You were once dead because of your failures and sins. [2] You followed the ways of this present world and its spiritual ruler. This ruler continues to work in people who refuse to obey God. [3] All of us once lived among these people, and followed the desires of our corrupt nature. We did what our corrupt desires and thoughts wanted us to do. So, because of our nature, we deserved God's anger just like everyone else. [4] But God is rich in mercy because of his great love for us. [5] We were dead because of our failures, but he made us alive together with Christ. (It is God's kindness that saved you.) [6] God has brought us back to life together with Christ Jesus and has given us a position in heaven with him. [7] He did this through Christ Jesus out of his generosity to us in order to show his extremely rich kindness in the world to come. [8] God saved you through faith as an act of kindness. You had nothing to do with it. Being saved is a gift from God. [9] It's not the result of anything you've done, so no one can brag about it. [10] God has made us what we are. He has created us in Christ Jesus to live lives filled with good works that he has prepared for us to do. [11] Remember that once you were not Jewish physically. Those who called themselves "the circumcised" because of what they had done to their bodies called you "the uncircumcised." [12] Also, at that time you were without Christ. You were excluded from citizenship in Israel, and the pledges God made in his promise were foreign to you. You had no hope and were in the world without God. [13] But now through Christ Jesus you, who were once far away, have been brought near by the blood of Christ. [14] So he is our peace. In his body he has made Jewish and non-Jewish people one by breaking down the wall of hostility that kept them apart. [15] He brought an end to the commandments and demands found in Moses' Teachings so that he could take Jewish and non-Jewish people and create one new humanity in himself. So he made peace. [16] He also brought them back to God in one body by his cross, on which he killed the hostility. [17] He came with the Good News of peace for you who were far away and for those who were near. [18] So Jewish and non-Jewish people can go to the Father in one Spirit. [19] That is why you are no longer foreigners and outsiders but citizens together with God's people and members of God's family. [20] You are built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Christ Jesus himself is the cornerstone. [21] In him all the parts of the building fit together and grow into a holy temple in the Lord. [22] Through him you, also, are being built in the Spirit together with others into a place where God lives.
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