¹You were once dead because of your failures and sins. ²You followed the ways of this present world and its spiritual ruler. This ruler continues to work in people who refuse to obey God. ³All 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.

⁴But God is rich in mercy because of his great love for us. ⁵We were dead because of our failures, but he made us alive together with Christ. (It is God’s kindness^athat saved you.) ⁶God has brought us back to life together with Christ Jesus and has given us a position in heaven with him. ⁷He did this through Christ Jesus out of his generosity to us in order to show his extremely rich kindness in the world to come. ⁸God saved you through faith as an act of kindness. You had nothing to do with it. Being saved is a gift from God. ⁹It’s not the result of anything you’ve done, so no one can brag about it. ¹⁰God 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.

God Has United Jewish and Non-Jewish People

¹¹Remember 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.” ¹²Also, at that time you were without Christ. You were excluded from citizenship in Israel, and the pledges^b⸤God made in his⸥ promise were foreign to you. You had no hope and were in the world without God.

¹³But now through Christ Jesus you, who were once far away, have been brought near by the blood of Christ. ¹⁴So 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. ¹⁵He 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. ¹⁶He also brought them back to God in one body by his cross, on which he killed the hostility. ¹⁷He came with the Good News of peace for you who were far away and for those who were near. ¹⁸So Jewish and non-Jewish people can go to the Father in one Spirit.

¹⁹That is why you are no longer foreigners and outsiders but citizens together with God’s people and members of God’s family. ²⁰You are built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Christ Jesus himself is the cornerstone. ²¹In him all the parts of the building fit together and grow into a holy temple in the Lord. ²²Through him you, also, are being built in the Spirit together with others into a place where God lives.

3RD CHAPTER

Paul’s Work of Spreading the Good News

¹This is the reason I, Paul, am the prisoner of Christ Jesus^afor those of you who are not Jewish.

²Certainly, you have heard how God gave me the responsibility of bringing his kindness^bto you. ³You have heard that he let me know this mystery through a revelation. I’ve already written to you about this briefly. ⁴When you read this, you’ll see that I understand the mystery about Christ. ⁵In the past, this mystery was not known by people as it is now. The Spirit has now revealed it to his holy apostles and prophets. ⁶This mystery is the Good News that people who are not Jewish have the same inheritance as Jewish people do. They belong to the same body and share the same promise that God made in Christ Jesus. ⁷I became a servant of this Good News through God’s kindness freely given to me when his power worked ⸤in me⸥.

⁸I am the least of all God’s people. Yet, God showed me his kindness by allowing me to spread the Good News of the immeasurable wealth of Christ to people who are not Jewish. ⁹He allowed me to explain the way this mystery works. God, who created all things, kept it hidden in the past. ¹⁰He did this so that now, through the church, he could let the rulers and authorities in heaven know his infinite wisdom. ¹¹This was God’s plan for all of history which he carried out through Christ Jesus our Lord. ¹²We can go to God with bold confidence through faith in Christ. ¹³So then, I ask you not to become discouraged by the troubles I suffer for you. In fact, my troubles bring you glory.

Paul Prays That God Would Strengthen Christians

¹⁴This is the reason I kneel in the presence of the Father ¹⁵from whom all the family in heaven and on earth receives its name. ¹⁶I’m asking God to give you a gift from the wealth of his glory. I pray that he would give you inner strength and power through his Spirit. ¹⁷Then Christ will live in you through faith. I also pray that love may be the ground into which you sink your roots and on which you have your foundation. ¹⁸This way, with all of God’s people you will be able to understand how wide, long, high, and deep his love is. ¹⁹You will know Christ’s love, which goes far beyond any knowledge. I am praying this so that you may be completely filled with God.

²⁰Glory belongs to God, whose power is at work in us. By this power he can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine. ²¹Glory belongs to God in the church and in Christ Jesus for all time and eternity! Amen.

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Footnotes

a 2:5 Or “grace.”
b 2:12 Or “covenants.”
a 3:1 Some manuscripts omit “Jesus.”
b 3:2 Or “grace.”