에베소서 2

From death to life

¹As for you, you were dead in your trespasses and sins. ²You once lived in them, following the way of this world in its present age and following the ruler of the realm of the air, the ruler of the spirit now at work in those who disobey. ³We all once lived among them too, following the desires of our flesh and doing whatever our flesh and our thoughts wanted. By nature we deserved God’s wrath, just like the rest of humanity. ⁴But God is rich in mercy. Because of the great love he had for us, ⁵even when we were dead in our trespasses, he made us alive together with Christ. You have been saved by grace. ⁶With him God raised us up, and with him seated us in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus, ⁷so that through the ages still to come he might put on display the wealth of his grace, which surpasses all measure, seen in the kindness he has shown us in Christ Jesus.^{a 8}For it is by this grace that you have been saved, through faith. None of this comes from you; it is God’s gift.^{b 9}It is not the result of what anyone has done, so there is no room for anyone to boast. ¹⁰For we are God’s own work. In Christ Jesus he created us for good works, which God made ready in advance so that we would live our lives doing them.

Two peoples made one

¹¹So remember what you once were: Gentiles by birth, labeled “the uncircumcised” by those who are called “the circumcised”, a circumcision performed on the body by human hands. ¹²Remember that at that time you were without Christ. You were excluded from citizenship in Israel and were strangers to the covenants built on God’s promise. You had no hope, and you were without God in the world. ¹³But now you who were once far away are in Christ Jesus, and the blood of Christ has brought you near. ¹⁴For Christ himself is our peace. He has made the two groups into one, and has broken down the wall that divided them, the hostility between them. In his own body ¹⁵he set aside the law with its commandments and regulations. He did this to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, so making peace, ¹⁶and to reconcile both of them to God in one body through the cross, by which he put the hostility to death. ¹⁷He came with good news: peace for you who were far off, and peace for those who were near. ¹⁸It is through him that both of us can approach the Father, in the one Spirit. ¹⁹So you are no longer strangers and resident foreigners. You are citizens together with God’s holy people, and you belong to God’s household. ²⁰You have been built on the apostles and prophets as your foundation, and the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. ²¹In him all the building, as it is fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord. ²²And in him you also are being built up with the others into a home for God, who lives there by the Spirit.^cd