Eph 2 | Comm | STEP | And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,

Ephesians 2

1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. 3 Among them we all once lived in the lusts of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and mind, and so we were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with him, and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the surpassing riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we would walk in them.

11 Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called "Uncircumcision" by the so-called "Circumcision," which is performed in the flesh by human hands— 12 remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near in the blood of Christ.

14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by abolishing in his flesh the hostility, which is the Law of commandments and ordinances, so that he might create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, by which he put to death the hostility. 17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near; 18 for through him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are members of God’s household, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord; 22 in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.