 9and not the result of works, lest anyone boast. 10For we are his masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared long ago to be our way of life. 11So then, remember that at one time you were Gentiles by birth and were called “the uncircumcision” by what is called “the circumcision” made in the flesh by hands. 12At that time you were without Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise. You had no hope and were in the world without God. 13But now, in Christ Jesus, you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14For it is he who is our peace. In his flesh he made both groups one by tearing down the wall of hostility that divided them. 15He rendered the law inoperative, along with its commandments and regulations, so that he might create in himself one new humanity from the two, thus making peace, 16and might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross, on which he killed the hostility. 17He came and proclaimed peace for you who were far away and for you who were near. 18For through him, both of us have access to the Father in one Spirit. 19That is why you are no longer strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God's household, 20having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone. 21In him the whole building is joined together and rises into a holy sanctuary in the Lord. 22You, too, are being built in him along with the others into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.