Eph 2 | Mont | STEP | And so God has given life to you Gentiles also, who were once dead in your trespasses and sins,

‏ Ephesians 2

1 And so God has given life to you Gentiles also, who were once dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you passed your lives after the way of this world, under the sway of the Prince of the Powers of the Air, the spirit who is now working among the sons of disobedience. 3 And among them we all once passed our lives, indulging the passions of our flesh, carrying out the dictates of our senses and temperament, and were by nature the children of wrath like all the rest.

4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even while we were dead in our trespasses, made us live together with Christ (it is by grace you have been saved). 6 together with him He raised us from the dead, and together with Christ Jesus seated us in the heavenly realm, 7 in order that he might show to the ages to come the amazing riches of his grace by his goodness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is God’s gift. 9 It is not of works, so that any one can boast of it; 10 for we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for good deeds, which God predestined us to make our daily way of life.

11 Do not forget then, that you Gentiles in the flesh, who are called "uncircumcision" by the "circumcision" made in flesh by man’s hand, 12 were once upon a time without Christ, aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the covenants of the Promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near in the blood of Christ.

14 For he is our Peace, who has made the two of us Jew and Gentile one, and has broken down the party-wall of partition between us. 15 In his own body he abolished the cause of our enmity, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, in order to make the two into one new man in himself, so making peace. 16 Thus he reconciled us both in one body to God by his cross, on which he slew our enmity. 17 So he came preaching "Peace" to you Gentiles who were afar off, and "Peace" to us Jews who were near; 18 because it is through him that we both have access in one spirit to the Father. 19 Take notice then that no longer are you strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household. 20 You are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone. 21 In him the whole building, fitly framed together, rises into a holy temple in the Lord; 22 and in him you, too, are continuously built together for a dwelling- place of God through his Spirit.