2 1 And you# [Gentile believers], being dead because of your# trespasses and sins,
2 in which you# previously walked [or lived]
according to the present age of this world,
according to the ruler of
the principality of the air,°
the principality of the spirit now acting in the sons of disobedience [apathy, stubborn indifference],
3 in which trespasses and sins we [Jewish believers in Jesus] also all previously turned up [conducted ourselves] in the desires of our flesh,
obeying the wishes of the flesh and of the mind,° and were by nature children of wrath, as also the rest [everyone else],
4 but God, being rich in mercy, because of his abundant love with which he loved us, 5 even though we were dead because of trespasses, made us alive together [Jewish and Gentile believers] in the Messiah
—by grace you# are saved°—
6 and raised us up together and seated us together in the heavenlies in Messiah Jesus, 7 in order that he may demonstrate in the ages that are coming on us the surpassing riches [abundance] of his grace in kindness in Messiah Jesus. 8 For by grace you# are saved° through faith, and this is not from you,# but is the gift of God, 9 not from deeds, that no one else may boast, 10 for we are his workmanship, having been created in Messiah Jesus for good deeds, which God prepared in advance, in order that we may walk [or live] in them.°
11 Therefore remember that once you,# Gentiles in the flesh, called "uncircumcision" by the so-called "circumcision,"°
a circumcision made in the flesh by human hands, 12 remember that you# were at that time without Messiah, alienated from the citizenship of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and in the world without God. 13 But now, in Messiah Jesus, you# who once were far away were made near by the blood of Messiah.
14 For he himself [Jesus] is our peace [Micah 5:5a], who made both [Jews and Gentiles who believe in him] one
and destroyed the dividing wall of the fence,° the hostility between the two, in his flesh 15 when he made the law of commandments in ordinances ineffective° [or powerless]
that in himself he may create out of the two one new man, making peace, 16 and may reconcile both in one body to God by means of the cross, abolishing the hostility between the two in him. 17 And when he came, he preached good news of "peace to you# [Gentiles] who were far away and peace to those [the Jews] who were near" [Isaiah 57:19], 18 for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.
19 So, therefore, you# are no longer foreigners and strangers, but you# are
fellow-citizens with the holy ones° and
members of the household of God,
20 having been built up on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Messiah Jesus himself being the cornerstone° [Isaiah 28:16]
21 by which the whole building is joined together and
because of which it is growing into a holy sanctuary° in the Lord,
22 in whom you# [believing Gentiles] are also being built together [with believing Jews] into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
|