2You were living in your sins and lawless ways. But in fact you were dead. ²You used to live as sinners when you followed the ways of this world. You served the one who rules over the spiritual forces of evil. He is the spirit who is now at work in those who don’t obey God.

³At one time we all lived among them. We tried to satisfy what our sinful nature wanted to do. We followed its longings and thoughts. God was angry with us and everyone else because of the kind of people we were.

⁴But God loves us deeply. He is full of mercy. ⁵So he gave us new life because of what Christ has done. He gave us life even when we were dead in sin. God’s grace has saved you.

⁶God raised us up with Christ. He has seated us with him in his heavenly kingdom because we belong to Christ Jesus. ⁷He has done it to show the riches of his grace for all time to come. His grace can’t be compared with anything else. He has shown it by being kind to us because of what Christ Jesus has done.

⁸God’s grace has saved you because of your faith in Christ. Your salvation doesn’t come from anything you do. It is God’s gift. ⁹It is not based on anything you have done. No one can brag about earning it.

¹⁰God made us. He created us to belong to Christ Jesus. Now we can do good things. Long ago God prepared them for us to do.

God’s New Family

¹¹You who are not Jews by birth, here is what I want you to remember. You are called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “circumcised.” But they have only been circumcised in their bodies by human hands.

¹²Before you believed in Christ, you were separated from him. You were not considered to be citizens of Israel. You were not included in what the covenants promised. You were without hope and without God in the world. ¹³At one time you were far away from God. But now you belong to Christ Jesus. He spilled his blood for you. That has brought you near to God.

¹⁴Christ himself is our peace. He has made Jews and non-Jews into one group of people. He has destroyed the hatred that was like a wall between us. ¹⁵Through his body on the cross, Christ put an end to the law with all its commands and rules. He wanted to create one new group of people out of the two. He wanted to make peace between them.

¹⁶He planned to bring both of them as one body back to God because of the cross. Christ put their hatred to death on that cross.

¹⁷He came and preached peace to you who were far away. He also preached peace to those who were near. ¹⁸Through Christ we both come to the Father by the power of one Holy Spirit.

¹⁹So you are no longer strangers and outsiders. You are citizens together with God’s people. You are members of God’s family.

²⁰You are a building that is built on the apostles and prophets. They are the foundation. Christ Jesus himself is the most important stone in the building. ²¹The whole building is held together by him. It rises to become a holy temple because it belongs to the Lord.

²²And because you belong to him, you too are being built together. You are being made into a house where God lives through his Spirit.

Paul Is the Messenger to Non-Jews

3I, Paul, am a prisoner because of Christ Jesus. I am in prison because of my work among you who are not Jews.

²I am sure you have heard that God appointed me to share his grace with you. ³I’m talking about the mystery God showed me. I have already written a little about it. ⁴By reading it you will be able to understand what I know about the mystery of Christ.

⁵The mystery was not made known to people of other times. But now the Holy Spirit has made it known to God’s holy apostles and prophets.

⁶Here is the mystery. Because of the good news, God’s promises are for non-Jews as well as for Jews. Both groups are parts of one body. They share in the promise. It belongs to them because they belong to Christ Jesus.

⁷I now serve the good news because God gave me his grace. His power is at work in me. ⁸I am by far the least important of all of God’s people. But he gave me the grace to preach to the non-Jews about the wonderful riches that Christ gives.

⁹God told me to make clear to everyone how the mystery came about. In times past it was kept hidden in the mind of God, who created all things. ¹⁰He wanted the rulers and authorities in the heavenly world to come to know his great wisdom. The church would make it known to them.

¹¹That was God’s plan from the beginning. He has worked it out through Christ Jesus our Lord. ¹²Through him and through faith in him we can approach God. We can come to him freely. We can come without fear.

¹³So here is what I’m asking you to do. Don’t lose hope because I am suffering for you. It will lead to the time when God will give you his glory.

Paul Prays for God’s People

¹⁴I bow in prayer to the Father because of my work among you. ¹⁵From the Father his whole family in heaven and on earth gets its name.

¹⁶I pray that he will use his glorious riches to make you strong. May his Holy Spirit give you his power deep down inside you. ¹⁷Then Christ will live in your hearts because you believe in him.

And I pray that your love will have deep roots. I pray that it will have a strong foundation. ¹⁸May you have power with all God’s people to understand Christ’s love. May you know how wide and long and high and deep it is. ¹⁹And may you know his love, even though it can’t be known completely. Then you will be filled with everything God has for you.

²⁰God is able to do far more than we could ever ask for or imagine. He does everything by his power that is working in us. ²¹Give him glory in the church and in Christ Jesus. Give him glory through all time and for ever and ever. Amen.

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