Ephesians 2
The passage describes the former state of humanity as being dead in sin and subject to the power of the air, but God's mercy and love have brought salvation through faith in Christ. This salvation is a gift of God, not earned through works, and believers are now considered God's handiwork, created for good works. The passage also highlights the reconciliation of Jews and Gentiles through Christ, who has broken down the wall of separation and made peace between the two groups, granting them equal access to God. Believers are now considered citizens of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ as the cornerstone.
1And you were once dead in your sins and offenses2in which you walked in times past, according to the age of this world, according to the prince of the power of this sky, the spirit who now works in the sons of distrust3And we too were all conversant in these things, in times past, by the desires of our flesh, acting according to the will of the flesh and according to our own thoughts. And so we were, by nature, sons of wrath, even like the others4Yet still, God, who is rich in mercy, for the sake of his exceedingly great charity with which he loved us5even when we were dead in our sins, has enlivened us together in Christ, by whose grace you have been saved6And he has raised us up together, and he has caused us to sit down together in the heavens, in Christ Jesus7so that he may display, in the ages soon to arrive, the abundant wealth of his grace, by his goodness toward us in Christ Jesus8For by grace, you have been saved through faith. And this is not of yourselves, for it is a gift of God9And this is not of works, so that no one may glory10For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works which God has prepared and in which we should walk11Because of this, be mindful that, in times past, you were Gentiles in the flesh, and that you were called uncircumcised by those who are called circumcised in the flesh, something done by man12and that you were, in that time, without Christ, being foreign to the way of life of Israel, being visitors to the testament, having no hope of the promise, and being without God in this world13But now, in Christ Jesus, you, who were in times past far away, have been brought near by the blood of Christ14For he is our peace. He made the two into one, by dissolving the intermediate wall of separation, of opposition, by his flesh15emptying the law of commandments by decree, so that he might join these two, in himself, into one new man, making peac16and reconciling both to God, in one body, through the cross, destroying this opposition in himself17And upon arriving, he evangelized peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near18For by him, we both have access, in the one Spirit, to the Father19Now, therefore, you are no longer visitors and new arrivals. Instead, you are citizens among the saints in the household of God20having been built upon the foundation of the Apostles and of the Prophets, with Jesus Christ himself as the preeminent cornerstone21In him, all that has been built is framed together, rising up into a holy temple in the Lord22In him, you also have been built together into a habitation of God in the Spirit
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