2 And although you were 1 dead 2 in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which 3 you formerly lived 4 according to this world’s present path, 5 according to the ruler of the kingdom 6 of the air, the ruler of 7 the spirit 8 that is now energizing 9 the sons of disobedience, 10 3 among whom 11 all of us 12 also 13 formerly lived out our lives in the cravings of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath 14 even as the rest… 15
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, 5 even though we were dead in transgressions, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you are saved! 16 – 6 and he raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 to demonstrate in the coming ages 17 the surpassing wealth of his grace in kindness toward 18 us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you are saved 19 through faith, 20 and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 it is not from 21 works, so that no one can boast. 22 10 For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we may do them. 23
11 Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh – who are called “uncircumcision” by the so-called “circumcision” that is performed on the body 24 by human hands – 12 that you were at that time without the Messiah, 25 alienated from the citizenship of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, 26 having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who used to be far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 27 14 For he is our peace, the one who made both groups into one 28 and who destroyed the middle wall of partition, the hostility, 15 when he nullified 29 in his flesh the law of commandments in decrees. He did this to create in himself one new man 30 out of two, 31 thus making peace, 16 and to reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by which the hostility has been killed. 32 17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near, 18 so that 33 through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer foreigners and noncitizens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household, 20 because you have been built 34 on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, 35 with Christ Jesus himself as 36 the cornerstone. 37 21 In him 38 the whole building, 39 being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
3 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus 1 for the sake of you Gentiles – 2 if indeed 2 you have heard of the stewardship 3 of God’s grace that was given to me for you, 3 that 4 by revelation the divine secret 5 was made known to me, as I wrote before briefly. 6 4 When reading this, 7 you will be able to 8 understand my insight into this secret 9 of Christ. 5 Now this secret 10 was not disclosed to people 11 in former 12 generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by 13 the Spirit, 6 namely, that through the gospel 14 the Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members 15 of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus. 7 I became a servant of this gospel 16 according to the gift of God’s grace that was given to me by 17 the exercise of his power. 18 8 To me – less than the least of all the saints 19 – this grace was given, 20 to proclaim to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ 9 and to enlighten 21 everyone about God’s secret plan 22 – a secret that has been hidden for ages 23 in God 24 who has created all things. 10 The purpose of this enlightenment is that 25 through the church the multifaceted wisdom 26 of God should now be disclosed to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly realms. 11 This was according to 27 the eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, 12 in whom we have boldness and confident access 28 to God 29 because of 30 Christ’s 31 faithfulness. 32 13 For this reason I ask you 33 not to lose heart because of what I am suffering for you, 34 which 35 is your glory. 36
14 For this reason 37 I kneel 38 before the Father, 39 15 from 40 whom every family 41 in heaven and on the earth is named. 16 I pray that 42 according to the wealth of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner person, 17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, so that, because you have been rooted and grounded in love, 18 you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 43 19 and thus to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled up to 44 all the fullness of God.
20 Now to him who by the power that is working within us 45 is able to do far beyond 46 all that we ask or think, 21 to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
