People were once dead in their sins, following the ways of the world and their own desires, and were by nature objects of God's wrath. However, God, rich in mercy, has given them life in Christ, raising them up and seating them with him in the heavens, to display his abundant wealth of grace in the ages to come. This salvation is by grace through faith, not by works, and is a gift of God, making believers his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for good works. Through Christ's blood, Gentiles have been brought near to God, and he has made peace between Jews and Gentiles, reconciling both to God in one body, and giving them access to the Father in the one Spirit.
1 And you were once dead in your sins and offenses 2 in 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 distrust 3 And 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 others 4 Yet still, God, who is rich in mercy, for the sake of his exceedingly great charity with which he loved us 5 even when we were dead in our sins, has enlivened us together in Christ, by whose grace you have been saved 6 And he has raised us up together, and he has caused us to sit down together in the heavens, in Christ Jesus 7 so that he may display, in the ages soon to arrive, the abundant wealth of his grace, by his goodness toward us in Christ Jesus 8 For by grace, you have been saved through faith. And this is not of yourselves, for it is a gift of God 9 And this is not of works, so that no one may glory 10 For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works which God has prepared and in which we should walk 11 Because 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 man 12 and 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 world 13 But now, in Christ Jesus, you, who were in times past far away, have been brought near by the blood of Christ 14 For he is our peace. He made the two into one, by dissolving the intermediate wall of separation, of opposition, by his flesh 15 emptying the law of commandments by decree, so that he might join these two, in himself, into one new man, making peac 16 and reconciling both to God, in one body, through the cross, destroying this opposition in himself 17 And upon arriving, he evangelized peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near 18 For by him, we both have access, in the one Spirit, to the Father 19 Now, therefore, you are no longer visitors and new arrivals. Instead, you are citizens among the saints in the household of God 20 having been built upon the foundation of the Apostles and of the Prophets, with Jesus Christ himself as the preeminent cornerstone 21 In him, all that has been built is framed together, rising up into a holy temple in the Lord 22 In him, you also have been built together into a habitation of God in the Spirit